"Don’t worry, I should be able to handle it." Li Xiu didn’t find Chu Jun’s concern annoying, feeling his good intentions.
"Alright then, I’ll be off. There’s still something I need to handle over there, you should go in quickly, they’re about to set off." Having arranged things, Chu Jun jogged away.
Li Xiu entered through the back door with a number plate. The guards did not stop him, presumably because Chu Jun had already taken care of it.
When he arrived at the courtyard gate pointed out by Chu Jun, he saw that inside were all the Trial Takers recruited yesterday, including A Fei and Sha Chu.
Li Xiu showed his number plate, and the guard let him in.
"Why are you here?" A Fei came to Li Xiu’s side and asked with some confusion.
"I made a friend yesterday, who got me the qualification to enter the Hero Trial Ground," Li Xiu explained.
"I was wondering why we were one man short this morning, turns out it was you who replaced him. What kind of friend did you meet, seems like you have quite the connection?" Sha Chu said with a smile.
"Did you see the City Lord of Zhongshan?" Li Xiu ignored Sha Chu and pondered before asking.
"No, everything here is handled by that adjutant, we didn’t get to see what the City Lord of Zhongshan looks like at all," A Fei replied.
"Let’s complete the trial first then," Li Xiu nodded.
When it was time for the trial, the Zhongshan City’s City Lord’s adjutant led Li Xiu and the other ten people to the Trial Gate.
This Trial Gate was located in the City Lord’s Mansion, in a separate large courtyard, standing a gray-black gate, less than ten meters high. Among the Trial Gates Li Xiu had seen, this one was relatively small.
The adjutant personally embedded over twenty black crystals on the gate, which radiated a black light and then slowly opened.
Li Xiu was somewhat surprised, the Hero Trial Ground actually needed over twenty gemstones to open, which is quite a number.
Fortunately, black crystals are relatively cheap, much cheaper compared to pink apatite, so the cost to open it isn’t that high.
Li Xiu exchanged a glance with A Fei and Sha Chu, and then followed the other Trial Takers through the door.
Inside a white room, the ten Trial Takers all found themselves in tight white clothes. At Li Xiu’s waist was a light red belt, making him look relatively fine, but Sha Chu was quite eye-catching with her red dress and red boots. Thankfully, her Tang Blade, as a Symbiotic Contract, was absorbed into her body, otherwise, she would have stood out even more. Even so, the other Trial Takers looked at her in confusion.
The white room resembled a white box, with white walls, floor, and ceiling. Each wall had a door, but no one knew which door led to the exit.
Every time in the Dark Maze, the path to the exit was different, so previous experience was of little use.
The light screen that appeared on the wall lit up the entire room brightly.
"Welcome to the Hero Trial Ground, the B-level trial is about to begin, here are the rules..." The cold voice in such an oppressive environment made people feel particularly uncomfortable.
The rules were the same as what Li Xiu knew before: as long as the exit is found, one passes the first round of tests. There were no other restrictions, just find the exit.
While the light screen still illuminated the room, Li Xiu carefully observed the room and the doors, hoping to find something.
Based on Li Xiu’s previous experience, trials generally had patterns to follow, and it wasn’t just about brute force to pass.
A trial like the Dark Maze couldn’t just rely on luck. Besides the sense of direction, calm judgment, and memory, Li Xiu wanted to know if there were other solutions.
"Are you also a Trial Taker?" While Li Xiu was observing the room, a Trial Taker suddenly approached him and asked this out of the blue.
The other Trial Takers didn’t understand what this meant, thinking all who came here were Trial Takers, considering if that Trial Taker was out of his mind.
Li Xiu naturally didn’t think so, he carefully scrutinized the person in front and countered, "Are you too?"
This person appeared to be in his twenties, with ordinary looks, ordinary build, and ordinary stature. He was the kind of person you’d forget once you looked away.
The Fire Lotus Sword at Li Xiu’s waist and the Demon Spirit Ring on his hand were clear marks of a real Trial Taker, which couldn’t be hidden.
But on this person, Li Xiu didn’t see a contract, only noticing a Black Crystal Ring on his finger, which might be a Demon Spirit Ring.
"This is my contract." The man raised his finger with the Black Crystal Ring, answering Li Xiu’s question.
This surprised Li Xiu a bit, not expecting the Black Crystal Ring to not be a Demon Spirit Ring but a contract.
"Any instructions?" Li Xiu looked at the man and asked.
"Just confirming something." The man replied.
"Confirm what?" Li Xiu slightly frowned, feeling a bit off with the man’s tone.
"Confirming my target. I only deal with ordinary people. I don’t mess with Trial Takers, as they didn’t pay me to kill Trial Takers." The man’s straightforwardness startled Li Xiu.
The man made it clear that he was hired to come in and kill but wasn’t told there were real Trial Takers inside.
So he would only kill ordinary people, and he wouldn’t bother with Li Xiu and Sha Chu.
This could be considered both a gesture of goodwill and a threat.
He didn’t want to trouble Li Xiu and Sha Chu, and hoped they wouldn’t interfere with his affairs, each minding their own business.