There was no sense of weightlessness, no feeling of deceleration-Gray Fox’s technical prowess was evident in these details, as if the Cicada Transformation Chamber hadn’t even been activated.

Yet when the chamber door opened, what appeared before Ashe was merely an unfamiliar underground palace. The damp air carried a faint musty scent, and the pure white stone pathway seemed to be seamlessly formed without a single crack. The golden dome above was dazzling yet not ostentatious.

The Trial was still a Trial; nothing had changed.

But the person who could share a toast with him-one to their homeland, one to their past-was no longer there. From now on, he was left with only the distant horizon and tomorrow.

Ashe drew his blade and stepped out of the Cicada Transformation Chamber. His footsteps on the water-soaked white stone sent ripples across the surface as he charged toward Silver Lantern, who had just emerged from her own chamber!

Clang!

There were no spirits, no miracles, yet within seconds, the two had exchanged dozens of attacks and defenses. The Honey Sword passed between their hands, water splashed in all directions, and their movements became almost impossible to track.

They seemed like mortal enemies, each strike aimed to kill; yet they were also the closest of friends, their understanding of each other so profound that no matter how fierce or devastating the attacks, neither could inflict even the slightest harm.

Though there was no clear physical sensation, both deeply realized in that moment that their Twin was truly gone.

Because the power of the Twin had already flowed along the path of miracles and merged into their souls. The near-perfectly synchronized “dance of combat” they now performed was the clearest proof.

Before this, their senses could only foresee the “first layer of the future.” For example, Ashe could predict what Vesser would do next, and Vesser could predict Ashe’s next move. They would then adjust their actions accordingly, only to continue predicting again.

Because they constantly had to adapt their decisions, they would end up in mutual destruction, as they could still outmaneuver each other by complicating the other’s choices, catching them off guard.

But now, both Ashe and Vesser felt they could fully “see the future.”

The future they saw had already factored in the fact that “the other could also see the future.” After countless overlapping decisions, their foresight converged into a perfect spiral. No matter how intense or ferocious their battle became, they could not harm each other.

In a daze, they realized they were no longer just seeing the future-they were approaching something closer to…

Weaving fate.

They both saw that neither would die in this struggle, and so, they would not be injured.

Almost simultaneously, Ashe and Vesser stopped their movements. Ashe then took three steps back, putting distance between them.

When both of them could see the future clearly, there was no longer a need to maintain a safe distance. Even if they stood shoulder to shoulder, neither could assassinate the other. No amount of physical distance could provide the same sense of security as the certainty of knowing what lay ahead.

Ashe’s actions were merely a gesture to express his stance.

So Vesser walked up to him with ease, her voice even carrying a rare hint of amusement. “For a moment, did you wish it was all just a delusion?”

“We’re creatures like that. When we’re sad and hurt, we wish it was all just a nightmare, that we’d wake up and nothing would be lost. When we’re happy, we fear it’s all just a beautiful dream, that we’d wake up and nothing would remain.”

“Only eternity is unafraid of loss. Only eternity can possess everything. Even if you kill me, what then? What’s lost won’t come back.”

“That’s the sorrow of living in a delusion.”

Ashe stared at the person hidden behind the fox mask. “Are you that afraid of death, Silver Lantern?”

Vesser let out a mocking laugh, as if she’d heard a joke. “Afraid of death?”

“It’s precisely because you’re afraid that you’re so stubbornly fixated on the journey after death, even going so far as to romanticize it, to pray for it,” Ashe said. “But who isn’t afraid? After all, death can take away everything tangible. Someone like you, who has nothing, would naturally try everything to escape it.”

“But we’re different,” he continued. “Love, respect, friendship, longing… the treasures we possess can’t be diminished by death. Our bonds will pierce through the veil of death and keep us connected.”

The effects of the Cicada Transformation were almost imperceptible.

If Ashe hadn’t known about the Cicada Transformation, he might have mistaken the enhancement of his senses as the result of his own hard work. Fortunately, he was aware of all the silent sacrifices, so he could remember that the thoughts of the Twin flowed through his blood and bones.

“What’s the point of your high-and-mighty nonsense, something only those who survive are qualified to say?” Vesser sneered. “If you had the chance to keep your other half alive, would you give it up? You tried to kill me just now because I took one of the spots, didn’t you? You were furious, thinking I robbed him of the chance to live-but am I just supposed to die up there for you? I didn’t force you into this Trial!”

