Pengluo's Past, Medicine Slave!

Suddenly! Several hundred zhang in front of the waterfall, countless scarlet flames burst forth between heaven and earth. Endless spiritual flames abruptly converged before Li Guanqi, condensing into a colossal qilin a hundred zhang long! The phantom qilin glared furiously at Li Guanqi. Halting instantly, he raised a hand to cloak himself in a layer of lightning armor, his blood and vitality roaring as he dropped into a defensive stance. Roaaar!!! A terrifying roar shook the world, accompanied by a crushing pressure comparable to the late Mahayana realm! In an instant, waves of fire billowed across heaven and earth, whipping up a tempest that tore straight toward Li Guanqi. With no time to think, Li Guanqi shot back several hundred zhang and slashed his sword repeatedly in rapid succession! "Heaven Shatterer Three Forms!!" A frenzied sword light erupted forth, yet the fury of that tempest was still not something Li Guanqi could withstand. In a split second, the monstrous force sent Li Guanqi flying several hundred zhang. Sheets of ice walls suddenly materialized before him! Yet beneath the sheer might of the tempest, the ice walls fractured inch by inch, fragile and utterly powerless before the phantom qilin. Massive chunks of ice shot in all directions as Li Guanqi slammed violently into Meng Wanshu's embrace. Thrown backward by the impact, the two of them crashed hard onto the mountain peak they had just left. The moment they landed back on the summit, the phantom qilin dissolved into specks of spiritual light, vanishing into thin air. Spurt! "Cough, cough..." Li Guanqi looked back at Meng Wanshu and hurriedly asked, "Are you alright?" Meng Wanshu coughed up a mouthful of stagnant blood. Her face was slightly pale, but she shook her head. "I'm fine." Looking up with lingering dread at the distant, roaring waterfall of spiritual river water, she knitted her delicate brows and couldn't help asking, "What was that phantom qilin? Is it a guardian spirit of this ruin's realm?" Li Guanqi gave a wry smile. "I don't know either, but it looks that way." He glanced down at his shattered lightning armor. His internal organs were displaced, even showing hairline fractures. With lingering fear, he said, "Good thing I had my guard up. If I had charged in recklessly, I would have suffered far worse." Roar!! Roaaar!! Jiuxiao's anxious dragon roars sounded from below. Li Guanqi turned to look, and his face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot. He muttered a few curses under his breath. Leaping down from the tall peak, he hurried toward the formation altar, his eyes brimming with worry. Only upon asking did he learn that Pengluo had grown curious about the altar and run right onto it. The altar before them buzzed and hummed, and Pengluo floated stiffly in midair above it. The crimson altar was now sealed beneath a fiery barrier. Li Guanqi stepped to the edge of the altar and reached out to tentatively touch the barrier. Sizzle! Li Guanqi snatched his finger back, his brow furrowing as he looked at his scorched flesh. It seemed that once this altar activated, it could not be stopped. Moreover, his senses told him that the power within this formation was far beyond his ability to break... "Reckless idiot!" "We don't even know what this altar does or what the trial entails! Pure madness!" Just as Li Guanqi muttered his reprimand, Meng Wanshu gasped in surprise. "Look!" Li Guanqi snapped his head up toward the altar. Several large characters were slowly materializing above it: 'Trial of True Self!' Immediately after, scenes of hazy imagery coalesced above Pengluo's head. Pengluo's body began to tremble slightly, as if confronting something terrifying. The blurred images gradually sharpened. A young Pengluo appeared, bound to a wooden rack by several golden chains. A gleaming, frigid guillotine blade stood right beside it. Li Guanqi could clearly see the sheer terror in Pengluo's eyes. A shadowy figure then flipped Pengluo upside down with practiced ease. Starting from its feet, the figure gripped the blade and brought it down in rapid chops. In the blink of an eye, Pengluo's body was sliced into hundreds, thousands of thin slivers. The carved-off shavings were swiftly gathered and taken away. Then, the figure retrieved a foul, murky liquid of unknown origin from somewhere and poured the thick slop down Pengluo's throat. Pengluo's body regenerated at a rate visible to the