Su Clan’s Sixteen put away her shoes and socks before gently stepping into the passage.

When her feet stepped on the ground of the passage, she only felt a tingling sensation coming from the soles of her feet. The road clearly looked smooth and level, but when she stepped on it, it felt like she was stepping on metal spikes.

She was at the Fourth Stage Realm, and with her having become a dragon, her physique was extremely close to that of someone in the Fifth Stage Realm. Despite having such a physique, she was unable to ignore the sensation of pain coming from her feet.

Sixteen frowned slightly, and said, “Did the trial begin as soon as I took that first step?”

After preparing herself mentally, she took another step forward. There was still a stabbing pain coming from her feet, but it was generally within a range that she could bear.

Soft Feather followed behind her, and she similarly put away her footwear and stepped into the passage.

She stepped forward, soon walking beside Sixteen.

“Eh? It hurts.” As Soft Feather set her other foot in the passage, she felt a stabbing pain, just as if she was stepping on wooden spikes—it hurt and itched.

She then maintained a one-legged posture, with one of her feet being slightly lifted while her cute toes wiggled.

She looked at her feet, wondering, “The pain came from the soles of my feet. Is this kind of pain some sort of ‘illusion’?”

Song Shuhang said, “Let me try it out.”

After he took off his shoes, he strode into the tunnel.

In the next moment, he felt as if he was stepping on sharp blades, causing the soles of his feet to hurt.

“Clang!”

Instantly, the mutated version of the ❮Steel Hands Technique❯ appeared on Song Shuhang’s body, resulting in the soles of his feet taking on a pitch-black metallic color. Not only that, the ❮Scholarly Indestructible Body of the Buddha❯ and the ❮Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique❯ also came into effect one after the other.

The nine ancient ape projections, which all held scholarly scriptures, emerged and began chanting, singing praises of their master.

With the three body tempering exercises active, Song Shuhang confidently stepped onto the road again.

Then, he screamed, “Ah, f*ck~”

Previously, the road only felt as if it was made of sharp blades, but when he stepped on it this time, it felt like the road was made of chainsaws, ones that were set at full power. The pain was simply unbearable.

Sixteen said, “Does it hurt a lot? I feel like I’m stepping on metal spikes.” She lifted her petite foot and raised it towards Song Shuhang. “It hurts a bit, but I can bear it.”

Her feet were small and well-proportioned, with the soles of her feet looking very soft and with the foot lines clearly visible.

Soft Feather chuckled, and said, “I feel like I’m stepping on wooden thorns. It’s a bit painful and itchy, and kind of wants to make me laugh.”

She similarly raised her long feet and showed them to Song Shuhang as her crystal-like toes twisted around. Her feet were of a completely different style from Sixteen.

Song Shuhang smiled bitterly, and said, “I feel like I’m stepping on a full-powered chainsaw; it’s terrible.”

“I understand.” Su Clan’s Sixteen calmly analyzed, and said, “It seems that the stronger one’s physique is, the greater the pain they would feel. The intensity of pain that one receives depends on that person’s strength. It’s a very user-dependent design.”

“That means…” Song Shuhang dispersed the ❮Scholarly Indestructible Body of the Buddha❯, the ❮Holy Ape Dragon Power Technique❯, and the mutated version of the ❮Steel Hands Technique❯.

He stepped on the path once again, and as expected, the pain that had been like he was stepping on chainsaws went back to being similar to sharp blades.

Song Shuhang confidently said, “This is a lot better. This level of pain is nothing to me.”

His tolerance for pain was far beyond what others could imagine.

Whether it was mental or physical, Song Shuhang had a high tolerance for pain.

The amount of blood he had lost and the terrifying level of pain that he would have to endure every time he used the secret appraisal technique were no laughing matter.

Have you ever experienced the pain of being hugged to death and having one’s bones broken one by one?

Back when his mental strength rose too fast, he felt as if his head was pounded on by a big and small hammer every night, causing Song Shuhang’s mind to become fully tempered.

Therefore, this pain he felt after stepping on the blades was nothing much to him.

The interior of the passage was very wide, and the three could walk together side by side.

Su Clan’s Sixteen was on Song Shuhang’s left, while Soft Feather subconsciously shortened the length of her stride, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Song Shuhang on his right.

Soft Feather asked, “Sixteen~ Senior Song, do you think we can meet that ‘Almighty Merchant’ again?”

Song Shuhang asked, “Is there something that you want to buy?”

Soft Feather nodded, and said, “Mm-hm, I feel that the sheet on Senior Almighty Merchant is so interesting. I want to buy one of the same style.”

Song Shuhang could not help but imagine how Soft Feather would look with only her head exposed while the rest of her body was wrapped in cloth.

“Pfff~” Song Shuhang couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Soft Feather looked at Song Shuhang suspiciously. “Senior Song, what are you laughing at?”

Song Shuhang solemnly said, “It’s nothing. I feel that the sheet must be unique in its own way, and… there’s a chance that it’s a high-level magical treasure.”

After all, in addition to Soft Feather, Senior White Two had also taken a fancy to this sheet.

Senior White Two’s vision was very sharp.

Nothing in his collection was ordinary. Only things like the Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Combined Magical Treasure or the God Slaying Cannon, which were unique, entered his eyes.

