The hallway stood silent.
Twenty-one doors, lined in perfect symmetry.
Shen Hao stood before the first one, staring at its worn-out surface. Each door was different — slightly — some had cracks, others ancient symbols, a few were nearly spotless. But none of them gave off a single trace of Qi.
Lingfeng whispered from his hilt, "Okay, brave master… first door. Let's do this."
Shen Hao glanced back at the empty corridor, took a breath, and pushed the door open.
CREAK.
Darkness.
Then — WHOOSH!
A fireball the size of a wagon came flying toward him.
"NOT TODAY!" Shen Hao yelled, slamming the door shut just before it could roast him.
BOOM.
Smoke puffed out from the cracks in the door.
Lingfeng whistled. "Well, at least we know this one's off the menu."
Shen Hao shook the ash off his sleeve. "One down."
He stepped to the next.
Door Two.
Inside was pitch black — and silent.
Too silent.
He stepped in cautiously… and the ground crumbled.
Below was a pit of giant worms with armored scales and hungry jaws.
"NOPE!"
He jumped back, rolled across the floor, and slammed the door shut just as a massive worm lunged after him.
"Man," Lingfeng muttered, "this place has range."
Door Three.
This time, glowing crystals lit the room.
It seemed calm.
He took one step inside.
A spike trap shot from the ceiling, walls, and even the floor. A giant boulder dropped from above and started rolling toward him — in a straight hallway.
Shen Hao blinked. "Seriously? A boulder?"
"Classic!" Lingfeng laughed.
He sprinted back, jumped through the door, and shut it behind him as the boulder smashed into the door with a THUD.
He leaned against the wall, panting.
"I've seen cartoon villains with more subtlety," Shen Hao muttered.
Door Four.
Illusion beasts. Everywhere.
Ten-headed snakes. Ghost tigers. Talking frogs with bombs in their mouths.
Shen Hao barely dodged a fireball, flipped back, and escaped through the door.
"Did you see that frog?" Lingfeng said. "It winked at me before exploding!"
And so it continued.
Door after door.
Some filled with poison gas, some with ice shards that turned the air into razors.
One door led to a lava-filled cavern, another had a floating platform puzzle that collapsed the moment he took a step.
Door Thirteen had no gravity. He floated into the air until he realized there were blades swirling around him like satellites. He barely activated a Qi burst to pull himself down before getting turned into sliced Shen Hao.
Door Seventeen was full of mirrors. His own reflection attacked him with every move he made. He ended up flipping the reflection off, sprinting out, and shutting the door with a, "You fight ugly!"
Throughout it all, Shen Hao became quicker, sharper, more precise.
But more than anything — tired.
By the time he reached the final door, Door Twenty-One, he was covered in dust, his robes tattered, and a burn mark on his shoulder that still stung.
He slumped to the floor in front of the final door.
Lingfeng coughed. "Sooo... wanna try this one, too?"
Shen Hao glared at him.
Lingfeng shrugged. "What? Maybe it's just a storage closet."
Shen Hao chuckled tiredly. "If it's another boulder, I'm throwing you in front of it."
He leaned back against the cold wall, sighing.
Mo Han finally spoke, his voice calm. "You did well. You survived what most cultivators would have died in five doors ago."
Shen Hao muttered, "Yeah, well… not feeling very victorious."
Lingfeng added, "You look like you got hugged by a volcano and slapped by an angry mirror demon."
He chuckled weakly, rubbing his temples. "Let's rest a bit. Then… we try the last one."
As silence settled in the hallway, Shen Hao let his eyes close for just a moment, the doors around him quiet — for now.
But the faint hum behind Door Twenty-One had started to grow.
Something… was waiting.