"Erm... This is not my fault."

As he looked at the distraught girl on the verge of tears, Chen Xuan could not help but speak up.

He took a step back to open some distance between them and continued.

"You’re the one who told me to keep bowing. Don’t try to pin the blame on me," he shook his head.

The possibility had already crossed his mind when the stone tablet had shattered during the earlier trial.

Now that her Master’s statue had broken as well, his fear felt even more justified.

Especially after seeing the girl’s reddened eyes and trembling body, he knew he had to defend himself. Otherwise, he might end up as a victim of her anger.

"Shut up!"

Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears. The little girl paid him no attention at all.

Having completely lost the will to maintain her arrogant facade, she rushed towards the broken statue and knelt on the ground, frantically gathering the fragments.

"No! No! Master’s statue was forged from Holy-grade materials! How could it break? How could this happen?" she muttered under her breath as she picked up piece after piece.

Her doubts were reasonable.

The fragments were sharp enough to slice through her skin the moment she touched them, opening several cuts across her fingers.

It didn’t make sense that the statue would break for no reason.

However, the girl did not have time to mull over this question.

She continued trying to put the statue’s pieces together, as though doing so could somehow help it regain its former glory.

Watching this scene unfold, Chen Xuan couldn’t help but sigh.

"It’s okay," he said, unable to stop herself from comforting her, "It’s only a statue. Here, let me help."

He stepped forward and was about to lean down, preparing to help her collect the fragments.

Yet before he could finish speaking, a brilliant white light suddenly appeared where the statue had once stood.

At first, it was faint, no brighter than a firefly’s glow. But within moments, it expanded until it illuminated the entire dark void.

An illusory phantom emerged from within the bright sun. It raised its hand and pointed toward Chen Xuan.

The next instant, the white light collapsed, condensing into a single beam that shot directly into his body.

Along with it came a stream of information.

As he sorted through it, several familiar and unfamiliar terms surfaced within Chen Xuan’s mind.

Luck. Destiny. Influence. Heaven’s Will. Fateless One.

Though he was a Nascent Soul cultivator, it still took Chen Xuan several minutes to process everything.

When he finally opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was no longer the shattered statue, but a flushed young face.

A pair of hands gripped his shoulders tightly, shaking him back and forth violently.

"Bad man! Spill it out! What did you do?"

"I knew it! This was your fault! You destroyed the statue!" the little girl shouted, her tone half-aggrieved and half-murderous.

Chen Xuan instinctively tried to break free of her grasp.

Yet no matter how hard he struggled, he found himself unable to move.

The little girl’s hands were like iron clamps, holding him firmly in place and rendering him powerless to resist.

’What terrifying strength!’ Chen Xuan’s eyes widened.

He could tell that the little girl was not using any spell at all, relying purely on her physical strength.

To restrain him so effortlessly, he judged that her physical prowess had to be at least at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm.

Chen Xuan was astonished, but he had no time to dwell on it.

The girl continued shaking him violently, and his silence only seemed to make her killing intent grow even stronger.

He even had the feeling that if he didn’t give her a sufficient answer soon enough, she would forcibly search his soul.

At that thought, Chen Xuan hurriedly opened his mouth.

"Cough, cough," he cleared his throat, "Don’t look at me like that. I already told you, this wasn’t my doing."

Seeing that she still did not believe him and her grip only tightened further around his flesh, he quickly added.

"I’m telling the truth. Didn’t you claim the third trial required the challenger to possess a certain quality?"

"It seems I just happened to meet that requirement," he said.

Sensing the girl’s grip loosen slightly, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

However, he soon realized that the suspicion in her eyes only deepened.

"You? Meeting the third trial’s requirements?" she muttered.

"Could it be that Master made the requirement for challengers to be perverts?"

She frowned thoughtfully before her eyes suddenly lit up.

"That’s right! That has to be it!"

"The first trial tests combat prowess, the second tests comprehension, while the third one tests perversion. No wonder you managed to pass!" she said, her eyes full of admiration.

"I’m really proud of you."

Hearing those words, Chen Xuan’s expression darkened.

Brushing her hands aside, he rose to his feet and smoothed out his wrinkled robes.

By now, he understood.

This girl must have known the truth from the very beginning.

She had merely been trying to scare him in order to satisfy her morbid personality.

Seeing him realize it so quickly, the little girl stuck out her tongue mischievously before a trace of genuine curiosity appeared on her face.

"I’m curious. What exactly was the requirement for the third trial? Or rather, what quality does the challenger need to possess?"

The girl had been trapped within the Secret Realm for thousands of years.

Aside from her blurred memories of her Master, her curiosity about this trial was the only thing that had sustained her through the endless passage of time.

She had watched hundreds of challengers attempt the trials, yet not a single one had fulfilled this hidden requirement.

Now that someone had, she really wanted to know the answer.

Hearing her earnest question, Chen Xuan briefly had the urge to keep the truth to himself. This would surely teach her a lesson for her earlier teasing.

However, the moment that thought surfaced, a cold shiver ran down his spine.

Looking at the girl’s "kind" smile, he suppressed the impulse and began to speak.