Free Web NovelChapter 87: Chapter 87: Spirit Gate
The Spirit Gate did not lead to a battlefield.
It led to a mirror lake beneath a starless sky.
Qin Yuheng stood alone.
The others were gone.
That was the first test.
Separation.
The water beneath his feet was solid enough to stand on, but every step sent ripples outward. Those ripples reflected not his current face, but fragments of memory.
Awakening Stone.
Gray light.
Not Awakened.
Qin Wanshan’s quiet eyes.
Qin Zhengyuan’s hidden pain.
Mu Qinglan’s silver gaze.
Blood Sun seal mist.
The whisper on Broken Spear Battlefield.
Heir.
Qin Yuheng closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, the reflections remained.
A panel appeared.
[Spirit Gate Trial]
[Objective]
Maintain clarity and identify the false path.
[Warning] freewebnøvel.com
Responding to false reflections will increase spirit pressure.
Qin Yuheng smiled faintly.
The Tower liked repeating themes in deeper forms.
Do not answer every voice.
Do not reach for every reflection.
Do not accept every inheritance.
He walked forward.
The first reflection rose from the water.
It was himself at the Awakening Ceremony, standing beneath the public result.
Talent Status: Not Awakened.
The reflection looked at him and said, "Without Primordial Origin Evolution, you are nothing."
Qin Yuheng did not answer.
The reflection cracked.
The second reflection rose.
Qin Zhengyuan, covered in Blood Sun lines, reaching out.
"Save me faster."
Qin Yuheng’s steps paused for the first time.
The reflection’s voice was gentle, tired, and familiar.
"Why are you still hiding resources? Why are you still waiting? Use everything. Heal me."
Qin Yuheng looked at it calmly.
"My father would not ask me to destroy myself for him."
The reflection shattered.
The third reflection rose.
Qin Wanshan.
Old.
Wounded.
Disappointed.
"You refused the bloodline path. You refused the spear inheritance. Are you worthy of Qin blood?"
Qin Yuheng continued walking.
"Worth is not proven by kneeling to every echo."
The reflection cracked.
The fourth reflection rose.
It was Qin Yuheng himself, but different.
Crowned in thunder.
Surrounded by evolved treasures.
Standing above kneeling family members.
"All rewards can evolve. All people can be improved. Why let them choose? Raise them. Control them. Make the Qin family perfect."
Qin Yuheng stopped.
This illusion was more dangerous.
Not fear.
Not guilt.
Temptation.
He looked at the reflection.
"Family is not a puppet formation."
The reflection smiled.
"But you already distribute resources. You already decide who receives what. You already shape their paths."
Qin Yuheng did not deny it.
"Yes. And that is why I must remember they are people."
The reflection stared at him.
Then shattered.
The mirror lake trembled.
A blue path appeared ahead.
But three paths formed after it.
One bright gold.
One dark red.
One pale white.
The panel appeared.
[Identify the false path.]
Qin Yuheng studied them.
Gold felt like glory.
Red felt like urgency.
White felt like peace.
The false path was not necessarily the darkest.
He examined the ripples.
Gold reflected him standing alone at the top of the Tower.
Red reflected him healing his father immediately but surrounded by corpses.
White reflected the Qin family safe forever, but frozen, unmoving, never climbing again.
All false in different ways.
But the trial asked for the false path.
Qin Yuheng looked beneath the paths.
The real path should reflect the present, not desire.
None did.
He stepped off all three and walked straight through the water between them.
The mirror lake split.
A message appeared.
[Spirit Gate: First Layer cleared.]
Elsewhere, Qin Yuchen faced a different trial.
He stood in a room filled with battle projections. Every version of himself failed to protect someone: Qin Yuze, Qin Xue’er, Qin Lian, Qin Mo, Qin Yuheng. The trial tried to push him toward overcaution.
Qin Yuchen gripped his sword and whispered, "Protection is not freezing."
He cut through the illusion and advanced.
Qin Lian faced a field where no one remembered her. She moved through shadows, unseen even by family. The trial whispered that a shadow’s fate was to disappear.
She placed her hand on the Silent Moon Shadow Cloak and answered quietly, "A shadow chooses where to stand."
Her path opened.
Qin Mo faced the worst trial of all.
A peaceful courtyard with a bed, tea, and no missions.
He stared at it.
"This is suspicious."
The illusion offered him a life without danger, without formations, without responsibility.
Qin Mo almost sat down.
Then he noticed the tea had no steam.
He sighed deeply.
"Even my laziness is being used against me."
He kicked the table over.
The illusion shattered.
When the four reunited, they stood before a blue crystal gate.
The panel appeared.
[Spirit Gate Team Trial] frёeweɓηovel.coɱ
[Final Objective]
Resist combined spirit pressure for 100 breaths.
Blue pressure descended.
This time, they stood together.
Qin Yuheng did not take all of it himself.
Qin Yuchen steadied the right side.
Qin Lian held the shadow edge.
Qin Mo activated a mental clarity formation using Clear Mind Powder and spirit stones.
The pressure rose.
Visions flickered.
Whispers returned.
But the team confirmed every thirty breaths, just as they had trained.
"Clear."
"Clear."
"Unhappy but clear."
Qin Yuheng smiled despite the pressure.
At the hundredth breath, the blue crystal gate shattered into light.
[Spirit Gate cleared.]
[Team Mental Clarity Evaluation: Excellent.]
[Reward pending final settlement.]
[Return to Trial Hall.]
The world shifted.
They stood again before the three gates.
The Spirit Gate dimmed behind them, marked as cleared.
Qin Mo exhaled.
"I defeated a fake vacation. I deserve a real one."
Qin Yuheng looked at the remaining gates.
Strength.
Battle.
"Next," he said, "Strength Gate."
Qin Mo stared at the red gate.
"I expected that, and I am still disappointed."
The red gate opened.
Heat, pressure, and gravity rolled out.
The second gate waited.
