Blind Box World - SSS-Rank Eye of Truth

Ethan hadn’t finished his sentence when his expression suddenly changed.

Amid the lightning column that hadn’t fully dissipated, a white point of light appeared. Very small at first, then slowly expanding. It wasn’t a shield, nor a spherical defensive skill, but a scroll gradually unfurling in midair.

The paper was white as snow, both ends secured by pale jade rollers. As the scroll opened, ancient golden characters lit up one by one, followed by a strange pulling force appearing right at the center of the paper’s surface.

The lightning still surging forward immediately veered off course.

Ethan frowned. "What?"

The Cataclysmic Thunder Gate was still firing energy, but the lightning column powerful enough to tear apart an entire stretch of snowfield was shrinking bit by bit as it approached the scroll. From a beam over a meter wide, it was pulled into a thinner stream of energy, then split into countless fine bolts, all of which disappeared into the paper’s surface.

It didn’t explode, nor was it reflected back.

It was absorbed.

Laira’s eyes went wide. "It’s eating the Thunder Gate?"

"Looks like it."

Ruo Yan watched the scroll for a moment, then turned to Ethan. "Do you want to stop?"

Ethan didn’t answer immediately. He watched the electricity being drawn in, and only after a few seconds did he lower his hand. The Cataclysmic Thunder Gate ceased firing, the beam of light quickly faded, and the smoke and steam across the battlefield were blown aside by the wind.

QingLian was still standing there.

She was uninjured. The scroll hung open before her, and some of the characters on its surface still glowed blue-violet from the electricity just absorbed. When the threat disappeared, the projection simply raised her hand slightly, and the scroll immediately rolled shut and fell into her palm.

The smile on Ethan’s face vanished completely.

"...Now we’ve got a real problem."

Laira turned, her eyes lighting up in a different way. "Can I fight now?"

"Hold on."

"Hold on again?"

"Let me think."

But QingLian’s projection clearly had no intention of giving him much time. The scroll vanished from her hand, and her fingers immediately interlocked, the seal changing. The snow surface trembled, and then the hundred Ice Swords that the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate had just destroyed simultaneously reappeared across the sky.

This time, they didn’t stand still and wait.

The moment they took shape, the Ice Swords plunged downward.

"Move!" Ethan pulled Ruo Yan to the side.

Laira leaped on her own, one hand shattering three Ice Swords aimed at her. Each one exploded into countless ice fragments, but the rest immediately changed direction and continued pursuing the three of them. Ice Swords drove into the field one after another, sending snow dozens of meters into the air. Ethan activated half of Thunder Wing, twisting past the gap between two blades, but the moment his feet touched down he saw six more redirecting toward him.

The entire Sword Formation could auto-adjust its targets.

"What a pain."

Laira heard that and instantly spun around, Thunder Flame erupting around her hands. "Want me to burn them all?"

"Not yet."

"Then I’ll smash her."

"Also not yet."

Laira was starting to lose patience. On the other side, Ruo Yan had to use the Necromancer to block an Ice Sword while saying coldly: "If you still want to think, do it fast. I don’t want to keep running like this."

Ethan didn’t answer. His gaze had stopped on the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate, because a strange idea had just occurred to him.

Outside, the laughter had returned. A representative who had just been silenced by the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate’s power was now leaning back in his chair, the corner of his mouth unable to hide a mocking edge.

"And here I thought that thing was something terrifying."

"The power is genuinely terrifying." The person beside him laughed. "But what good is it if it doesn’t land? Don’t forget the opponent is QingLian."

Another person watched Ethan continuously dodging Ice Swords, then said: "He relies too much on overwhelming force. Last round with the Measurement Sphere was the same, and Cassian was sniped to death by his Partner from five kilometers. Now that he’s run into someone who can’t be crushed with a single blow, his weakness finally shows."

Several laughs rang out, not too loud but enough for everyone to hear. The secretary beside Xue Ji frowned. "They flip sides fast."

Xue Ji kept watching the screen. "Normal. When people think you’re strong, they stay quiet; the moment they see a hint of difficulty, the ones who just shut up immediately feel they were right all along."

"You’re not worried?"

"I am." Xue Ji pointed at the screen. "I’m worried he’ll do something that makes me revise the budget again."

The secretary couldn’t tell if that was a joke or not. At the chairman’s seat, QingLian didn’t participate in the mockery. On the contrary, she was watching the screen more closely than before. Ethan had unleashed a very powerful strike, that strike had been completely neutralized, yet he wasn’t panicking, and he wasn’t trying to fire again.

QingLian held her teacup but didn’t drink.

She wanted to know what he was thinking.

"Laira." Ethan called out suddenly.

Laira had just shattered an Ice Sword and immediately turned. "What?"

"The Cataclysmic Thunder Gate."

"I see it."

"Can you hold it?"

Laira paused. Even Ruo Yan turned to stare at him.

"What did you just say?"

Ethan dodged a sword that grazed past his shoulder, then pointed at the colossal gate standing behind them. "Try holding it."

