Chapter 194: Escapade In The Starry Maze

The first group to enter the mystic realm were the representatives of the Buddhist Kingdom, and they led off with Qing Yan.

Within the Starry Maze, each step was a mystery.

Under normal circumstances, people with more powerful cultivation bases had a deeper understanding of Dao and therefore had a stronger Dao Heart as a result.

However, it varied from person to person at times. Some people could have extremely strong Dao Hearts at a younger age, so there were still many inconclusive factors at work.

Qing Yan put his palms together and set foot onto the floating stone path.

Through the crystalline screen, An Lin and the others could see that Qing Yan would pause with every step before continuing on, each step seemed to be quite difficult.

After walking for a while, a sheen of sweat began to appear on his forehead and he closed his eyes as he recited the Buddhist sutra to himself. His steps began to falter and become more and more strenuous until finally, he raised his heel off the ground, but his body trembled uncontrollably, and he could not take another step.

Sweat began to drip down into the river below, sending ripples which distorted the sea of stars above him.

Five minutes later, a flash of white light caused his body to slowly dissipate, and he reappeared on the stage.

Thump!

Qing Yan’s face was slightly red from exertion and his legs gave out from under him as he fell to his knees. It looked like he had just endured a grueling battle.

“Qing Yan, 56 steps, 5.6 points.” Celestial Immortal Yu Hua announced.

Immediately after this, it was Qing Xin’s turn to enter the mystic realm.

He performed a little worse than Qing Yan and only ended up advancing 52 steps for a score of 5.1 points.

Lastly, it was time for Qing Zhi to tackle the maze. His entrance was met with a hint of anticipation from everyone else.

Qing Zhi was the head representative of the Buddhist Kingdom. Apparently, he had cultivated in private in the Varicolored Stone Forest for twenty years, thus imbuing him with a pure and unclouded state of mind as well as an extremely firm Dao Heart.

Sure enough, he began to advance step by step after entering the maze, and although his progress was not very quick, each of his steps was solid and grounded, as if there were no temptations or illusions that could impede his footsteps.

After advancing to his fiftieth step, Qing Zhi saw green figure flash past atop a small hill.

Her clear and mellow singing flowed directly into his heart as she wore a light smile on her delicate, cute features and extended a slim hand towards him.

Qing Zhi did not think that he would see her in the Starry Maze, and his heart involuntarily shuddered.

“Stop always calling me benefactress, I have a name you know.”

“In the future, just call me Miss Xiu!” The girl in green smiled sweetly.

His eyes lost focus slightly. “Miss… Miss Xiu?”

Boom!

Something seemed to explode in his mind as his whole body trembled. His eyes pierced through the illusions like a set of sharps swords and he returned to the Starry Maze as a sheen of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

A rare expression of fear appeared on Qing Zhi’s face, but fortunately, his Dao Heart was strong enough to overcome the illusion.

He began to step forward yet again, but each subsequent step became exceedingly more difficult.

In the end, he stopped at the 67th step.

“Qing Zhi, 67 steps, 6.7 points!” Vice-Principal Yu Hua announced.

Qing Xin and Qing Yan were a little taken aback by this result.

Qing Zhi’s Dao Heart was renowned throughout the Buddhist Kingdom, so they had thought that he would be able to go at least seventy to eighty steps.

The Buddhist Kingdom received a total of 17.1 points for this segment.

Immediately following them were the three representatives from the Hall of Creation.

In the end, they only scored a total of 14.2 points.

Hong Dou with his self-proclaimed “heart as solid as stone” only managed 32 steps before he fell into the river below, causing An Lin to burst into raucous laughter.

When Hong Dou exited the mystic realm gasping for breath, he was greeted by the sight of An Lin laughing his ass off.

Their eyes met and An Lin immediately gave him a thumbs-up. “Rock golem Hong Dou is truly the strongest under the heavens!”

Hong Dou’s eyes widened with rage, and he almost spat out a mouthful of lava, but he didn’t dare to retaliate.

He had no choice, An Lin presented a nuclear threat after all…

Following this, the Garden of Eden representatives took the stage and received a middling score of 16.2 points.

Augus, who had the strongest cultivation base managed 63 steps, which was slightly below Qing Zhi, but it was still a great score.

Time passed by quickly, and it was time for the Heavenly Court representatives to take the stage again.

