Lin Qingyue's teasing remark caused the expressions of Lin Xiyue and the other two to instantly become a vivid spectacle.
What did she mean, "Rules are used to screen for who is qualified to break them"?
This twisted logic sounded heretical, yet it was damned true.
They watched as Lin Qingyue, holding the magnificent Vermilion Bird Fire Feather, strolled leisurely into the forest that had once treated their probes like a virus and expelled them ruthlessly, her back exuding ease and comfort.
It felt less like breaking through a trial and more like returning home.
Lin Xiyue, in particular, rubbed her still-aching backside, feeling like she had been played.
"Let's go, why are you still standing there?"
Lin Qingyue turned back, winking mischievously.
"If you don't move, be careful the barrier judges you for 'idling on the spot, obstructing the view,' and throws in a complimentary 'stamped into the ground' package."
These words had tremendous destructive power.
The three of them shuddered all over, immediately snapped awake from their daze, and quickly followed her.
The moment they stepped into the barrier, the omnipresent sense of cold order vanished.
In its place was the fragrance of grass and trees soaking into their lungs, and a scholarly aura that calmed the mind.
The magnificent aura of life no longer kept them a thousand miles away but transformed into a gentle breeze that lightly caressed their cheeks, allowing every pore to relax.
"Whew..."
Lin Xiyue let out a long sigh of turbid air, her heart still pounding from the lingering fear.
"I'm alive. Just now, I really felt like a bug waiting to be processed in a computer. Taking an extra breath might have caused a system Blue Screen of Death."
A path paved with complete bluestone slabs wound forward beneath their feet, disappearing deep into the dense forest.
The two sides of the path were no longer the towering ancient trees they had seen before, but a lush green bamboo forest.
The wind rustled the treetops, creating a refreshing sound.
The group walked along the path for about a hundred meters before the view suddenly opened up.
A vast courtyard, large enough to accommodate a whole army, appeared at the end of the bamboo forest.
The ground of the courtyard, like the entrance, was paved with smooth blue jade, but the aura here was no longer cold, but instead gentle as jade.
In the center of the courtyard, four colossal objects were displayed.
Their shapes were eighty or ninety percent similar to the "zither, go, calligraphy, and painting" esteemed by ancient scholars and literati of Earth.
Yet each one was magnified a thousand times.
In the east of the courtyard, an ancient zither lay horizontally.
The zither's body, dozens of meters long, emitted a gentle wooden glow. Its seven strings, as thick as a child's arm, had faint, dense arcs of electricity leaping across them. Just looking at it from a distance made one's eardrums ache.
"I suspect this thing doesn't play notes, but is a directional sonic cannon," Lin Qingyue commented, stroking her chin. "Its main theme is 'A Song to Break the Heart, Where in the World Can I Find the Ashes of a Soulmate'?"
In the west of the courtyard, a chessboard was placed.
On the chessboard, as large as a football field, the nineteen intersecting lines seemed to be the materialization of the laws of heaven and earth.
In the stone urns beside it, the black and white chess pieces, each the size of a millstone, were as heavy as mountains. Runes flashed upon them, as if each move would manipulate the providence of a region of heaven and earth.
"This isn't playing chess, this is waging war."
Lin Xiyue gestured.
"Every time a piece is placed, you have to shout 'Demacia' to get the full effect. If you lose, you can just swing a chess piece and smash the opponent, achieving a 'physical checkmate' in one go."
In the south of the courtyard, a giant brush hung upside down.
It more resembled a jade pillar connecting heaven and earth. The brush tip had condensed a ball of energy as viscous as chaos, rotating slowly. Wherever it passed, even space itself rippled.
"With this size, it would be more than enough to be Monkey King's Golden Cudgel."
Lin Qingyue marveled, clicking her tongue.
"And I suspect what it's dipped in isn't ink, but a miniature black hole? The kind where writing the character 'Demolish' on a mountain would instantly make the entire mountain vanish."
In the north of the courtyard, a painting scroll was unfurled.
The scroll was blank, yet mist swirled around its edges, like an unopened entrance to another world, emanating a sense of nihilism that devoured all light and color.
"Is this... a loading failure?" Xia Lian asked softly.
"No,"
Lin Qingyue immediately shook her head and corrected,
"This is the god-tier version of 'Your screen content cannot be displayed.' Until you paint something in it, you'll never know if it contains a peerless landscape or a '404 not found'."
