"Eeny... meeny... miny..."
"MOE!"
Xu Lu stopped chanting and looking in the direction where her finger was pointing. Her index finger landed on the middle corridor.
The one with the ominous fang.
The saintess looked at her finger.
Then she looked at the corridor.
"MOE!" Xu Lu yelled again and this time she shifted her finger so that she was now pointing at the entranceway with the white horn painted above it.
No one needed to know the truth.
Xu Lu unsheathed her blade and then walked through the leftmost entranceway. She frowned slightly as she walked further inside the darkened passageway.
The ground beneath her feet rumbled and a loud screeching noise came from behind her.
Xu Lu turned around and saw that the entrance to the corridor was now blocked by an unknown sheet of metal.
She retraced her steps and tried to break through the metal using her sword qi but her blade only scratched its surface.
She was now trapped with no way to move except forward.
"Shit..." Xu Lu cursed under her breath.
Okay... maybe this was all part of the 'trials' that the mysterious sand creature had mentioned.
Xu Lu seeing no other option decided to proceed forward into the depths of the underground.
The tunnel was illuminated by brightly coloured torches and Xu Lu found her eyes drifting towards the blue flames.
There was something strange about the lights.
Xu Lu stretched out her hand towards one of the torches but could not feel any warmth coming from the flames.
Instead traces of frost began to appear on her skin.
It was quite a bizarre sight.
Xu Lu withdrew her hand and continued to walk all the while searching for any threats or sources of danger.
She stepped around a strange looking rock and peered closely at the ground to see if there were any tripwires or traps.
Perhaps she was being too careful since she walked for the next twenty minutes without seeing anything special.
Finally, the tunnel opened up into a large, exposed space where dozens of stalactites hung from the ceiling.
Below the brown mineral pillars were deep dark pools of water.
The water inside the pools was inky black and Xu Lu could see ripples forming on its surface.
Something was swimming through the darkness...
There was a path straight through the room, but the trail went directly through several of the deep pools.
Xu Lu placed her sword on the ground and slowly directed the qi inside her dantian towards her weapon.
She wasn't sure if this was considered cheating, but she might as well give it a shot.
Her sword floated off the ground and Xu Lu stepped on its cold metallic surface. She almost lost her balance and fell but somehow managed to stay on.
"Okay... slow but steady..." Xu Lu whispered to herself as she wrapped her qi around her blade and directed her weapon to move forward.
The experience was like... extreme surfing.
At least that's the only way that Xu Lu could describe standing on a thin sheet of metal that was floating over pools of infinite darkness.
One misstep or loss of balance and she would go plunging into those murky depths.
Xu Lu tried her best to avoid looking down but still saw several figures darting through the waters.
The figures loosely resembled fish but Xu Lu was pretty certain that fish did not posses long skeleton-like arms.
The sword travelled across the room at a steady pace. Xu Lu did not relax a muscle on her body as she desperately tried to maintain her balance.
Don't fall... don't fall...
Perhaps the gods themselves had heard her prayers since Xu Lu managed to stay on her sword until she reached the other side.
Then... she fell off.
Xu Lu landed on the ground with a heavy thump and rubbed her back with a painful grimace hidden beneath her mask.
It wasn't the most graceful of landings but at least she was safe. Xu Lu grabbed her sword and absorbed the qi back into her body.
She glanced behind her and saw that the pools of water had now... vanished?
Xu Lu blinked twice in disbelief as the large underground space now had a completely solid floor made of dirt.
There were no traces of water.
"Nope... not going to investigate..." Xu Lu muttered quietly as she walked forward and through a small opening.
The tunnel was quite narrow and Xu Lu was forced to crawl on her hands and knees in order to move through the space.
Sharp stones and other pointy objects tore into her flesh as she moved through the tight passageway.
Her white robes soon became stained with blood and dirt as Xu Lu continued to crawl forward while ignoring the pain.
Her body's ability to regenerate ensured that she healed quickly from the wounds but could not make the blood disappear.
Xu Lu frowned as a particularly sharp rock dug into her chest. She winced as she used her right hand to pull out the embedded stone.
Blood spurted out of her injury and the crimson liquid stained another section of her robe.
By the time she got out of this place, Xu Lu assumed that she would look like a murderous ghost.
A red woman with traces of blood on her clothes.
Xu Lu crawled for what seemed like hours but all she was greeted with was more of the same scenery.
She could not tell how much time had passed since the test had begun. Time seemed to flow differently in this place.
Xu Lu stumbled over an object and looked down to see what appeared to be a silvery-grey key that was attached to a pendant.
She cautiously reached for the pendant and her fingers brushed against its cold hard surface. The pendant glowed slightly as if responding to her touch.
The saintess wrapped her fingers around the pendant and then lifted it up until it was eye level with her face.
The key attached to the pendant looked quite ordinary.
It was around the size of a key that one would usually use to open doorknobs. The only special aspect of the key was that it glowed slightly in the dark.
Xu Lu wasn't sure what to make of the object. Was it part of the test or had it been left behind by a previous participant?
Either way she placed the key in one of the pockets of her robe and continued forward.
Hopefully it wasn't a cursed object because that would probably not be good.
Finally Xu Lu spotted a light coming from the end of the tunnel that was so bright that she was forced to close her eyes.
The harsh white glare was blinding as if a spotlight had been placed at the end of the tunnel and someone was shining it inside at full blast.
Xu Lu crawled forward half blind and used her hands to carefully navigate her way towards the light source.
Her fingers eventually touched air and Xu Lu crawled her way out of the hole. She opened her eyes and the light was gone.
"Welcome brave one," a soft melodic voice came from somewhere in front of her. Xu Lu turned in the direction of the noise and saw... quite the sight.
A giant yellow egg was in the corner of the room surrounded by a makeshift nest that was made from rare gems and jewels.
"Ahh! Don't stare at me so directly," the melodic voice teased flirtatiously.
Xu Lu stared in shock as the egg wriggled from side to side as if it was embarrassed.
What the hell...
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