The clue… had truly appeared.

  “Look at the lock!”

  A sharp-eyed cultivator was the first to notice the change in the engraved text. He cried out in alarm.

  The others immediately turned their gazes toward the bronze lock. Sure enough, the third line of ancient script had transformed into a new passage one none of them had seen before.

  The chamber fell utterly silent.

  No one questioned Huang Xiu Xiu’s decision anymore.

  Facts spoke louder than words.

  While they had hesitated and argued in circles, it was her seemingly reckless act that had broken the stalemate.

  “Xiu Xiu Junior Sister, quickly! Place your hand on it!” someone urged impatiently after a brief pause.

  “Wait!” another voice cut in at once. “Don’t rush her! Let her think carefully! Choosing which orb to grasp is equally important—this might be the second trial!”

  The first speaker flushed, realizing his haste. He nodded repeatedly. “You’re right… she should consider which one to choose.”

  Yet before his words had fully faded

  Huang Xiu Xiu had already extended her hand.

  Without hesitation, she grasped the orb nearest to her.

  It emitted a gentle green glow.

  Wood.

  Her movements were crisp and decisive, as though no deliberation had occurred at all—almost as if she had selected it at random.

  Several people opened their mouths to object—

  Then closed them again.

  After all, Huang Xiu Xiu had already proven herself correct once.

  Their own cautious indecision had only wasted time.

  Perhaps courage itself was the key to breaking the deadlock?

  Now what?

  After she grasped the orb

  What would happen next?

  Every eye widened, fixed upon the bronze lock, afraid to miss even the slightest change.

  They did not wait long.

  Before their very eyes, the third line of text shifted once more.

  “Having chosen the Wood Orb, are you certain?”“Before your decision is final, I may yet inform you.”“Of the remaining orbs—Water, Fire, and Earth—Water and Fire are both incorrect.”“You may now change your choice and take the Earth Orb. To keep or to switch—the decision rests with you.”

  Joy burst across several faces.

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  “A hint! That’s a hint!”

  “So Water and Fire are both wrong!”

  “That’s excellent! Two wrong choices eliminated at once! The clue works!”

  No one present was foolish.

  The situation became clear instantly.

  The Metal Orb had already been proven wrong.

  Now Water and Fire were eliminated as well.

  Which meant

  The correct answer lay between only two possibilities:

  Wood or Earth.

  “Two choices! A fifty percent chance!” a disciple from the Knights’ Alliance exclaimed, breaking the tension.

  “But… should we switch?” someone else muttered, frowning deeply. “Since it’s asking whether we want to change, does that imply switching is better?”

  “Why switch?” another immediately retorted. “Wood and Earth both have equal probability now. This could be a trap! What if we already picked the correct one? By removing two wrong answers, it could be trying to shake our confidence. If we switch, we might lose precisely because of that!”

  “Exactly!” someone agreed loudly. “If the odds are fifty-fifty, then we should trust our original choice! Perhaps this is testing our Dao-heart—whether we remain steadfast and unmoved by external interference!”

  “Nonsense!” another argued. “The Path of Hai-Suan tests calculation and logic, not Dao-heart! If new information is given, it must carry meaning. It cannot be a mere psychological trick!”

  The chamber divided instantly into two factions, voices rising again in heated debate.

  Wen Shan, however, stared at the text in silence.

  His brows gradually drew together.

  He glanced at the green-glowing Wood Orb in Huang Xiu Xiu’s hand then instinctively looked toward Senior Sister not far away.

  He seemed about to speak

  Unexpectedly, Senior Sister turned her head without warning, her phoenix-like eyes locking onto him.

  “What is it, Wen Shan? Have you noticed something?”

  He felt a jolt of surprise.

  He had merely glanced in her direction, yet she caught it immediately.

  Here, where everyone had been reduced to mortals, she still retained such keen perception.

  Was it her higher talent?

  Or the unique constitution of her so-called “Saintly Body in Pursuit of the Dao”?

  Suppressing his thoughts, he answered honestly.

  “Senior Sister, I just remembered a small anecdote from the mortal world. The trial of this lock… seems somewhat similar to that story.”

  Instead of responding directly to him, Senior Sister first turned to Huang Xiu Xiu.

  “What do you think? Should we switch?”

  Without the slightest hesitation, Huang Xiu Xiu replied in her calm, unwavering voice:

  “We should switch.”

  Only then did Senior Sister return her gaze to Wen Shan.

  “And you?”

  Wen Shan nodded as well.

  “We should switch.”

  “Then tell us your anecdote,” Senior Sister said evenly. “Let everyone hear it.”

  Wen Shan cleared his throat under the crowd’s curious stares.

  “In the mortal world, I once saw a clever merchant who wished to attract customers. He prepared a fat sheep as a prize free to whoever won it.”

  “But the sheep was not so easily given. He placed it inside a large wooden chest. There were three identical chests in total. Only one contained the sheep. The other two were empty.”

  “From the outside, no one could distinguish which chest held the prize.”

  “The rules were simple: any customer who spent more than ten silver coins in his shop earned one chance to choose a chest. If they selected the one with the sheep, they could take it home immediately.”

  “Whenever someone failed, the merchant would open the correct chest to show that the sheep truly existed. Then he would return the chests inside, reshuffle them, and bring them back out ensuring each round was a fresh start.”

  “That day, however, something strange happened. More than a dozen customers in a row failed to pick the correct chest.”

  “Gradually, complaints arose. Some accused the merchant of tampering with the chests, claiming no one could ever win.”

  “The merchant, unwilling to bear such slander, decided to prove his honesty. When the next customer came, he first let the man choose one chest.”

  “Then the merchant walked to the remaining two chests and personally opened one of them.”

  “That chest was, of course, empty because the merchant knew exactly where his sheep was hidden.”

  “Afterward, the merchant smiled and said to the customer: I will now give you one chance to change your choice. You may keep your original selection—or switch to the final unopened chest.”

  Wen Shan paused.

  His gaze swept across everyone present.

  Then he asked slowly:

  “So tell me should that customer switch chests?”

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