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After Meng Linzhou’s injury improved slightly, Li Fenglan asked him to give the approximate direction, and the group headed towards where the Tianmian Palace people had left.
At first, Li Fenglan didn’t have a strong feeling about it, but after following Meng Linzhou’s route, he realized that the path Ling Buyan had taken him on was really the safest in this secret realm.
In just the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Li Fenglan had killed more than ten phantoms in the secret realm with his sword. Even though his cultivation had almost recovered, he still found it somewhat difficult to deal with these things, especially with Meng Linzhou, who was like a ball and chain.
More accurately, it was Cheng Huang who was carrying him.
Although he had a cultivation level of ascension stage and a lot of spirit medicine, the environment in the secret realm was different from elsewhere. Being in it, Meng Linzhou’s wound recovery rate had become extremely slow. In order not to delay the journey, Li Fenglan asked Cheng Huang to grow a little bigger and let Meng Linzhou sit on its back to meditate.
Although Cheng Huang did not resist this command, Li Fenglan heard from time to time, as they moved forward, Cheng Huang would snort from its nose. It sounded like it was particularly dissatisfied.
“Hmph… how embarrassing.”
“Hmph, not as good as Fenglan.”
“Hmph, kick you out of the sect!”
Meng Linzhou, who was meditating, couldn’t hear what Huang was saying, let alone that it wanted its owner to kick him out of the sect. But Li Fenglan, Ling Buyan, and Duan Wannian, who were all clear-headed, could hear the little guy’s words very clearly.
Especially Duan Wannian, who, upon hearing Cheng Huang’s sigh, immediately couldn’t help but sneer.
So now Li Fenglan’s ears not only had sighs, but also the bickering of the two.
In this way, unconsciously, Li Fenglan and his group finally arrived at the place where Meng Linzhou and the others had separated from Tianmian Palace people. Unlike the open wilderness where they had just been, Li Fenglan now saw a towering stone forest that stretched as far as the eye could see.
He didn’t hurry to wake up Meng Linzhou, who was still meditating, but couldn’t help saying to Ling Buyan, “When we were outside of Guanzhi Mountain just now, I never thought that this secret realm could be so big…”
Li Fenglan had only casually commented, but he didn’t expect that Ling Buyan’s next sentence would overturn his imagination.
“Guanzhi Mountain has a deceptive effect, in fact, this secret realm not only has one mountain, but also a whole city.” Ling Buyan said in a relaxed tone.
This time, Li Fenglan was truly shocked.
A whole city? You should know that even the smallest city in the human world would take a day of flying on a sword to circle it. The secret realm was supported by the spiritual power left behind by its owner before ascending, and to support the operation of the Guanzhi Mountain secret realm smoothly for thousands of years, the Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor must have been really powerful…
Li Fenglan thought so and couldn’t help but say the words out loud.
Hearing this, even Duan Wannian nodded seriously.
But unexpectedly, Ling Buyan said, “It’s just a fleeting moment of glory.”
“Uh?” Li Fenglan was taken aback. He didn’t understand how the ascension of the Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor to the upper realm and the legends he left behind could be considered a moment of glory. If the Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor was only considered a moment, then what about himself?
But before Li Fenglan could ask, he saw a stone mountain in front of him suddenly slowly crumbling.
“Be careful!” Li Fenglan quickly went over and helped Meng Linzhou up. Then he asked subconsciously, “Why is this mountain like this?”
“It’s an illusion…” Ling Buyan said. His tone was tinged with a sense of incredulity.
Li Fenglan only had time to hear this, and the scenery in front of him immediately changed.
He temporarily lost consciousness, leaving only pitch-black darkness before his eyes.
Illusion…
Li Fenglan had been to many secret realms in his past life, so illusions were not unfamiliar to him. Not to mention that when he was being chased by the entire cultivation world, he had once been trapped in an illusion created by a sound cultivator, almost forgetting all of his thousand years of cultivation.
After a few moments, when Li Fenglan’s vision became clear again, the scene he saw was completely different from what he had originally imagined.
Li Fenglan found that this illusion was not like most illusions in the world, woven according to one’s desires. If he guessed correctly… this illusion came from the greed, anger, and delusion of the owner of the secret realm, the Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor.
“How could this be…”
Seeing the scene in front of him, Li Fenglan couldn’t help but silently step back three or two steps.
He saw the four ancient beasts that had already been dead for thousands of years, rushing towards him with their huge bloody mouths open. But before Li Fenglan could instinctively draw his sword and slay the beasts, the four gigantic creatures let out a mournful cry and then fell heavily to the ground.
