Chapter 506: 506
Hearing the system’s voice in his mind, Jiang Xiaobai casually nodded.

Humph, just another Nightmare Trial. No big deal.

Just as he prepared to continue waiting for the next step of the Nightmare Trial, his body suddenly stiffened.

The system?

What a joke! When did the system ever provide reminders for this kind of thing?

Even though he’s currently tackling a task to complete the Nightmare Trial within a day, the system wouldn’t give a progress alert!

It never does!

Like with his Rainbow Primordial Spirit task. Unless he actively asked, the system wouldn’t make a peep until he completed the first stage.

“Another Nightmare? Gee, it really doesn’t miss a beat. There’s a slight sense of immersion now.”

Jiang Xiaobai chuckled lightly. Just as he finished speaking, he felt a sound of something shattering near his ear.

Next, the golden hall in front of him continuously crumbled until everything turned pitch black.

“Hey, can you get more exciting? This trick isn’t working.”

Jiang Xiaobai chuckled lightly again, examining his surroundings continuously.

All around was pitch black; it was so dark that he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.

After waiting for a moment without any response, Jiang Xiaobai started questioning and shouting again. But there was still no reaction at all.

“That’s odd, is that it?”

Jiang Xiaobai was somewhat puzzled. If the Nightmare Trial was this simple, it could indeed be deemed as child’s play.

Since there was pitch darkness here, he couldn’t afford to wander around aimlessly. He could only stand in place.

At the same time, Jiang Xiaobai was silently calculating time in his mind.

Another hour or so passed, still nothing happened. The supposed illusions, the supposed tests, none of them showed up.

Besides, Jiang Xiaobai found that the silence surrounding him was as still as death.

He could hardly hear his own voice when he spoke!

Another half an hour went by. Jiang Xiaobai felt as if he’d become completely deaf.

All of a sudden, he understood what was being tested here.

He remembered hearing about a challenge where a person was locked in a pitch-black, sound-absorbing room. If they could last twenty-four hours, they’d win a million-dollar prize.

At the time, many people wanted to participate, thinking that twenty-four hours would be easy.

But without any light or sound, let alone twenty-four hours, many people couldn’t last even an hour.

The record holder lasted two hours and firmly insisted that they had made it through twenty-four hours.

Jiang Xiaobai realised this must be a test of mental state.

Hence, he sat down cross-legged and tried to meditate. Since it was a test, his current world didn’t allow for any form of cultivation, not even refining his Primordial Spirit.

Having no other options, Jiang Xiaobai had to tough it out.

This was now a competition of willpower and mental state. He wouldn’t bother counting the hours as that was meaningless.

Without any sense of sound or light, even as a cultivator influenced by the secret realm, he’d completely lose his concept of time.

The only solution was to wait, wait for the secret realm test to end.

Presumably, the method of failure would be an inability to sit still and complete this test. He could imagine many participants going mad because of this.

Without a sense of time, Jiang Xiaobai wasn’t sure how long it had been since he’d been under such torturous conditions, it was extremely uncomfortable.

The feeling was such that every pore, every cell of his body was struggling and itching!

It was unbearably uncomfortable!

But Jiang Xiaobai managed to endure it. This small amount of pain was nothing compared to the past pain of refining his Primordial Spirit.

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Xiaobai suddenly felt a bit dizzy. Then he was back in the golden hall.

Looks like the trial is set to continue.

“Let’s break it down. The first test was the desires of the heart, the last one tested the state of mind. What’s next, control over emotional states and willpower?”

Jiang Xiaobai chuckled to himself quietly.

Then, the next second, the doors of the hall opened again. However, this time, seeing the world outside the doors, Jiang Xiaobai was no longer relaxed.

Skyscrapers, bustling cities.

The streets were filled with chaotic crowds and the sound of car horns.

Earth!

The place he traveled from!

Without thinking, Jiang Xiaobai stepped out of the hall. Upon turning his head, he discovered that there was no longer a hall or door behind him.

He looked like a commuting office worker amid the crowd.

Looking down, he was in a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase, just like an average white-collar worker?

Instinctively, Jiang Xiaobai tried to use his spiritual power, but found no reaction.

“Ha, in this real world, how could there be something such as spiritual power?”

Jiang Xiaobai chuckled and shook his head.

His memories of the Tianxuan Continent started rapidly fading away in his mind, the system, Ao Yan, the ancient tribes, etc. Jiang Xiaobai didn’t notice this at all!

When he had crossed the bustling traffic light junction and stood beneath a bus stop, he had completely turned into an urban office worker.

Taking the bus, arriving at the office, clocking in, and then sitting at his desk to switch on the computer for a busy day ahead.

Jiang Xiaobai worked enthusiastically the whole day and didn’t leave his desk once until the afternoon!

Even the boss came by to praise Jiang Xiaobai a couple of times.

Jiang Xiaobai excitedly stood up, feeling a bright future ahead. Then it was time to finish work and wait for the last bus home.

Standing in front of his small apartment window, looking out at the urban jungle, Jiang Xiaobai felt contentment. Afterward, he went to sleep.

In his dream surfaced some images that didn’t belong to this modern city. When he woke up the next day, he just felt somewhat bewildered.

Then, he continued to lead the life of work and home.

For several consecutive days, it continued as such. However, slowly, Jiang Xiaobai noticed an issue.

How come he didn’t do anything other than work and rest?

Even social interactions with his co-workers were non-existent?

Even though the boss would occasionally praise his earnest attitude, upon careful recollection, Jiang Xiaobai realized that the boss always said the same thing.

Hum!

A bell rang in his mind, and while at his workstation, Jiang Xiaobai remembered everything.

He recognized that he was in the Nightmare Trial!

“Phew, that was really thrilling. This Nightmare is powerful, but it can’t replicate reality perfectly. If I hadn’t detected the anomalies, I might have been trapped here forever.”

Jiang Xiaobai was secretly startled.

He knew that the Nightmare amplifies one’s deepest desires to its maximum, causing one to lose oneself in them.

Jiang Xiaobai didn’t expect his biggest desire to be returning to modern society?

“That’s a bit unreliable, isn’t it?”

Jiang Xiaobai shook his head and chuckled.

Before he came here, he was just an average office worker, without status or dignity. How could it compare with the excitement of the Tianxuan Continent?

Why would he want to come back?

Jiang Xiaobai thought he had seen through all the illusions, but little did he know, this was just the beginning of the real Nightmare.