Having gained the Spirit Concentration Art inheritance, Xiao Qi felt his mind and spirit clearer than ever before. Though he hadn't immediately cultivated it, the technique's general principles had given him a completely new framework for perceiving and controlling his spiritual sense. He and Mu Qingfeng didn't linger in the Ten Thousand Laws Collection Pavilion, quickly exiting to reunite with Liu Yun and the others at the medicine garden entrance.
The three groups gathered again, each sharing their exploration gains. Junior Brother Li's group's lightning-struck wood and body cultivation experience, Liu Yun's group's sword dao and water-earth technique inheritances, and Xiao Qi and Mu Qingfeng's harvests from the alchemy room and scripture pavilion—all excited the group. Especially Xiao Qi's Spirit Concentration Art and the mysterious alchemy furnace, though their specific uses were unclear, their recognition by this place meant they must be extraordinary.
"Though this place offers good opportunities, it's not suitable for a long stay," Mu Qingfeng looked around at everyone, his expression returning to its usual steadiness. "We've already delayed quite a bit. We must head to the Ten Thousand Laws Palace in the core area as soon as possible. If I'm not mistaken, the true core inheritance and the key to leaving this place are likely there."
Everyone had no objections. After a brief rest, they continued along the white jade path toward the distant, cloud-wreathed, most magnificent core main peak.
The closer they got to the main peak, the purer the surrounding spiritual energy became, even beginning to carry a trace of intangible law dao resonance. With each breath, understanding of techniques seemed to deepen. However, accompanying this was an increasingly heavy, omnipresent ancient pressure, like invisible mountains weighing on everyone's hearts, making them involuntarily feel awe.
Below the main peak wasn't the Ten Thousand Laws Palace directly, but an even more magnificent and splendid architectural complex with carved railings and jade steps, flying pavilions and flowing red pillars, like ancient immortal palaces. An incredibly wide corridor, as if formed from condensed starlight, wound upward, leading directly to the palace at the peak. On either side of the corridor, instead of simple flowers and plants, floated countless runes and illusory scenes glowing with various lights—sometimes evolving mountains and rivers, sometimes manifesting sun, moon, and stars, extremely mysterious.
"Stay close to me. The restrictions here are likely even more powerful. Don't touch anything," Mu Qingfeng instructed gravely, taking the lead onto the starlight corridor.
Everyone held their breath and followed closely. Their footsteps landed on the starlight, creating ripples, yet had no substance.
The first section of the journey was calm. However, when the team reached the corridor's midpoint, at a relatively open platform where the floating runes on both sides suddenly accelerated their evolution, something unexpected happened!
Without warning, Xiao Qi, walking in the middle of the group, felt his surroundings suddenly distort and blur! Senior Brother, Third Senior Sister, and other fellow disciples' figures instantly vanished, along with the brilliant starlight corridor and the distant immortal palace towers—all fading like a wash drawing, rapidly peeling and dissipating!
In their place rose fire reaching toward the sky! Thick, congealing blood scent! Mournful, desperate screams!
Xu Lan Mountain Manor!
He had returned to that nightmarish night!
The blazing manor illuminated his pale, terrified young face. Familiar uncles and aunts lay on the ground, lifeless. His mother held him tightly behind her, the jade pendant on her neck emitting weak light but unable to block the sweeping black demonic energy. His father Xu Zhan fought bloodily, his figure appearing so lonely and helpless under the siege of demonic shadows, finally pierced through the chest by a terrifying demonic claw—blood splashing all over Xiao Qi's face...
"No—! Father! Mother!" Xiao Qi let out a heart-wrenching cry, wanting to rush over, but his body was bound as if by invisible chains, unable to move. That bone-deep sense of powerlessness and despair, like cold tidewater, instantly drowned him. This illusion was thousands of times more real than any nightmare he'd had! Every detail, every emotion, was magnified to the extreme!
This was only the beginning.
The illusion suddenly shifted to before the Qingxu Temple mountain gate. The Silver-Faced Envoy laughed savagely, demonic might overwhelming. Senior Brother Mu Qingfeng was pierced through his dantian by a demonic energy strand, his golden core shattering, his eyes dimming as he fell. Third Senior Sister Liu Yun, trying to protect Xiao Qi, was surrounded by several demon cultivators, her sword breaking as she died, blood staining her white robes. Zhao Tiezhu, the rabbit spirit... everyone he cared about died horribly before his eyes one by one! And he could only watch helplessly, doing nothing—still that weak, useless Xu Xiaoqi!