These massive "Four Scholarly Arts" tools each radiated the ancient and majestic pressure of a deity.
It seemed this was the second trial set by the Azure Dragon.
Beside these massive trial grounds stood five old men wearing navy-blue Daoist robes, jade crowns on their heads, and holding horsetail whisks in their hands.
Each of them possessed an immortal and otherworldly aura, yet at this moment, they all had their brows furrowed, at a complete loss before the divine artifacts before them, their faces etched with frustration.
Seemingly sensing the presence of the newcomers, the white-bearded and white-haired old man at the front turned around.
His face was lean and clean-shaven. When he saw Lin Qingyue and her three companions, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, but it quickly turned into gentleness.
The old man took a few steps forward, holding his horsetail whisk, and performed a standard Daoist salute.
"Wuliang Tianzun. This poor Daoist is Xuanming, greeting you young friends."
Lin Qingyue returned the salute in kind, her attitude neither humble nor arrogant, while her gaze seemed to casually sweep over the familiar cloud patterns and Tai Chi diagram on his Daoist robe.
"Junior Lin Qingyue greets Daoist Xuanming."
She paused, as if asking a casual question.
"Judging by your attire, Daoist, are you from the Ena Immortal Alliance? Junior once had the chance to meet Fellow Daoist Yun Che of your Alliance elsewhere."
"Yun Che?"
The mask of gentleness on Daoist Xuanming's face instantly shattered, revealing a genuine look of surprise and concern.
"You've actually met my grand-disciple? He... is he alright?"
Lin Qingyue briefly recounted her encounter and parting with Yun Che and the others.
After confirming this connection, the atmosphere immediately became much more cordial.
Daoist Xuanming sighed, his expression turning exceedingly grave as he explained their purpose.
"It's a shame to say, but we were chasing an Extraterrestrial Lust Demon when we accidentally entered this realm. Unexpectedly, a cosmic upheaval occurred, and this realm was forcibly 'detached' from the Main World by a colossal power..."
"Yun Che and his party also became separated from us in that great chaos, and our connection to the outside world was severed along with it."
At this point, his face revealed deep confusion and helplessness.
"With no other choice, we followed old customs and came to visit the Lord Azure Dragon, with whom we share a friendship, hoping to find clues to leave this realm."
"However, we never imagined that the Forest of Jianmu, which once allowed us to pass freely, has now set up these unprecedented trials."
He pointed at the massive zither, go board, calligraphy, and painting, his tone heavy.
"This poor Daoist can be certain that two years ago, when our sect disciples came here for exchange, there were absolutely no such trials here."
A single sentence, like a bolt of lightning, tore through the fog in Lin Qingyue's mind!
It wasn't here two years ago!
And this Dungeon appeared just over a year ago!
The timing matched perfectly!
Feng Yan had said that the Celestial Gods of the Four Directions were the "antivirus software" created by this world to combat the Original Sins of the Ancient Gods.
Feng Yan corresponded to "Wrath"; she had already crashed due to occupational burnout and was rebooted by Lin Qingyue using the concept of "retirement."
As for the Azure Dragon, the keywords Feng Yan had given were "Erudition," "Stubbornness," and... "Pride"!
A supremely arrogant being suddenly decided one day that all visitors were unworthy of meeting him, so he set up these inconceivable trials.
The logic formed a perfect loop!
The time these trials appeared was likely the exact moment the Azure Dragon was completely corrupted by the Original Sin of "Pride," causing his mind to change drastically!
A more terrifying conclusion took shape in her mind: the Celestial Gods of the Four Directions had probably all been wiped out!
When the world's four most powerful antivirus programs all crashed or even turned malevolent due to virus infection...
Only then did the ultimate virus known as the "Shadow of the Ancient God" finally tear off its disguise and fully erupt, dragging the entire world into the abyss and transforming it into the massive Dungeon it is today!
This deduction was invaluable, allowing her to grasp the very nature of this Dungeon.
However, the trouble before them had not diminished in the slightest.
Lin Qingyue glanced at Daoist Xuanming and the others, who looked grim and troubled.
Even the experts from the Ena Immortal Alliance, who were masters of this Path, were completely halted by this otherworldly, god-level version of "Zither, Chess, Calligraphy, and Painting."
As for their group of modern people...
Lin Qingyue silently assessed the "artistic sensibilities" of her team.
The situation seemed quite dire.