He turned his head to look at the painting of the beautiful woman hanging on the wall. The woman still held a flower and smiled faintly, like a goddess descending to the mortal world in the dimly lit room. He walked up to the painting, his fingertips brushing over the paper. The paper was dry and slightly yellowed, as if it had aged for many years, yet the figure in the painting appeared lifelike. Zanxing’s consciousness couldn’t have disappeared without reason, unless… it had entered the painting.
He couldn’t enter the painting because it was protected by a restriction. The person who set the restriction had a higher cultivation level than him. To break the restriction, one either needed to meet the conditions for entering the painting—clearly, he didn’t—or forcefully break it with his spiritual power.
Men Dong’s words echoed in his ears.
“Senior Uncle, you can’t forcefully use your power anymore. The previous battle with the shark demon already destabilized the spiritual power in your veins. If you recklessly use your power again, the cracks in your spiritual veins might become uncontrollable…”
In fact, he had already felt this while chasing the Jinhua Tiger. That’s why he didn’t use his spiritual power to directly crush the tiger and ended up getting injured.
He came to Li’er Country, ostensibly to watch over Yang Zanxing and prevent her from dual cultivating with Mu Cengxiao, but in truth, he hoped to find a substitute for the Qinchong seeds the secret realm. However, he hadn’t found a substitute for the Qinchong seeds, and the cracks in his spiritual veins had only worsened, making it not worth the risk.
He couldn’t forcefully use his power anymore.
But…
The young man looked back. The woman on the bed slept peacefully, the Panhua staff by her side. The empty redwood box lay at the corner of the bed, the boy in long robes on the lid sitting and playing the sheng, with phoenix birds flying around.
In the vast wilderness, only this low thatched cottage stood, like a small flickering flame in the darkness, silently and steadfastly.
*
Amidst the chaos, a torrent of flowers flowed like a waterfall.
The clusters of flowers seemed endless, dyeing the void layers of white with vivid colors. The ripples spreading from her side carried a gentle moonlight, reflecting the sea of flowers. In this blush-colored stream of light, a streak of azure tore through the brilliance, scattering the sea of flowers in an instant. The woman’s voice rang out clearly, with a determination to break through everything.
“Fire Tree, Silver Flowers—”
The light in the chaos dimmed, and the world turned into a heavy blackness. In the boundless darkness, countless stars—or perhaps fireworks—burned from afar. Those dazzling, enchanting lights fell into her eyes, almost scorching them. The staff in her hand was like a cluster of fireworks about to burst into brilliance, carrying sparks as it swept forward.
The woman seemed to sigh.
Another azure staff turned forward, pointing straight ahead, and the fierce gust of wind was quickly dispersed. Countless stars scattered into ashes, and the ripples grew larger, almost swallowing the world. The soft, long waves seemed ready to tear everything apart in an instant. Zanxing’s face changed, and she desperately circulated all her spiritual power to resist, but she was still struck in the chest by this ��Mirage Moon.”
She was sent flying, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Fairy Qinghua stood in place, her robe not even slightly wrinkled, looking at Zanxing with a somewhat disappointed gaze.
Zanxing clutched her chest, feeling as if her whole body was falling apart with pain.
She had already reached the second form of the Qing’e Flower-Picking Staff, but her Fire Tree and Silver Flowers couldn’t even last a single incense stick’s time against Fairy Qinghua’s Mirage Moon. She knew this staff technique was powerful, but she never realized just how powerful until now, facing its original master. It turned out that the Flower-Picking Staff technique was truly not just a flashy, impractical technique.
The saying that she was wasting the staff technique in her hands was no joke.
“Again?” Fairy Qinghua asked.
Zanxing waved her hand, “Wait, let me rest for a moment.” She had fought repeatedly, each time ending in failure, and each time she got back up, like a human punching bag, not knowing how many times she had been beaten up by Fairy Qinghua. Did Gu Baiying know how fierce his mother was? Even though this was just a wisp of her divine consciousness, she was still relentless.
But this couldn’t continue. She had already given her all, and there was still a vast chasm between her and Fairy Qinghua’s cultivation. Even if she tried a hundred more times, the result wouldn’t change. A person’s divine consciousness couldn’t be separated from their body for too long, and she didn’t know if the passage of time in the painting was the same as outside. If she didn’t defeat Fairy Qinghua soon, she would truly be trapped here forever, unable to ever get out.
At this point, only a protagonist’s halo could save her, but unfortunately, she wasn’t the protagonist, and even the Xiao Yuan Pearl was no longer useful.
“Fairy, this isn’t fair,” Zanxing panted as she tried to negotiate, “I’m only at the early Core Formation stage, but you’ve already passed the tribulation. Asking a baby to compete with an adult in a fistfight is outright bullying. You might as well kill me with one strike and give me a quick death.”
“The person chosen by the Biyi Blossom has the ability to pass the test,” Fairy Qinghua replied coldly.
Zanxing blinked, “Then what exactly is the ability to pass the test?”
Fairy Qinghua responded indifferently, “Heaven’s secrets must not be divulged.”
“……”
Zanxing felt a headache coming on. If she were the protagonist, no matter the perilous trials, she would ultimately pass them. But she wasn’t Mu Cengxiao. If she couldn’t pass, then she couldn’t pass. If she died, she would be truly dead. How could she afford to hold on to wishful thinking?
Besides, she had nothing on her right now. The Xiao Yuan Pearl was unresponsive, her Qiankun bag was outside the painting, and all those niche talismans and pills were useless. Even her cat wasn’t with her. She only had an illusionary Panhua staff, not even considered a mid-level spiritual weapon. Under these circumstances, hoping for a comeback was nothing short of a delusion.
“My cultivation technique, you’ve seen it,” Zanxing said helplessly. “The same staff technique, in the hands of practitioners at different levels, can have vastly different power. I can’t defeat you, let alone use the Flower-Picking Staff Technique to defeat you.”
“The extent to which you can utilize a technique has nothing to do with cultivation level. What matters is your understanding of it.” In the chaos, Fairy Qinghua’s skirts fluttered slightly. “The reason you can only use a tenth of the technique’s potential is because you haven’t truly understood it.”
Zanxing sighed. It was easy to say, but the cultivation technique was just one book, with the same words no matter how you looked at it. What more could she possibly comprehend? A staff technique, you just learn the moves as written. Was she supposed to do reading comprehension too?
She shook her head and stood up, only to see a fallen red flower on the ground.
This was the Biyi Blossom that Fairy Qinghua had been holding in the painting, the same flower that had pulled her into this trial from the thatched cottage outside the painting. She had held the flower earlier, but it must have dropped during the fight with Fairy Qinghua.
She bent down to pick up the flower, and suddenly, Fairy Qinghua’s expression changed. For the first time, her voice held urgency: “Don’t touch it!”
However, Zanxing had already grasped the flower.