Ashe looked at her in silence and finally nodded. “You’re right. You didn’t do anything wrong just now. I was just taking my anger out on you. What I said earlier was just something I heard from a necromancer-words the living use to comfort themselves in mourning…”

“But you rushed into the Cicada Transformation Chamber, while I was placed inside,” Ashe said softly, wiping his eyes. “That’s the difference between you and me.”

Vesser had originally planned to use this opportunity to torment Ashe.

Guilt, anger, despair, melancholy, sorrow, fear-anything would do. Even if he wanted to fight her for three days and nights, she didn’t care. She wanted to see Ashe break down, preferably with his face twisted in rage or tears streaming from his eyes. If he cursed her, even better.

Wasn’t I your best outlet? Pour out all your negative emotions in front of your enemy. Let me see how pitiful, how ugly, how despairing, how… endearing you are when fate tortures you.

What she hated the most was this attitude of seeing the truth of fate, accepting it calmly, and continuing to love life.

“You really are a despicable person,” she said.

“Likewise,” Ashe replied.

Continuing to fight was meaningless now. They decided to begin the final Trial. Once the Trial determined the victor, life and death would naturally follow.

The pure white pathway led deep into the palace. Strangely, there was water flowing along the path, reaching up to their ankles. It wasn’t due to the palace being old and allowing an underground river to seep through-the anti-slip treatment on the floor made it clear that the water was an integral part of the palace’s design.

They looked back. The Cicada Transformation Chamber was at the very beginning of the white pathway, with a dead end blocked by a wall behind it. On the wall was a massive carved cicada pattern. Having come this far, even without seeing any documents or records, they could vaguely guess from the hall’s name that this Trial might have some connection to the Circle Cicada Demi-God of the Fire Cat Divine Era.

Ashe and Vesser walked side by side along the stone pathway. It was amusing-these two, who would always fight to the death whenever they met, could now walk forward calmly together. Not because they were about to reconcile, but because they knew the end was near.

The palace’s terrain sloped downward the deeper they went, with the starting point being the highest elevation. The water flowed downward from the beginning. At regular intervals, four white support pillars appeared.

Vesser didn’t pay much attention to it, but Ashe felt a sense of familiarity: the white pathway, the white pillars, the golden dome-this combination felt like something he had seen before…

Soon, they noticed something unusual-statue pedestals began to appear along the sides of the corridor!

One statue sat on a stone throne, its appearance unremarkable, but its clothing immediately caught Ashe and Vesser’s attention: it was wearing the exact same combat attire they were wearing now!

These were statues of past Trial Takers!

Their first thought was that the previous Trial Takers had been turned to stone. Was this Divine Fire Trial just a scheme to harvest lives?

But beneath the pedestal was a badge for the Trial Taker: “Blanchard Misty White, legendary sorcerer, specializing in the Physical Sect.”

Seeing this, both of them felt a hint of confusion. It wasn’t unusual for Trial Takers to be deceived, but a legendary sorcerer? Could even they fall victim to such a trap?

At this moment, Vesser’s strengths finally had a chance to shine-when faced with something that might be a living being, she didn’t hesitate to slap it, completely unconcerned with what might be inside.

However, the statue remained unharmed by her attack. Instead, ripples spread across the stone floor. They quickly realized this was a kinetic transfer miracle-any attack on the statue would be transferred and distributed across the ground.

Even though their current combat prowess could easily surpass that of a two-wings sorcerer, shattering the earth with bare hands was beyond their capability. Even someone like Raven Annihilation might not be able to do it… or perhaps even he couldn’t.

They continued forward and found that both sides of the corridor were densely lined with statues, and every single one of them belonged to a legendary sorcerer-not a single Sanctuary-level figure among them! At this point, even Vesser couldn’t believe the statues contained real people. Dozens of legendary sorcerers all deceived and turned into stone statues? As if legendary sorcerers didn’t have access to miracles like prophecy, Truth, and fate! If they couldn’t resist danger, couldn’t they at least foresee it?

But this Divine Fire Trial was supposed to be for 16 people at a time, with at least 15 being consumed each time. Could it be that during the Gray Fox Divine Era, Sanctuary-level figures were as common as dogs, and legendary sorcerers were treated as expendable resources?

However, Vesser soon realized the flaw in her reasoning: the fact that the victors were legendary sorcerers didn’t mean the other Trial Takers were too. It was more likely that 15 ordinary people and 1 legendary sorcerer participated, with the ordinary people being sacrificed to help the legendary sorcerer complete the Trial Ritual.

In other words, these statues were probably just decorative, like a hall of honor… right?

Ashe thought of another possibility: “What if they suddenly come back to life and turn us into statues too?”

