Chapter 284: Trial After Trial
The three bridges were obviously there for Jiang Chen to choose from.
Although there were no clear indications on the path, Jiang Chen was well aware of the fact that there was only one bridge that was the right path.
Choosing the wrong bridge meant that he was out, because there was no way to backtrack on the path of rebirth. One could only keep moving forward.
Jiang Chen looked out on the bridges and he saw that there were shadows moving on the bridges in the mist. Although his line of sight wasn’t the best, he could still see figures moving about on all three bridges.
This meant that there was someone on each of the bridges.
“A moment, didn’t they say that one is always alone on the path of rebirth? Why is it that there are figures on all three bridges?”
Jiang Chen felt that it was a bit odd and utilized the God’s Eye to peer upon the bridges.
Indeed, there were people walking on all the bridges towards the shore on the other side. Each bridge was filled with many people.
It looked like the bridge was quite slippery, as people continuously fell off the bridge and landed in the frothing river waters below.
The even more frightening thing was that when they fell into the waters, it was like falling into a pot of boiling oil as their bodies melted, leaving behind only a pile of white bones in the blink of an eye.
“How can this be?” Jiang Chen was startled. White bones could float on top of the water? Judging from the water’s momentum, it could basically churn everything away, so how could it possibly leave the bones behind?
If one of the three bridges was the right one, why would the people on them fall down instead?
“This is a trial of the heart and not of the others. Everything on these bridges must be fake.” Jiang Chen made his judgment.
He stood there for a moment and he went over all the clues in his mind again, suddenly feeling a flash of inspiration.
“Yes yes, they said that one is always alone on the path of rebirth. How is it possible that other people would appear? Since this is a solitary path, then everything I see must be illusionary. Everything, including even these three bridges, must be an illusion. These figures are just a reminder for me.”
Those stark white bones were an illusion.
Even that roaring river was most likely fake as well!
Having practiced the Boulder’s Heart, Jiang Chen’s instinct would continuously give himself hints as soon as these kinds of thoughts appeared, seeking to make the thoughts more resolute.
He gave a long whistle and ignored the three bridges, leaping directly into the frothing waters.
When he stepped on the water, Jiang Chen discovered that it felt like he’d stepped on something hard. He took a close look and realized that he was still on the flat plains.
What great river in front of him? What bridges? Where had all the figures and white bones gone?
“Indeed, fabrications. It was all just a fabrication.” Jiang Chen sighed softly, even more impressed by the person who had brought the path of rebirth into existence.
If one didn’t have strong power of the heart on this path of reincarnation, and lacked sufficient powers of deduction and logic, or overlooked the organizer’s words, then he would’ve surely embarked on the wrong path as soon as he’d set foot on any of the three bridges and he might’ve been disqualified immediately.
It was precisely because Jiang Chen had remembered that sentence — you are forever alone on the path of rebirth and you won’t bump into anyone.
Since this was a trial of the heart, it wouldn’t be so silly as to make people choose a meaningless decision and rely on luck to make it across the swift river.
Since it wasn’t a game of chance, this meant that it was most likely that the three bridges were fake.
The river then was fake as well.
Jiang Chen’s deductions were reasonable.
“Perhaps the words on the stone marker were a hint. What is the Bridge of Helplessness? It’s a bridge on the path to the underworld. Perhaps the three bridges were called thus to hint that if you took these bridges, you wouldn’t be able to make it past the path of rebirth at all.”
These were Jiang Chen’s thoughts.
“If anyone else meets the bridges, I believe that many of them will be disqualified. The word of at least two thirds of participants being disqualified in the first trial were most likely not an over exaggeration. It’s very possible that many would’ve fallen in the first test.”
After all, the three bridges were right there, and according to customary logic, many would choose to pass through one of them.
If one’s heart was resolute and their powers of deduction strong, then one might consider the fact that without any clear hints, it was a game of chance if one would select the right bridge when it came down to choosing one amongst the three.
But it was a bit nonsensical to have a game of chance here. The path of rebirth was one o