Pan Family Experts Enter the Ruins!

Li Guanqi looked toward Pengluo and said in a deep voice, "Go help Jiuxiao." Pengluo nodded. Its body swelled, purple markings surging across its skin as a massive hammer materialized in its hands. With excitement gleaming in its eyes, it howled, "Brother Nine, here I come!" *Whoosh!* *Bang!* The qilin's claw swatted Pengluo away. Pengluo cursed in astonishment, "Brother Nine, there I go!" Ferocity flashed in Jiuxiao's dragon eyes, leaving him no time to care about Pengluo. Yet Jiuxiao dared not cross the boundary and leave the mountain either. Once out, the qilin phantom's strength was comparable to the Mahayana realm... With its power suppressed here, he could still contend with it to some extent. Flames seemed to churn within the qilin's maw. *Roar!* A blast of scorching breath violently shot toward Meng Wanshu on the altar. A cold glint flickered in Pengluo's eyes. It instantly shifted hundreds of zhang across the air, the hammer in its hands unleashing immense power as it smashed down with all its might! *Boom! Bang!* Pengluo was sent hurtling backward, but Li Guanqi reached out and caught it. Looking at the scorched Pengluo, he asked with concern, "Are you alright?" Pengluo brushed away the flames clinging to its body and cursed crossly, "Damn it all! I'm definitely bashing its skull in today!" With that, it shot back into the fray. Li Guanqi left them to it. After all, if anything went wrong on Meng Wanshu's side, he would be the only one who could break open the formation barrier. *Buzz!* The imagery above Meng Wanshu's head shifted continuously. When Li Guanqi looked closely, shock registered on his face. In the illusion, Aunt Li had grown decrepit and old, her hair stark white and her eyes clouded. Her hunched figure bore none of her current graceful and plump appearance. Li Guanqi saw tears suddenly slip from the corners of Meng Wanshu's eyes. Li Guilan reached out with trembling hands to clasp Meng Wanshu's. Her thin lips quivered slightly, and her deeply creased, wrinkled cheeks were filled with reluctance to part. Li Guilan murmured softly, "Wanshu... Mother's... time has come." "A mortal frame... cultivating against the heavens already defies heavenly will. In the end, I cannot compare to the likes of you." Meng Wanshu lowered herself, the rims of her eyes reddening. She had no idea when her mother had become so much shorter than she remembered. The sight of the hunched old woman moved even Li Guanqi. Ever since he began cultivating, everyone around him had been a cultivator, and time seemed to leave little visible trace on them. Yet in this illusion, he felt for the first time how time slipped away from a person and the weathering it left behind. It was a kind of power... that mortal strength could not resist. Before time, all things seemed utterly fragile. Even mighty cultivators still feared time—the passing of years, the fading of vitality... Suddenly! A look of resolve flashed in Meng Wanshu's eyes within the illusion! Li Guanqi's heart quaked. *Not good!* "Wanshu! Don't!" *Buzz!* A sudden aura of death appeared between Meng Wanshu's brows, and the vitality drained from her at an alarming speed. In the blink of an eye, wrinkles formed at the corners of Meng Wanshu's eyes. Conversely, Li Guilan's appearance in the illusion grew considerably younger. The wrinkles on her face smoothed away, and her posture gradually straightened. Tears glistened in Meng Wanshu's eyes, yet she looked at her mother with a smile. Her soft voice sounded slowly. "Mother... with your daughter here, I won't let you die!" As she spoke, Meng Wanshu grasped Li Guilan's hands, funneling surges of boundless vitality into her body. Li Guilan shook her head, struggling desperately with both hands, tears in her eyes as she protested repeatedly. "No! You can't!" "You're overdrawing your own life!" "Mother... Mother would rather not have it! Quick, take it back!" "Mother is already very satisfied. My only regret is that I didn't get to see you marry and have children." Li Guanqi's expression darkened to the extreme. The altar's piercing insight into human nature chilled him to the core. Whether it was Pengluo reliving its most terrifying ordeal, or his own confrontation with Ye Feng... Or now, Meng Wanshu facing her mother... Every single scene felt like a nail driven into the heart. Taking a step forward was wrong, and taking a step back was wrong as well! Li Guanqi looked grim. He could not comprehend the true purpose of this Trial of True Self. Yet he knew that everything revealed by the trial's illusions would most likely become situations they might face in the future! According to Pengluo, the qilin clan possessed an innate ability to glimpse briefly into the future. *Phoo...