Lin Qi's accidental creation of the perfectly stable counterfeit (Chapter 21) only increased the pressure on Sect Master Wu. The rival sects, led by Princess Lianhua's powerful but skeptical father, the Heaven-Shattering Palace Master (Master Ming), demanded one final, irrefutable test: a trial of absolute spiritual purity. They believed Lin Qi's luck must be rooted in some dark, symbiotic spiritual contract.
Master Ming organized the Grand Trial of Spiritual Purity, held on a high plateau specifically prepared with the Mirror Array of Truth. This array instantly reflected the true spiritual nature and moral worth of anyone standing within it. Any corruption, darkness, or ill-gotten gains would be magnified and publicly revealed.
Lin Qi was promised an entire basket of steamed buns if he participated.
The Problem of the Mirror Array
The Mirror Array of Truth was placed at the center of the plateau, surrounded by thousands of powerful spectators. Master Ming, a man of imposing righteousness, stood beside the Array, observing Lin Qi with severe suspicion.
Lin Qi stepped onto the Array. He was deeply bored and slightly annoyed because the Array's surface felt cold on his feet.
The Mirror Array activated, drawing on the entirety of Lin Qi's spiritual presence, ready to expose any hidden corruption.
The problem, however, was that Lin Qi's soul was entirely clean. The Core of Infinite Density had sealed away all the Grand-Emperor's vast knowledge, sins, and ambitions. Lin Qi was, at his core, just a naive, slightly clumsy seventeen-year-old with zero malice, zero corruption, and zero spiritual understanding. He was, ironically, the purest soul on the entire plateau.
The Array searched for spiritual darkness. It found none.
It searched for greed, malice, or ill-gotten gains. It found only a profound, baffling emptiness, which it correctly interpreted as Ultimate Innocence.
The Unexpected Reflection
The Array, designed to reflect evil, had no choice but to reflect the absolute lack of evil. The result was a feedback loop of purity.
The Mirror Array did not show a terrifying fiend. Instead, it reflected Lin Qi as a figure of blinding, overwhelming white light. This light was so pure and so intense that it was perceived by everyone as the ultimate symbol of Cosmic Virtue.
Furthermore, Lin Qi's Absolutely Indestructible and Blind Luck (AII&BL) force field, unable to allow the test to be inconclusive, caused the reflected light to condense.
The light didn't just shine; it formed a series of swirling, beautiful hallucinations based on the absolute truth of Lin Qi's identity, but filtered through the spectators' terrified misinterpretation:
* A Vision of Creation: The light first formed a vision of Lin Qi casually shattering a mountain, which was interpreted as him having the power to create worlds (a callback to G-EVS's true power).
* A Vision of Subjugation: Next, the light showed Lin Qi effortlessly taming the Black Serpent Palace Elder Wei Han (Chapter 3), confirming his moral superiority over his enemies.
* A Vision of Nirvana: Finally, the light solidified into an image of Lin Qi meditating in his uncomfortable posture (Chapter 8), now viewed as the ultimate state of unblemished, profound enlightenment.
The entire plateau was bathed in the overwhelming Light of Ultimate Innocence.
The Judgment of the Heaven-Shattering Master
Master Ming, who had prepared to denounce Lin Qi, fell to his knees, utterly convinced. The light was simply too pure, too immense to be faked.
"Forgive me!" Master Ming cried, tears streaming down his face. "I doubted the true Incarnation of Virtue! The Mirror Array does not lie! Disciple Lin Qi is not merely pure; he is the Living Embodiment of the Great Dao's Purity!"
Princess Lianhua, witnessing the blinding proof, was overcome with emotion. Her respect transformed into fervent, near-worshiping devotion. "He passed the ultimate test by possessing nothing to hide! He is the Unstained Sage!"
Sect Master Wu bowed so low his forehead hit the dirt, overcome with a mixture of relief and spiritual awe at the scale of Lin Qi's accidental purity.
Wu quickly proclaimed the final, profound verdict:
> "The true measure of a cultivator is not the darkness they can conquer, but the amount of sheer, baffling nothingness they possess within their soul, which the cosmos then mistakes for supreme light."
>
Lin Qi was officially declared the Unstained Sage of the True Path. He received his large basket of steamed buns, completely unaware that he had just convinced the entire cultivation world that he was a literal messiah.