After some discussion, they decided to stick with the sequence of Wang Xuanzhan first, followed by Liu Qianhuan with An Lin rounding up the tail.

In the words of Wang Xuanzhan, An Lin was an extremely volatile element. If he went first, he could exert a lot of pressure on the rest of the team, so even if he was to pull some shenanigans, at least leave it until the end.

An Lin could only grimace at this, but he had no words to retaliate.

“I’ll make a good start for us!”

Wang Xuanzhan waved at the two of them confidently as he walked like a hero into the blue gate.

An Lin stared at his senior’s back, praying for a victorious return from the hero.

“Now, what obstacles will I encounter…”

Wang Xuanzhan appeared in the mystic realm, but confidence smile still lingered on his face.

Greed, lust, starvation, illness, extreme cold, a sea of fire… Wang Xuanzhan progressed through each and every obstacle in his way.

His footsteps were firm and confident as he walked along the stone path. His speed was perhaps even superior to that of Qing Zhi.

An Lin’s eyes lit up at the sight. Who knew that Wang Xuanzhan’s Dao Heart would be so firm. It looked like he could rely on him to carry the team.

On the 46th step, Wang Xuanzhan’s footsteps faltered slightly.

He saw An Lin…

Golden lightning flashed on An Lin’s right fist as a sinister smile appeared on his face. “Senior Wang, eat this, Nuclear Lightning Fist!”

Countless golden fist projections immediately began to rain down upon him with devastating power.

Wang Xuanzhan’s face twitched at the illusion in front of him.

Never would he have thought that sh*t like this would disrupt his Dao Heart.

However… this was not enough to scare him off!

“Break!”

He continued onward with firmness in his step as he cut through every illusion in front of him.

On the 60th step, Wang Xuanzhan saw a young man with delicate features looking toward him from over his shoulder, before turning back to face forward and continue onward.

“Chen Chen!” Wang Xuanzhan faltered again before chasing after the figure of the young man in front of him.

Suddenly, his heart throbbed, and he halted in his steps. No… he couldn’t go…

Wang Xuanzhan was showered in cold sweat, and his breathing became a frenzied panting. He almost failed just then…

This was a trauma that had always remained in his heart. Even now that he had reached Soul Formation Stage, he still could not wipe it away.

He continued onward, but each step seemed to be extremely arduous.

The students at the spectator stands stood up with their fists clenched anxiously as they stared up at the figure on the blue crystalline screen.

…63… He was close, very close to the mark that Qing Zhi had set…

When Wang Xuanzhan reached his 68th step, the crowd erupted in raucous cheers. This was already the highest individual score in the Dao segment of the competition.

At times, the might of one person could bring joy to everyone in the camp they represented. It showed that the finest talents the university had to offer were not inferior to any of the other three powers.

Wang Xuanzhan was still advancing, but his footsteps halted, and his pupils contracted on his 70th step.

He saw An Lin yet again…

This time, An Lin extended a finger toward him as an overwhelming sense of terror engulfed his body, causing him to tremble uncontrollably.

Those memories that he didn’t want to remember began to surface in his mind.

In the face of such absolute power, his eyes began to lose focus and his expression became vacant…

Finger of the Heavenly Dao!

In the face of this single finger, Wang Xuanzhan couldn’t take another step…

Five minutes later, his body dissipated into spots of white light and he was teleported out of the mystic realm.

“Wang Xuanzhan, seventy steps, seven points!” Vice-Principal Yu Hua announced.

This was the highest score for the segment and attracted another wave of raucous cheers from the students in the plaza.

Wang Xuanzhan wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead and was immediately greeted with the sight of that extremely familiar face.

An Lin ran over excitedly. “As expected of Senior Wang Xuanzhan, seventy steps is an amazing result.”

Wang Xuanzhan forced a smile onto his twitching face. “And it’s all thanks to you, An Lin.”

“Huh, all thanks to me?” An Lin did not understand what Wang Xuanzhan was referring to, and he blinked with a blank expression on his face.

Wang Xuanzhan did not want to speak to An Lin. He turned to Liu Qianhuan instead. “Liu Qianhuan, it’s up to you now, do your best!”

Liu Qianhuan giggled smugly as she puffed out her chest. “You can count on me, Senior Wang!”