97: Chapter 97 The Third Test

This long, narrow passage paved with starlight was chillingly silent.

As far as the eye could see, there was only the faint starlight extending forward beneath his feet, and the boundless, bottomless absolute darkness all around.

Su Wu walked along the starlight passage with steady steps.

As he walked, his brows gradually furrowed.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

From the moment he stepped into this starlight passage, an extremely subtle yet prickling sensation of being watched had silently crept into his heart.

"Why do I always feel... like something is watching me from the shadows?"

While maintaining a steady pace, Su Wu calculated coldly in his heart.

That feeling was as if a pair of hidden eyes were locked tightly onto his back.

Hum!

Without the slightest hesitation, Su Wu narrowed his eyes, and his Star Emperor Level Divine Thought, which had just recently transformed, instantly spread out like an invisible net, radiating from him into the surrounding Void Realm of Chaos!

Ten miles, one hundred miles, one thousand miles!

His massive Divine Thought swept like a radar, carpet-scanning the area, not letting go of any tiny energy fluctuation or anomaly.

However, the feedback he received was complete silence.

Apart from the starlight passage beneath his feet, the surrounding Void Realm was empty. There were no traces of any Formation, no fluctuations of life, and certainly no sign of that so-called "watcher."

"Could it be that I've been through too many trials, my mind is too tense, and I'm overthinking it?"

Su Wu shook his head slightly, forcibly suppressing this inexplicable sense of unease.

Since his Divine Thought couldn't detect anything, it was either an illusion, or the opponent's concealment methods or Realm far exceeded his current detection limit.

In the depths of this Secret Realm, suspected to have been left by an Ancient Domain Lord, nothing was surprising.

But the vigilance in his heart did not relax even a fraction.

On the contrary, the heaven and earth essence within Su Wu's body was already quietly operating to its limit, and the fourth-order peak-grade white dragon warblade was in a state of readiness to be drawn at any moment.

Just like that, bearing that faint, lingering sensation of being watched, he continued walking towards the front of the passage.

About another half an hour passed.

The endless darkness was finally broken.

At the end of the starlight passage, a massive ball of white light appeared.

The white light hovered at the break in the passage, like a small, white sun, emitting a soft yet mysterious halo. Apart from this ball of white light, the passage had completely ended, and there were no other paths around.

This was the only way forward.

Su Wu slowed his steps, gradually approaching the ball of white light.

Ten meters, five meters, three meters.

The closer he got, the more solemn Su Wu's expression became.

Because he was astonished to discover that as his distance from the white light shortened, the Soul Sea in his mind began to surge violently and uncontrollably!

His Soul Sea was agitated!

It was an indescribable feeling of palpitation, as if hidden within that white light was some mysterious power capable of resonating with his Soul Origin, or even directly acting upon his Soul. This power was frantically pulling at him, tempting him to step inside.

"A trial targeting the Soul?"

Su Wu stopped one step away from the white light, his gaze cold.

The first two trials: the first tested the Physical Body, the second tested the Law attributes. This third trial, targeting the Soul and will, made perfect logical sense.

However, that instinctive sense of unease grew stronger and stronger.

Su Wu took a deep breath of cold air, a flash of resolute ruthlessness appearing in his eyes.

"Wealth is sought in danger. Since I've come this far and even obtained the fifth-order ancient martial art, there's no reason to give up halfway!"

"I'd like to see what other tricks you, this Ancient powerhouse, have left behind!"

Su Wu steeled his heart, no longer hesitating; he lifted his right foot and took a step, walking directly into the massive ball of white light.

Boom!

The moment he stepped into the white light, Su Wu felt a brilliant flare of light before his eyes!

The light was so blinding that even he couldn't keep his eyes open, and he could only instinctively close them. At the same time, an extremely intense sensation of spatial weightlessness and Soul detachment struck him instantly.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

As the blinding light gradually faded from his vision and the sensation of weightlessness receded, Su Wu slowly opened his eyes.

He discovered that he was no longer in that narrow starlight passage.

He was situated in an extremely strange, vast, and boundless space.

All around him was the deep, bottomless Void Realm of the Universe, but within this deathly silent void, countless brilliant stars were suspended densely.

Each star emitted a distinct and unique light—red, blue, purple... They intertwined to form a magnificent and dreamlike painting of the Universe.

Just as Su Wu was preparing to release his Divine Thought to explore this new space.

"Lowly native! How dare you defile the noble Bloodline of my God Race!"

"You and that bastard son of yours both deserve to be ground to dust!!!"

A roar filled with extreme arrogance and mixed with thunderous rage exploded without warning in Su Wu's ears, and even deep within his Soul!

This voice was too familiar.

It was so familiar that the moment Su Wu heard it, his blood seemed to flow backward, and his heart gave a violent spasm!

Su Wu looked up abruptly.

The scene of the starry sky before him suddenly underwent a violent distortion and transformation.

The brilliant stars disappeared, and the endless void receded.

Replacing them were dark clouds filling the sky, a pouring cold rain, and a day of thunder and lightning!

Beneath his feet was muddy ground. In front of him was a massive interstellar battleship, so large it blocked out the sky, hovering in mid-air and exuding a despair-inducing sense of oppression.

And at this moment, standing directly in front of Su Wu, looking down at him from a high position with a gaze like he was looking at a dead man, was a man wearing a magnificent God Race robe.

It was the very culprit who, more than twenty years ago, had forcibly torn apart his originally happy family, forcibly taken away Lin Waner, and crippled all his cultivation—that good elder brother of Lin Waner!

"An illusion, is it..."

After the initial shock, Su Wu's brows furrowed sharply.

He did not lose his reason. That massive Divine Thought, which had already stepped into the Star Emperor Realm, allowed him to see through the essence of what was before him in a very short time.

This third trial of Starfall Palace actually extracted the most obsessive memories from the depths of the trial-taker's Soul and materialized them, forming this incredibly realistic Soul illusion!

The pouring rain before him, the tactile sensation of the mud, and even the genuine, terrifying pressure of the Star Emperor Realm exuding from that "elder brother" were so real that it was impossible to tell them apart!

If the trial-taker could not see through the falsehood or collapsed in the face of their most fearful memory, their Soul would be trapped forever within this illusion, becoming a walking corpse.

"Heh..."

Looking at this self-important "elder brother" before him, Su Wu not only felt no fear at all, but the corners of his mouth instead curled into an extremely cold, even slightly violent sneer.

Although he knew clearly that this was an illusion.

Although he knew clearly that the "elder brother" before him was materialized and possessed the exact same Star Emperor Realm combat power as he did back then.

But, so what?!

Twenty years ago, he, Su Wu, was just an ant in the Grandmaster Realm, and in front of this Star Emperor, he didn't even have the qualifications to stand up.

But now, the times have changed!

Today's Su Wu, although his superficial Realm is only the Ninth-Stage Star King Realm.

But he possesses the Supreme Chaos Body, possesses the Four Symbols Origin attributes, and possesses the Star Emperor Level Divine Thought! His actual combat power, even when facing a real Star Emperor Realm, absolutely gives him the confidence to cut them down!