Laira looked at him, then looked at the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate. Her eyes slowly lit up.

"Sure."

Before Ethan could say another word, she was already charging over. The Cataclysmic Thunder Gate was originally condensed from energy, but after multiple uses and being fully charged by the electromagnetic dome from the previous round, its current structure had stabilized to the point of being nearly physical. Laira placed both hands on either side of the gate’s frame, her fingers clamping tight around the solidified energy.

Electricity immediately raced up her arms.

Laira’s knees buckled slightly, the rock and ice beneath her feet exploding, but then she powerfully lifted the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate off the ground.

Ethan went silent.

Ruo Yan also went silent.

Laira hefted the gate, far larger than her own body, in front of her, then turned to look at the other two. "Light."

Ethan was silent for two seconds before answering: "Only for you."

A hundred Ice Swords plunged down again. Laira immediately swung the gate around, letting dozens of swords slam directly into the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate’s surface. Lightning and ice shards exploded simultaneously, but the gate barely trembled at all. The energy streams that struck its surface were even pulled away by the runes, running along the frame before vanishing.

Laira watched that happen, and a grin appeared instantly. "This works."

Ethan saw that expression and immediately got a bad feeling. "Laira, don’t..."

Too late.

She was already charging.

Snow erupted beneath her feet. A Red Dragon standing nearly two meters twenty, both hands gripping an entire Mythical gate like an enormous shield, plowed straight through the Sword Formation. Ice Swords rained down, and the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate caught them. Ice pillars shot up from the ground, and Laira didn’t dodge but twisted her waist, swinging the entire gate sideways.

Three Ice Pillars shattered instantly.

QingLian’s projection moved from her position for the first time. She glided to the side, and Laira immediately changed direction, her voice ringing out across the exploding snow with undisguised excitement.

"Running?"

The gate was raised high, then brought crashing down like an enormous greatsword. The entire snowfield caved in, but QingLian still evaded. However, the instant she touched down, several Soul Threads shot up from beneath the snow.

Ruo Yan clenched her fist. "Got her."

The threads wrapped around the projection’s ankle. Only half a second later, QingLian formed a seal and ice began crawling along the threads, but that half second was enough.

"Necromancer."

Ruo Yan dropped her hand, and the Necromancer immediately lunged forward, throwing an uppercut straight from below. QingLian’s projection erected an ice wall to block, and her body was driven upward, but directly above her, Laira was already waiting.

"Down."

The Cataclysmic Thunder Gate slammed straight down. QingLian’s projection was knocked from the air, her white body plummeting toward the snow like a bullet. However, before hitting the ground, the seal changed again. An ice lotus bloomed beneath her, absorbing most of the impact force before pushing the projection sideways.

Ethan watched the entire sequence, the half of Thunder Wing behind him slowly expanding.

"She really is incredibly hard to fight."

Ruo Yan ran up beside him. "Do you have another plan?"

"Yes." Ethan pointed around the battlefield. "Plant your Threads at the positions I mark."

Ruo Yan didn’t ask why and immediately complied. Soul Threads burrowed beneath the snow surface, running in lines nearly invisible to the eye. The Necromancer moved simultaneously, punching down at Ethan’s direction, creating multiple craters around the battlefield.

Ethan raised his Thunder Wing. One electrified feather detached, followed by a second, then a third. Dozens of feathers quickly shot down, embedding themselves at the positions where Ruo Yan had just laid Soul Threads, causing small currents to immediately run between the points.

Ruo Yan looked at the network gradually taking shape and understood his intent at once. "You want to use the Threads as conductors?"

"Yeah."

"They could burn."

"So don’t let the current run too long."

Ruo Yan nodded. Up above, Laira was still using the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate to force QingLian’s projection into constant movement. Every time she tried to form a seal, the colossal gate swept toward her, forcing her to abandon the gesture mid-motion.

The sight was utterly bizarre.

The person who had once passed the trial flawlessly was now being chased around by a Red Dragon wielding a gate.

Outside, the laughter from before had long since vanished. Nobody knew what expression to wear, and even the real QingLian silently watched the scene on screen.

"Ten meters to the left." Ethan called out.

Laira didn’t need to turn her head. She stomped hard, the dragon wings behind her spreading before she lunged diagonally to the side. QingLian’s projection immediately changed direction, but right at that moment, the Soul Threads beneath the snow all sprang up at once.

One thread, two threads, then ten.

They weren’t strong enough to hold QingLian for long, but the goal had never been to trap her. Just slowing the projection by a single beat was enough.

"Now."

Ruo Yan clenched her fist, and the Necromancer drove both fists into the ground. Dozens of Thunder Wing feathers lit up simultaneously, electricity racing through the Soul Threads, weaving into an enormous network that converged on QingLian’s position all at once.

Ethan raised his left hand. Lightning poured from the Primordial Armor, merging into the network.

Right then, his arm grew warm.

