With a determined look, Ingrid entered the pool of blood.
Emperor Shen wanted to say something but gave up.
In the pool of blood, she felt a little disgusted, but she still entered boldly. The pool was deep, so it was easy for her to dip her head into the blood. She tried to breathe while being submissive to the blood, but she couldn't get it right away, however, she didn't give up and kept trying as she drowned a few times with blood, which was pretty disgusting to say the least.
Two minutes later, she still couldn't breathe under the blood, however, she realized something: that was the blood of this lake of blood was being absorbed by her frantically.
Ingrid decided to take a chance and sat at the bottom of the pool of blood and started meditating...
A minute later, two minutes... three minutes. Time ran out and the pool was dry and Ingrid was still meditating. Only after another 5 minutes did she open her eyes.
"Did I fail?" Ingrid looked disappointed. She was immersed in meditation and had lost track of time. She found herself trapped in a strange and wonderful state, and thanks to that, she reached Level 4 of Refining Qi.
Remembering this, although sad, she was happy with the improvement she had achieved. She stepped out of the empty pool, stood on the blood soaked floor again. With a wave of her hand, she made the blood on the floor float under her control, and soon was able to shape it like a solid sword.
"No, you passed." Emperor Shen took a while to say, and added, "You managed to breathe 1 and a half minutes in the pool of blood."
"Oh, I didn't even notice..." Ingrid was pleasantly surprised and made the blood sword undo itself.
"I admit, I underestimated your talent and especially your husband. He really went to great lengths to get you to do that. Without his help, you would have only had a 1% chance of succeeding." Emperor Shen became more and more curious about Luan. He, who was an Emperor of the 6th Order, was rarely curious about anyone, but now, besides wanting to find a successor, nothing else had mattered to him.
"Luan?" Ingrid felt that somehow she had received help from him, and when she heard Emperor Shen treat Luan as if he were her husband, she blushed furiously and murmured softly and ever lower, "He is not my husband, perhaps my boyfriend..."
Emperor Shen heard what she said, but he didn't care; he went straight to the point. "I don't have much time. Decide now: Do you want to continue and try to pass the real test, or leave now? Know that you have two more tests, and they are very difficult and risky, little girl. If you are afraid of getting hurt, it is better to give up now."
He almost said that she could die, but he knew if things reached a critical stage, it was certain that that boy would destroy the orb, so Emperor Shen would not make things so difficult for her, however, he would not make it easy either. He would not let a weak person receive his inheritance.
"My name is Ingrid and not 'little girl'. And yes, I will continue!" Ingrid would not miss this chance.
"Okay, I liked your determination, but then don't say I didn't warn you," the middle-aged Emperor said with an impassive expression. His voice was also devoid of any emotion.
"En." Ingrid nodded and looked at him determinedly.
Another thing that Emperor Shen did not say was that he himself did not expect her to be so capable, even though he had not yet connected with her Origin. This made him strongly believe that the origin of this young girl was very special; it was possible that it was even stronger than his.
With a snap of his fingers, the landscape changed.
*Boom!*
Not far away, a volcano was making loud sounds, while strangely boiling blood bubbled and overflowed.
"There is still time to give up. The next test is to enter this volcano and stay inside it for 20 minutes," said Emperor Shen.
Ingrid's body shuddered involuntarily. The thought of entering this volcano with blood boiling from it was frightening.
"What are the risks I will take if I enter, and do you have any tips on how I can stay inside the volcano without getting hurt?" Ingrid asked.
"As you may have noticed, only your mind is here, while your body is intact. However, if you go in there and can't take it, even though it doesn't hurt your body, it can affect your mind and cultivation. As for a tip? You have to get the blood around you under your control, just like you did before with the blood on the floor. Of course, the boiling blood is much more difficult to control, but if you can, it will be easy to stay 20 minutes inside the volcano," Emperor Shen explained.
Taking a deep breath, Ingrid affirmed her determination and walked towards the volcano. Next, she used brute force to jump and climbed over half the volcano in one jump. The rest of the way she jumped a few times until she reached the top.
Looking into the volcano, her body shuddered. She felt hot just being around it, but still, she jumped up bravely, even a bit suicidally.
*Splash!*
"Ahhhhhhh!"
Ingrid cried out in pain, but instead of giving up, she took it in stride.
Not only in the illusion did she scream, but her body in Luan's arms also let out a heart-breaking cry of pain.
Luan wanted to help her and used his Qi, but these were wounds that came from the mind, they were not something he could rectify easily, however, he continued to help in what he could. If necessary, he could still destroy the orb.
Meanwhile, Ingrid's torture continued. She felt like a live crab in a boiling pot. Her skin was turning red, and it wasn't from the blood.
_ _
{Edited by: Azurtha}
- Drop some power stone, please <3
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