Trial of True Self, Choice

Buzz! A sudden flash of spiritual light flickered across the formation altar, and a fiery red qilin jade slip appeared on Pengluo's chest. Seeing this jade slip, Li Guanqi's thoughts stirred, and he murmured under his breath, "Could this thing be the key to passing through? Trial of True Self... Is it meant to make one face the fears within their heart?" Buzz! An even more powerful spatial fluctuation swept out all of a sudden! The force flung Pengluo straight out. Jiuxiao hastily snapped open his maw to catch it, afraid his dragon claws might hurt the little creature. In his haste, he actually caught it right in his mouth... Meng Wanshu's eyelid twitched at the sight of a little arm dangling from the corner of the dragon's maw, and she could not help saying, "Hold it in... don't swallow it..." Then she looked toward Li Guanqi, who was gradually being engulfed in red light on the altar, her gaze inquiring. The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curved slightly, giving her a reassuring look. Breathing out a breath of foul air, he opened his mind and let the mysterious power envelop him. Li Guanqi was somewhat curious as to what it would make him experience. Even the heart demon tribulation before his realm breakthrough had vanished, and the events of his childhood had long ceased to affect him. He had no idea what kind of scene this so-called Trial of True Self would conjure up. While Li Guanqi was still pondering, the scene before his eyes gradually shifted and morphed... A figure both familiar and foreign abruptly appeared before him. The man stood atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, slowly turning his head to look back at Li Guanqi. That unfamiliar, icy gaze sent a sudden tremor through Li Guanqi's heart. With a slight tremor in his voice, he murmured, "Ye... Ye Feng...?" The man was holding an old woman up by her hair; covered in blood, she struggled in agony, pleading for mercy. Suddenly! Half of Ye Feng's face was suddenly covered by a demon spirit. Amid churning, eerie demonic qi, Ye Feng's sword slowly slit across the old woman's neck! Slash! Clutching her neck, the old woman collapsed, the light gone from her eyes. A pitch-black arm slowly opened, and her soul was ripped out in an instant. Then, 'Ye Feng' actually opened his mouth and swallowed the ethereal soul whole. Watching this, Li Guanqi trembled with rage, his voice hoarse and furious as he shouted, "Ye Feng!! Do you have any idea what you're doing?!" Ye Feng stood sideways, turning his head slowly toward Li Guanqi, his eyes flickering with inscrutable thoughts. In a cold, detached voice, he said, "What, are you going to kill me?" As he spoke, Ye Feng slowly spread his arms and gave Li Guanqi an enigmatic look, as if waiting for his response. Looking at Ye Feng, whose hair had turned dark gold, Li Guanqi felt for a moment that he was an utter stranger. Both in appearance and aura, the Ye Feng before him had taken on a distinct shade of sinister, demonic charm compared to before. He looked at Li Guanqi, a peculiar smile playing at the corners of his lips as he mocked, "What? Can't bear to make a move?" Li Guanqi remained silent, words stuck like a bone in his throat. It was as though the scenes he had envisioned in his mind over all these days had materialized right before his eyes. Ever since Ye Feng had been captured, Li Guanqi had imagined countless scenarios of their reunion! Given his understanding of Sha, once Ye Feng fell into their hands, they would surely use the demon spirit's power to control Ye Feng and force him to commit heinous atrocities, even slaughtering innocents indiscriminately. Regardless of Ye Feng's willpower, Sha would definitely do this! Human nature... What Sha excelled at most was exploiting human nature. If he didn't understand human nature, he wouldn't have been able to engineer so many things in the shadows. Sneering, Ye Feng turned slowly and casually piled up the corpses on the ground. Sitting upon the mound of corpses, Ye Feng seemed utterly alien to Li Guanqi. Even though he knew full well this was an illusory projection, the waters of his mind were still stirred. Gradually, a trace of deathly aura surfaced between Li Guanqi's brows! With a start, Pengluo sat up inside Jiuxiao's mouth, scrambled out, and shouted frantically. Meng Wanshu's face darkened, her eyes narrowing slightly. The power of frost surged around her like never before as she flew forward, hacking madly at the formation barrier with her sword! Boom! "Frost Severing Ten Thousand Li!!" Boom! The power of her domain unfolded in an instant. Meng Wanshu breathed out a wisp of white vapor, the sword momentum in her hand turning overwhelmingly fierce. Boom! Clang! The sword technique Cold Gleam of an Age slashed out violently, yet the formation barrier only rippled faintly before returning to normal. Meng Wanshu's expression shifted. Only by experiencing it firsthand did she truly understand just how terrifying the power Li Guanqi had unleashed earlier had been. Jiuxiao reared his head, a violent breath of thunder brewing in his maw, poised to strike. Yet right at that moment, Pengluo suddenly leaped in front of Jiuxiao and said in a heavy voice, "Wait a moment longer!!" Meng Wanshu did not stop. In her eyes, Li Guanqi's safety superseded all else! Seeing this, Pengluo could only explain at breakneck speed: "This trial is also a sort of heart demon trial! Rather than calling it 'True Self,' it's more like a unique ability of the qilin clan! This formation altar forces us to face the very things or scenarios we fear most in our hearts! We all know how important Ye Feng is to Master! If Master is made to make a choice here first, it might not be a bad thing!" Hearing that, Meng Wanshu finally stayed her hand. At the center of the fiery red barrier before her was a palm-sized patch coated in frost; by the look of it, it wouldn't take long before she broke through. After stopping, Meng Wanshu looked at the deathly aura spreading between Li Guanqi's brows and said coldly, "If it passes the halfway mark, I'm striking!" Silence. Li Guanqi stared blankly at Ye Feng before him, parting his lips without knowing what to say. Ye Feng scoffed and said softly, "I'm no longer the person I used to be. Do you see these hands of mine? They're covered in blood. All of it from innocent people. Killing... I don't know how many I've killed. After passing ten thousand, I stopped keeping count. Because I couldn't keep track anymore—it was simply impossible to remember... At first, those people would come looking for me every night, whispering curses against my ear." At that, Ye Feng suddenly raised his head slowly, looking at Li Guanqi with a wide grin. "But later, they stopped. Guess why?" Li Guanqi said nothing. "Hahahaha!! Hahahahahahaha!!!" Ye Feng burst into abrupt laughter, the sound bone-chillingly eerie. "They're afraid of me, because I've killed too many! They're afraid that even in death, I will torment them!!!" As he laughed, tears welled up in Ye Feng's eyes as he looked up, his gaze peering through strands of hair as he gripped his head in agony. He looked at Li Guanqi, appearing in this moment to have reverted to who he once was. With a trembling voice, Ye Feng murmured, "Big Brother... do you... do you still acknowledge me...?" The deathly aura on Li Guanqi had already spread halfway, his life force draining away with startling clarity!