Chapter 561: What would you do?
It was indeed peaceful but not without a person living in this place.
At the heart of this calm expanse stood a humble wooden hut, its roof slightly slanted, its surface aged and weathered by time, but well-kept and inviting. It looked like the sort of place someone might build if they wanted to leave the chaos of the world behind.
No guards, no seals, no overwhelming aura radiating from it—just a quiet home in the middle of an endless field, like someone had come here to find solitude or perhaps to retire from the burden of greatness.
Max stood still for a long moment, eyes narrowed with curiosity. After all he had seen in the Nine Dragons Painting, he hadn’t expected the eighth floor to be... this. It wasn’t a battlefield, a towering trial, or a test of blood and flame. It was a place of stillness.
And yet, Max knew better than to trust appearances. Anything that looked this peaceful—especially in a trial meant to crush geniuses—had to be hiding something extraordinary.
He walked toward the hut with slow, steady steps, each footfall oddly loud in the silence of the grassy plains. As he drew closer, Max took in the simplicity of the structure.
It was a small hut built of old, weathered wood with a few wild vines curling around its sides, as if nature itself had partially claimed it over time. A tiny stone chimney protruded from the slanted roof, thin trails of smoke lazily drifting into the blue sky, proof that someone—or something—had been there recently.
The door was plain, made from thick slabs of oak, and slightly cracked along the edges with age.
Max raised his hand to knock, but before his knuckles could touch the surface, the door creaked open slowly on its own, revealing the warm glow of firelight from within, as if silently inviting him to step inside.