* Watching Meng Wanshu's vitality continuously drain away, Li Guanqi gripped Red Lotus tightly, already prepared to forcibly shatter the formation. On the other hand... He could not understand why the phantom qilin guardian held such hostility toward Meng Wanshu. Could it be because of the frost power she wielded? Since ancient times, ice and fire were difficult to reconcile, and the qilin clan naturally possessed an extremely high affinity for fire. The frost power Meng Wanshu possessed was exceedingly pure. Perhaps that was precisely why the qilin phantom reacted that way. *Rumble!* The earth trembled, and the surrounding mountains shook relentlessly. Massive boulders tumbled down, but Li Guanqi blocked them all. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, sighing as he looked at Meng Wanshu on the altar. Yet just as Li Guanqi prepared to intervene, his own figure appeared in the illusion! The Li Guanqi in the illusion took Meng Wanshu's hands, pouring in boundless vitality alongside her, and even used his own power to help Li Guilan break through her realm! Meng Wanshu's beautiful eyes gazed at the illusory Li Guanqi with tenderness as gentle as water. Li Guanqi's entire soul jolted. "Wanshu..." Without realizing it, the bond between Meng Wanshu and Li Guanqi had risen to a completely different level. Even when immersed in an illusion, Meng Wanshu firmly believed that in such a situation, Li Guanqi would never leave her to face it alone! Gradually, the imagery of the illusion turned ethereal. A cluster of fiery red spiritual light condensed into a jade slip. Seeing this, Li Guanqi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Meng Wanshu's conviction... Was far firmer than he had imagined! Perhaps he had been too much of a lone wolf before, thinking he could handle everything on his own. Yet that had also led him into many dangers. Without knowing when it had started—or perhaps ever since Meng Wanshu broke through her realm—whatever he set out to do, she always wanted to stay by his side. The corners of Li Guanqi's mouth curved slightly. This trial could be considered to have dispelled the heart demons of all three of them. If they truly encountered the scenarios from today's trial in the future, they would be able to face them calmly, their resolve having grown all the stronger! If Li Guanqi met Ye Feng again... When Pengluo returned to the Immortal Realm to face the immortals of the Seven Treasures Pavilion, perhaps it would stand with hands on its hips, glancing back at the companions beside it. And after returning home this time, Meng Wanshu would surely spend more time with Li Guilan and pay closer attention to her mother's cultivation. Watching Meng Wanshu awaken, Li Guanqi flew up, wrapped an arm around her slender waist, and leaned down to kiss her. Tears still lingered in the woman's eyes. She opened them wide to look at the man before her, then responded passionately. A moment later, Pengluo crashed down beside the altar with a thud. It turned its head, only to be greeted by the sight. It glanced back at Jiuxiao, who was locked in a life-and-death struggle with rising ferocity, and suddenly felt rather redundant. "Uh... are we still fighting?" Thick-skinned as ever, Li Guanqi acted as though nothing had happened and said softly, "No need." "We can cross the col to the other side now!" With that, they took the tokens and made their way to the mountain crest. The qilin phantom was smacked hundreds of zhang away by a swipe of Jiuxiao's tail. Sensing the tokens on them, it finally turned aside, its massive head lowering slightly. Even as Jiuxiao passed beside it, it did not raise its head again. *Buzz!* "Where is this? Why is it so dilapidated?" "What a dense aura of decay. This forest doesn't possess a shred of spiritual energy now." *Roar!* An emaciated leopard leaped out, only to be crushed to death by the leading elder's casual strike. "Move! They must be in here. Let's head inside first." "Perhaps this is a sacred ruin related to the Qilin clan!" "Hahahaha, our fortune is truly remarkable." Having crossed the col, Li Guanqi sneered. "Seems someone has arrived." Just then, Li Guanqi turned toward Pengluo and saw it shoving a massive boulder into a spatial rift. He could not help asking, "What the hell are you taking?" Pengluo chuckled slyly. "The stone tablet at the entrance of the Illusory Forest—the one with the carved characters!"