He turned his head to look at the beautiful painting hanging on the wall. The beauty still held a flower with a gentle smile, like a goddess descended to earth in the dim room. He walked to the beautiful painting, his fingertips brushing over the scroll. The scroll was dry and slightly yellowed, as if many years had passed, yet the person in the painting was lifelike. Zanxing’s spiritual consciousness couldn’t disappear for no reason, unless… she had entered the painting.

He couldn’t enter this painting because it had a restriction placed on it. The person who set the restriction had higher cultivation than him. To break the restriction, one must be someone who met the conditions for entering the painting – clearly, he was not. Or, one could forcibly break through with elemental force.

Mendong’s words echoed in his ears again.

“Master Uncle, you can’t force your cultivation anymore. Your previous battle with the merfolk has already made the stagnant elemental force in your spiritual meridians unstable. If you continue to cultivate recklessly, the gaps in your spiritual meridians might become uncontrollable…”

He had already felt this when chasing the Golden Flower Tiger. That’s why he didn’t circulate his elemental force to directly crush that Golden Flower Tiger, which led to his injury.

His coming to Li’er Kingdom, claiming to watch Yang Zanxing to prevent her from dual cultivating with Mu Cengxiao was false – harboring the thought that he might find a substitute for the Qin Chong in the secret realm was true. But now, he hadn’t found a substitute for Qin Chong, and instead made the gaps in his spiritual meridians even more irreparable. The loss outweighed the gain.

He couldn’t force his cultivation anymore.

But…

The young man turned around. The woman on the bed had a peaceful sleeping expression, with the Panhua Stick placed beside her. The empty red wooden box sat in the corner of the wooden bed, with the young man in long robes sitting upright playing the flute on the box lid, phoenix birds dancing around.

In the wilderness, only this low thatched cottage existed, like a tiny flame in the darkness, silently frozen in place.

…

A cascade of flowers like a waterfall came from the chaos.

The flower clusters seemed endless, dyeing this empty white space layer by layer with red, coating it with brilliant color. Water ripples spreading from her side still carried soft moonlight, the moonlight reflecting the sea of flowers. In this crimson flowing light, a streak of azure light tore through the splendor. Those flowers suddenly scattered, and the woman’s voice was clear and bright, seeming to carry the determination to break through everything.

“Fire Trees and Silver Flowers—”

The light in the chaos dimmed, and heaven and earth became heavy black. In the boundless darkness, countless starlight – or perhaps fireworks – burned from afar. Those brilliant, captivating lights fell into one’s eyes, almost burning them. That staff was like a cluster of fireworks about to burn brilliantly, carrying flowing sparks from behind.

The woman seemed to sigh.

Another azure staff turned forward, just touching a point ahead, and the fierce staff wind was quickly dispersed. Countless stars scattered into ashes, the water waves grew larger and larger, almost swallowing heaven and earth. The gentle, continuous ripples seemed ready to tear everything apart in an instant. Zanxing’s face changed, desperately circulating all her elemental force to resist, but was still struck in the chest by this “Mirror Flowers, Water Moon.”

She was sent flying and spat out fresh blood.

Qinghua Xianzi stood in place, her robes not even wrinkled, looking at her with somewhat disappointed eyes.

Zanxing covered her chest, feeling as if her entire body was falling apart with pain.

Her “Qing E Nian Hua Gun” had already reached the second level, but “Fire Trees and Silver Flowers” couldn’t even last the time of one incense stick under Qinghua Xianzi’s “Mirror Flowers, Water Moon.” She knew this staff technique was powerful, but had never known exactly how powerful. Now, experiencing it firsthand from the original master, she finally understood that the Nianhua Staff was truly not a flashy, impractical staff technique.

This staff technique was indeed wasted in her hands – that wasn’t just a joke.

“Again?” Qinghua Xianzi asked.

Zanxing waved her hand: “Wait, let me rest for a moment.” She had fought repeatedly and lost repeatedly, like a human punching bag, beaten countless times by Qinghua Xianzi. Did Gu Baiying know his birth mother was originally this fierce? Even if it was just spiritual consciousness, she showed no mercy.

But this couldn’t continue. She had already done her utmost, yet there was still a heaven-and-earth difference between her and Qinghua Xianzi’s cultivation. Even if she tried a hundred more times, the outcome couldn’t change. A person’s spiritual consciousness couldn’t be separated from their physical body too long, and she didn’t know if time flowed the same way inside and outside the painting. If she didn’t quickly defeat Qinghua Xianzi, she would truly be trapped here forever, never able to get out.

For now, only a protagonist’s halo could save her life, but unfortunately, she wasn’t the protagonist – even the Xiaoyuan Pearl was useless.

“Xianzi, this isn’t fair.” Zanxing gasped while trying to negotiate: “I’m at the early Golden Core stage, but you’ve already undergone tribulation. Making an infant compete in martial arts with an adult is bullying the weak. You might as well kill me with one blow and give me a quick death.”

“The twin flower chose you, proving you can pass the trial.”

Zanxing blinked: “Then what ability do I have to pass the trial?”

Qinghua Xianzi said indifferently: “Heaven’s secrets cannot be revealed.”

“…”

Zanxing felt a headache. If she were the protagonist, naturally, no matter what dangerous trials she encountered, she would pass them in the end. But she wasn’t Mu Cengxiao. If she couldn’t pass, then she couldn’t pass. If she died, she was truly dead. How could she harbor false hopes?

Moreover, she currently had nothing on her. The Xiaoyuan Pearl showed no movement, the Qiankun Bag was outside the painting, all those niche talismans and pills couldn’t be used, even her cat wasn’t by her side. She only had a manifested Panhua Stick that couldn’t even count as a mid-level spirit artifact. Wanting to turn the tables in this situation was like a fool’s dream.

“You’ve also seen my technique.” Zanxing said helplessly, “The same staff technique has vastly different power in the hands of people with different cultivation levels. I cannot defeat you, much less defeat you using ‘Qing E Nian Hua Gun.'”

“To what extent you can unleash a heart technique has nothing to do with cultivation level. What’s important is comprehension of the technique.” In the chaos, Qinghua Xianzi’s dress hem fluttered slightly. “You can now only unleash one or two-tenths of the heart technique’s ability because you’ve never truly comprehended it.”

Zanxing sighed. Easy to say, but this heart technique was just that one manual. Looking at it horizontally and vertically, it was still those same characters. What more could she comprehend? A staff technique – just learn according to the moves written above. Did she also need to do reading comprehension?

She shook her head, turned over, and stood up, then turned around to see a red something fallen on the ground.

This was the flower from the beauty painting, the one Qinghua Xianzi had been holding. It was also this twin flower that had pulled her from the thatched cottage outside the painting into the trial inside the painting. This flower had been in her hand before, but during the fight with Qinghua Xianzi, it had probably fallen carelessly.

She bent down to pick up the flower. Seeing this, Qinghua Xianzi behind her suddenly changed expression, her voice carrying urgency for the first time: “Don’t touch it!”

Zanxing touched the flower.