Chapter 197: Crumbling
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
The black figure came closer and closer, his hat cleaned by the torrential rain. His robe flapped as the wind blew.
Very quickly, the black figure arrived in front of the lady.
Then, he stopped, but he did not speak. He stood still like a black statue about two meters from the lady.
"Do you have something to ask me?" The lady asked as she looked at the black robe man.
"I wouldn’t dare." The black figure shook his head. He didn’t say he didn’t have a question. He simply said that he wouldn’t dare in an icy tone.
"Ying Shan has another brother?"
"Yes!"
"Which other territory amongst the ten has a vacancy for vice ruler and above?"
"The Dark Territory."
"Go see to it."
"Yes master!"
The black figure left, leaving the lady standing in the torrential rain, her white dress dancing in the sea of red.
...
Inside the World of the Sage.
Everyone stared wide eyed at Fang Zhengzhi, who was standing in front of the stone house. Only now did they believe that Fang Zhengzhi had passed the Broken Bridge and the Twin Snow Tablets.
If not...
How could he think of entering the stone house?
Fang Zhengzhi stared at the outside. There was a wooden door.
It was not yet dark. Normally, one should be able to see the inside of the stone house through this door. However, it was pitch black inside.
Fang Zhengzhi could not see anything no matter how hard he tried.
He turned to look at Yan Xiu.
This time, Yan Xiu did not speak.
Then, Fang Zhengzhi turned to look at Ping Yang.
Ping Yang looked at Fang Zhengzhi, blinking her crystal clear eyes over and over again. However, her lips never parted.
"Okay then, I’m going in..." Fang Zhengzhi could guess what they were thinking.
If Ping Yang could not say anything about the stone house, it could only mean that there were absolutely no records about it.
Ping Yang nodded.
Yan Xiu stood icily by the side, neither shaking nor nodding his head.
Fang Zhengzhi stepped forward and pushed open the door.
Having made it into the third round, he was a lot more confident. He had already passed the examinations, ranking was secondary.
There shouldn’t be any threat to his life inside a pocket dimension, right?
Just as he thought about it, Fang Zhengzhi stepped into the stone house and blended together with the darkness in an instant.
...
Inside the Imperial Academy, King Duan felt slightly relieved as he saw Fang Zhengzhi enter the stone house.
Han Zhangfeng’s expression was much more complicated. He wanted to say that Fang Zhengzhi was not getting out of there, but, after the past two incidents, he was losing that confidence.
The Ninth Prince was the calmest of them all. As he saw Fang Zhengzhi enter the stone house, he raised his cup and sipped his tea. Then, he let out a puff of steam...
...
Fang Zhengzhi felt like he had entered a house.
This house did not seem very big. He was able to walk to each end within a few steps. It probably wouldn’t take more than a minute to finish going through the house.
That was what he had thought.
However, when he saw a ray of light in front of him, he realized that he was quite wrong.
The world in front of him was huge and he could not see the end.
Because...
This was a desert, a desert filled with endless sand.
But this was no ordinary desert. There were four doors in each of the four directions, North, South, East, and West.
Each door was made of the same yellow rock. More importantly, all four doors were completely identical.
"It looks like this round is luck?" Fang Zhengzhi immediately knew what this round was about. Choose one of the four. His chances did not seem bad.
A figure appeared in front of him.
This middle aged man wore an academic green tunic. He had broad shoulders, thick eyebrows, and large eyes.
He looked like a ferocious general on the battlefield, but he was a ferocious general dressed like an academic.
The middle aged man looked at Fang Zhengzhi.
Fang Zhengzhi looked back at the middle aged man, his eyes revealing a hint of surprise.
"Mirage? Or hologram?" Fang Zhengzhi could not figure it out and he did not have anyone to explain it to him.
"Choose one, choose one from four, it is very fair!" The middle aged man spoke flatly.
"It is very fair. So what happens if I choose wrong?" Fang Zhengzhi feigned interest.
"Naturally, you’ll be out."
"Then what if I get it correct?"
"You’ll advance."
"Can I not choose?"
"No."
"If I don’t go through any door, I won’t be choosing."
"You will have to go through the door."
"You’re so sure?"
