Pillar of Yita

As the color outside the window turned to a dull red once more, as if the glow of sunset was piercing through the glass and windowpane, Fang Hong paused for the first time in front of a door.

Seventy-two hours had passed behind the door, with effects of day and night alternating clearly faster than the outside world. He had calculated that approximately every twelve hours, the outside window would experience one cycle of day and night. Hence, he had stayed here for three days—though in terms of day and night cycles, he had been here for six days.

Every eight hours, a door leading to the Eternal Court would appear in the world behind the door. Inside, there was a particularly beautiful courtyard garden, with a white wooden table always laden with abundant food and clean water, as well as a place to rest.

Apart from that, there were only a series of color-coded wooden doors, green or blue, and rooms that seemed to loop endlessly.

During these six days, Fang Hong had almost lost count of how many doors he had opened, some blue, some green, and roughly after every nine green doors, there would be one blue door. It wasn’t until he had opened ten blue doors that he saw a red wooden door appear before him for the first time.

He stood in front of the door and took out a notebook from his pocket, which was filled with densely packed numbers recording the number of each door. After a hundred doors, there was a blank space. He wrote the number 101 in the notebook.

The Tower Guard had mentioned that green represents Knowledge, blue represents challenge, and red represents danger.

From his experience, the rooms behind the green wooden doors all consisted of basic training, encompassing fields from Characters, Single Array, Extraction, Purification to Potion Studies, Woodworking, Metallography, Forging, and Ether Theory, covering all aspects.

Some of the assessments did not appear only once, but a pattern was that each time the same content reappeared, its requirements, environment, and content would become much stricter. If he remembered correctly, just in the course of a hundred doors, he encountered Single Array engraving three times. In the final blue door challenge, it required him to use a Lead-Infused Copper Plate, in a bumpy and disruptive environment, to complete the engraving with limited Structural Points.

This checkpoint alone took him four hours, after which he directly took a six-hour nap in the Eternal Court. Then, after this last blue door, he arrived in front of the red wooden door.

Having gone through so many doors, Fang Hong had gained some experience. Generally, a blue door tends to give him a stringent task, just as the Tower Guard mentioned, the blue door is a challenge.

So what would lie beyond the red wooden door that represents danger?

Fang Hong did not think too much. He had only just left the Eternal Court, and the next opening required an eight-hour wait, so he had time. Fang Hong grasped the door handle with his hand; it was made of copper, and felt slightly cool to the touch.

Turning the handle and pushing the door open, a cold chill hit him head-on.

Fang Hong instinctively stepped back, but the door had already closed behind him. He thought he would lean against the door, but he didn’t; there was nothing behind him, and he nearly lost his balance. Just before he did, someone from behind pushed him:

”Don’t be afraid, go forward, and quickly jump down—”

Fang Hong was slightly startled, because beyond the door was no longer a room, but a vast wilderness.

In the distance were the verdant moss-etched outer walls of the Elf Ruins with a moonlit glow; moonlight was penetrating through the clouds, illuminating the marble stones between the vines, shining as brightly as gray pottery.

Above the floating clouds hung a solitary Silver Moon, its silver glow beneath the moonlight shimmered like a sea. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity with this scene, as he looked around—a sea of pine trees, dense Forest Sea interconnecting with each other. Far off on the horizon was a slowly moving wall of purple clouds heading north.

A sudden shiver ran through him as he remembered where this place was.

Subconsciously, he turned his head, and sure enough, saw Miss Sicape standing there—in a smart night outfit, fiercely pushed him again: ”You little brat, what are you daydreaming about!? she scolded angrily.

Fang Hong almost bit his own tongue, finally recalling that this was the battle at the Elf Ruins.

In the distance, a flash of fire occurred as a barrage of lead bullets flew, clattering against the Tower Shields of the Shield Guards in the front row, scattering sparks everywhere.

This scene seemed familiar—

This was the scene when they encountered the Gunslinger squad of the Silver Forest Spear on the outer walls of the ruins. Afterward, they escaped down the outer wall, ventured deeper into the ruins, and then encountered the Silver Shadow’s ambush, followed by a series of events.

The Morning Dawn Star never emerged from these ruins since.

But Fang Hong never expected that the Hall of Thousand Doors would have the capability to reenact this scene. While he was still in shock, suddenly Miss Tata’s calm voice echoed in his heart: ”Don’t worry, Mr. Knight, this is just your own memory.”

Fang Hong’s heart immediately settled upon hearing Miss Tata’s voice.

”Do you remember this place, Miss Tata?” he asked, knowing full well that this scene was merely a Phantom.

”I know this place,” Tata replied softly.

Fang Hong glanced around and asked, ”What is going on here?”

”It’s likely a kind of ability similar to the Dream Entering Technique,” Tata answered.

”So this is my dream?”

Miss Fairy shook her head. ”Not exactly, this kind of ability is probably related to the mind.”

Fang Hong thought so too. The Tower Guard had said before that the red wooden door represents danger. If it’s related to mind abilities, if he gets injured and dies here, chances are the trial would directly fail.