The colossal Rubik's Cube Realm seemed to jam, pausing for three breaths before turning again and throwing out a figure.
Clad in red, Qi Hong appeared above the Rubik's Cube Realm, eyes shut, black hair flying as he unconsciously circulated his art. Fire spiritual power surged around him. A moment later, an ancient black compass manifested at his side, its surface pulsing with a red sheen that flickered as if brewing an attack.
Late Unity pressure rolled outward from him in waves.
"Zūnshàng!" Jian Chong sensed the wrongness and turned to the woman beside him.
The instant Jian Dan noticed, she flashed across to face Qi Hong. With a sweep of both sleeves she gathered up every shred of his pressure and barked with power that struck straight at the Primordial Soul, "Qi Hong Daoyou, clear your mind. You have already left the trial realm."
Startled awake by that voice, Qi Hong snapped his eyes open. Scarlet murder flooded his gaze as he looked, expressionless, at Jian Dan hovering in the air.
Jian Dan said evenly, "Qi Hong Daoyou, this is Heavenly Sword Sect, not Artifact Sect. Put away your life-bound artifact. It would be ill if any of our disciples were harmed."
As she spoke, Meng Congjian and Jian Chong arrived to stand behind her, faces calm but ready to act at any instant.
A flicker of confusion crossed Qi Hong's phoenix eyes. He glanced around and realized he was still on Tianjian Peak's South Peak. With a beckon he recalled the compass into his body. Staring at the still-turning Rubik's Cube Realm, he murmured, "Dreamlike Illusory Rubik's Cube Realm."
Seeing he had fully stepped out of the trial, Jian Dan smiled. "Qi Hong Daoyou, come sit in the pavilion and steady your spirit. Trials always drain the sea of consciousness."
She raised a hand toward the octagonal pavilion where she and Jian Chong had sat moments before.
This time Qi Hong did not refuse. He drifted down into the Octagonal Pavilion. A white porcelain tea set sat on the jade table, the green-jade Bamboo Leaf spirit tea freshly steeped by Jian Chong.
"Hall Master, I checked. From his entry to his exit, the supreme-grade spirit vein lost a tenth," Meng Congjian said in a slightly aggrieved tone at Jian Dan's side.
Jian Dan arched a brow. "What is this, Meng Hall Master, did you not collect his trial fee?"
"We did."
"Then why the heartache?"
"He paid with a top-grade spirit vein, which is…" Meng Congjian still felt it was not the best bargain. There is a gap between top-grade and supreme-grade.
"So long as we profit, do not quibble. It makes us look small," Jian Dan said, ending the topic as she stepped into the pavilion.
Meng Congjian thought it over and nodded. They had not lost out. If Qi Hong entered again, he would certainly have to hand over another top-grade spirit vein.
Qi Hong showed no ceremony. He sat, lifted the pot, poured himself a cup, breathed the fragrance, then took a sip, another, a third, draining it before pouring again.
Jian Dan, Meng Congjian, and Jian Chong also sat. Watching Qi Hong's way of drinking, none pressed him. Jian Dan only turned her round fan idly, letting him settle.
"Jian Lu Daoyou, forgive my abruptness," Qi Hong said at last, meeting her star-bright eyes. "Was this Rubik's Cube Realm truly refined by you?"
Jian Chong and Meng Congjian frowned at the bluntness, but Jian Dan was the calmest of them all.
"Why do you ask, Qi Hong Daoyou? Is there something amiss with the Rubik's Cube Realm I refined?"
"I cannot say. I only wish to know whether you refined it with your own hands." He clung to the question and would not move on without a clear answer.
Jian Dan met his gaze, seriousness in her bright eyes. "Yes. I refined the Rubik's Cube Realm with my own hands. From conception to completion took three years and three months. Do you require a Heavenly Dao Oath as proof?"
Qi Hong realized how rude the question sounded. If someone questioned whether a magic tool he made was truly his, he would have left in a huff.
"Jian Lu Daoyou, pardon my offense. I do not doubt you, only…"
"Only that the trial was too real, as if you were there," Jian Dan finished for him.
A keen edge flashed in the phoenix eyes he turned on her.
"Qi Hong Daoyou, do not look at me so fiercely," Jian Dan said, fanning herself at an unhurried pace. "You were drawn here by the thunder tribulation, so you know the Rubik's Cube Realm weathered ten bolts."
He lowered his lashes, thinking.
"I can only say the refinement matches my original design," she went on. "The tribulation tempered it, and the interior changed in subtle ways."
At that, he understood. His gaze burned on her.
"No. This cannot be duplicated. There is only this one," Jian Dan said at once, snipping off the thought before it took root. Refining a second would first require the Heavenly Dao's consent.
"Qi Hong Daoyou, can you tell us what you faced in the trial?" That was what Jian Dan cared about.
"I was ejected because I died in the trial," he said, letting out a long breath, then recounted his experience in detail.
As she listened, Jian Dan felt ever more certain. For higher-realm cultivators, the trial surely retraced the path of the previous life.
When he finished, they fell silent until Meng Congjian broke it. "Before this, our Heavenly Sword Sect disciples entered the trial and reported different scenarios from yours, Qi Hong Zūnshàng."
"My initial design used the insects' invasion of Lingyun Continent as the background for every trial," Jian Dan said, winking at Meng Congjian. "The divergence with Qi Hong Daoyou should be due to cultivation level."
Meng Congjian immediately understood. When Tian Hong Zhēnzūn had entered before, the uproar had kicked everyone else out mid-trial. Though the sect promised them another chance, that group of higher-realm cultivators had not re-entered yet. Instead, lower-realm disciples had been going in one after another.
"I want to enter the Rubik's Cube Realm again," Qi Hong said, voice low.
Jian Dan shook her head. "There is no second chance."
"You can ask the Zhēnzūn. I am willing to offer another top-grade spirit vein," Qi Hong pressed, piling on his price. He felt he had grasped something in there yet failed to hold it, and he burned to confirm it.