Then, he saw the Tianmian Palace from years ago and the original appearance of the cultivation world… scenes from thousands of years ago appeared one after another in front of Li Fenglan. And these fragments of unfamiliar memories finally reminded Li Fenglan of something.
“I understand now.” Li Fenglan muttered.
He had read about this situation in an ancient book before, but at that time he had only regarded it as a legend and had not paid much attention to it.
It was only after seeing the scene in front of him that Li Fenglan realized that the thing recorded in the book was actually true.
This illusion was originally woven according to the desires of every intruder, just like the ones Li Fenglan had often encountered. But later, the creator of the secret realm, the Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor, whose soul was extremely powerful, was affected by something that even affected his originally stable Dao heart. This caused him to doubt the Great Dao…
Although this illusion already existed when that great event occurred, the owner who created it, the Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor, was too powerful. Under his influence, this illusion changed from a simple “heart-tribulation” of every intruder to the heart-tribulation of the Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor.
However, the Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor dominated the cultivation world for thousands of years, and in the end, ascended peacefully. What could have happened to make him doubt the great dao?
…..
“Ah–“
“Help–“
“Shut up!”
Just as he was thinking this, a familiar voice suddenly rang in Li Fenglan’s ears. He looked up and saw that it was his spirit beast, Cheng Huang, and Meng Linzhou, who was riding on Cheng Huang’s back just now, flying towards him at high speed.
Cheng Huang was Li Fenglan’s spirit beast, so the illusion automatically sent it to Li Fenglan’s side. As for Meng Linzhou – he followed along simply because he was lucky enough to have been on Cheng Huang’s back all along.
Upon seeing the two familiar figures, Li Fenglan immediately used his spiritual power to stop them here. Then he saw Cheng Huang not stopping in time and rolling on the ground for two rounds, and Meng Linzhou, who had just been on its back… naturally rolled with it.
“Pu…” Meng Linzhou’s injuries were not good in the first place, and now after rolling on the ground like this, he directly spat out a mouthful of blood.
Seeing this, Li Fenglan quickly put aside the things he had just been thinking about. He carefully helped Meng Linzhou up and quickly used his spiritual power to heal his disciple’s injuries.
“Ooh, ooh, ooh~” Although it didn’t like its master’s stupid apprentice, Cheng Huang knew that if anything happened to Meng Linzhou, the master would also be sad. So after quickly shaking off the dirt on its body, it ran to Li Fenglan’s side and leaned over to see what was happening to Meng Linzhou.
Meng Linzhou, on the other hand, had just rolled over on the ground and his vision went black. Now that his sight had just cleared up, he saw… his master and Cheng Huang, all looking at him with concern.
Oh no.
Meng Linzhou felt that this scene, this perspective, seemed a bit ominous.
Li Fenglan took out the Qiankun Bag and was planning to find some spiritual herbs for Meng Linzhou to eat. But before he could even start, he heard Meng Linzhou, who was lying on the ground, say, “Master, am I running out of time?”
Li Fenglan: ?
“Ah?”
Li Fenglan didn’t understand at all what Meng Linzhou meant. And before he could even ask, he heard Meng Linzhou say, “I understand.”
How do you understand again!
Meng Linzhou had a habit of imagining things and coming up with strange conclusions. Despite being a wounded soldier, Li Fenglan still managed to ask, “What did you find out?”
“Am I badly injured and about to die?” Meng Linzhou asked.
Li Fenglan replied, “I knew it.”
Even the way Cheng Huang looked at Meng Linzhou was full of disgust after hearing what he said. Then Meng Linzhou’s master also said, “It’s over…”
Finally, Li Fenglan couldn’t resist throwing Meng Linzhou to the ground and saying, “We’re all going to die.”
“What… what do you mean?” Meng Linzhou asked.
He saw his master sigh softly and then explain what he had just seen. Li Fenglan summarized, “So, this illusion is not anyone’s, but the illusion of Xuanchu Immortal Ancestor. Only by finding his heart demon and unlocking it can we get out.”
“What?” Even Meng Linzhou, who had just been lying on the ground, barely breathing, sat up straight.
Li Fenglan looked at Meng Linzhou who nodded seriously.
Seeing Meng Linzhou’s serious expression, his also became serious.
Finally, just when Li Fenglan thought Meng Linzhou was going to say something important, he sighed and said, “It seems that my master and I are going to die here today. Sigh… shouldn’t have come.”
I knew it, nothing good comes out of being nosy, Meng Linzhou thought.
Wait a minute? Are you giving up so quickly?
Looking at Meng Linzhou, who was unreliable and untrustworthy, Li Fenglan had never wanted to find his master who was also in this illusion as much as he did at this moment.