At the same time, unknown to Xuan Hao, a young girl making her way back home after having spent the entire day gathering herbs in a small forest not far away from the small city where she lived. The only light left to guide her back being the bright moonlight from the moon above her illuminating the small downtrodden path that led out of the forest.
"Hm? What is that...?
It was precisely at this moment that the young girl happened to spot something small reflecting the bright moonlight from the moon hanging in the sky above her.
For it to reflect the moonlight so well, I'm sure it has to be a precious silver coin or something made out of metal! No matter what it is, I'm sure I will be able to sell it and cover my food needs for the next week or two! Hehe, I won't have to enter this dangerous forest and will be able to eat properly soon...
Feeling her eyes brighten as she thought about what she might have found, the young girl who was an orphan from one of the many cities spread throughout the core region of the Sky Empire, could not help getting excited as she quickly made her way towards the small bush where the thing reflecting the bright moonlight was hidden.
"A ring made from silver! Not to mention a few weeks, this ring should at the very least be able to cover my food expenses for the next half year!" Feeling ecstatic after realizing what she had found was not just a silver coin, but an entire ring made completely of what she thought to be silver, the young girl reached down towards what she believed to be a small silver ring-
Whoosh-!
However, the moment she touched the ring, a weird power engulfed her and soon, both the young girl and the ring disappeared from the small forest.
The next moment, the young girl found herself in the middle of a large empty platform that floated in the middle of an endless ocean of mist.
"D-did I perhaps enter one of those legendary secret realms!?" Quivering in fear as she said this, the young orphan girl could not help feeling a shiver run down her spine.
Although she was an orphan and did not have any cultivation base to speak of, she had still managed to hear a lot about the world from the different cultivators passing through the city on their way to explore a very famous ruin that was located a short distance away from the city itself.
Even if it was only by chance, she had once managed to overhear two powerful Nascent Soul Realm Experts who had been catching up with each other.
Listening to their conversation from the side, she had managed to not only learn how many treasures could be found inside a secret realm, but also how dangerous they could be... Not to mention a small orphan like herself, even powerful experts who had reached the Domain Lord Realm could die inside a secret realm!
For this reason, the young girl could not stop herself from shivering in fear as she looked at the silent mist that surrounded her from all sides. Expecting a dreadful demon beast to jump up from the mist and devour her at any moment...
Not daring to move a single muscle as she continued to observe the mist all around her, her eyes getting heavier and heavier with each passing second and before long, the young orphan girl could not fight the sleepiness that she had been trying to hold back.
Creak~!
A short moment after she fell asleep, a loud creaking sound echoed out from the platform beneath her-
"Wha-!? What is happening!?" Instantly waking up the young girl who had just fallen asleep and was now looking around herself to find out what had happened.
"A door- A way out!?"
To her astonishment, the young girl discovered that a large door had suddenly appeared at the center of the platform during her short sleep... And due to her still half-asleep state, she didn't think twice before stepping through the door in hopes of leaving the strange place that she currently found herself inside of.
Whoosh-!
The moment she stepped through the door, a wave of energy entered her body. Filling her with vitality, like she had just woken up from a good night's sleep.
Surprised by the sudden energy boost, the young girl let out a surprised sound before starting to examine her surroundings-
"Huh?"
However, before she could even begin to examine her new surroundings properly, she came face to face with a weird box filled with letters floating in the air directly in front of her.
[Welcome, you have entered the trial space. The first trial is going to begin shortly and will be based on your current cultivation realm.]
Reading the words written in the floating box, the young girl did not feel the slightest bit relieved. Instead, she felt a shiver run down her spine.
From all the stories she had heard about trails set up by cultivators, all of them were about fighting different opponents to prove one's strength... And none of them had a happy ending for the weak!
Even if the words floating in front of her had said the trail would be adjusted to her cultivation realm, of which she had none, the young girl had close to no fighting experience outside of the few brawls she had been forced into to protect the little food and coins she had managed to gather. Faced with an experienced fighter, she stood no chance at all...!
[The first trial is starting, please say your name. If no name is given within the next 10 seconds, a random name will be assigned to the trail taker. 10, 9, 8...]
Having her chaotic train of thought interrupted as yet another box filled with words appeared in front of her, the young orphan girl could not help panicking as she saw that a countdown had appeared at the bottom of the box of words.
As for saying her name... She had always been an orphan and had never been given a name in the first place, so there was no name she could give to the strange box of words floating in front of her.
[2... 1... 0! No name has been given. Proceeding with generating random name... Loading... Loading...]
Feeling nervous as she watched the countdown reach the end, the young girl could only nervously watch as all sorts of different names flashed across the box floating in front of her. The moment the floating box had chosen her name, the dreadful trail was going to start...!
[Name Generation has been completed. A random name, Mui, has been chosen. The first trial, Test of Comprehension, is going to start now. The trial has been adjusted based on your current cultivation realm.]
"My name is Mui...?" Muttering this to herself as she looked over the random name that had been chosen for her by the floating box in front of her, the young orphan girl could not help feeling a weird sense of happiness washing over her.
Mui... I like this name...
Smiling happily to herself as she repeated the name a few times inside her head, the young orphan girl, or now Mui, decided to keep the name that had been given to her.
"Ah! Didn't the box of words also say that the first trial is about to-"
RUMBLE~!
Not managing to finish her sentence, the ground beneath her shook violently before row after row of bookshelves shot up through the ground all around her. Transforming the empty space, she found herself inside of, into a massive and seemingly endless library that stretched as far as she could she in all directions.
[The first trial, Test of Comprehension, will require you to search through the library in front of you to find a suitable cultivation technique and use it to take your first step on the path of cultivation by reach the Qi Condensation Realm. The time limit is one week, food and water will be provided throughout the trial to ensure that the trial taker, Mui, does not die of hunger or dehydration.]
"Find a suitable cultivation technique... step on to the path of cultivation!?" Having no more than a few seconds to take in the large bookshelves that stretched hundreds of meters into the sky all around her, Mui could not help opening both of her eyes in surprise while looking over the box of words floating in front of her.
The surprise she felt was not due to the objective of the first trial. Instead, it was due to the fact that she did not have to fight anyone like the many stories she had heard about the dangerous cultivator trials that would always be filled with life and death situations at every corner!
Let alone having a trial that did not require her to fight, Mui had never heard about a cultivator trial that provided its participants with food and water throughout the trial!