"There’s no other way other than to go through one of these four doors."
"What if I simply defeated you?"
"A lot of people have tried, you can try to." The middle aged man replied calmly, not at all surprised by Fang Zhengzhi’s question.
"I guess I have to choose one."
"Yes."
"Any hints?"
"No."
"Okay then, goodbye." Fang Zhengzhi waved to the middle aged man. Then, he turned and walked away. There was one more door, the door that he had come through.
"Hang on! I would like to remind you that you will be withdrawing if you go through that door." The middle aged man called out to Fang Zhengzhi.
"You think I will believe you?" Fang Zhengzhi pushed open the door and stepped through without looking back.
...
The scene in front of him changed again. The desert, stone doors, and the middle aged man disappeared.
He was back in the third round, and there was a stone house right in front of him.
Yan Xiu was to his left, Ping Yang was to his right. He was back where he was. It was almost as if he had never gone through the stone door.
Fang Zhengzhi was confused, Is that all?
"Fang Zhengzhi, eliminated!"
At this point, a crisp voice rang out in the air.
Yan Xiu and Ping Yang were shocked. They looked slightly excited, but slightly disappointed at the same time.
The other candidates were all rooted in their positions.
However, they recovered quickly and stared at Fang Zhengzhi with condescension.
"Fang Zhengzhi has been eliminated?"
"Hahaha... he’s really been eliminated!"
"Can the stone house barrier even be passed? I guess he has no hope of topping both ranking rolls now?"
The candidates mocked.
Fang Zhengzhi’s body began to disappear slowly, almost as if a strong wave of force was drawing him out.
"I guess I am not very lucky..." Fang Zhengzhi’s lips twitched.
"Aren’t you angry?" At this point, the middle aged man’s voice rang out in Fang Zhengzhi’s mind. His tone was slightly mocking.
"Why should I be angry?"
"Don’t you want to advance?"
"I do, but advancing is not important to me. I value the process more than I value the result. I will... take the result as it comes." Fang Zhengzhi had always been like that. It would be great to advance, but he didn’t really care even if he failed.
...
The scene changed once again.
Fang Zhengzhi felt that he should be in the Imperial Academy by now, but he wasn’t. He was still faced with the desert, the four doors, and the middle aged man.
"You chose wrong once, but, I think you have good character. I am giving you another chance to choose." The middle aged man looked at Fang Zhengzhi calmly.
"Another choice?"
"Yes."
"I never change my mind after I’ve made a decision." Fang Zhengzhi turned around and walked through the door behind him without hesitation.
What the hell? Choose again? Do you really think I am stupid?
Fang Zhengzhi pushed open the third door.
He was still faced with the third round. Yan Xiu was to his left and Ping Yang was to his right.
Everything was the same as what he had just experienced.
The only difference was that Yan Xiu’s eyes were expressionless and showed no trace of surprise. As for Ping Yang, her jaw had dropped.
"You... how are you out?!" Ping Yang’s eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Fang, Fang Zhengzhi is out?!"
"How is that possible, how did he get out?"
"Stone house, he came out from the stone house?"
"Is he eliminated?"
All of the candidates were stunned when they saw Fang Zhengzhi exit from the stone house.
At this point, a shaky voice rang out in the air.
"Fang Zhengzhi, advances... to the fourth round!"
The voice was not as crisp as clear as before. It was almost as if the person behind the voice could not believe what was happening.
Even so, the voice rang out throughout the entire third round world.
All of the candidates were stunned by what they heard.
"Advance... advance to the fourth round?!"
"Boom!" Just as all the candidates were focused on Fang Zhengzhi, the entire third round world began to tremble. This was completely different from when Fang Zhengzhi had crossed the Broken Bridge and the Twin Stone Tablets.
It was almost as if the world was going to collapse.
Even the stone house and the trees were shaking vigorously.
The change in the environment caused many candidates to turn pale. They had no idea what was going on.
In the history of the Great Xia Empire, there was no record of a pocket dimension ever collapsing.
What’s going on?
What the hell is going on?
No one could explain why the World of the Sage was trembling. The World of the Sage was created by the Sagely Battle God Meng Tian, and even the Great Xia Empire had not uncovered all of its secrets.