"You sensed it too?"
A line of text appeared before Xu Mu's eyes. Charles looked puzzled.
"Too easy."
Xu Mu's body froze mid-air, and he abruptly retracted his foot.
He gazed at the shimmering light screen before him, the portal to the next level, and with a struggling expression, turned his head.
Something was wrong. It was too easy. He could pass with sheer luck. Fuxi's trial should not be like this!
"Just like that guy said on the first level, those who pass all trials can reseal the demon god and prevent him from wreaking havoc on the human world."
"That's why that guy found the first level's trial easy, and why he took the risk to pass through the middle. That's why my physical body underwent a qualitative change."
"Succeed or perish, this is the true meaning of the trials left by Fuxi."
"And if it were to follow that tone, each subsequent level should be a near-death experience, followed by an improvement."
"However, this second level doesn't seem to be like that."
Xu Mu's voice was heavy. He knew where the problem lay.
This chess game was difficult. Without luck, based purely on calculation, he would never solve it.
But what was the point of such difficulty?
What would be the consequence of solving the chess game, and what if he couldn't?
Xu Mu frowned, shrugging with a touch of nervousness and a laugh:
"Is my value merely to help them determine the ownership of the old hen?"
Absolutely not.
Upon hearing this, Charles floated out of Xu Mu's body again.
He also frowned, asking:
"Host, so what do you mean…"
"This is not the real trial," Xu Mu met his gaze, judging with utter certainty.
"We might have been deceived by this chess game from the beginning. The real trial might not be on the chessboard, but somewhere else."
Charles nodded thoughtfully, but then shook his head:
"Where's the evidence?"
"You can't just guess based on a hunch. Although I also think your analysis is correct, we've already wasted a lot of time. If this continues, the demon god might be released."
Xu Mu's eyes narrowed. This was also his concern.
But if he didn't pass the true trial and gain Fuxi's help for an upgrade, what would be the point of reaching the seventh level even if he sailed through smoothly?
The demon god would surely provide hints to those people. Even if they didn't have the ability to pass the trials, they would steadily advance and reach the seventh level to open his seal.
At that point, who could stop the demon god's descent?
The guided supernaturals, or him who advanced by luck?
"Charles, do you remember the names of the buildings here?"
Xu Mu turned completely away, no longer looking at the light screen.
He gazed at the unchanging scenery before him and asked.
"The Diagram-Drawing Pavilion, the Wind and Thunder Platform," Charles replied, pointing out two of the most obvious structures.
Then, as if realizing something, a sharp glint suddenly flashed in his eyes:
"I understand what you mean, Host!"
"The focus here should be on the Innate Eight Trigrams and his Enlightenment Platform of Wind and Thunder."
"The real trial is there, the chess game is just a distraction!"
"Exactly," seeing that Charles's analysis matched his own, Xu Mu couldn't help but grip his fist with excitement.
The chess game was merely a smokescreen. The true trial had not yet arrived.
"The Diagram-Drawing Pavilion. From the start, the attention should have been focused on the Innate Eight Trigrams. Why bother with this stupid chess game?"
Xu Mu chuckled and shook his head, then walked back into the pavilion.
He looked at the chessboard placed before him, cupped the base with both hands, and carefully placed it onto the stone platform.
The original appearance of the stone table was then revealed, just as it had been before they arrived.
Xu Mu looked at the mottled carvings on the table, which were somewhat glaring.
It was only now that he understood. Those were perhaps the traces left by Fuxi when he divined again, not some seals or formations.
"The Innate Eight Trigrams are hanging above our heads. Is he asking me to learn them?"
Not daring to touch it carelessly, because his fingertip had already drawn blood before, Xu Mu looked up at the Innate Eight Trigrams diagram hanging above the pavilion, his gaze slightly condensed.
Could it be that the true trial of this level was for him to learn the Eight Trigrams?
He had memorized many Taoist scriptures, but he had never studied the Eight Trigrams. However, it shouldn't be too difficult, right?
"The Innate Eight Trigrams: One is Qian, two is Dui, three is Li, four is Zhen, five is Xun, six is Kan, seven is Gen, eight is Kun."
