The Seventh Scene: The Perfect Trial

Page 1 of 3

Entering the trial room, Sang Sang settled herself in the chair at the center, only to realize she was far more accustomed to sitting cross-legged when practicing the Guide Technique. The chair beneath her responded, quietly shifting into a soft cushion.

A gentle, soothing female voice sounded in the room: “Trainee Sang Hongye, Mentor Yasslan, your purification trial application is approved. Mode: Special Elite. No prior trial records. You have five trial attempts remaining today. Would you like to begin now?”

Sang Sang took a deep breath, preparing herself. “Begin.”

“For your first trial, please choose the purification concentration.”

After a moment’s thought, Sang Sang replied, “One hundred percent, standard purification concentration.”

“Initializing. Three, two, one.”

The ceiling split open, and a sphere of light descended, enveloping Sang Sang entirely. Within the orb, streams of energy flowed.

The energy was complex—a blend of natural spiritual force, bioenergy refined by living beings, and the most elusive star energy from the mysterious cosmos. These were fused by the laws of the universe and named Primal Energy.

Primal Energy, as a highly stable composite force, required guidance to be absorbed and dispersed into the body. It was a universal energy accessible even to those without innate talent, but its creation was exceedingly complex, and its lifespan was limited to eight hours. After that, its fusion would break down, each component—star energy, bioenergy, and spiritual force—reverting to its own nature, becoming wild and uncontrollable in the body, sometimes even causing death by internal explosion. Most crucially, Primal Energy was only effective upon first use.

It was only after ten thousand years, following Primal Energy’s discovery, that the Divine Court Headquarters began to promote its use for purification throughout the Star-level Civilization Alliance. Yet, due to these limitations, less advanced civilizations still struggled to adopt it fully, and in many, Primal Energy was unheard of.

Exercising her Guide Technique, Sang Sang drew a strand of the viscous Primal Energy into herself, her body soaking it up like a parched sponge.

To her surprise, the Primal Energy was gentle—a warmth like forty-degree water, slightly above body temperature, bringing a soothing, tingling comfort wherever it passed.

After a few attempts, she ceased drawing in one strand at a time and increased her pace—ten strands, twenty, then a hundred, a thousand, up to thirty-six thousand. This was not her upper limit, but it was the safest, most reliable quantity.

Primal Energy entered through her skin, saturating it first, then spreading to muscles, then meridians and blood vessels, then organs—eyes, ears, mouth, nose—then bones and marrow, and finally, her brain.

“Ding. First trial complete. Purification concentration: one hundred percent. Duration: one hour, three minutes, and five seconds. Absorption: one hundred percent. Guidance level: Subtle. Overall performance: Excellent.”

Trial results were rated in four tiers: Excellent (above ninety-five), Good (ninety to ninety-five), Pass (eighty to ninety), and Fail (below eighty).

As the comforting warmth faded, Sang Sang sighed. She hadn’t noticed before, but in comparison, her body now felt heavy and sluggish, as if encased in plaster, weighed down and stifling.

Though only a simulation, the trial’s fidelity to real purification was over ninety-nine percent. Sang Sang began to look forward to experiencing the real thing.

Page 2 of 3

“Trainee’s performance: Perfect. No further analysis. Would you like to exit or continue?”

Sang Sang took a deep breath. “Begin the second trial. Double the purification concentration.”

Eighty minutes later.

“Ding. Second trial complete. Purification concentration: two hundred percent. Duration... Overall performance: Excellent. Trainee’s performance: Perfect. No further analysis. Would you like to exit or continue?”

“Continue. Triple concentration.”

Seventy-eight minutes later.

“Ding... Performance: Perfect...”

“Continue. Four times concentration.”

Seventy-five minutes later.

“Ding... Performance: Perfect...”

“Continue. Five times concentration.”

Seventy minutes later.

“Ding...”

“Continue. Six times concentration.”

“You have used all your trial attempts for today. Please return tomorrow.”

“So I can’t play anymore.” Sang Sang let out a sigh of disappointment.

Indeed, for her, these trials were much like the mental training games she used to enjoy, and the physical pleasure was addictive.

Shortly after Sang Sang left Trial Room Three, a child dressed in red, flames blazing from their head, burst in trailing heat, and leapt onto the central trial machine.

Page 3 of 3

“This time, I must pass eleven times concentration with an Excellent rating. Mainframe, sta—wait, perfect rating?” The red-clad child stared at the screen in disbelief. “Five perfect ratings in a row, each one completed in such a short time! That’s insane—even my brother couldn’t do that! Let me see who it is... Sang Hongye? Never heard of them. Another new genius who’s practiced endlessly at home just to climb the leaderboards?”

Elsewhere, the mermaid Bronwyn had just bid farewell to her professional mentor when her neural link alerted her: Sang Hongye had finished the trial and entered the purification trial roster, but her rank remained outside the top ten thousand.

Four hours? Only one trial attempt?

Unable to resist, Bronwyn searched for Sang Hongye. Although she had no access to the evaluation, the trial multipliers were public data. The temple’s star network responded at lightning speed—results appeared almost instantly, and Bronwyn cried out in shock.

“Five hundred? Passed at five times concentration!”

The merfolk clustered around her in confusion. “Who passed at five times?”

Bronwyn replied coolly, “Sang Hongye passed the five times trial in just four hours.”

“That’s not unusual. I finished in just over three hours back then, and Her Highness only took a little over two.”

“Her Highness means it’s surprising for Sang Hongye, a native, to pass five times in four hours. Some of us needed over five hours for the same.”

Listening to her companions, Bronwyn felt a strange disquiet. She didn’t explain that what she’d seen was five consecutive completions from one to five times concentration within four hours—a world apart from merely passing the five times trial. More importantly, she knew Sang Hongye had never practiced these trials before, unlike them, who’d drilled countless times before attempting the real thing.

I don’t care about Sang Hongye, she told herself. It’s just that His Majesty Anthony once took an interest in her, and I want to know what’s special about her. Passing five times quickly is nothing—I’m one of the top ten ranked in purification, a prime candidate.

Bronwyn reassured herself, but a sense of urgency gnawed at her. Her intuition warned her: Sang Hongye was a threat. If she didn’t want to be overtaken, she’d have to work harder.

Unaware of the stir her trial results had caused, Sang Sang returned to the Forest of Sentient Beings and shared her trial experience with Little Gold. Little Gold, in turn, told her some publicly available and semi-classified information about purification, warning her not to grow complacent.

For instance, every fivefold increase in concentration was a barrier. The jump from five to six was not a simple increment, but a doubling of difficulty. From ten to eleven, it grew even harder. Most so-called geniuses stalled at this hurdle—passing ten times marked an ordinary prodigy; only those who reached eleven were true Temple elites, entering the top hundred on the Purification Rankings.

And those rankings were only for the younger generation. To enter the all-time top hundred of the true Temple leaderboard, one had to surpass fifteen times concentration. As for the historical rankings, the challenge was even greater.

Sang Sang reined in her momentary pride. The ease with which she’d completed today’s trial had lulled her into thinking purification was nothing special, even made her a little arrogant—wondering if the advanced civilizations had so many shortcuts that their willpower had weakened, to speak of purification as if it were such a daunting ordeal. How poor must their energy control be?

Page 3 of 3