naked eye—only to be shoved beneath the blade once more!!! Standing below the altar, Li Guanqi watched the scene unfold, his eyes nearly tearing at the corners with rage. Swept up in the horror of the vision, he roared at the figure in the illusion, "Stop it!!!!" Bang!!! His clenched fist slammed violently against the formation barrier!! Fierce ripples coursed across the crimson barrier, yet it remained entirely unmoved. The strength of this barrier was easily comparable to a rank-eight array! Watching Pengluo's trembling form, Meng Wanshu felt a tear slip from the corner of her eye without realizing it. It was as though the heart demon that had been shattered during their encounter with Han Cizhi had been violently reawakened! The figure in the vision did not stop at slicing. At times, it snapped Pengluo's body in half and tossed the pieces into an alchemy furnace to test pill concoctions. At other times, someone stuffed it straight into their mouth, chewing down without the slightest regard for its desperate pleas and agonizing screams. The hoarse, blood-curdling shrieks sent chills down the spine even through the barrier. Witnessing these horrors, Meng Wanshu burned with fury, terrifying frost energy churning around her. Staring fixedly at the figure in the vision, she said coldly, "Beasts!!" Bang! Bang! Bang!!! Li Guanqi's fists blurred as he pounded the barrier again and again, but neither his furious curses nor his desperate shouts could penetrate the shield. Gradually, Pengluo stopped trembling. In the vision, its gaze turned hollow and lifeless. Its spirit had died! In those eyes, Li Guanqi could find no will to live at all. Suddenly! Aura of death began to spread from between Pengluo's brows... Seeing this, Li Guanqi went completely mad!! Only now did he realize what unspeakable cruelty Pengluo had endured!! Yet before him, it had always worn a cheeky grin, snapping off its own fingers without a care in the world—so much so that he had foolishly assumed Pengluo felt no pain. You little fool... Bang! Bang! Bang!! "You damn radish!!! Wake the hell up!!!!" "I forbid you to die!!!" Li Guanqi's fists were already battered into bloody pulps... Yet he felt none of it. Only a single thought consumed his mind: He would never, ever allow Pengluo to die here!!! Clang!! Screeech!!! A frenzied sword intent soared straight into the clouds, piercing the vault of heaven!!! "Apocalypse: Red Lotus!!!" "Sword Draw Stance!!" "World Annihilation!!" "Thunder Wrath!!" "Dark Moon!!!!" Mountains and rivers trembled, the peaks shook, and the skies churned as sword qi crisscrossed the realm!! The deafening roar echoed through the heavens, terrifying the great demons across the Illusory Forest until they shivered in dread. Boom!! Crack!!! The flame mark between Li Guanqi's brows burned fiercely. Relying solely on his own might, he hacked a fracture clean through the barrier!! Li Guanqi's chest heaved as he drew a deep breath. Grabbing both sides of the tear with his bare hands, he roared at Pengluo floating in midair: "Wake up!!!" "I forbid you to die!!!!" "Wake up!! One day I'll take you with me to ascend to the Immortal Realm, and we will slaughter the Seven Treasures Pavilion with our own hands!!!!" "Everyone who ever hurt you, I will make them pay in blood!!!" "I'll never let you snap off your arms again!" His hoarse, desperate roar carried both primal energy and spiritual force, shaking all directions. Pengluo's eyelids twitched faintly. When it opened its eyes and saw the man roaring at it, his fists worn down to the white bone, the corners of its mouth curled up slightly. The illusory light overhead suddenly shifted. It showed the moment Han Cizhi had attacked it—and the two figures that had thrown themselves in front to shield it! Beneath the radiant golden light, two silhouettes stood against the glare: one was Jiuxiao, and the other was Li Guanqi. Bang!! The illusion shattered, and the deathly aura between Pengluo's brows vanished instantly!! The barrier collapsed. Li Guanqi surged forward in a flash, catching the utterly frail Pengluo, his eyes rimmed with red. Reaching down, he slapped its cheeks twice and barked, "Will you run off on your own again?! Will you?!" With swollen cheeks, Pengluo narrowed its eyes and flashed a silly grin. "I won't run off anymore." "In the future... will you really take me up there to kill them?" Li Guanqi gripped its small hand and said coldly, "Without fail!! Without fail!!!!"