Chapter 109 (3/3):  Saint Land Assessment, Eden

Almost as soon as she set foot past the arch, Su Fu heard Shen Yan’s voice: [“The assessment has officially begun”]

[“Assessment Type: Sacred Land Practice (Reality)”]

[“Duration: 7 days”]

[“Your teammates have been randomly assigned”]

[“Please rendezvous with your teammates as soon as possible”]

Su Fu blinked, and a semi-transparent map projection appeared before her eyes.

Aside from her own red dot, there were three green dots on the map.

Two were within the Tianqiong Path Academy student group, while the other was among the Taigu Zhihen students.

Almost simultaneously, the green dots began to move, all heading for the central area.

Su Fu quickened her pace, and the four quickly met up.

She looked and was surprised to find a famous acquaintance.

Golden curls cascaded down to her waist, and her azure eyes were as pure as the clearest sapphire.

The top beauty, Dairi Russell, smiled at the group and introduced herself, “Dairi Russell, main god Aphrodite. Pleased to be your teammate.”

The second was a boy, with black hair and a stern face. 

He introduced himself briefly, “Hou Zhu, main god Uriel.”

Su Fu’s turn: “Su Fu, main god Nuwa.”

Last was the student from Taigu Zhihen, a refined-looking boy with delicate features.

“Jiang Nanchen, main god Cupid.”

Su Fu glanced at him and thought, ‘Cupid? The one whose arrows make people fall in love?’

Huh—

What a perfect match for Dairi’s divine skills.

She considered that perhaps this combination would have unexpected effects.

All in all, Dairi was like a gorgeous rose, seemingly ostentatious but hiding her thorns.

Hou Zhu was the silent, steady type. 

Jiang Nanchen was the scholarly type. 

As for herself—

Heh, a good person all around.

Meanwhile, they were also sizing each other up, especially Su Fu.

After all, in Tianqiong Path Academy, almost no one didn’t know her name.

Hou Zhu only gave Su Fu a flat glance, showing no reaction.

Dairi, however, hadn’t expected to be grouped with the renowned top student. 

Should she try to hitch a ride on her coattails?

Clearly not.

Coming from a humble background, she’d long been used to relying on herself for everything, and besides, Su Fu wouldn’t treat her any differently just because of her looks.

Jiang Nanchen maintained a polite smile outwardly, but inwardly he was disappointed to be alone, without any fellow students from Taigu Zhihen.

But then again, it didn’t really matter. 

What if he didn’t complete the task? 

As long as he didn’t break the rules, he could spend the whole week here, which was itself a huge gain.

Still, he hadn’t expected to encounter Su Fu.

Just then, Shen Yan gave another notification: [“Task Update: Please proceed to the designated rest area promptly”]

At almost the same time, a bright path appeared on the map in front of everyone.

‘Rest area, huh?’ Su Fu thought that made sense—this exam wasn’t especially competitive, and with a whole week ahead, there was no way to go without rest.

The four followed the larger group, moving along the marked path deeper into Eden.

Compared to getting to know new teammates, everyone’s attention was clearly focused on the sacred land itself.

Because now, they were truly stepping into this holy place.

But a problem immediately appeared—a dense patch of thorns was blocking the entrance, keeping them from going any further.

The brambles were tightly interwoven, taller than a person, their branches thick and sturdy, their thorns enormous.

Among the thorns, crimson flowers occasionally bloomed, and the entire thicket stretched to the horizon, forming a natural barrier.

“Is this Eden’s outer perimeter?” Jiang Nanchen took a look around and frowned, “Seems like there’s no other way in.”

The only way forward was through the bramble forest.

At that moment, someone tried to fly over, only to discover that flight was forbidden in this area. 

He had barely risen three feet off the ground before he was forcefully pressed back down.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t succeed, ending up panting from exhaustion.

“I’ll try an earth-movement technique.” Another student began to slowly sink into the ground, but before he was fully submerged, he was ejected back out, landing hard on his rear.

He looked baffled: “Wait, earth-movement doesn’t work either?”

“What about fire?”

Someone released flames, but they merely skimmed the surface of the brambles, doing no harm at all—instead, the bramble forest just became a forest of fire.

Difficulty increased.

The crowd: “…..”

“Metal-element divine arts are useless!”

“Lightning doesn’t work either!”

“Wind blades just bounce off!”

“Even spatial teleportation is invalid!”

“All sorts of elements, all kinds of physical attacks, none of them work at all…” Dairi felt this was tricky, analyzing, “Could it be that these thorns are somehow immune to everything?”

“Is it possible for something to render all attacks ineffective?”

But how could such a thing exist? 

That would be just too outrageous!

Su Fu watched for a while, then suddenly said, “Or maybe, it’s not that the attacks don’t work, but that they never land on the bramble forest at all.”

Everyone froze, then quickly caught on.

“You mean,” Jiang Nanchen’s eyes lit up, “it looks like it’s in front of us, but actually it’s not in the same space?”

Su Fu nodded, then walked straight toward the thicket.

Everyone was shocked by this move.

