Chapter 138: Valley of the King of Hell!

A great river blocked the path ahead, while an earthquake rumbled from behind. Dense clusters of piranha heads surfaced across the river's expanse. The earlier scent of blood had given them a taste of victory, drawing even more of the ferocious fish swarming toward this spot. This was a relentless attempt to drive people to their doom.

Outside the Martial Arts Pavilion, the spectators watching the evaluation couldn't help but draw a sharp breath at the sight. "Isn't this going a bit too far? Who could possibly pass an evaluation like this?"

"Thank goodness I didn't participate, or I would have been eliminated ages ago..."

"By the way, who was the first one eliminated just now? That guy is going to be famous, isn't he?"

"Whether he becomes famous or not remains to be seen, but if everyone from our academy gets stuck at the first stage... our academy is definitely going to be infamous..."

Little Fatty was also deeply worried about Tang Fei, complaining with a grievance, "This is too harsh! How on earth is anyone supposed to get across?"

"If big brother can't get across, it must be the fault of the exam's creator, it has nothing to do with big brother."

Sheng Xinhua, however, remained calm and collected, offering words of comfort. "If others can make it across, naturally he can too. And if others can't make it across, it won't matter if he fails either..."

Seeing that Tang Fei and Phoenix were standing at the back of the crowd without a trace of panic, she figured they must have already made up their minds. For some reason, she had quite a bit of confidence in Tang Fei—or perhaps, she hadn't held all that many expectations to begin with.

Little Fatty clasped his hands together and prayed with his eyes closed, "Bless me, Bodhisattva."

"You believe in Buddhism?" Sheng Xinhua asked curiously.

"I didn't before, but I do now," Little Fatty replied.

Tang Fei could understand the organizers' arrangement. Any evaluation required a time limit. If there was no time limit and no other pressing threats, would they just let people stand by the river and seek enlightenment for a year or a decade? Who could say for sure? The trial demanded that one solve the hardest problem in the shortest time possible. Without a genuine challenge, did people really expect to enter White Heron Academy?

Estimating the speed of sound to gauge how soon the earth-drilling beast would catch up, Tang Fei said to Phoenix, "We have three minutes left. During these three minutes, don't worry about what's behind us; we need to figure out a way to cross the water bridge..."

"Understood," Phoenix nodded. "With the great river blocking our way, only this single water bridge is provided... This bridge must be testing the balance and density of the Yin and Yang Qi..."

"I haven't stepped onto the water bridge yet, so I don't quite understand its exact state... But I believe we must use the art of manipulating Qi to control our bodies and cross the bridge in a special way..."

"Exactly," Tang Fei nodded, adding, "However, it's not that simple. The examinee before us clearly thought of this and tried to slide across the water bridge, but after gliding only a few dozen meters, he immediately sank... The system does not recognize that method of crossing."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps his method was correct, but he triggered some hidden clauses unknown to us."

"Then what on earth are they trying to test?" Phoenix furrowed her brows slightly and spoke.

"Let's wait a little longer," Tang Fei said.

"Wait for them to go first?"

Phoenix knew Tang Fei's temperament all too well. Sometimes this fellow was fearless, acting as if there was nothing in the world he wouldn't dare to do, with astonishingly bold courage. Yet at other times, he was cowardly and afraid of death, always trying his best to hide in the background...

She glanced around and remarked, "It looks like everyone else has the same idea as you..."

"As long as we put on an act of being less afraid of death than anyone else, they'll start getting anxious..." Tang Fei said with a deadpan, serious expression.

He had plenty of experience in this regard. Who was he? Just a freshman, a refugee from the Old Earth who had entered the academy less than a year ago... It was only natural for him to fail the evaluation. Would anyone genuinely treat him as a formidable competitor? If he lost, he lost; who would point fingers and say, "Look, even that guy didn't take first place..."

Even in the words of encouragement from Teacher Ran Ran—someone extremely close to him—not a single ounce of sincerity could be heard, let alone from these outsiders who knew very little about him.

However, the other candidates had waited for two, three, or even four years... They had waited far too long for this day and had prepared endlessly. They were waiting for the right moment, hoping to use this opportunity to make a stunning impression. Naturally, they were unwilling to let it slip away easily.

Sure enough, the examinees looked at one another, each waiting for someone else to make the first move and test the waters. They knew nothing about this great river or the suspended water bridge upon it; the more people who tested it, the more information they would gather, allowing them to devise better countermeasures.

Unfortunately, everyone had the same idea...

Hearing the rumbling sounds from behind, accompanied by the collapse of massive tracts of land, someone finally lost their self-control.

"Chu Xiong is willing to scout the path for everyone!"

A burly man with an honest-looking face shouted. With a leap, he landed lightly upon the water bridge.

His entire body was enveloped in a cyan glow—the manifestation of Yin and Yang Qi pushed to its absolute limit. Although the man was extremely heavy, his Yin and Yang Qi were so dense and profound that his body landed with exquisite lightness.

One step, two steps, three steps...

He strode forward step by step without plummeting. Soon, his figure vanished from everyone's view.

