Early morning on the seventh day that dawn was anchored at the edge of the Lei Hai Floating Island.

Bai Cheng and her companions had already made contact with the soul fragments of the six Star Lords, collecting a large number of contradictory yet self-consistent statements.

However, piecing these fragments together into a complete truth was still like looking at flowers through a fog.

Just as everyone was organizing information inside the ship, a sudden change occurred throughout the entire Lei Hai Floating Island region.

The rushing sound of the Sea of Thunder suddenly deepened, and the colorful halos of laws in the sky spun rapidly, eventually converging into seven pillars of light that pierced through heaven and earth, landing on seven special islands.

Those seven islands were the six that Bai Cheng and the others had already visited, and... the main island where the Great White Tower was located.

At the same time, the grand voice of the scales of judgement resounded through the clouds once more:

"The seven days of listening are complete, Successor... You have touched the shadow of truth, but judgment does not end with listening... it requires trials to verify truth from falsehood..."

"The Ancient Rite of Judgment consists of three Divine Trials... All who wish to pass judgment must first undergo these triple tests... to prove that their heart, their strength, and their wisdom all possess the qualification for judgment..."

Bai Cheng stood at the bow of dawn, her silver eyes reflecting the seven pillars of light: "Three trials?"

"The first stage: the Corridor of Heart Mirrors..."

The voice of the Scales echoed, "You must face the deepest obsessions and fears of your own heart... If your will is not firm, you will be trapped in the mirrors forever..."

"The second stage: the Labyrinth of Laws... You must find the single path of truth within the chaotic and disordered turbulence of laws... If you get lost within, your soul will be assimilated as nourishment for the labyrinth..."

"The third stage: the Battle of Divine Judgment... You must battle the Shadow of Judgment with the Authority of Judgment... Only the victor is qualified to take the Seat of Judgment..."

As the voice fell, the seven pillars of light erupted simultaneously, enveloping Bai Cheng, Zi Yuan, Blue Bird, Lu Duo, Yu Nian, and Leng Ningxue.

Each person corresponded to a pillar of light from a Star Lord's island.

And the seventh pillar of light pointed directly at the Great White Tower.

"The trials... begin now..."

Light swallowed their vision.

Stage One: Corridor of Heart Mirrors

When Bai Cheng opened her eyes, she found herself standing in an infinitely extending corridor.

The sides of the corridor were not walls, but countless mirrors as smooth as water.

In every mirror, a different Bai Cheng was reflected.

There was the naive young girl trudging through the wind and snow of Broken Shell Island when she had just ignited her first spark of starlight.

There was the resolute figure holding her sword alone when facing the three-way siege at Tianxuan Reef.

There was the majestic emperor with silver hair dyed dark gold when the gate of gui xu opened and the star tracks were recast.

There were also... more distant and blurred images.

In one mirror, she saw herself lying in a pool of blood, the Emerald Sea completely sinking into dark red corruption, with Zi Yuan, Blue Bird, Yu Nian, Lu Duo, Leng Ningxue...

The figures of all her companions vanished one by one, turning to ash.

In another mirror, she sat high atop the sea of stars, with billions of star tracks surrendering beneath her feet,

But there was no longer any warmth in her eyes, only cold, absolute principles of law; the emperors imprint on her forehead had become a black hole swallowing all emotion.

Other mirrors showed her giving up everything, returning to that original, ordinary island, mending fishing nets day after day, watching the tides rise and fall, the light in her eyes gradually fading into numbness.

Countless possibilities, countless futures, countless fears and obsessions.

The versions of her in the mirrors began to whisper.

"You can't save everyone... the Emerald Sea will eventually fall again..."

"The path of the emperor is destined to be lonely... emotions are redundant burdens..."

"What's wrong with being ordinary? Why carry such a heavy burden?"

The voices layered upon each other, surging like a tide, attempting to shake her will.

Bai Cheng closed her eyes.

"The Corridor of Heart Mirrors... reflects the truest fears and desires deep within one's heart."

She whispered to herself, "But the shadows in the mirrors... are ultimately just shadows."

She opened her eyes, the trajectories of the galaxy flowing steadily within her silver eyes.

"I fear loss, so I must hold onto the present even tighter."

"I desire to protect, so I must move forward."

"I choose to bear the burden, so I do not fear loneliness."

She stepped forward, no longer looking at the mirrors on either side, but walking steadily, step by step, toward the only light at the end of the corridor.

With every step she took, the mirrors on both sides shattered silently for an instant, and the whispers within the mirrors weakened by a degree.

When she reached the light and looked back, the entire Corridor of Heart Mirrors had turned into countless crystalline fragments, scattering like snow.

And on her forehead, the light of the emperors imprint was purer and more solid than before.

Meanwhile, in the other five locations—

In Zi Yuan's Corridor of Heart Mirrors, countless mirrors reflected scenes of her blade breaking and her dying, unable to protect anyone important.

She finally leaned on her blade against the ground and shouted low, "The intent of Tide Breaker is to break the tide of despair, not the heart of protection!"

The corridor shattered.

In Blue Bird's mirrors, she saw images of herself losing everything due to her recklessness and impulsiveness, with her companions dying because of her.

Lightning exploded in her eyes: "I may be impulsive, but I will never retreat!

Because behind me are the people I must protect!"

Thunder pierced through the corridor.

Lu Duo's mirrors reflected scenes of emerald brilliance withering, life fading, and her being powerless to save the situation.

She pressed her hand to her heart, and an emerald light blossomed gently yet resiliently: "Life may be short, but heritage is eternal. I am willing to be that bridge connecting the past and the future."

The corridor collapsed.

In Yu Nian's mirrors, the pure heart vine turned into rotten tentacles, and those she had healed turned around to harm those she cherished.

She hugged the real vine in her arms tightly, tears shimmering as she smiled: "I believe... kindness will eventually be met with kindness."

The corridor melted away like spring ice.

In Leng Ningxue's mirrors, her absolute rational deductions had completely failed, data streams were chaotic and broken, and everything fell into unknowable chaos.

Data streams flashed frantically in her icy eyes before finally returning to calm: "Rationality has its boundaries, but the journey of exploring those boundaries is itself the meaning."

The corridor parsed and dissipated.

All six people passed the first stage.

Stage Two: Labyrinth of Laws.

When Bai Cheng stepped out of the end of the Corridor of Heart Mirrors, before her was an endless labyrinth composed of flowing runes of law.

The walls were built from runes of intertwined thunder and fire, the ground flowed with liquid time laws and spatial fragments, and overhead was a conceptual dome that was constantly restructuring and dismantling.

There were no conventional physical rules here; everything operated in a way that defied common sense.

In the distance, the other five figures could be vaguely seen—it was Zi Yuan and the others—but they were separated from each other by countless layers of distorted law [N O V E L I G H T] barriers and could not meet directly.

"Labyrinth of Laws... one must find the path of truth." Bai Cheng's silver eyes scanned the area, "But truth... is not unique."

She raised her hand, the emperors imprint on her forehead lighting up, establishing a faint remote resonance with the star track network of the Emerald Sea.

The star tracks of the Emerald Sea were a system of laws she had personally recast, the order template closest to the truth in her understanding.

Using this as an anchor, she began to sense the flow of laws within this chaotic labyrinth.