"They are divided into four seasons based on the nature of the things they represent, paired opposite each other, utterly opposite. The four pairs interweave, thus forming the directional map of the Innate Eight Trigrams."
Charles enlightened Xu Mu in his mind with common knowledge about the Eight Trigrams.
"Learning this is extremely difficult, millions of times harder than the Taoist scriptures you've memorized. Even I can't fully master it, because the profundity here is too deep, there's no systematic teaching method, and there's a lack of inheritance."
"If you want to learn the Innate Eight Trigrams, the difficulty would be no less than simultaneously solving Riemann's Hypothesis in mathematics and String Theory in physics."
Charles's voice was calm, but Xu Mu's face instantly turned as sour as a bitter melon.
He didn't remember the names of the hypothesis and theory, he only heard the words mathematics and physics.
Charles had asked him to build an atomic bomb, learning something like… Uranium extraction and purification?
Xu Mu remembered that he had been struggling then, even making calculation errors. Now, this Innate Eight Trigrams seemed even more difficult…kuAiδugg
"If Fuxi's trial is this, I'd rather be killed by the demon god."
Xu Mu's head shook like a pecking chick. He took two steps back, half-jokingly.
He considered his comprehension to be quite good, and his mind to be very sharp.
But if he were to learn the Innate Eight Trigrams, which was more difficult than mathematics and physics, in this space, it would be a wild fantasy.
"It shouldn't be like that."
Charles shook his head. The Innate Eight Trigrams were actually the long-lost Lian Shan Yi.
Back on Blue Star, countless diviners sought it, but never found it, as it had been lost along with Gui Cang. Even Zhou Yi was only half-transmitted, lacking any world-shattering abilities.
So, even if Xu Mu wanted to learn the Innate Eight Trigrams, he couldn't.
After all, Fuxi wouldn't possibly place his most cherished inheritance in a trial for the world to admire. Although he was a Human Emperor, that would be too magnanimous.
"If he wanted you to learn this, the stone slabs placed in front of the Diagram-Drawing Pavilion wouldn't have been removed."
"First, memorize the hanging Innate Eight Trigrams diagram, then go and look at the Wind and Thunder Platform."
Since the Eight Trigrams wouldn't work, Charles suggested changing their approach.
Upon hearing that he didn't need to learn the Eight Trigrams, Xu Mu immediately perked up. He immediately walked through the pavilion and arrived in front of the waterfall cliff.
He looked up at the very top, his expression slightly solemn.
There stood a high stone platform, with a giant stone erected on it, inscribed with the words "Wind and Thunder" in crimson ink.
"When Fuxi, the Human Emperor, was meditating here, did he truly summon fierce winds and thunder?"
Xu Mu was curious and eager to climb the cliff.
He wanted to go up and see what Fuxi's place of enlightenment looked like, and perhaps absorb some of its aura.
After all, he had wind and lightning elements within his body. If he could gain some of Fuxi's true teachings, defeating Grey-White Pupils would be a piece of cake!
"But how can I get up there?"
Xu Mu looked up, grinned, and gasped.
The cliff was a hundred meters high, with no rocks or paths on either side.
It seemed to have appeared out of thin air, making it impossible to know where to start, unless he could fly, which was impossible.
Because he was merely a Phase Two supernatural.
"That's easy. Have you heard of rock climbing?"
Charles looked at Xu Mu meaningfully. He was an expert climber.
Although such a natural cliff would be difficult for a beginner like Xu Mu, without artificial handholds, he could easily fall… but so what?
Such a magnificent physique was wasted if it didn't fall a few times.
"Do you mean literally? But this is a waterfall, how can I climb?"
Xu Mu stared at the cliff in astonishment. The waterfall flowed freely. Although the water flow wasn't large, after years of water erosion, the rocks behind it were smooth. Where could he find a foothold? Should he chip away at the stones?
"Why can't you climb it? Host, rock climbing is very simple."
Looking at Charles's mysterious smile, Xu Mu felt a sudden unease:
"Really?"
"Of course, it's true," Charles patted his chest. "A hundred meters, and it will take less than half an hour."
Hearing this, Xu Mu was about to agree with relief, when he heard Charles continue:
"Well… as long as you're not afraid of dying!"
…