Qin Ruqing was thrown to the ground and felt like she had been badly hurt.

She lay there, unable to move, while her body quickly repaired itself.

Though she looked alive, she had actually sustained severe injuries.

She had been pierced by swords, crushed by giant rocks, and endured countless brutal tortures throughout numerous levels.

Several times, Qin Ruqing came very close to dying, but she managed to survive.

Feeling her body regain control, she sat up with a start.

She looked at her fists with curiosity, clenching and relaxing them, feeling the abundant strength in her muscles and blood.

It was strange.

Qin Ruqing had noticed that the “Four Hells” of this celestial realm were not just simple testing grounds.

Each trial she passed seemed to give her something.

This “gain” wasn’t a tangible form of cultivation but rather an abstract “state” or “understanding.”

For example, in the eighteenth level of the hellish trials, she had brushed with death countless times.

The more she experienced this, the better she seemed to grasp the profound moment of life and death.

In fact, in one instance, it was this very understanding of life and death that allowed her to avoid a crisis.

Her heart skipped a beat. If—she emphasized if—this ability to grasp the moment between life and death could deepen and strengthen, becoming a skill she could master, she felt her life would become much sturdier.

Now, she was already a “miracle bug,” and if her life became even tougher, it would be like becoming a steel bug!

This skill was crucial for reacting to crises. How important and urgent it was!

Realizing this, her eyes shone brightly.

She jumped up and went back to the large, menacing mouth of the bronze statue and entered it again.

She actually wanted to try again.

Seeing the clear benefits, she no longer felt sore or tired, and she quickly forgot the fear from the previous trials.

The bronze statue with the fanged mouth seemed momentarily stunned, and after a couple of moments, its eyes lit up with a red light.

It spat her out.

Qin Ruqing, in white clothing, rolled several times on the ground, becoming dusty and dirty.

She wiped her face and pouted.

Fine, if it wouldn’t give her anything, then so be it, even though it had tried to bite her before.

The statue suddenly made a rumbling noise from within, and its eyes flashed red.

Qin Ruqing quickly got up and moved aside, watching the statue warily.

The statue’s mouth opened, and it spat out a tongue.

Then, everything went quiet.

Sensing something, Qin Ruqing walked over slowly and peered at the tongue.

It looked as if her head was stretched into the bronze statue’s mouth filled with sharp teeth.

Sure enough, words began to appear slowly on the tongue:

The Hell Path, the Eighteenth Level of the Boundary Between Life and Death, Life! Evaluation: Heavenly Level.

So this checkpoint is called the Eighteenth Level of the Boundary Between Life and Death.

Indeed, each level is about life and death. Qin Ruqing nodded silently.

As for the Heavenly Level evaluation, she didn’t care much.

If the Heavenly Level evaluation came with rich rewards, Qin Ruqing would be overjoyed.

But it seemed to be just an honorary title, so she decided to wait until there were actual rewards to be happy.

After Qin Ruqing’s head emerged from the bronze statue’s mouth, the sharp teeth of the statue slowly closed, and the red light in its hollow eyes faded.

The world spun before her eyes, and darkness engulfed her.

This time, Qin Ruqing was very calm.

She knew that the Boundary Between Life and Death was over, and it was time for the next challenge.

When the darkness receded, what appeared before Qin Ruqing was a pile of shimmering gemstones as tall as a small mountain.

No, not gemstones—these were top-grade attribute-less spirit stones, meaning they could absorb any attribute.

Wow!

Qin Ruqing was stunned.

She blinked several times and quickly walked to the mountain of top-grade spirit stones, wanting to touch them and feel their sharp edges.

Suddenly, she remembered something and quickly withdrew her hands.

An illusion trap! Qin Ruqing thought to herself.

She looked very serious.

This illusion had really hit her weakness: money and spirit stones!

Even though she was already wealthy, Qin Ruqing still cared a lot about this.

She was so rich that she only had money left, but she still felt it wasn’t enough.

Cultivation was expensive!

The further she progressed, the more rare and valuable resources she needed.

Plus, she had to support her large family.

If the Qin family advanced to the golden rank or even higher to the Celestial rank, it would require an unimaginable amount of wealth.

So, a mountain of top-grade attribute-less spirit stones—heavens—even an Celestial Families couldn’t produce so many.

Qin Ruqing was in love!

Even though she realized the scene before her might be fake, she was still thinking about how she could touch the spirit stone mountain.

Even a touch would be nice.

Just as she thought that, a piece of top-grade spirit stone appeared in her hand, and the spirit stone mountain tilted and collapsed, with some stones falling softly at her feet and some hitting her gently, as if hugging her.

Oh my!

Qin Ruqing held her breath and touched the top-grade spirit stone.

The edges were a bit sharp, indicating it was freshly mined and not yet polished, but it radiated a natural beauty that only money could have.

It felt really nice.

Ah! Qin Ruqing had never before encountered a top-grade, attribute-less spiritual stone.

The only one she had was a top-grade fire-attribute spiritual stone, a reward from a previous system lottery.

Before she could enjoy it, the spiritual stone suddenly disappeared from her hand.

Qin Ruqing’s heart sank.

What followed was like a row of dominoes: the collapse of the first stone triggered a chain reaction, with spiritual stones disappearing one after another in front of her eyes, until they were completely gone.

Qin Ruqing’s heart ached—her money was gone!

She tried to grab it, even using her spiritual energy to seal part of it, but it was all in vain.

The scene was like a dramatic breakup between a miser and his money—tragic and painful.

In the end, it was all gone. Qin Ruqing sat down on the ground, barely restraining herself from cursing.

She knew it was an illusion, but it still felt real.

If the final scene was meant to be a farewell, why did it have to appear at all?