"It's all because of you! If not for you, a useless person possessing a strange treasure, how would such disaster be invited!" In the illusion, a twisted voice shrieked in his mind, magnifying his deepest fears and self-doubt. "You can't protect anyone! You're a jinx!"
Endless grief, self-blame, anger, despair... all sorts of negative emotions like poisonous snakes frantically gnawed at his dao heart. His spiritual sense began to violently shake, his spiritual platform clouded, as if the next moment he would completely sink into this boundless purgatory.
Just at this critical point when his mind was about to fall, the jade pendant at his chest again erupted with heat! A stream of cool breath far purer and more peaceful than any previous time, like a pillar stabilizing the sea, suddenly poured into his nearly collapsed sea of consciousness!
At the same time, the just-obtained general principles of the Spirit Concentration Art flowed through his heart like instinct—"Gathering and dispersing at will, spirit illuminating the vast world... Heart clear as ice, unshaken even if the sky falls... External appearances are all illusory, only the true heart is real..."
The cool breath protected his spiritual sense core, while the Spirit Concentration Art's essence served as a lighthouse, pointing the direction.
"Illusion! All of this is illusion!" Xiao Qi suddenly jolted, struggling out a trace of clarity from the emotional waves about to swallow him. He forcibly gathered his mind, no longer "watching" those tragic scenes, no longer "listening" to those desperate wails and accusations, but sinking all his will into that square inch of spiritual platform protected by the jade pendant's clear light.
He recalled his father's final resolute yet hope-filled gaze, his mother's tenderness and reluctance as she hung the jade pendant on his neck, his master's earnest teachings, Senior Brother's steadiness and reliability, Third Senior Sister's sharp tongue but soft heart, fellow disciples' trust and fighting side by side... These real emotions and bonds, like warm sunlight, began dispelling the cold and darkness brought by the illusion.
"My dao is protection!" Xiao Qi let out a silent cry in his heart. That nascent Crimson Flame Sword Intent embryo, fusing purification and protective will, though not activated, contained firm will that at this moment became the sharp sword breaking through illusions! "The tragedy of the past cannot be changed, but the future path is decided by me! I will never let the tragedy in the illusion happen again!"
He no longer resisted the illusion but observed it with a detached, examining attitude. He "saw" that the burning manor was composed of countless twisted fear runes, "heard" that the fellow disciples' screams were simulated by energy waves magnifying negative emotions. Under the jade pendant's clear light and the Spirit Concentration Art's意境 blessing, he seemed to possess the wisdom eye seeing through illusions.
"Break!"
No earth-shattering power erupted, only a sound of dao from his true heart, firmly resonating deep in his sea of consciousness.
Like a mirror shattering, the mountains of corpses and seas of blood before him, the tragic deaths of friends and family, instantly froze, then covered with countless cracks. The next moment, they collapsed, transforming into colorful light points dancing in the air, rapidly dissipating.
The scene before him cleared again. He still stood on the starlight corridor's platform. Senior Brother, Third Senior Sister, and others were nearby, but all of them had pale faces with sweat on their foreheads, their eyes still holding traces of fear and struggle—clearly just emerging from their own illusions, hearts still racing.
Mu Qingfeng saw Xiao Qi's eyes were clear and he was the first to recover, a trace of relief and surprise in his eyes. He took a deep breath, steadied his mind, and said gravely: "What a powerful illusion heart array! It points directly at the dao heart's flaws. If not for our relatively firm wills, I fear we would have been lost within."
Liu Yun also suppressed her surging qi and blood, her gaze toward Xiao Qi holding even more recognition. She could sense that Xiao Qi seemed to be the first among them all to escape the illusion.
Xiao Qi said nothing, silently feeling. After this illusion tempering, he felt his mind and spirit seemed thoroughly washed, becoming more condensed and transparent. Understanding of the Spirit Concentration Art had deepened imperceptibly, and his connection with the jade pendant at his chest seemed even closer. That trace of impetuosity and uncertainty arising from rapid advancement and successive battles vanished at this moment, his dao heart more stable than ever before.
He looked up at the Ten Thousand Laws Palace looming in the clouds at the corridor's end, his gaze even more determined.
The starlight corridor returned to calm, but everyone knew the path ahead wouldn't be smooth. And this trial of illusions was perhaps only a beginning.