“What the—she must be crazy! Going to her own death?”

“The thorns can’t be attacked, but they might attack us! Isn’t she afraid?”

“Yeah, what if they’re poisonous?”

“What if the brambles come alive and grab you?”

“Eden is an S-ranked sacred land—how can you just rush in like that?”

The skeptical voices mainly came from Taigu Zhihen students, while those from Tianqiong Path Academy looked at each other and, tacitly, followed Su Fu’s lead.

Come on, this was a top player’s solution, right there for the taking—who wouldn’t copy it?

As Su Fu and the other Tianqiong Path Academy students vanished into the thicket one after another, the Taigu Zhihen students were left uncertain.

“Can it really be that simple? You just walk in?”

“Is there any other way?”

At this point, there was no other path.

The Taigu Zhihen students exchanged glances, then gritted their teeth and walked into the brambles.

After Su Fu entered, Hou Zhu and Dairi followed with hardly any hesitation.

Only Jiang Nanchen was left dumbfounded, but what could he do—he couldn’t be left behind.

He braced himself and entered as well.

To his astonishment, once inside, the brambles really did seem to not exist, having no effect on their movement at all.

The four walked through as if nothing was there.

Jiang Nanchen’s view of Su Fu immediately changed—was she really that strong?

She figured out the answer at a glance?!

Su Fu felt perfectly justified—this wasn’t a wild guess. 

She had instantly used her divine skill to try “communicating” with the brambles.

But something strange happened—she couldn’t find any “brambles” to connect with.

Her divine skill couldn’t be at fault, so the only explanation was that there was no such target for her to reach.

With that, the answer was clear: these brambles were nothing but an illusion.

And sure enough, they caused no harm at all.

Su Fu thought, ‘since this is an illusion, then what is it meant to test?’

‘Mental fortitude? Courage? Or perhaps something unique to the Paradise Pantheon…’

At that moment, she realized the footsteps behind her had stopped.

Turning around, she saw her three teammates frozen in place, each caught in some strange state.

Dairi Russell had simply sat down on the ground, looking lazy and listless, as if she never wanted to move again.

Hou Zhu was clutching his head, face contorted, “It’s all my fault… it’s all my fault…”

He muttered softly, filled with regret and self-blame.

Jiang Nanchen’s situation was even stranger—he was wildly grabbing at the air and stuffing invisible things into his mouth and saying, “Not enough… nowhere near enough…”

Other students who had crossed the brambles were in similar states.

Some roared in rage at empty air, fists swinging; others wore expressions of pride and arrogance, as if they scorned everything.

Su Fu understood at once, muttering, “This is like the Seven Deadly Sins.”

Greed, envy, gluttony, wrath, pride, sloth, lust.

So, the test is to wake up from these seven sins?

Wait—what about herself? 

What is her own illusion?

At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded in Su Fu’s ear: “You have finally arrived, chosen one. I need your help…”

“I am trapped in the deepest part of Eden, in a place without light. If you come to rescue me, I will reward you handsomely. Omniscient wisdom, eternal life, limitless power…”

Su Fu: “…”

‘What the heck? Even Eden has telecom scams now?’

She sneered, “Ha, you might as well claim you’re Qin Shi Huang and ask me to send you money!”

How was this different from the old ‘I’m a trapped prince/princess, rescue me and I’ll reward you’ scam?

Besides, this was Eden—an S-ranked sacred land. 

If something was truly trapped here, it wouldn’t be so easily rescued.

The voice paused, seemingly unprepared for her answer.

Realizing that Su Fu wouldn’t be convinced without something juicier, the voice took on a deeper tone: “You should know, Eden is divided into three layers: the outermost Eternal Garden, the middle Temple of Knowledge, and the deepest Divine Tree Sanctuary…”

It sounded confident, assuming Su Fu knew nothing about Eden and would be stunned by these ‘insider secrets.’

Su Fu’s expression didn’t change.

“I already knew that.”

She folded her arms and countered, “Eden’s layout has been shown in all the advertisements, even with holographic projections.”

This mysterious entity was really bad at its job—not even doing basic homework.

Or was it just that thoroughly trapped?

Could it please catch up with the times? 

At this rate, Su Fu really couldn’t take it seriously.

The voice: “…”

Damn it, all the paths are blocked!

Realizing that standard tricks wouldn’t work on Su Fu, the voice finally went all in: “If you rescue me, I will help you enter the Temple of Knowledge and obtain the Book of Adam—the forbidden trove of knowledge, recording the origin and end of the world…”

‘Oh? A forbidden book?’ Now Su Fu was interested.

She didn’t care much about the world’s origin or end, but the fact that it was forbidden—that was the key.

Still, she changed tack and asked, “But… how do I know I can trust you? Show me some proof of your power first.”

Sensing hope, the voice replied eagerly, “Of course. As a show of good faith, I will help you acquire an artifact—”

“The Angel Feather Pen. Whatever you write with it will come true. So, come save me. I’ll reward you well.”

Su Fu: “…”

‘Do you think I’ll believe you or not?’