The sensation was very faint, but familiar enough that Ethan recognized it instantly. A violet-black thread appeared amid the current, thin as a strand of hair, nearly hidden by the lightning’s glow.

Ethan’s pupils contracted slightly.

’Void Flame?’

He had never deliberately summoned it, hadn’t even intended to use it. But the fire that had been held within his left arm was blending into his lightning-type energy flow. Just a trace, very faint, carrying none of the familiar pain, leaving only a warmth that ran from his left arm up to his shoulder before stopping.

’Since when?’

Ethan had no time to dwell on it, because QingLian was about to break free of the Soul Threads.

"Laira!"

"I know!"

Laira raised the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate high. Both arms tensed, and then the colossal gate came crashing down, driving QingLian’s projection from above straight into the heart of the network.

Ruo Yan clenched her fist tight. "Necromancer!"

The Necromancer launched upward from below, throwing a rising punch. Two opposing forces sandwiched QingLian between them, and the Thunder Wing network detonated in the same instant. Dozens of lightning bolts struck home, a very thin violet-black thread hidden among them.

QingLian’s projection immediately moved to form a seal. The scroll from before appeared, but Ruo Yan had already seen it. Soul Threads wrapped around the projection’s wrist and yanked hard, causing the motion of unrolling the scroll to shift by just a fraction.

But that fraction was all Ethan needed.

Half of Thunder Wing behind him blazed to life, and the distance of several dozen meters vanished in the blink of an eye. Ethan shot straight to QingLian’s front, his left arm encased in Primordial Armor pulling back before swinging down.

His fist struck the center of the projection’s chest.

A crack appeared.

Then spread.

QingLian stepped back half a pace. Ethan was preparing to strike again when shadow fell over his head. He looked up and saw Laira descending, the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate held in both hands.

"Move."

Ethan immediately used Thunder Wing to glide aside. QingLian’s projection had barely raised her head before the entire gate came slamming down.

The snow surface within a radius of hundreds of meters exploded. A blast of pressure swept outward in all directions, whipping snow into white walls. When everything gradually settled, at the center of the massive crater, countless white cracks were spreading across QingLian’s projection.

A piece of the shoulder broke away.

Then the arm.

The torso.

Finally, the entire figure dissolved into thousands of points of light, carried away by the snow wind.

Ethan stood several meters away, his chest rising and falling slightly. He didn’t look at where QingLian had just vanished but lowered his gaze to his left arm. A violet-black thread had just flashed along a seam in the Primordial Armor, then immediately went dark.

’The Void Flame... Is it starting to merge with my energy?’

Ethan frowned. This wasn’t necessarily a good thing. He didn’t even know whether it was his body adapting to the Void Flame, or the flame itself changing to adapt to him.

"Ethan."

Laira’s voice pulled him back. She was standing in the middle of the massive crater, still holding the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate in both hands. The colossal gate leaned against her frame, making Laira look every bit like a warrior who had just picked up a weapon that didn’t belong to this world.

"Is it over?"

"Seems like it."

Laira looked at the gate in her hands, then back at him. "Can I keep it?"

Ethan went quiet. Ruo Yan, who had just walked over, also stopped, and Ethan watched Laira for a few more seconds before pointing at the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate.

"First, put it down."

"Why?"

"It looks really strange."

Ruo Yan glanced Laira up and down, the corner of her mouth curving. "I actually think it suits her."

Laira immediately lit up. "I think so too."

Ethan rubbed his temple. Right then, a notification appeared in midair.

[Third trial round complete.]

[Full projection defeated.]

[Evaluation in progress...]

The final line held still, with no immediate result.

In the observation room, nobody spoke. Those who had been laughing at Ethan for relying on a single powerful blow were now simply staring at the screen. QingLian’s projection had truly been defeated, not by enduring until time ran out, not by merely meeting a survival condition.

It had been broken.

A representative slowly leaned back in his chair. "Did they just use the gate as a shield?"

The person next to him didn’t answer.

"And then as a hammer?"

Still no answer, because everyone had seen it.

In the Silver Moon City section, the dark-haired secretary turned to Xue Ji. Xue Ji immediately lifted her chin, trying to maintain an air of composure as though the result had been entirely within her predictions.

"You knew?"

"I said he’d do something nobody expected."

"I don’t recall you ever saying he’d hand the gate to his Partner to use as a weapon."

"Details don’t matter."

The secretary stared at her in silence. At the chairman’s seat, QingLian remained still. The teacup in her hand had gone cold at some point, but she didn’t drink anymore. Her eyes only watched Ethan on screen, particularly the moment he’d used the Thunder Wing network together with Ruo Yan to break through the projection’s defense.

Then her gaze shifted to Laira carrying the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate.

Finally, it returned to Ethan.

After a long while, the corner of QingLian’s mouth slowly curved upward. This time she didn’t immediately suppress the smile, nor did she try to hide it.

"Interesting."

The words were very soft, but this was the first time since the trial began that QingLian had spoken on her own initiative.

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