“Impossible,” Vesser said calmly. “Time is the most potent poison. People can forget things even after a night’s sleep. These statues have been here for at least two hundred years. If someone truly slept for two centuries before waking up, they’d probably forget who they were entirely. They might even have to relearn how to crawl from scratch…”

Both of them fell silent. Ashe wondered why he had even spoken, while Vesser questioned why she had bothered to respond.

After walking for ten minutes, they finally reached the end of the palace corridor.

There stood a pedestal holding a torch, its flame burning with a rainbow divine fire that shifted between blazing white, deep blue, and pale purple. The moment they saw the torch, their senses began to wildly predict the future. In the overlapping visions of countless possible decisions, they saw the same scene: they touched the divine fire, and their bodies burst into flames of different colors, resonating with the Virtual Realm, transforming them completely into divine fire seeds!

But it wasn’t just a vision. The moment they foresaw the future, the divine fire had already begun to burn them.

Ashe and Vesser’s expressions changed drastically. They immediately understood the bizarre design of this Trial-how outrageous! The divine fire didn’t require physical contact. As long as they ‘touched’ it in their sensory predictions, the fire would travel along their perception and ignite them directly!

The medium of the divine fire wasn’t matter, sight, or sound-it was perception!

No wonder the Trial required two people to reach the final stage. If there was only one person, they might use something like a sleeve to test and predict cautiously. But with two people, especially rivals, the first prediction would inevitably involve rushing forward to fully touch the divine fire, triggering this mechanism!

There was no way to escape the divine fire now. They could only watch as their skin turned transparent, burning with an otherworldly glow. In an instant, they both became human-shaped flames of colored glass, and then-

As the last trace of divine fire receded into their bodies, Ashe turned to look at Silver Lantern. Her Mask was untouched, and even her clothes were intact. It seemed the divine fire didn’t burn tangible objects.

He focused on sensing his own state and found that his soul hadn’t changed much either. His spirits were still asleep as usual, though his soul felt more solid, and the spirits seemed to be sleeping even more soundly.

Was this the final Trial? No lost limbs, no fried brains, not even a combat phase?

Unbelievable. If it wasn’t meant to harm anyone, why did it have to suddenly burn them like that?

But now that it was over…

Ashe turned to Vesser, his right hand tightening on the hilt of his sword, his gaze growing colder. Since he couldn’t find an opportunity to deal with Silver Lantern during the Trial, he’d have to fight her to the death.

Just then, a deafening rumble echoed from behind them. Ashe turned his head and saw the statues in the passageway beginning to crumble, shedding layers of dust as if something inside was stirring, ready to emerge into the light.

Strangely, he wasn’t particularly surprised. In fact, he felt a sense of relief-in a Trial filled with such eerie and sinister energy, the sudden appearance of a group of statues would have been more alarming if they didn’t pose a threat. If he didn’t have to fight them, that would have been the real shock.

“Hmph.”

Ashe turned to see Silver Lantern clutching herself tightly, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably. Though her fox mask hid her expression, it was clear she had fallen into a negative state, unable to maintain even a facade of composure.

Should he take advantage of her vulnerability?

The thought had barely crossed Ashe’s mind when his body, acting on its own, drew his sword and charged toward her. But in that instant, an unimaginable anomaly occurred.

He was swept back by a surge of golden water.

A golden sphere of water suddenly formed around Silver Lantern’s body and then exploded, unleashing an endless torrent of golden liquid that blasted Ashe away, his malicious intent thwarted.

But it wasn’t just Silver Lantern. All the statues around them also burst open, releasing a surging flood of golden water that quickly filled the palace passageway, forming a raging river.

However, instead of flowing toward the torch pedestal at the bottom of the palace, the golden river reversed course, rushing upward toward the starting point where the Cicada Transformation Chamber was located!

Caught in the torrent, Ashe and Vesser collided, their eyes meeting in mutual shock and fear.

These golden waters, seemingly endless and without a source-how could high-tier sorcerers like them not recognize them?

This was the water of the Golden Flow, a wonder of the Virtual Realm from the Time Continent!

At that moment, Ashe noticed something strange-why was it that Silver Lantern and the statues were all releasing the waters of the Golden Flow, while he remained unaffected?

But he quickly deduced the answer: the only connection between reality and the Virtual Realm was the Gate of Truth. Silver Lantern and the statues must have their Gates of Truth linked to the Golden Flow, turning them into nodes that channeled its waters.

As for him? He didn’t have a Gate of Truth at all.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay