Xianxia Online

- Meanwhile, Fu Mei's Side… -

Balance.

What a fine word. In essence, everything bound to nature needs to be balanced. Otherwise, the equilibrium of the world would be overthrown, and the consequences would be immeasurable. In the end, light cannot exist without dark, yang cannot exist without yin. What was good without evil to compare it to? What was life without the fear of death constantly lurking behind it?

Although Fu Mei was technically a pure demon in blood, her father was without a doubt, human. She was well aware of this, and thus understood the concept of 'balance' quite well. Whatever this place was, it had chosen the most suitable Law for her, and placed her within its trial room to test how far she could go.

This, Fu Mei knew, was the Law of Causality.

The first layer was titled 'Balance'. It involved absorbing the energy from both sides of the room into her own body, and then distributing it so that her cold half was warm, and her hot half was cool. Balance.

The second layer was titled 'Cause and Effect'. Since Fu Mei had already grasped that concept since the first instant she stepped foot into this place, that was hardly a problem for her.

The third layer was called 'Chains'. It was here that Fu Mei could finally put what she'd comprehended into use. From her hands, terrifying crimson chains lashed out, piercing one of the pillars in the room instantly. At first, this didn't seem very impressive—but because this was the Law of Causality, no amount of defenses were going to work against these chains. The only way to beat them was in a showdown of raw power, attack-to-attack, and Fu Mei was no slacker in that department. After swiftly dispatching the spawned enemies using her newfound power, she advanced to the next layer.

And it was here that things began to get interesting.

In one half of the room lay a dark sphere, hovering in the air and emanating a domineering presence. In the other was its light counterpart, a beautiful glowing orb of white that radiated pureness and innocence.

It's as if it was asking Fu Mei to make a choice.

Light or dark? Which path shall she choose?

In her head, she debated for a brief moment, trying to guess at what kind of capabilities each one would have. Without a doubt, this was a irreversible decision. If she chose one, that was it. No switching.

After some brief consideration, she smiled.

'As a demon… how can I not?'

Her heart was a dark one. If she forcibly chose the light orb, there may even be severe backlash. As such, there really was no choice but to go with the most obvious decision. Steadily, Fu Mei entered the dark side of the room, and was immediately shrouded in a feeling of unease. Her eyebrows furrowed a bit as she adjusted to this new feeling, and she pressed on.

'… Annoying.'

As she approached the orb, she could feel the unease growing stronger. It was an orb of true evil, true darkness, darkness that could make even a powerful demon like her tremble. Compared to this, the light orb should've been a lot easier… but there was no turning back now.

"Not even a sentient being, and you want to resist me…? In your dreams!"

Cackling out loud, Fu Mei forcefully stepped closer to the orb, one step at a time. Her eyes were filled with determination, but the resistance all around her began to increase as well. Like electromagnetism, like charges repel—and Fu Mei was going to face more repulsion the closer she got to the orb.

But since when has she let something as trivial as that stop her?

In a flash, she activated her True Demon form. Two large black wings tore out of her back, and her devilish horns atop her head grew even longer. Her nails transformed into golden claws, and her skin color faded to become more pale than before. Her eyes, originally already red, now shone even brighter, filled with bloodlust and vigor.

Back in Asphodel, she could only maintain this form for a short time due to the horrible World Qi—but here, things were different. The Qi here was more abundant than even Tartarus or Elysium, so Fu Mei could keep this form for practically however long she wanted—and with this increased strength, she pushed on through the dark waves of energy resisting her.

She felt something akin to a blade slice across her cheek. It drew blood, and a tear of gold fell from the wound. But Fu Mei did not care—she was so close, a mere ten meters away. Just a few more steps, and…

"Ngh…"

Another cut. The resistance here was simply too strong, and like blades of wind, sank its fangs into Fu Mei's tender flesh. But like her father, she did not care about the pain. It was more of an annoyance than anything, and she countered it by wrapping her body with her wings. The air resistance was too strong for her to fly, so this was the next best thing.

'Just… a little… more…!'

The orb was so close now that she could reach for it with her fingertips. But at the same time, her pace slowed to a snail's crawl. Her wings wouldn't last much longer—they were blistered and cut, her precious and beautiful black feathers decimated to pieces.

'One… more… step…!'

This was it. The final step. She commanded her feet to go forward against their will, and reached out with her hand, as far as she could.

'… There!'

The moment her fingertips closed around the orb, the resistance stopped. All around her, the field of dark Qi dissipated instantly, like it had never been there in the first place.

She had succeeded.

'Little prick… you thought you can stop me, huh?'

Despite her brutal injuries, cuts, and golden blood flying everywhere, Fu Mei remained smiling like a badass. Staring down at the now-tamed orb of darkness in her hand, she let out an evil grin, and crushed it between her fingertips.

Instantly, a surge of power coursed through her body, and before her eyes, a System notification appeared.

[You have chosen the Law of Darkness branch.]

"Heh…"

And that was all she remembered before her heavy eyelids finally shut tight.