After being reborn, all I want to do is run away.

Chapter 71 A Long Road of Inquiry

"Congratulations! You are the second person in the Cloud Mist Bamboo Realm to pass the second level." Wu Ying reappeared in front of Shen Xu and said with a smile.

"Isn't this part of the Cloud and Mist Bamboo Realm?" Shen Xu asked, looking at the unchanged scenery around him.

"Yes or no? That's not the point."

"How can I get out? I forgot to ask you last time," Shen Xu asked.

"You don't seem very interested in my legacy," Wuying asked, somewhat puzzled.

"If you wanted to give it to me, you would have given it to me already. If you didn't want to give it to me, it wouldn't be of any use to me. The second level is already close to my limit. I believe the next level will definitely be more difficult, and I'm not confident I can pass it."

"Besides, my initial purpose in coming here wasn't to obtain your inheritance. Getting out of here is more important to me," Shen Xu said wearily.

"You're quite frank. If I could really let you go, it wouldn't be a big deal. Unfortunately, after my original body left, I gradually lost this authority. Now, if you want to leave, you can only obtain the inheritance, and only then will a passage to the outside appear," Wuying replied regretfully.

"That's like saying nothing at all. It seems I'm destined to die here." Shen Xu sighed and lay sprawled on the ground.

"Don't be so pessimistic! The third level is very simple, and you'll receive the inheritance once you pass it," Wuying comforted her with a smile.

"You didn't call me here just to comfort me, did you?"

"Congratulations on passing the test! You are only the second person in three hundred years to pass the second test, so we should definitely have some kind of ceremony."

"I think it's a bit abnormal for someone like you, a Fog Shadow, to be so emotionally charged," Shen Xu couldn't help but remark.

"I think so too. At first, I was just an ordinary mist shadow, only able to help the main body with some simple things. But later, I don't know how, I suddenly gained the ability to think. I gradually started to talk to people, ask questions, and think about more and more things."

There are some things I can understand, and some things I can't! The day he left, he said I had my own destiny, and that if I ever met him again, he would give me my freedom.

"What do you mean by freedom?" Fog Shadow suddenly asked.

"Um, I guess it means I can do whatever I like!" Shen Xu replied somewhat uncertainly.

"But I don't know what I like."

"That freedom means being able to go wherever you want."

"Then I do not have freedom, but how can I find the original body if I do not have freedom? If I can find the original body, I don't need him to give me freedom!"

"What the real person wants to give you back is probably another kind of freedom, the freedom of the heart."

"A heart? Do I even have such a thing?"

"Anything that can think has a heart, and you certainly do too."

"But I've never seen it before!"

"The mind has no form, but it is with you when you think."

"I don't understand!"

"If you don't understand, then don't try to understand. There are so many things in the world that we don't understand, one more won't make a difference."

"But I want to understand!"

"Then go find the answer yourself! If I'm not mistaken, you're probably trapped in the Cloud Bamboo Realm. Do you know how to get out of here?"

"I exist because of this secret realm of inheritance. I will naturally disappear after the inheritance ends, so how can I talk about getting rid of it?"

"That's not necessarily true. Since the real person said you might see him again in the future, it means he's left you a way out, you just don't know it yet. Don't be so sentimental."

Do you know what the third level is?

"Since you've answered my question, I'll give you a hint! The original body designed three trials to select the successor, and gave each trial a name: Questioning Intent, Questioning the Sword, and Questioning the Heart. Everyone who passed the second trial fell at the first one, Questioning the Heart..."

Before Wu Ying could finish speaking, the thick white fog instantly dissipated, and Shen Xu regained consciousness.

"Question the will, question the sword, question the heart," Shen Xu murmured as he stood up.

The question about the meaning should be about the meaning of the Dao. If he doesn't comprehend the meaning of water, he absolutely cannot pass the first test. The question about the sword is about the combination of swordsmanship and the meaning of the Dao. So what would the question about the heart be?

The mist in front of the circular area gradually dissipated, revealing a bluestone staircase leading upwards. Shen Xu looked up, but all he could see was a vast expanse of white and he couldn't make out anything.

"This means I should go up there," Shen Xu thought to himself.

After adjusting his mindset and breathing, and calming his mind a bit, Shen Xu stepped forward and put one foot on the bluestone steps. Finding that nothing changed, he put his other foot on as well, but still nothing changed. So he had no choice but to climb up one step at a time.

The flagstone steps seemed endless, and as far as the eye could see, all that lay ahead was a vast expanse of mist, and the same scene unfolded behind him. His field of vision was extremely limited, consisting of only five or six steps. Even the surrounding scenery was an unchanging white fog; such a monotonous and tedious journey was sure to breed boredom.

Shen Xu continued climbing tirelessly. He didn't know how much time had passed or how many steps he had climbed, but gradually, his legs felt as heavy as lead, his chest felt tight, and his breathing became rapid.

Finally, after climbing a little further, Shen Xu could no longer bear the exhaustion and stopped, plopping down on the steps to rest, panting heavily.

He felt that the steps he had climbed had long exceeded the height of the entire Green Bamboo Peak, and wondered if this place was still Green Bamboo Peak!

Moreover, apart from the ever-extending bluestone steps beneath his feet, there wasn't a single other view to be seen along the way. If it weren't for the occasional subtle changes in the bluestone slabs, he might have even doubted whether he had remained stationary the entire time.

But in any case, having come this far, he could not turn back. After resting for a while, Shen Xu set off again and began his journey through the endless staircase.

"Why do I feel more and more tired as I walk?" Shen Xu stopped again, panting, after walking for a short while. He wasn't sweating, but he felt a deep-seated fatigue.

"That shouldn't be the case!" Shen Xu muttered with some doubt. After all, he was a cultivator, and he shouldn't be so tired after climbing just a few steps. If there was nothing wrong with him, then the problem was probably with the bluestone steps.

"I knew this third level wouldn't be that easy! That Fog Shadow never tells the truth."

Shen Xu felt somewhat helpless. If he encountered an enemy, he could hold his own for a while, but this was just a simple matter of climbing stairs, and he had no choice but to climb up.

Thick fog, green stone slabs, a long road, and I walk alone.

Gradually, Shen Xu could no longer straighten his back, and he began using the two swords as walking sticks. He was panting heavily, every muscle in his body ached terribly, and he had no strength left, so he had to stop for a while after every step.

Before them, a thick white fog still shrouded the road ahead, completely obscuring the view of the destination.

For a time, he counted the number of steps he had climbed, but when he reached more than 30,000, he suddenly forgot the number in his mind for some reason, and he never counted again after that.

Shen Xu knew perfectly well that he couldn't possibly be climbing a real mountain. If he were, he would probably have suffocated from lack of oxygen or been frozen into an ice sculpture long ago.

He had secretly wondered if he was repeatedly climbing the same particular set of steps, which was why he couldn't see the end. He even made some marks in the hopes of finding something. But disappointingly, these marks seemed to have no effect; he couldn't find any clues.

"How did the other person who came here fail? Did they choose to turn back the way they came, or did they eventually collapse from exhaustion on this long stone staircase?" This question suddenly popped into Shen Xu's mind.