Lin Qingyue's response was crisp and decisive.
"Alright."
These two words were spoken with the brightness of spring, without a hint of shadow, like a junior genuinely seeking guidance from a senior.
The smile on Daoist Xuanming's face warmed by another three degrees, even carrying a hint of an elder's gratification.
He stepped aside, clearing the path for Lin Qingyue, and made a "please" gesture, his posture truly that of a Grandmaster.
"You young friends are exceptionally talented and must have unique insights. Why not all give it a try? We can learn from you as we watch from the side."
This statement was flawlessly phrased, both praising Lin Qingyue and her companions while also giving himself a perfectly valid reason to observe.
"Then we will show our poor skills."
Lin Qingyue smiled faintly, gesturing for her teammates to choose first.
Lin Xiyue raised her head, looking like a reckless newborn calf unafraid of tigers, and strode purposefully to the edge of the chessboard.
Su Wan and Xia Lian also dispersed, each choosing the "book" and the "painting" as their objects of study.
The four of them seemed to scatter casually, but their positions quietly formed a formation that allowed them to support each other.
Lin Xiyue looked down at the bizarre endgame on the chessboard, her brow furrowed in a look of "I don't understand this, but I am deeply shocked."
"This thing is way too complicated."
She muttered, her voice neither too loud nor too soft, just enough for the "Daoists" beside her to hear.
"I feel like every line is mocking my intelligence."
Behind Xuanming, Daoist Xuanzhen, who had failed his challenge of the chessboard, had now recovered some of his color.
He took the initiative to step forward, standing beside Lin Xiyue, and began to offer guidance with an enthusiastic tone.
"Young lady, this game is called 'Exquisite,' and it hides a deadly killing intent."
"Look at this Tianyuan stone. It seems isolated and without help, but in reality, it is a hidden arrow ready to be fired."
"By common sense, one should first stabilize the star point in the lower right corner to form a pincer formation with it, only then will there be a glimmer of hope for survival."
His guidance was precise down to the specific position, with clear logic and a well-organized structure, even more detailed than a paid tutorial.
Lin Xiyue took a deep breath and hugged a black chess piece the size of a millstone with both arms.
Her pretty face turned red as she strained, the muscles in her arms under the runic plate armor bulging in chunks, and she had to use all her strength just to barely lift the chess piece off the ground.
"Yikes! This thing is really heavy!"
She complained, stumbling toward the chessboard with a posture that seemed as if she would drop the piece on her own foot in the next step.
Daoist Xuanzhen "kindly" reminded, "Young friend, this object cannot be handled by brute force alone. You must draw upon your own Qi to resonate with the chess piece..."
Before he even finished speaking, Lin Xiyue had already "slipped," thumping the chess piece heavily onto an empty spot on the board.
Thud!
A dull, heavy sound echoed.
The runes on the entire chessboard dimmed for an instant, and that cold voice rang out without any emotion:
[ Disordered move, stupid as a cow, rejected. ]
A gentle yet irresistible force pushed Lin Xiyue back.
She landed on her bottom with a thud, rubbing her wrist and grimacing.
"Ouch, no, no, this job is too delicate, it's not for me."
The contempt in the depths of Xuanming and the others' eyes flashed by in an instant, yet they still offered a few gentle words of comfort on the surface.
On the other side, Su Wan walked to the blank scroll.
She extended her slender fingers, a wisp of extremely fine ice crystal swirling at her fingertips, analyzing the energy structure contained within the clouds and mist at the edge of the scroll, her expression focused and her brow slightly furrowed.
A Daoist named Xuanmiao stepped forward slowly, stroking his beard as he offered guidance.
"This is the 'Heart-Querying Scroll.' Young lady, the focus is not on artistic skill, but on intent."
"You must immerse your soul within it, using your purest will to outline the truest scene in your heart."
"Remember, there must be no falsehood whatsoever..."
He paused halfway, glancing pointedly at the lingering ripples of spiritual energy on the ground.
Every piece of advice was as precise as if he were reading from an instruction manual.
Xia Lian wandered through the courtyard, occasionally glancing at the giant brush and touching the ancient zither, her expression filled with curiosity and awe, perfectly playing the role of a scout just tagging along.
