Chapter 423: Why Didn’t I Put the Cake in the Ring? Don’t You Know Your Own Brain?
“Isn’t this kind of thing a little too hard for me?”
After seeing the Array, Little Jiu instantly started to feel a little overwhelmed—making something like this is probably way too difficult for a fox!
“Didn’t you just say it was simple and easy?” Bai Feng shot her a sidelong glance. “Don’t worry, I’ll help too.”
But Little Jiu didn’t feel any safer—in fact, she kept mumbling about how maybe she shouldn’t have promised to make this game.
Bai Feng kept ignoring her. She’d already boarded the ‘pirate ship’—and there’s no jumping ship now, right? It’s too late!
He then turned to look at Little Qi and Chu Chu, both of whom were arriving one after another. Plus Yu Yao and Little Jiu made four testers in total.
If this test goes smoothly, maybe it’ll be ready for other Heavenly Sword Sect disciples to try out. Of course, it’s not free—think of it as adding a new income stream for the Array Peak and the research room.
“This thing I made is called Virtual Trial,” Bai Feng explained. “Right now, it can’t connect online, so even if you enter together, once inside, only one person is actually there. Everything you see or encounter inside is made-up by the Mirage.”
After explaining, he turned to Chu Chu: “Chu Chu, you used the beta version before, so you go first.”
“Mm.”
Chu Chu nodded and stepped forward, sitting on the semi-reclining chair Bai Feng had prepared in advance.
The chair was engraved with a formation pattern to stabilize the Array.
Like when she previously entered the beta, she closed her eyes and, feeling a familiar dizziness, opened her eyes to find herself in an empty space.
And floating right in front of her, some words appeared:
**Please choose your image:**
1. Yourself
2. Invent a Persona
(Note: Choosing ‘yourself’ means your background and appearance stay the same, and others will react accordingly.)
She looked at the words and paused for a few seconds—neither option was available in the beta, so Bai Feng must have added them later.
After a moment, she selected the ‘Yourself’ option.
Since this was for training, obviously it was better to use her own identity.
As she made her choice, the blank space around her began to shift slowly. A table and chair appeared next to her, then a simple bed, until everything settled—she was now in a normal room.
Touching the chair, she found it very real, and thanks to Bai Feng’s optimizations, she could no longer tell it was a Mirage.
But if she used her Celestial Eye with full power, she might still be able to break the illusion.
“Let’s go see what’s outside.”
Chu Chu didn’t linger in the room—instead, she pushed open the door and stepped out.
After a while, she came out of the Mission Hall, and in doing so, realized that this Mirage was not the world she knew. Neither the sect nor the city looked quite right—the differences were huge.
Although she wasn’t specialized in Illusion Arts, thanks to her Celestial Eye, she understood a thing or two about illusions. This design was surely more complicated and troublesome, making it obvious that she was inside an illusion… Wait, was Bai Feng doing this on purpose?
She suddenly sensed something. She had been viewing things from an illusion perspective earlier, but Bai Feng’s Virtual Trial wasn’t meant to trap people in illusions. If the Mirage was made to differ from reality, it would make escaping easier.
If the Mirage was too close to real, people could easily get lost or even mistake it for actual reality. Mixing the virtual trial with real life would be incredibly dangerous.
Meanwhile, Bai Feng examined the Array—very stable with no errors—and turned to the two of them plus the fox. “Who wants to go first?”
“Let me do it, Senior Sister Yu Yao,” she stretched out her little hand. Since she was very interested in this new Virtual Trial, and because they planned to turn it into a game to make money later, she wanted to try it herself.
“Just sit in the chair, Sister.”
At this moment, Little Jiu stretched out her paw and asked Bai Feng, “Is there a special chair for foxes?”
“No need to trouble yourself,” Bai Feng said with a smile. “Just lie on the chair.”
Having spoken, he reached out and roughly grabbed Little Jiu, tossing her onto a nearby empty chair.
Little Jiu immediately opened her mouth, seeming ready to say something, but Bai Feng activated the Array before she could, effectively shutting her up.
Finally, he turned to look at Little Qi, a faint smile on his lips. “Alright, you try next. If you encounter any problems during your trial, just tell me.”
Little Qi nodded, a look of curiosity on her face, and sat down on the last chair.
Just as Bai Feng was about to find somewhere to rest, he suddenly felt a heavy weight on his shoulder.
“Your creation is pretty interesting…”
Tian Yan wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes fixed on the Array in front of her, and spoke softly.
“Haven’t you already seen it several times?” Bai Feng shot her a sidelong glance. “Even when I want to praise you, timing is important, you know?”
By the way—have you really upgraded into a pendant now? You used to just appear beside me, but now you hang directly from my neck.
“I was busy cultivating at that time, and your Array was too complicated—I couldn’t understand it,” Tian Yan casually explained.
“Want to give it a try?”
Without hesitation, Tian Yan shook her head. “Nope. This thing isn’t helpful to me. I’d rather stay here and cultivate.”
“Just as I expected,” Bai Feng replied, unphased. He had prepared four chairs—no room left if Tian Yan wanted to try now.
“You take your time,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye on things here.”
He slumped into a chair next to him and took out some pastries Bai Lan Qian made from his ring.
“One piece of cake. Thanks.”
“…There’s some in the kitchen. Go get it yourself.”
“Can’t you just put it in the ring?”
“Why wouldn’t I put it in the ring? Don’t you have any brains?”
Probably right after placing the cake in the ring, the next second Tian Yan reached in and secretly took it away to eat.
…
“Still a bit annoying, huh…”
Xiao Qi walked down the street, sensing the strange gazes from the people around her.
Like Chu Chu, she chose to enter the Virtual Trial with her original identity. In this virtual world, although Bai Feng was absent, her identity hadn’t changed—she was still an orphan adopted by a big family.
But even so, she felt something was different—like a pillar supporting her had disappeared. Her heart was inexplicably restless and anxious, and the strange looks from the people made it worse.
“Better finish the task quickly.”
Xiao Qi shook her head, trying to quiet the swirling thoughts inside her mind, and hurried toward the mission location.