"He succeeded?" someone exclaimed in disbelief.

"I understand now! This trial tests the Yin and Yang Qi... It tests both its depth and its fluidity..."

"You just need to properly circulate your Yin and Yang Qi and walk forward step by step... But remember, you must maintain your balance..."

"You cannot be too heavy, nor too light. Water is an extremely yielding substance, so what we must do is... merge with it as one..."

"We are water, and water is us... Follow the frequency of its ripples and cross the water bridge step by step..."

Everyone participating in this evaluation was an exceptionally brilliant student from the academy, capable of deducing many things from a single instance and understanding everything completely. Through Chu Xiong's success, they instantly grasped the key to crossing the river.

"Chen Wuer is willing to clear the way for everyone!"

A skinny young man cupped his fists toward the crowd, then leaped into the air and landed on the water bridge. His body was also wrapped in cyan light. After sensing the flexibility of the water bridge, he immediately adjusted the circulation method and output force of the Yin and Yang Qi within his body, stepping forward steadily.

Soon, his figure also disappeared across the water bridge.

His success inspired even more people, proving that their hypotheses were correct.

"Zhao Ziyu will go first."

"Brother Zhao, I'm right behind you."

"Here I come..."

One after another, the candidates leaped onto the bridge.

Most of them followed that pattern, breathing in sync with the water bridge, merging into one with it, and vanishing across the surface.

There were also a few whose foundation of internal Yin and Yang Qi was not firmly established, or whose control lacked sufficient balance. Screaming, they plummeted down into the great river, instantly devoured by the waiting piranhas. Red splashes bloomed across the river's surface.

The earth-drilling beast was drawing closer, charging toward them at a visible speed. In another dozen seconds, not a single patch of earth would remain beneath their feet.

Only Tang Fei and Phoenix remained on the riverbank. True to their word, they had indeed coasted until the very end.

Tang Fei glanced at Phoenix and asked, "Shall we set off too?"

Phoenix nodded and replied, "Let's go."

Both of their bodies leaped simultaneously, landing steadily upon the water bridge.

Since childhood, Phoenix had practiced the supreme mental cultivation technique, the *Imperial Court Scripture*. The Yin and Yang Qi within her was profound, solid, and circulated with effortless fluidity. The moment she stepped onto the water bridge, she adjusted her internal breathing to match the bridge's ripple frequency, moving as light as a swallow toward the opposite shore.

Tang Fei, on the other hand, had practiced a wild, unorthodox martial art taught to him by the old man since childhood. Inevitably, his true qi lacked complete fluidity and naturalness, occasionally suffering from split-second stagnation. On the Old Earth, with no one to compare notes with, he hadn't thought much of it. But upon arriving on the New Star, where martial artists were everywhere, this flaw proved utterly fatal.

Fortunately, he had met his dear friend and voice of reason, Shen Xinglan, who had warned and reminded him about his true qi circulation method. Moreover, Phoenix had secretly "borrowed" the imperial family's introductory cultivation manual, the *Imperial Court Scripture*, and handed it to Tang Fei to use.

Through half a year of day-and-night bitter cultivation, Tang Fei had long since used the *Imperial Court Scripture* to mend the previous deficiencies and flaws in his foundation, making his Yin and Yang Qi abundant, solid, and single-minded.

Had it been the old Tang Fei, crossing this water bridge might have posed some difficulty. But now, the water bridge felt like flat ground beneath his feet... Mostly because the brave souls ahead of them had already scouted the path and shouted out all the tricks to crossing the bridge.

Following closely behind Phoenix, Tang Fei became the very last examinee to cross the water bridge.

Rumble...

The ground where they had stood just moments ago collapsed, massive chunks of earth plunging into the river water. The entire world turned a blinding white...

The moment they landed, Tang Fei heard wailing and howling ghosts.

Glancing around, they found themselves transported to the entrance of a deep, terrifying canyon. Within the canyon, ghost fires flickered and shadowy apparitions loomed. Their noses were assaulted by a pungent smell of sulfur, while in the distance, the peak of a mountain spewed boiling flames and magma, as if ready to engulf them at any second.

Shadowy black figures occasionally flashed past their eyes, accompanied by demonic laughter, as if finally welcoming this batch of guests and rejoicing immensely.

"What is this place?" someone asked aloud.

"There's a stone tablet here..." someone in front shouted.

It wasn't a tablet; rather, it was a massive boulder standing tall at the entrance of the canyon.

Everyone gathered around it. Four bloody characters were slashed across its surface in a wild, cursive script: **King Yama Canyon**. The handwriting was so frantic and sloppy that it looked as if fresh blood was still dripping downward—as if it had just been freshly written.

"King Yama Canyon? Could this place be hell itself?"

"Even if this is hell, we still have to force our way through..."

"There's only this one path to take... It seems this is the next stage of our evaluation..."

Phoenix patted Tang Fei's shoulder and asked in a low voice, "Are we staying at the back again this time?"

"No," Tang Fei shook his head and replied, "This time, we're walking right through the middle."