Crush's Cold Senior Sister is Actually Childhood Sweetheart - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: That Person in White, with Unparalleled Beauty

An Jin turned and saw the short-haired girl she had met on the way here.

She was a bit surprised.

The short-haired girl pretended not to notice the surprise in An Jin’s eyes and continued to explain while looking at the main hall, “Because the major selection usually has a combat trial, which often involves a large group fight. The main hall has a lot of people, so the chances of getting good teammates are much higher. That’s why everyone is desperate to get in there. But I think…”

She turned to An Jin and said with a smile, “I think a large crowd isn’t necessarily a good thing. So, how about I stick with you?”

“Come on, where do you want to go?”

An Jin: “…”

They really aren’t that familiar with each other, are they?

Seeing that An Jin didn’t speak, the short-haired girl’s eyes darted around, and she immediately put on a pitiful expression.

She squeezed out a few tears and said with a wronged voice, “I don’t want to, but I really have no choice… My mother was a celestial messenger from the upper realm, but after she became pregnant with me, she was abandoned. In her grief, she returned to the mortal realm and gave birth to me alone. She passed away long ago. I’m only doing this to get justice in the upper realm. This is truly my last chance…”

An Jin frowned slightly.

While something felt a little off, she believed about seventy to eighty percent of the story.

After some back and forth, she learned that the short-haired girl’s name was Liao Huan. She had previously participated in another deity’s disciple selection but was eliminated in the final round.

That’s why she was so serious about this selection.

An Jin didn’t agree right away, only saying she wanted to look around more. Liao Huan seemed determined to follow her, sticking with her wherever she went.

The entire courtyard had about fifty or so participants.

The main hall held more than half of them, an estimated thirty people. The other two side halls each had about a dozen people, which combined were still fewer than the main hall.

One of the side halls was completely empty.

Even from a distance, An Jin could clearly see the portrait of the deity.

The woman in the portrait sat on a grand armchair, with a straight posture, wearing a dark-colored robe that gave her an air of authority without having to say a word.

Her face was stern, without a trace of a smile, and her gaze seemed to see right through everything.

The entire portrait exuded a powerful sense of pressure from a superior being.

An Jin was about to ask Liao Huan to go over and take a look with her, but she saw the girl step back a couple of steps, looking as if she were facing a formidable enemy. “No, not this one. Absolutely not. Even if I can’t go to the upper realm, I still want to live a few more years.”

An Jin: “…”

What happened to your earlier determination?

“This is…” An Jin actually had a guess in her mind.

Liao Huan took a deep breath and said in a tone of facing certain death, “The Emperor Fei Ling.”

Sure enough.

This name, like Emperor Qingyuan, was well-known in the mortal realm.

Emperor Fei Ling was originally Emperor Qingyuan’s junior, and she was now the de facto ruler of the upper realm.

Eight hundred years ago, after Emperor Qingyuan passed away, his disciples either died or went missing. There was no one left to inherit his legacy.

Out of desperation, the Dao of Heaven chose the then-deity Fei Ling to become the new Emperor.

Although it was said that Deity Fei Ling was reluctant and only took on the role in a time of crisis, there was a persistent rumor in the mortal realm that Emperor Qingyuan’s death was actually related to her.

It was said that her nature was tyrannical and her methods were cruel. She spent a thousand years setting up a grand formation that caused Emperor Qingyuan to suffer nine bolts of heavenly lightning, ultimately leading to his soul’s dispersion.

The rumor also claimed that allowing the children with immortal bones to grow up in the mortal realm and cause chaos was part of her plan—a way to make everyone so busy and overwhelmed that they wouldn’t have time to investigate the cause of Emperor Qingyuan’s death.

An Jin had always scoffed at these kinds of online rumors.

Things with absolutely no evidence were treated as truth just because everyone was repeating them.

But looking at the empty side hall and then at Liao Huan’s expression…

For the first time, she began to doubt herself.

With a curious mind, she ignored Liao Huan’s protests behind her and turned to walk toward the empty side hall.

…

The inside of the hall was frighteningly empty.

