90: Chapter 90: How about we give it a try?

The second of the four gates, the Gate of Desire.

The moment Li Changsheng and Liu Ruyan stepped into the Gate of Desire, the scene before them changed abruptly.

They appeared in a magnificent palace.

The hall was draped in red silk, candles flickered, and the air was thick with a suggestive atmosphere.

In the center lay a massive bed, its curtains hanging low.

Liu Ruyan raised an eyebrow: "This trial is quite direct."

Li Changsheng looked around: "It seems the Gate of Desire tests our innermost, truest desires."

As soon as he finished speaking, a charming laugh rang out.

The phantom of the Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable appeared in the hall, reclining on the bed, her eyes brimming with allure.

"You're right, kid."

"The Gate of Desire, naturally, must be presided over by the one who understands desire best."

She looked at the two of them and waved her hand.

Two beams of light flew out from Li Changsheng and Liu Ruyan's bodies, coalescing into two orbs of light in the air.

One was pinkish-red, as intense as fire.

The other was deep as an abyss, with dark currents surging beneath.

"These are your deepest desires."

"Li Changsheng, your desire is very simple; you are purely a lecher."

The Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable giggled.

Li Changsheng's mouth twitched; he had the feeling of having a small secret exposed.

The Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable continued: "Your projection of desire is filled with all sorts of beauties, plump or slender, each with their own merits, but the most intense one..."

She looked toward Liu Ruyan.

"It is her."

Liu Ruyan also looked at Li Changsheng.

Li Changsheng coughed lightly, not denying it.

"I admit I like good-looking people, and Miss Liu is indeed exactly my type."

Liu Ruyan raised an eyebrow: "Just that?"

"I'm a vulgar person; I don't care for those superficial things. You're seductive, you're exciting, you make me have urges—that's enough."

Li Changsheng knew that in front of the Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable, he couldn't hide anything, so he decided to be frank.

Liu Ruyan was silent for two seconds upon hearing this, then suddenly laughed.

"You're quite honest."

Over the years, she had seen countless Geniuses, whether from the Righteous Path or the Demonic Path, who would still put on a front on the surface.

But this was the first time she had met someone like Li Changsheng, who directly said he liked seductive women.

The Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable was the same; her eyes were brimming with allure at this moment.

If she weren't in a spiritual form right now, she would have liked to show Li Changsheng what true, ultimate seduction was.

Of course, this thought was only for a fleeting moment.

The Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable looked at Liu Ruyan again.

"Little girl, it's your turn. Your desires are very complex."

The abyss-like orb of light slowly unfolded.

Everyone saw the scenes within.

A dilapidated small village; Liu Ruyan's mother was holding her, hiding in a dry well, with the roars of Yao Beasts outside.

Her mother pushed her out of the well, used her own body to block the opening, and smiled at her before dying.

"Ruyan, live on."

The scene shifted.

A young Liu Ruyan was begging for food on the street, then taken away by people from the Hehuan Sect.

She Cultivated desperately in the Hehuan Sect, achieving Foundation Establishment in one year, stunning the entire Sect.

But her Senior Sisters ostracized her, mocking her for being hypocritically aloof.

"You've joined the Hehuan Sect, yet you still want to act like a saint."

The scene shifted again.

Liu Ruyan sat alone on a jade platform in the Ten Thousand Desires Heavenly Palace, looking at the Legacy Jade Slip in her hand.

She did not Cultivate those harvesting techniques.

Not because she was aloof.

But because she was afraid.

Afraid that once she started, she would become the kind of person her mother hated most.

Afraid that once she started, she would never be able to stop.

She wanted power.

But she wanted power that could protect herself even more.

The scene finally froze.

It was that night she and Li Changsheng spent in the Ten Thousand Desires Heavenly Palace.

Not a scene of Dual Cultivation, but the words Li Changsheng said before leaving after it was over:

"You just said it wasn't for harvesting, not for a Cultivation Technique; I want you to remember that."

Liu Ruyan looked at that scene and fell silent.

The Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable also fell silent.

After a long while, she spoke:

"Little girl, what you want is... a sense of security."

Liu Ruyan closed her eyes, accepting this statement at that moment.