Perhaps the sheet on the Almighty Merchant’s body had the ability to cover up one’s aura—an ability so powerful that even the Heaven’s Will was unable to sense the wearer?

“I only need one of the same style, the functions are secondary.” Soft Feather chuckled, and said, “I want to buy one for my dad as well. I feel that the Almighty Merchant’s size is similar to my dad’s. If my dad were to wear a sheet of the same style, it would definitely be very interesting.”

Song Shuhang visualized the handsome Venerable Spirit Butterfly wrapped in sheets, and couldn’t help but laugh out loud once more.

If Soft Feather was the one to buy the sheet for Venerable Spirit Butterfly, it didn’t matter whether it looked good on him or not—he would definitely wrap it around his body every day.

“Actually, there’s also something that I want to buy.” Su Clan’s Sixteen put her hands behind her back, and looked down at her chest.

Song Shuhang said, “Now that you say that, there’s actually also something that I want to buy.”

He wanted to buy a phone for Sixteen… Other than that, when Sixteen had sent the box of clothes to Fairy Fleeting Life, he had said that he would buy Sixteen some gifts.

The three of them talked as they followed the road of the trial.

At a corner that the three could not see, the Almighty Merchant, who was wrapped in the sheets, sighed quietly and shrank into the shadows.

His right hand gripped his left hand tightly.

The Almighty Merchant silently said to himself, “Don’t go out, don’t go out to trade. You absolutely cannot trade with Profound Sage Tyrannical Song.”

However, his merchant’s soul made him unable to stop himself from wanting to go out and trade with Song Shuhang.

All three of them were quality customers, and they all seemed to want to buy some things. Especially the petite and cute girl and the girl with long legs both seemed to be rich customers.

Allowing patrons to get what they wanted was the greatest happiness to the Almighty Merchant. His life’s meaning was to trade.

However, whenever he came in contact with Profound Sage Tyrannical Song, his luck would always be horrible.

The Almighty Merchant softly said, “Patience, I need to be patient, victory is acquired through persistence.”

There were three secrets to completing a transaction.

One: persistence.

Two: shamelessness.

Three: to persist in being shameless.

This was the secret to becoming successful in trading.

He just needed to stick to the next section of the road of the trial.

After the first section, the [Road of Thorns], there was the [Road of the Lost]. At the next section, the three would definitely split up.

At that time, he could quietly complete transactions with the two girls. As for Profound Sage Tyrannical Song, hehehe, he wanted to trade with him? Not happening.

Profound Sage Tyrannical Song was blacklisted!

❄️❄️❄️

The three marched steadily, and as they were halfway through the road of thorns, they saw someone.

It was a five-meter-long centipede spirit, but it didn’t look scary at all—it had a chibi style to it.

“I never would have thought that I would also stop here, and this is even only the first section of the road.” The centipede spirit sighed faintly, and said, “Sure enough, it’s just as my dad said: if someone from our family has yet to acquire their Fifth Stage form, coming to the road of the trial is simply asking for trouble. This secret realm is too inhuman, no, too incentipede!”

Song Shuhang glanced at the centipede spirit in silence. Its failure was understandable.

It was at the Fourth Stage Realm, but because of its carapace, its physique was way stronger than those of monster cultivators of the same realm. This wasn’t all—it was even a variant species. Song Shuhang roughly counted, and found that it had a total of 500 pairs of feet.

The pain on this road would be felt through one’s feet.

What human cultivators needed to endure was only pain coming from two feet, and something like that monster tiger from before would also only need to endure the pain from four feet at most, and it could even choose to stand on two feet.

However, this centipede spirit had to endure pain coming from each of its 500 pairs of feet. It was like taking in as much as one could possibly get!

For it to have been able to get here showed that it already had a decent amount of resoluteness.

For other races, this road of thorns could be passed by gritting their teeth and forbearance. They could train their will while walking. However, for this centipede spirit, every inch it traveled was filled with sharp pain.

Song Shuhang cupped his fists towards the chibi centipede spirit, and then continued onward.

In this passage, time lost significance.

The passage seemed to have no end. They would go through one corner after the other, but they could still not see the end.

“Are we there yet?” Soft Feather frowned slightly. With her lively character, she was getting quite bored.

Song Shuhang smiled slightly. “Calm down, this is also a kind of trial. It’s part of the training of one’s heart.”

The centuries of lonely onion life he went through made Song Shuhang able to easily persist through boredom.

Moreover, he wasn’t alone this time, as he was accompanied by Su Clan’s Sixteen and Soft Feather.

Su Clan’s Sixteen said, “Mm-hm, the improvement of one’s will is clearly part of this trial. In addition, it can also slightly improve one’s physique.”

I wonder which world in the universe this road of the trial is in.

When she was in the Spirit River Su Clan, she had never heard of such a secret realm.

Song Shuhang laughed, and said, “While walking on this road, I suddenly remembered a story I read in the past.”

Soft Feather’s eyes lit up. “Senior Song, tell us about it. I’m so bored.”

Song Shuhang grinned evilly, and said, “This story is called the ❮Diary of the Ascetic Senior Monk❯.”

This story was a story that ended with a giant anticlimax.