There were dozens of desks, arranged neatly facing the window to catch the light.

On each desk lay a piece of rice paper, a brush, an inkstone, and an ink stick, as well as… a die?

What is this for?

An Jin found it a little funny but didn’t give it much thought. Her purpose in choosing this side hall was clear: to get close to Emperor Fei Ling.

But after staring at the portrait for a long time, she couldn’t find anything that suggested cruelty or tyranny.

Bang—

The large door behind her suddenly closed.

The surroundings fell silent, with only the echoing sound of the door reverberating in her ears.

Then, a broadcast announcement came on: “The written trial is about to begin. All participants, please take a seat. The test will officially start in five minutes.”

“The time limit for the test is one hour.”

An Jin looked around for a speaker but couldn’t find one. She could only follow the instructions and chose a desk nearby.

The next second, tiny, dense characters suddenly appeared on the blank rice paper in front of her, as if materializing out of thin air, settling steadily on the page:

Question 1: The thing Emperor Fei Ling likes to do most on a regular basis is—

[A. Taking problematic children home to raise them, B. Living in a house that’s warm in winter and cool in summer, C. Serving tea and water to a certain picky person, D. Playing chess with a certain person who loves to take back their moves]

“…”

An Jin suddenly understood what the die was for.

The test-maker probably knew they couldn’t answer these questions and thoughtfully provided it.

Does this Emperor Fei Ling have some kind of masochistic tendency? Why does she always make things so difficult for herself?

She held her head, feeling annoyed, and in her peripheral vision, she saw the die again.

The ordinary-looking die seemed to suddenly emit a dazzling light.

An Jin: “What should I do? I’m actually a little tempted.”

She continued reading the questions.

[Question 2: Emperor Fei Ling loves to sleep and often sleeps for several years at a time. The side hall where she sleeps is—]

Multiple choice. Options from Palace One, Palace Two, all the way to Palace Seven

A die only has six sides, and you have a seventh option??

An Jin quickly scanned the other questions on the paper with a sense of foreboding.

Sure enough, none of them were normal.

They didn’t ask about common knowledge of the upper realm or about formations and divine arts; they were all about Emperor Fei Ling’s… various gossip, anecdotes, and rumors.

From who Emperor Fei Ling’s master was and who her fellow disciples were, to what kind of floral tea she liked to drink and how many cups a day—the topics were extensive and followed no pattern.

The only thing they had in common was that An Jin couldn’t answer a single one.

She sighed deeply and, without even rolling the die, guessed all the answers based on her gut feeling.

An hour later, when the broadcast sounded again, a red checkmark appeared next to every question on her paper. At the very top, two large characters were written in vermillion ink—

One Hundred.

“…” An Jin even wondered if she had gone blind.

Soon, the broadcast sounded again, its tone cold and direct. “All those with a score below fifty on the written trial are eliminated.”

“Next is the combat trial. Participants may expel other participants from the arena by any means necessary. Stepping outside the arena during this trial is considered an elimination.”

The broadcast stopped abruptly, and a deathly silence fell over the surroundings.

An Jin was stunned, feeling a bit lost. “And then? That’s it?”

What about the team fight they mentioned?

She pondered secretly. The rules didn’t force them to fight. So if no one moved, wouldn’t no one be eliminated?

Before she could sort out her thoughts, a few muffled arguments suddenly erupted outside. The sounds grew louder, mixed with several angry roars, which sounded particularly harsh.

Then, a low thud echoed, like a heavy object violently hitting a wall, dull and powerful, causing the air to seem to tremble.

“Ah…”

She had thought too simply before.

An Jin finally realized what was happening.

Fewer rules make people more suspicious of hidden traps, forcing them to guess the test-maker’s intent.

Some might think that the more people they knock out, the higher their score will be, so they rush to target those who look weaker.

Once one person makes a move, it’s hard for others to just sit and wait.

The fighting outside grew more intense, mixed with various shouts and clashes. Everything was chaotic.

But An Jin inside was bored.

She walked around the hall once and ended up just staring blankly at the portrait on the wall.