Lin Qingyue took all of this in, and that faint sense of wrongness in her heart was now amplified into a piercing alarm.
Feng Yan had said that the Azure Dragon was extremely arrogant, regarding his own rules as the ultimate truth of heaven and earth.
For such a being, his trials would only have one set of judging criteria: his own.
He would consider his "Four Arts" to be the most elegant art in the universe, the sole benchmark for measuring wisdom and spiritual realm.
How could He possibly accommodate a group from the "Ena Immortal Alliance" by specially designing a "Four Arts" trial that just happened to exist in their cultural system?
This wasn't a trial.
This was a custom-made trap.
And these five Daoists before her were as familiar with this set of questions as if they were their own household furnishings.
They weren't here to solve the problem.
They were the ones who set the problem.
Or rather, they were the directors on this stage, responsible for guiding the prey into the play.
Having figured this out, Lin Qingyue decided to add fuel to the fire.
She walked over to Daoist Xuanming, who was still sighing in frustration over his "narrow defeat," her face wearing a perfectly timed expression of concern and sympathy.
"Daoist, I heard you say just now that you accidentally entered this realm while hunting the Extraterrestrial Lust Demon and got separated from Fellow Daoist Yun Che and the others. You must be very anxious."
She paused, her tone filled with sincere condolences.
"Being trapped in this Dungeon for over a year, you've truly suffered."
Daoist Xuanming immediately got into character, stroking his long beard and letting out a long sigh. The weariness and helplessness in his eyes were so profound he could have won an Oscar.
"Yes... for over a year now, we've been sleeping rough, living in constant fear. Thank goodness they are safe..."
"Now I worry even more for the other scattered disciples. I wonder where they are and if they are well... Sigh."
His acting was flawless, his emotions rich and sincere, filled with an elder's affection and concern for his juniors.
However, Lin Qingyue's lips curved into a cold, amused smile at an angle no one could see.
A flash of clarity, seeing through everything, flickered in her pink eyes.
Over a year?
She remembered it clearly.
In the previous Dungeon, the true Ena Immortal Alliance disciple, Yun Che, had said with his own mouth that they were separated from their sect elders because the Dungeon suddenly formed, tearing them away from the Main World.
And that Dungeon had existed for no more than half a year in total!
This "Shadow of the Ancient God" Dungeon had already existed for over a year.
How could people who were separated only half a year ago have been trapped here for "over a year"?
Unless they could travel through time.
This was a fatal logical flaw that no excuse could cover up!
The conclusion was already obvious.
This "Xuanming" before them was not Yun Che's elder at all!
They had simply used some means to spy on their memories, or read some information when they entered this area, and then just played along with the ruse!
These guys, from head to toe, were all fakes!
They were the trap itself!
Lin Qingyue's killing intent was already decided, but on the surface, she remained completely unperturbed.
She raised her hand, seemingly casually gathering her obstructive long pink hair and tying it into a high ponytail with a hairband.
The movement was efficient and unrestrained.
But in the eyes of Lin Xiyue, Su Wan, and Xia Lian, this was the highest-level combat warning signal their team had agreed upon long ago.
"Prepare to strike, fight to the death."
In an instant, the three women's nerves were stretched to the absolute limit.
Lin Xiyue, who was still feigning injury on the ground, paused slightly in rubbing her wrist. Beneath her Runic Plate Armor, the Holy Light was already surging silently within her body like lava about to erupt.
The chilling frost swirling around Su Wan's fingertips instantly converged inward, condensing into microscopic ice crystals invisible to the naked eye, camouflaging the surrounding magic fluctuations into a deceptive calm. In reality, it was the eve of a storm.
Xia Lian's figure seemed to grow even fainter under the shadow of the giant brush in the courtyard corner, as if merging completely with the darkness.
The expressions of the three women showed no trace of change, still maintaining their original states.
But the accumulated energy and tense killing intent had already formed a lethal vortex beneath the calm surface.
They trusted their Captain's judgment one hundred percent.
Since the Captain had sent the signal, these seniors before them, who looked so immortal and scholarly, were sworn enemies with whom they could never share the sky.
Combat preparations, completely silently, were complete.