Moaning inwardly, Qin Ruqing noticed the scene before her starting to change again.

With tears in her eyes, she turned and saw a wall covered in white flowers.

She touched it; it felt soft and sticky—quite strange.

Looking up with a mix of confusion and slight discomfort, she saw a large, plump insect, about the size of an adult man. It was soft, wriggling, and white with spots…

Realizing what it was and recalling her recent touch, Qin Ruqing’s eyes widened in horror, and she was covered in goosebumps.

Oh no!

Her soul nearly left her body!

Qin Ruqing jumped away, feeling something furry under her feet.

Looking down, she saw a massive spider, resembling a small hill, with countless eyes, eight legs covered in hairy fuzz.

She gasped, stumbling away from the spider’s fluffy abdomen.

The spider’s many crimson eyes followed her movements with a focused and eerie gaze.

The long-haired spider seemed to grow excited, its eyes flashing as it moved closer to Qin Ruqing, revealing a colorful caterpillar hidden behind it.

As Qin Ruqing took a closer look at her surroundings, she realized she was in a corridor-like cave.

The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered with countless, densely packed insects.

….

Qin Ruqing wanted to scream, but her hands moved faster than her voice, spraying a burst of golden fire that instantly cleared the insects in front of her.

She looked at her hands and said, “Wow, my flames now move faster than my thoughts.”

Thinking she had cleaned up the insects, she noticed they weren’t completely gone. Instead, they doubled, then quadrupled, and their numbers kept increasing…

Qin Ruqing froze for a second, then started running out of the cave.

She couldn’t stay in this ghostly place for even a second longer.

To an outsider, Qin Ruqing’s experience appeared as if she was just standing in a dark space, surrounded by thick black mist that covered half of her body but couldn’t rise further.

A voice commented, “She feels fear, but not enough fear. She seems to stay clear-headed, her emotions just a facade.”

Daju, who hadn’t left, looked at the Fifth Lingyu in confusion, “How does she do it?”

The Fifth Lingyu sat on one knee by the edge of Hell Path’s cliff, one hand resting on his raised leg, idly playing with a copper bell.

Occasionally, he struck it, and it emitted a clear, ancient “clang” sound.

Each time, the Fifth Lingyu would smile, seemingly finding amusement in the sound.

Feeling good, he answered Head Director Daju, “Fire.”

Just two words, but Daju understood, “Indeed, her magical fire seems to strongly suppress evil spirits.”

“But it’s still surprising. If she had any deep-seated fears, the fire alone couldn’t resist the dark realm’s erosion.”

“You had a hard time passing this test back then, didn’t you? And it seems she’s handling it more smoothly,” the large footed figure said candidly.

From his position, the large footed figure couldn’t see the slight downturn of the Fifth Feather’s mouth.

But this subtle emotion was quickly overshadowed by the changes around Qin Ruqing.

The thick mist that had been floating around her suddenly began to rise rapidly.

If the mist completely engulfed a trial-taker, they would become a soulless puppet, as their soul would be forever lost in the dark realm.

The Fifth Lingyu’s phoenix eyes stared intently at Qin Ruqing, and he stopped playing with the copper bell.

Suddenly, a divine wave surged from Qin Ruqing, violently shaking and shattering all the black mist clinging to her.

The mist dispersed, the darkness vanished, and the bright sky appeared.

The Hell Path was passed.

Head Director Daju exclaimed in amazement, “What did she encounter?”

Encounter what?

If Qin Ruqing were to answer, she would just frown and say briefly:

It was just that this broken illusion had run out of ideas and brought up some of her unhappy past experiences for her to relive.

And it tried to show her the destruction of the hard-earned things she had in this life.

Cliche! Boring!

Qin Ruqing’s mind burned with a golden flame, her eyes shining like the sun.

Throughout, she… Qin Ruqing was fully awake, deeply feeling the fear this illusion had instilled in her.

However, when the illusion reached its final scene, she was truly enraged.

It wasn’t a hidden anger revealed by the illusion but rather anger at having her deeply held beliefs questioned.

Qin Ruqing spoke clearly to the dark space before her:

“The ones I love will love me in return.”

“I am as firm in this belief as I am in believing in myself.”

“This is the biggest flaw in this illusion—some things are not meant to be tested. If there is an intention behind this space, I hope you refine it.”

“You’re getting it wrong.”

As soon as Qin Ruqing finished speaking, the dark space trembled violently, twisting and seemingly teleporting her out.

Qin Ruqing opened her eyes to find herself standing at the base of the cliff in the path of hell, but there was no colorful sea before her.

Was it over?

Had she returned to the beginning?

Indeed, the initial white stone monument appeared with the inscription:

“Path of Hell, Dark Domain, Survival Assessment, Heavenly Grade!”

After leaving her name again, Qin Ruqing saw the original inscriptions on the stone monument disappear and slowly be replaced by new text:

“Path of Hell, Ended!

Reward: Heavenly Grade Token, Ancient Xuan Crystal, Will of Life and Death.”

Ancient Xuan Crystal—Qin Ruqing touched her pouch and realized this was one of the Heavenly Grade rewards.

But why had she been given it earlier?

As she wondered about this, a light orb appeared on the monument and gently floated into Qin Ruqing’s hand.

She looked at it and found a token made of what seemed to be bronze, engraved with ancient patterns and the words “Heavenly Grade” in the center.

What puzzled her was that the patterns did not resemble the Fifth Family’s emblem, nor did the token have any Fifth Family’s markings.

Aside from the token, Qin Ruqing did not find her other reward, the Will of Life and Death.

Thinking about it, she tentatively infused spiritual energy into the token and was suddenly struck by a sense of near-death killing intent.

Qin Ruqing’s body tensed, her spiritual sense quickly withdrawing, but her eyes shone with excitement.