"What you have always needed is someone you can rely on, someone who won't abandon you, someone who lets you stop facing everything alone."

The Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable's voice was uncharacteristically gentle.

Liu Ruyan opened her eyes.

She looked at Li Changsheng.

Li Changsheng was also looking at her.

"You just said that you only like me because I'm seductive?"

Liu Ruyan asked.

Li Changsheng was silent.

"Anything else?"

Li Changsheng sighed and said.

"Also... the way you looked sitting alone on the jade platform reading the Legacy Jade Slip, it was a bit pitiful."

It was a little like the first pitiful masseuse he met when he first entered a foot massage parlor.

Her background was miserable: a gambling father, a sick mother, a younger brother in school, and her working hard to make money.

Li Changsheng felt an impulse back then.

He not only extended the session but also requested her every time he came.

That masseuse could be considered his mentor in the foot massage parlor.

Unfortunately, he heard she eventually passed her postgraduate entrance exam and moved on.

Li Changsheng was sad for a while because of that.

That night, Liu Ruyan's expression was a bit like hers.

Liu Ruyan was stunned upon hearing this; no one had ever said such things to her before.

"I'm not pitying you."

"I just feel... there's no need for you to keep yourself so tightly wound."

Li Changsheng continued.

He was still outputting, watching Liu Ruyan reveal a rare, earnest expression.

"I know you're faking it when you're being seductive, you're faking it when you smile, and you were still faking it when you told me to pretend it never happened."

"But the you in those scenes just now, that was real."

Liu Ruyan didn't speak.

Li Changsheng stepped forward, raised his hand, and gently ruffled her hair.

"I can't give you any promises; our factions are different, our Sects are different, and we might even have to draw swords against each other in the future."

"But at least now, in this crappy trial, you don't have to pretend."

Liu Ruyan looked up at him.

"If I don't pretend, what am I like?"

Li Changsheng smiled indifferently upon hearing this.

"I don't know."

"But I want to see."

The two looked at each other.

After a long while, Liu Ruyan smiled.

This smile was different from before.

No flirtatiousness, no disguise, just the smile of an exhausted girl finally able to let down her guard.

"Li Changsheng, you're quite good at flirting."

"Average, just average."

Watching this scene, a trace of complexity flashed in the Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable's eyes.

"Interesting."

"Are the desires of this generation of juniors all this twisted?"

She murmured softly and waved her hand.

Light enveloped the two of them.

"You two have passed; this place is handed over to you now."

The Ten Thousand Desires Demon Venerable smiled, and her phantom slowly faded away.

Li Changsheng and Liu Ruyan were wrapped in light and returned to the main hall, where a massive bed stood before them.

The two looked at each other.

"So, shall we do it?"

...

Meanwhile.

The Gate of Duty, one of the four gates.

Ling Jianxin and Li Tianxing stepped into the gate.

Behind the gate lay the ruins of a battlefield, the setting sun like blood, with corpses everywhere.

The two stood in the center of the battlefield, surrounded by countless fallen figures.

There were Righteous Path Cultivators, Demonic Path Cultivators, and the Yao Race.

"This is... a corner of the Ancient Battlefield."

The two realized instantly.

Just as they intended to explore the surroundings, a massive phantom was reflected in the distance.

That aura was the Yao Race.

"Could it be that our task is to join forces to defeat it?"

Ling Jianxin and Li Tianxing looked at each other.

After all, the Ancient Battlefield was where the Immortal and Demonic factions cooperated to fight against the Yao Race.

"It's possible!"

"Then let's fight!"

The exchange between the two was extremely concise.

Then Ling Jianxin drew his sword, and Li Tianxing clenched his fists.

The two stood side by side and charged toward the phantom.

...

The battle lasted for who knows how long.

When the light shone again, Ling Jianxin and Li Tianxing were bathed in blood, but there was a hint of clarity in their eyes.

Looking back at the trace of the Yao Race's aura in the distance, it had now completely dissipated.

Under their fierce onslaught, the Yao Race's aura naturally couldn't last long.

The moment the aura dissipated.

A voice rang out.

"Passed!"