78: Chapter 77 If you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight.

This was an extremely clever rhetorical trap.

Pei Duo was too young after all; she still lacked experience.

In her subconscious, the so-called 'Improved Trial' was, at most, an immersive murder mystery game equipped with an 'Underage Anti-Addiction System'.

What's more, her biological brother, who could single-handedly tear apart a main god, was sipping tea on the top floor of the temple just a few hundred meters away.

This was the core territory of the maya Divine Clan. With the great god Pei Fei holding down the fort, who would dare to cause trouble here?

This subconscious sense of security caused her to drop her final guard.

"It's alright, Xu Mo. I'll just go in and take a look. Since it's the improved version, it should just be some kind of VR game," Pei Duo stuck out her tongue playfully. "Besides, Brother is here, what is there to fear?"

With that, she stepped across the rusty threshold first.

The unexpected change happened at that very second.

The moment Pei Duo's heel landed inside the room, the previously open steel door suddenly burst forth with a dark red divine power glow!

"No! Come back!" Xu Mo's face changed drastically, and he roared out loud.

He and Lin Sa moved almost simultaneously, rushing toward the door.

"Bang!"

Two figures were flung back with even greater speed. An invisible dark red barrier appeared out of thin air, its power so immense that it directly knocked the dagger from Lin Sa's hand.

"Rumble—!!!"

With a grating, ear-splitting noise,

The half-meter-thick steel door slammed shut the instant Pei Duo turned back in terror!

It sealed perfectly, leaving not the slightest crack.

Pei Duo's figure completely vanished into the darkness, leaving only Xu Mo and Lin Sa blocked firmly outside.

"Pei Duo!!"

The calmness in Lin Sa's eyes instantly shattered, replaced by extreme madness. She gestured with her right hand, and the dagger on the ground instantly flew back into her grasp. With a swing of her left hand, the S-rank item 'Soul Hook Rope' lashed out fiercely at the door like an enraged, venomous black snake, carrying the force of a killing blow.

"Open for me!!"

"Clang—!"

Sparks flew.

This strike, capable of shattering the soul of a fierce ghost, only produced a crisp impact sound against the steel door.

Complex maya ancient god defense totems emerged on the door, flowing with a faint golden light, not even losing a speck of paint.

Instead, the massive recoil force shook Lin Sa so hard her tiger's mouth cracked, and blood dripped from her fingertips.

"God-level defense..." Lin Sa gritted her teeth, looking desperately at the unmoving door.

Xu Mo did not attack the door wildly like Lin Sa. He knew that was the rule of a god; with their current strength, they could not break it.

He abruptly turned around and grabbed the young man by the collar.

His usual refinement and rationality vanished without a trace. Xu Mo's eyes were bloodshot as he stared fixedly at the young man's face, which still held a slight smile, and shouted fiercely,

"Are you playing us? Is this what you meant by 'no ill intent'? Is this how you treat your guests?!"

The young man, having his collar grabbed, showed no anger.

He allowed Xu Mo to pull him, spread his hands, and looked innocent: "Sir, please remain calm. I told you, the room chooses its guests on its own. The door closing means it accepted the Eldest Princess but rejected you."

"Nonsense!" Xu Mo roared.

"It's the rule," the smile on the young man's lips deepened. "Moreover, this is for the Eldest Princess's own good. Since it is a trial, naturally, she must face it alone."

Balam, standing nearby, finally stood up.

His tall frame blocked the space between the young man and Xu Mo, and he pressed down on Xu Mo's wrist with one hand.

The power was astonishingly great, like an iron clamp, forcibly prying open Xu Mo's fingers one by one.

"Let go," Balam's voice was heavy like thunder. "Lord Kaban was correct. This is the ancient rule of the Trial House; it only targets the spirit. Although the process might cause one to... collapse a little, there is absolutely no danger to life."

Xu Mo was pushed back two staggering steps.

He gasped heavily, forcing himself to calm down.

How could he open the door and obtain...

...

At this moment.

In the highest administrative hall of Xibalba, crisp sounds of Mahjong tiles rose and fell, forming a stark, ironic contrast to the chaos below.

"Three Wan."

The Speaker, 'One Death,' played a tile, his withered fingers lightly tapping the tabletop.

His deep-set eye sockets lifted slightly, glancing at Pei Fei sitting opposite him.

Despite the vast distance and the thick walls, the perception of a god allowed him to know everything happening below like the back of his hand.

"Pei," One Death's voice was hoarse. "She is your biological sister after all. Although we just agreed in the protocol to initiate the trial, you know that house reflects a person's deepest, most avoided fear."

"She is merely a mortal, without any divine power to protect her, not even having cultivated a decent state of mind. Letting that madman Kaban preside over the trial... aren't you afraid her spirit will directly collapse?"

Beside him, 'Seven Deaths' also stopped moving the tiles he was about to draw, saying with some worry, "Yes, the last demigod who went in was delirious for three days after coming out. Isn't this a bit too harsh for a young girl?"

The hall fell into a brief silence.

Pei Fei still maintained his lazy demeanor.

He casually extended his hand, his long fingers gliding over a row of Mahjong tiles before stopping on one.

He gently rubbed the texture on the tile's surface. Pei Fei's gaze became deep and distant, as if piercing through layers of void to see the figure trembling in the darkness.

Was he heartbroken? Of course.

She was the sister he would risk his life to protect.

"Harsh?"

Pei Fei let out a light laugh and heavily slapped that tile onto the table.

"Pa!"

"Hu. Pure color."

He slowly pushed over the tile wall in front of him, leaning back in his chair. The previously frivolous aura was completely gone at this moment, replaced by a suffocating loneliness and resolve.

"Those old relics in the West are already targeting her."

Pei Fei lifted his eyelids, golden light swirling in his eyes, resembling two burning suns.

"I can protect her for a time, but not for a lifetime. She is the Eldest Princess of Fengdu; she is destined to stand by my side in the future. Since she enjoys the glory and privilege that status brings, she must pay a corresponding price."

"If she cannot even overcome this inner fear, how will she face true despair when the God War of the Myriad Realms begins?"

Pei Fei picked up the cola beside him and took a long drink.

"To wear the crown, one must bear the weight."

"This is the path she must walk; no one can take it for her."