Ji Yuan, the short old man, Bai Qianfeng, the Smiling Divine Maiden, the Lovely Empress, Ling Feiyue and Zhi Jiugong had all stepped into the big cavern that was in front of them.
There were 7 of them.
Before they had stepped into the cavern, Ji Yuan was saying to his old master. "The name of this place does not sound too dangerous? After all, this is merely a hall, right?"
The short old man inhaled deeply as he sighed, "That is because this isn't just a hall. The hall is just here to record your names and the real dangers are not in the hall."
Now that Ji Yuan had entered the cavern, he was quite startled to see thousands of golden skeletons being piled up a big straight line and they were everywhere in large quantity.
He was startled, "What is this?! How come there are so many dead cultivators in this place?"
Even Ling Feiyue, Zhi Jiugong, the Lovely Empress and Bai Qianfeng were startled to witness such a dreadful sight.
Only the Smiling Divine Maiden remained as composed as ever before but her woeful golden eyes had betrayed her.
An old voice, that of an Old Trial Spirit began to tremble in the cavern as they approached, "This is the Great Valhalla Hall. It is recommended that you have a golden talisman with you when you enter the trial. If you do use the golden talisman when you are in danger, you will be teleported here. However please note that you are only allowed to take this trial only once…"
Ji Yuan immediately frowned with great displeasure, "I actually have 2 golden talismans…"
At which the short old man immediately rebuked him angrily, "You are so lame…"
"I have 5. Yun Chi has given me 5 golden talismans." The Lovely Empress interrupted with a soft sigh.
Immediately Ji Yuan had turned to her and frowned, "Lame."
And he was immediately kicked by the Lovely Empress in the next instant.
Ji Yuan chuckled softly as he rolled his golden eyes by her kicks. "I am only teasing you…"
"Hmph!" The Lovely Empress hummed unhappily.
The Old Trial Spirit continued, "If you are able to score 100 000 points and above, your name will be forever be remembered as a hero in this hall and you will also receive a reward from the trial…"
Ji Yuan asked curiously, "How many heroes are there in this hall?"
The Old Trial Spirit echoed his old voice, "164."
Ji Yuan was stunned, "Only 164? Out of several thousand?"
He saw that there were thousands of golden skeletons in this great hall.
The Trial Spirit answered him, "More than 1 million cultivators have taken this trial throughout the ages. These are but the dead."
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
The Trial Spirit continued, "If you wish to proceed further, all of you will be given a memory stone. This memory stone will record your final regrets before you truly passed away. As the Trial Spirit of this wonderland, I will retrieve your body back and also your final memories even if you fail to use your golden tailsman."
Ji Yuan said weakly, "This place looks too scary."
Then he had turned back to look at the 5 maidens behind him.
However, they all had a resolute look and was not afraid.
Therefore, Ji Yuan could only make a soft sigh before he said. "We are going in then…"
When he had said that, the short old man was already walking in front.
So Ji Yuan began to follow him.
As he followed him, there were 7 bright stones that had suddenly speeded in their directions and Ji Yuan had caught one of the stones, "This is the trial memory stone?"
The short old man nodded, "Indeed it is."
All of a sudden the Smiling Divine Maiden was gasping as she had picked up something with her divine sense.
Even the short old man was gasping softly, "This familiar sense…"
The Smiling Divine Maiden had flashed forward to a pile of golden bones and there were shimmering tears in her golden eyes and she was holding a memory stone from within the many memory stones that could be seen, "This is my mother consort's bones and this is her dying place… but which one is my mother consort…"
She could not tell which pile of golden bones belonged to her mother consort but the memory stone that she was holding was able to preserve her mother's profound animus perfectly.
"This is…"
The Smiling Divine Maiden was suddenly covering the lower part of her mouth as she cried in front of this memory stone as she probed with her divine sense into the memory stone…
A visual memory of her mother consort had suddenly appeared inside the memory stone and an injured woman was seen crying pitifully on the ground, "Lixue, I will soon be gone now. You must know that you're always your father's daughter and not someone else. I have lied to your father that I have someone else but this is not true. At that time, I am the leading consort and my greatest regret is that I cannot produce an heir for your father…"
The memory stone displayed a brief distortion before continuing, "But your father refuses to take any other consorts except for me. I have no other choice but to lie to him so as to lessen his love for me..."
"My Lixue... do you blame your mother consort..."
"Don't blame your father Yang Kai... he is a good man..."
"Lately your father seems so distant from me... Although I know that he have many consorts now and I am also happy for him... but I wish that he can be happier... I know that your father has obtained the Yang Invincible Profound Art, his white saintly divine sword and other cultivation treasures in this wonderland, so I have ventured alone in the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth hoping that I can please him with something…"
The memory stone had suddenly showed the badly injured woman dead on the ground and then the visual memories of this dead woman had gone blank. This was her greatest regret in her life.
The Smiling Divine Maiden wailed tearfully as she threw the memory stone into her father's hands, "Take a close look at this!"
The short old man was suddenly trembling as he used his divine sense on the memory stone, "This… this…"
He was suddenly on his knees and he was lamenting loudly, "Why didn't you tell me all these years… then I would not have allowed you to come to the Empyrean Warrior Labyrinth alone… is a heir so important? I have never got a heir... do you know all this or not..."
The Smiling Divine Maiden was also on her knees and she was bending her trembling body over as she cried aloud, "Mother consort… your unfilial daughter… has finally found you…"
Ling Feiyue, Bai Qianfeng, Zhi Jiugong and the Lovely Empress were also emotionally moved and there were tears in their golden eyes…
Even Ji Yuan was trembling and he had walked over to embrace Chu Lixue the Smiling Divine Maiden; he had wanted to comfort her with words but there were no words that could comfort her now so he had kept quiet for a while.
When she had cried out her heart, Ji Yuan said to her. "Senior protégé sister, you have me in the future and I will take good care of you…"
The Smiling Divine Maiden slowly looked up and stared blankly at Ji Yuan as their golden eyes meet…
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Author Note
1. I've been wanting to write this chapter for a long time; this chapter explores the hidden relationship been Chu Lixue the Smiling Divine Maiden and her father Yang Kai the White Sword Monarch.