After an unknown amount of time, the door behind her suddenly opened.

An Jin walked out and saw quite a few participants already gathered in the courtyard. She counted roughly over thirty people, including Liao Huan, who had come out of the main hall. It seemed she had ultimately chosen the most crowded main hall.

However, Liao Huan’s dark green long dress was splattered with bl00d, and she looked exhausted. It wasn’t just her; the other participants in the courtyard also looked to be in rough shape, many of them injured.

In contrast, the unharmed An Jin stood out conspicuously.

An Jin felt the scrutinizing looks from everyone around her but pretended not to notice. She walked with everyone else toward the center of the courtyard.

“Congratulations on passing the preliminary selection.” The woman in the pink ruqun dress was waiting for all of them in the middle of the courtyard. She said with a smile, “I am Fu Xin, and in the future, I will be a senior for many of you.”

A long table was set up in front of her, on which lay dozens of stones of similar size but different shapes.

“Next is the final selection. Everyone, please come forward and take a spirit stone,” Fu Xin continued. “The spirit stone will test the quality of your immortal bone, and it has nothing to do with divine power or spells. The stone will turn red, with the color ranging from light to dark. The darker the color, the better the quality of your immortal bone.”

“The final result of this entrance exam will be based on a comprehensive evaluation of the written trial, the combat trial, and the immortal bone test.”

She motioned for everyone to come forward and choose a spirit stone. “The spirit stone takes time to react. After you’ve taken a stone, you can walk around the temple grounds freely for one hour. After one hour, the color of the stone will stabilize and will not change again, but there might be some minor fluctuations before then—”

Before she could finish her sentence, her gaze suddenly fixed on the spirit stone in An Jin’s hand. Her pupils contracted sharply, and her eyes widened in shock.

Not only Fu Xin, but everyone present also looked at An Jin in unison, their eyes filled with shock and disbelief.

The entire courtyard seemed to fall into a sudden, dead silence. Even breathing could be heard clearly.

An Jin held the spirit stone in her hands, her gaze flickering, and her voice sounding strangely weak.

“I didn’t do anything, it’s probably broken…”

An Jin truly felt she was innocent.

She had only reached out to take a stone as instructed, but the moment her fingertip touched it, the stone began to flicker wildly as if it had gone mad. The color jumped from light red to dark red and back again, completely out of control.

Fu Xin was momentarily speechless, unable to say a word.

Her gaze darted between An Jin and the spirit stone. In the end, she simply waved her hand at everyone, her voice sounding complicated. “Don’t all gather here. Go and walk around. Just be back within an hour.”

…

The others, in small groups of two or three, discussed among themselves and quickly formed teams. An Jin hesitated for a long time. In the end, she held the flickering stone and chose to walk alone deeper into the temple.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to team up, but her stone was the only one that was flickering so frantically. She decided to be cautious until she understood what was happening.

The deeper she walked into the temple, the fewer people she encountered.

An Jin walked on and on, only to realize that the scenery around her was becoming unfamiliar. It had been a long time since she had seen any other participants.

The path ahead was winding and twisting, with no end in sight.

Feeling a bit flustered, An Jin was about to turn back, but she found that the path she had taken was already hidden by dense bushes.

Just then, An Jin heard a low conversation not far away.

The voices, muffled by two trees, were very quiet but carried a clear sense of urgency and pleading.

“Senior Sister, I’m truly begging you.”

An Jin hid behind a tree and peeked out. The person speaking was none other than Senior Sister Fu Xin.

Fu Xin was kneeling on the grass, her hands tightly gripping the skirt of the person standing in front of her, her voice choked with sobs. “Senior Sister Ling Qi, I really can’t go. It will definitely kill me. That thing is a monster that devours people whole…”

An Jin’s gaze followed Fu Xin’s hand upward, and she saw the Senior Sister Ling Qi she was talking about—

That person in white, with unparalleled beauty, exuded a cold and distant aura.

She looked at Fu Xin, who was kneeling on the ground in painful supplication, with an indifferent expression and no ripples in her icy eyes.