Josh almost fainted from the pain on the spot.

In the following time, she not only passively tried various painful experiments, but also experienced all kinds of pain she had never felt before.

She only then realized that there were far more kinds of pain in the world than just burning pain, tearing pain, freezing pain, and splitting pain; there were many others she couldn’t even name.

The types of pain were bizarre, and later on, she became somewhat numb to it.

Unable to distinguish whether she was in pain or doing something else.

The statue would always wait for her to recover a little before continuing with the next punishment.

After Josh went through all the pain, she returned to the darkness.

The statue quietly looked at her: "Do you understand now what kind of pain they have been through? Even so, are you still willing to risk them going through such pain again to take the Heart of the Ocean away?"

Josh hesitated for a while, thought of the Mermaid King inside the Heart of the Ocean, and nodded firmly: "Yes!"

The statue sighed softly, saying nothing more.

Josh returned to the seabed and saw her other four teammates; more or less, there was an expression of pain on their faces.

Except for Yuze.

His expression was very irritable, looking like he could chop someone at any moment.

Josh took a deep breath and prepared herself.

Sure enough, the scene in front of her began to change again, her whole body seemed to be dragged into a dark abyss, surrounded by darkness, without wind or any sound, so quiet it felt like she was the only person left in the world.

From behind came the voice of the statue: "Have you experienced endless darkness and solitude?"

Josh turned around and saw the statue behind her.

The statue looked at her with sad eyes: "We once waited countless times in the dark for the king’s return, but in the end, what came was not the king, but a heart. The king’s body was damaged, leaving only this heart."

"We once hated the king. He was different from others, he bore the survival and future of all marine creatures. His life was no longer his own to decide, yet he resolutely abandoned us to follow the queen."

"When hope is finally extinguished, do you know what that feels like?"

"You’ll know if you try."

After the statue finished speaking, Josh felt her body continuously sinking, as if buried beneath the ground and still falling, with her surroundings closing in on her, engulfing her body.

She was buried in a place deeper than deep.

Unknown how long she fell, her body finally calmed.

She wanted to raise her hand to touch the things around her, but found that her body couldn’t move at all.

Not only couldn’t she move, but she also felt restrained inside, unable to even swallow, her eyelids could not open.

In her ears was endless silence, as if nothing existed, no wind, no sound, no potential noise-making thing.

Josh pressed her lips together; at this moment, she had to admit, it was the first time she felt time pass so slowly.

She had waited so long, she grew impatient, tried drawing some spiritual power from the gemstone in her body to cultivate, but found that she couldn’t even summon her cultivation, nor release her spiritual power.

It’s as if her time paused, and everything was drifting away from her.

Josh detested this feeling immensely, but there was nothing she could do; perhaps this was also part of divine judgment.

She could only wait quietly.

Time ticked by, second by second.

The silence in the darkness was particularly abrupt, omnipresent.

Josh found it so boring, she simply relaxed and took a nap.

Upon waking, she was faced with the endless darkness and an immobile body.

She gradually grew irritated, wanting to shout ’stop,’ she already knew what it was like to wait in the dark, no need to experience it further.

But she couldn’t speak at all.

To keep time, she began counting her breaths, using them to measure time.

Time slipped away bit by bit, she felt like she had been in the dark for over a month.

Josh couldn’t help but think, was this the statue’s plot? Unable to find the Heart of the Ocean on her, it tried this method, trapping her at the seabed so she couldn’t take the Heart of the Ocean away.

But how could it be sure the Heart of the Ocean was with her?

What if she gave the Heart of the Ocean to her teammates?

Was it just her trapped here, or were the teammates also in the same plight?

Josh gritted her teeth, feeling nearly driven mad by this feeling.

To keep calm, she started to organize her timeline on the Federation Planet.

From returning here to entering the Mysterious Guild, clearing dungeons, her strength steadily increased, and her cultivation slowly restored.

She believed that in the near future, she would regain her cultivation, break the void, and return to her sect’s side.

So the hardships and obstacles now were to make her stronger, to turn her into a deity.

What she needed to do was maintain a calm mind, accepting everything she was experiencing now.

Suddenly, a faint sound of the wind arose in her ears.

Josh hastily opened her eyes, seeing a faint white light slowly brighten in the distance.

Her eyes lit up; she found she could blink now and swallow, the Illusion Realm oppression on her was lifted.

The statue appeared before her: "Josh, congratulations on passing my judgment."

Josh said nothing.

The statue said: "I don’t harbor enmity against you, I intended for you to understand, we’ve truly endured much suffering waiting for the king’s return. If you blindly leave with the Heart of the Ocean, destroying the seabed, all our efforts would be in vain."

Josh nodded: "I understand. Rest assured, I will convey your message to your king."

The statue asked again: "Could you actually break my Illusion Realm?"

Josh looked at him.

The statue: "I can detect you have the Infinite Dream ability; with such power, defeating my Illusion Realm should be a piece of cake."

Josh shrugged: "I knew you meant no harm, so I didn’t use my skills, but your Illusion Realm indeed caused me significant pain, I felt trapped in there for more than a month."

The statue: "It’s actually only 10 minutes; I accelerated the time flow in the Illusion Realm."

Josh squinted her eyes, sensing something unusual: "How can you speed up the time flow in the Illusion Realm?"

The statue looked down at her: "You don’t know?"

Josh and he locked eyes for a few seconds, and fell silent.

If she knew, why ask this question?

The statue seemed to realize this too, and quickly added: "Achieving that is quite simple, it requires integrating consciousness into time while constructing the Dream Realm, compress your timeline and expand the opponent’s. When you master this, you can halt the time of all creatures in the Illusion Realm."

Josh didn’t quite understand: "How can I compress my timeline and expand the opponent’s?"

The statue was silent for a moment: "You will understand in the future."