The system softly replied, "Alright." Just as Evan Carter thought the test was over, he suddenly sensed a gust of wind rushing toward him, aiming straight for the "Shanzhong" vital point in his chest and abdomen!

His reflexes were faster than his instincts; in an instant, he dodged the incoming finger, reached out with his right hand, and seized the system's wrist, preventing it from advancing any further. Then he opened his eyes.

The system, restrained by him, smiled with a glint in its eyes. "Fellow Daoist, you were supposed to sit in meditation and not make a move."

Evan Carter released the system's hand. "I shouldn't let my Shanzhong be injured."

The Shanzhong is the gathering place of vital energy. Even if one suffers a deviation in cultivation, as long as it's not a major, catastrophic mistake, the Shanzhong will remain unharmed. But if an external force damages the Shanzhong, half your life is already lost, and cultivating immortality becomes hopeless.

The system smiled and said, "Exactly. Fellow Daoist, you have seen through the illusion—truly perceptive."

Evan Carter: "......"

This system can even lie.

—He wondered if it could pass the Turing test.

As he was thinking this, the system asked with concern, "Are you tired, fellow Daoist?"

Evan Carter: "Not tired."

System: "Then I shall begin the second trial immediately."

—It probably really could pass the Turing test.

He wondered what kind of profound and wondrous formation it would take to create such an Upper Tomb dreamscape. At the very least, what he knew in his previous life was not enough. The Daoist arts of this world were likely far richer than anything he had seen before.

Oh, in his previous life, he had only ever seen one sect, one cultivator—that was his own sect and his own master. The old man had once mentioned that there used to be other sects, but they all lacked promise, couldn't find good disciples, and gradually declined into ordinary people. During the war years, another batch was lost, and now the entire path of immortality had only their sect left as the sole survivor.

—And now, this sole survivor, himself, had been struck by lightning and exiled by the Heavenly Dao to this place. The immortal path in that original world was probably finished.

System: "Fellow Daoist?"

Evan Carter snapped back to reality.

The system smiled. "Fellow Daoist, you are truly adorable."

Evan Carter: "......"

There’s something wrong with this system.

"The second trial," the system said, sitting cross-legged across from him, "please explain 'self-forgetting.'"

Dressed in blue, he smiled kindly, looking into Evan Carter's eyes, making Evan Carter feel quite uncomfortable. But thinking that this was just a virtual image, he could barely accept it. Speaking to it wasn't as difficult as talking to a real person, so he could answer the definition questions smoothly.

"During meditation, both inside and outside become still, the self transforms into nothingness, and one merges with heaven and earth..."

When he got to "heaven and earth," he paused, recalling that when he used to meditate and observe the void, he never really sensed heaven and earth as described in the classics—it was just empty daydreaming. So he skipped it and said, "The self transforms into nothingness, forgets things, forgets the body—that is self-forgetting."

The system nodded, but the next question was even trickier, as if tailored to his previous answer: "Please explain 'heaven and earth.'"

This was a tough one, because the meaning of these two words often changed depending on the context. He thought for a moment and decided to answer from a more metaphysical perspective: "The place above that cannot be reached is heaven; the place below that cannot be reached is earth."

The system mused, "According to you, human power is limited, and there will always be places that cannot be reached. Living between heaven and earth is like being in a cage—no matter how hard one tries, one cannot see what lies outside. Is that correct?"

Evan Carter nodded.

The system grinned. "In that case, fellow Daoist, please explain 'freedom.'"

Evan Carter: "......"

This system must be a spirit.

He explained according to his own understanding, and the system would then pick out the blind spots in his answers and ask even trickier questions. They went back and forth like this for more than a dozen rounds, the questions becoming increasingly aggressive. Evan Carter answered honestly, and although there were things he couldn't express, he managed to hold his ground.

Baixiaosheng had said the second trial consisted of twenty questions. Evan Carter kept count, and when he reached the twentieth, the system didn't continue with the tricky questions but instead changed the topic.

"Please explain 'Heaven moves in its constancy; the human way is to act.'"

Evan Carter was at a loss.

He remembered when he was in his teens.

The night before, his master had just taught him, "Heaven moves in its constancy; the human way is to act." He said that the operation of the entire universe has its own laws, and it has always been so since ancient times. Even that so-called "science" nowadays is just the study of these things. As for living between heaven and earth, ordinary people grasp these laws and act accordingly—like sowing in spring, growing in summer, harvesting in autumn, and storing in winter—and can benefit from them. Cultivators, on the other hand, contemplate and comprehend this "constancy," assimilate with it, and both their state of mind and cultivation will greatly improve.

That day, like every day before, he meditated, practiced swordsmanship, quietly went to school, attended classes, and left when school was over.

He had forgotten what classes he attended, only remembering the sound of the dismissal bell, the tide of people surging out of the teaching building like a dark wave. He was pushed by the crowd from the classroom to the stairs, then from the stairs to the school gate. In the midst of the chaos, he looked up at the sky, feeling that his whole life was being swept forward by an overwhelming current, everything he saw, heard, and experienced—whether he wanted it or not, whether he did it or not—was all part of this current, and he, caught within it, could do nothing.

The operation of the entire universe certainly has its own laws, but that had nothing to do with him.