Stepping through the light gate, the scene before Xie Zhaolin shifted once again.
This time, she found herself in an incredibly strange, indescribable space. There was no sky, no ground, no sense of direction—only an endless, slowly flowing chaos surrounding her. At the center of this chaos floated two things. One was a writhing mass of chaotic energy, and the other was a pile of mundane, lifeless materials.
The entire space was utterly silent.
"Fourth trial, Bestow Life."
The ancient voice sounded, cold and emotionless.
"This is a primordial puppet embryo, containing a trace of the power of creation. Beside it lies the most basic of mundane materials.
Your test: using this embryo and these materials, shape a spiritual body for it, and ignite the fire of its spirit.
Form is up to you, spirit quality self-defined. There is no standard answer, no fixed path for this trial. It will only measure your comprehension of the essence of life, the truth of creation, and the origin of spirituality.
Time limit: none. However, if your creation fails to resonate with the puppet embryo, and the fire of its spirit cannot be kindled, you will be trapped here forever, until your Primordial Soul is exhausted."
The voice gave no further explanation or hint, and the space sank back into absolute silence.
Xie Zhaolin stood in the chaos, her gaze fixed on the puppet embryo and the pile of mundane materials. As far as she could tell, the instructions were literal—she had to use these mundane objects to create a living being with genuine spirit.
The difficulty of this trial far surpassed the previous ones. It no longer tested specific techniques, divine sense control, or knowledge—it struck at the very origin of the Dao itself. This was a test of the purest understanding of life and creation. Use the simplest of mundane materials to craft a spirit body for a puppet embryo born with innate spirituality? And then ignite its spirit flame?
It sounded utterly impossible!
Creating life from mundane objects? That was practically the work of the Heavenly Dao!
Xie Zhaolin's heart sank instantly.
Forever trapped here? How was that any different from death?
A surge of desperate survival instinct and unwillingness flared inside her.
She could not fail!
She took a deep breath, forcing herself calm, her mind racing at full speed.
"There has to be a way…" she muttered.
She first tried the orthodox approach.
Meticulously selecting materials, recalling all her training, she employed the most refined forging techniques, attempting to shape the mundane materials into a perfectly structured puppet body.
But she failed.
The mundane materials were too base to bear complex spiritual patterns or arrays. The body she forged was lifeless, and when the embryo was infused, it gave no reaction, like throwing a stone into still water.
The second attempt abandoned intricate structure. Instead, she tried to craft a more natural, harmonious vessel—a nest simulating how Heaven and Earth nurture life. She kneaded the soil as a base, stacked stones as bones, embedded wood as veins, accentuated iron as protection, and infused it with flowing water and air.
She had shaped an abstract but naturally resonant cradle.
Then she transformed her divine sense into gentle intent, attempting to communicate with the puppet embryo, guiding it to adapt and integrate with this nest. The embryo quivered slightly, showing a faint reaction—but the fire of its spirit still would not ignite.
Another failure.
Time slipped by unnoticed.
Though the voice had said there was no limit, the endless attempts and failures themselves were a torment to her mind. Her forehead was drenched in sweat, her eyes gradually clouded with frustration and despair.
"Am I… really going to die here?" Xie Zhaolin felt a chill run through her.
She had great vengeance to exact, the great path yet to uncover!
Unwillingness surged within her.
A dangerously reckless thought sprouted in her mind.
"If external forces can't bestow life… then… what if I use my own Primordial Soul?"
Split her own Primordial Soul and force it into the embryo, pretending it as the "fire of spirit."
But even this was drinking poison to quench thirst. Splitting the Primordial Soul was agonizingly painful and dangerous—at best, it would injure her soul or lower her cultivation; at worst, it could leave her a fool, or even scatter her soul entirely. And could this false spirit really deceive this mysterious inheritance test?
Yet at this moment, the threat of death outweighed all caution.
"I'll risk it!"
A sharp, ruthless glint lit Xie Zhaolin's eyes. She settled into a cross-legged position, activating her secret method, tearing a thin thread of her Primordial Soul from her main soul.
"Ahhh—!"
The pain of soul-tearing and body-rending swept over her instantly. Her whole body shuddered violently, her face pale as paper, blood seeping from her orifices.
This pain far surpassed any physical injury.
Plus, since her soul was already split, tearing it again only doubled the agony. She forced herself to endure near-fainting pain, guiding the faint thread of her soul carefully toward the chaotic puppet embryo. But just as her soul thread was about to touch it—
Hum!
The embryo suddenly erupted with a powerful repelling force!
A pure, primordial spiritual wave flung her soul thread away violently!
Pfft!
Xie Zhaolin was hit hard, spitting a mouthful of blood!
The soul thread instantly disintegrated, and the backlash sent shocks through her Primordial Soul, tearing her sea of consciousness as if it were rent open.
She had failed!
Even this self-destructive shortcut wouldn't work!
The embryo would not tolerate any postnatal soul contamination.
Xie Zhaolin collapsed to the ground, face ashen, her eyes filled with utter despair. Her soul injured, all means exhausted—was she really… out of options?
Was the inheritance of Youji Shàngrén ultimately a path to death?
On the edge of complete mental collapse, she suddenly bit her tongue sharply!
The searing pain snapped her thoughts into clarity!
"No! That's wrong!" Her inner alarm blared. "It's my mindset… that's the problem!"
From the moment she stepped into the fourth trial, she had been intimidated by the seemingly impossible task and the threat of eternal entrapment, throwing her mind off balance.
She wanted to succeed too badly! Wanted to survive too desperately!
She had been rushing, stuck in a blind corner, forcing every method she could think of to create life and ignite the spirit flame.
But she'd overlooked the most fundamental question—
"Bestow life"… is it really about 'creation'?
She recalled the ancient voice's words: "It will only measure your comprehension of the essence of life, the truth of creation, and the origin of spirituality."
A key detail, overlooked, suddenly dawned on her.
"What if… what if this trial isn't about creating life at all… but about the one who created it?
One who can create life from nothing must operate at a level approaching the Heavenly Dao itself. How could such a being ever perish? How could they be trapped in their own dwelling?
Would the Heavenly Dao allow a being capable of rivaling or challenging its creative authority to simply live safely in the world?
No. Impossible!"
Xie Zhaolin's eyes sharpened with sudden clarity. She recalled the tests of the first three trials: breaking puppets tested battle insight and exploiting weaknesses; subtle discernment tested broad knowledge and fine judgment; mind control tested micro-manipulation and multitasking with divine sense.
They were difficult, yes, but each pointed in a clear direction—how to become a stronger, superior puppeteer!
They tested technique, application, control!
But creating life… that went far beyond puppetry.
That was the level of Dao!
The core authority of the Laws of Heaven and Earth!
"Even Youji Shàngrén, powerful as he was, was still just a cultivator, a master puppeteer. How could his inheritance possibly involve the creation of life itself? Unless… I misunderstood from the very start!"