Chapter 126: The Spirit Lamp That Did Not Go Out

A path stretched ahead, winding into a secluded spot, with the faint, rhythmic sound of a qin echoing.

Li Si stood at the end of the path, and behind him was Xu Shen.

The two exchanged a glance, each seeing annoyance in the other’s eyes.

“Senior Brother, I came to save someone.”

“Junior Brother, I came to save you.”

“Can you be serious? Otherwise, people will think the Floating Cloud Sect only produces fools.”

“The Floating Cloud Sect has many fools—we’re no exceptions.”

“So, Senior Brother, where does your confidence to save me come from?”

“I have two spirit weapons. One is for you, the other to save Mi Zhou’er if needed. Most importantly, the Floating Cloud Sect can survive without me, but not without you. So I entered without any intention of leaving alive! Just use me as a spirit weapon.”

Li Si fell silent. The Floating Cloud Sect was probably full of idiots like him!

“This is the fourth trial, and the difficulty has tripled. The most dangerous part is these Twelve Sound Barriers ahead. But I should be able to protect you. Once we pass this, even if we fail later, we can survive and return. If we don’t get through, our souls will vanish here forever.”

Xu Shen continued speaking, and by the so-called Twelve Sound Barriers, he meant the twelve steps ahead.

Li Si felt a pang of bitterness thinking about it. The Phantom Bride Xia Xiaowan had not explained anything to him before sending him here.

He sighed, then lit his four Soul Lamps, completely covering Xu Shen’s lamp, which had only a third of its flame left. At this point, hiding was meaningless.

Xu Shen’s eyes widened, looking at Li Si as if he were a monster.

But he said nothing, stubbornly taking the lead.

“Useful or not, I am your senior brother. I will clear the way for you.”

“Junior Brother, I’ll only say this once: the Palace Ruins Secret Realm trial may not involve direct combat, but it is the most dangerous. Especially because I believe the three of us who entered will influence one another. Remember that!”

After speaking, Xu Shen stepped forward without hesitation.

He had lived for hundreds of years—through youthful ambition, the pride of Foundation Building, the pain of parting, the despair of confusion, and the calm of sudden realization.

He had seen through life and death, and now honed his Dao Heart.

Li Si could not understand this mindset, nor could those outside who called him a fool.

The trial tested life and death and tempered the Dao Heart.

Although Xu Shen was only at the Golden Core Realm, while that fool Mo Yi was at the Divine Transformation Realm, the latter had been raised under Chisongzi’s protection, focusing solely on cultivation and ignoring worldly affairs.

If Xu Shen had enjoyed such conditions over the past three hundred years, he might not have reached Divine Transformation, but Nascent Soul Realm would have been certain.

But what had he faced?

Earlier, he passed the first trial without using his two spirit weapons even once, relying solely on his Crystal Clear Dao Heart to endure.

In contrast, Mo Yi used many talismans to advance, yet only managed to get four Soul Lamps. Nothing impressive.

Suddenly, the qin’s music grew intense, accompanied by drumbeats and the soft notes of a flute.

Each step carried three sounds.

Clearly, three individuals corresponded to these three types of sounds.

As Xu Shen took a step, Li Si, who had not moved, was drawn into it. Instantly, they saw Mi Zhou’er struggling ahead, stuck at the fifth sound barrier, unable to proceed further. One of her Soul Lamps had gone out, and her soul flickered like mist, on the verge of vanishing.

“Junior Brother, don’t rush to rescue her. Although Mi Zhou’er is in danger, it’s not hopeless. At the fifth barrier, her soul is trapped in an illusion. She is safe until the sixth barrier activates. But you and I must withstand the combined attacks of the first five barriers she triggered!”

Xu Shen, being more experienced, quickly explained, his knowledge far surpassing Li Si’s novice understanding.

At that moment, Li Si felt surrounded by endless sounds—like a surging river, light rain, bamboo groves sighing, or frogs croaking on a summer night.

Countless emotions and scenes flooded his mind.

Each step brought a new illusion; each sound gave rise to a hundred thoughts.

Torrential rain, fierce winds, lightning, heavy snow, yellow sand, raging seas, collapsing earth, crumbling mountains, sword rain, falling stars!

Myriad dangers, countless thoughts!

Even with his four Soul Lamps illuminating the way, Li Si felt his breath stop, his mind go blank. He felt like a puppet, confused and empty. Who was he? Who was he, really?

At the critical moment, Xu Shen’s body suddenly radiated brilliant light. His Crystal Clear Dao Heart transformed into a bright umbrella, shielding them from everything and giving Li Si a moment to recover.

Li Si urged his four Soul Lamps to suppress the path ahead, but his Crystal Clear Dao Heart went out.

In that moment, Li Si realized that not all Crystal Clear Dao Hearts were the same.

Why did Xu Shen’s single Crystal Clear Dao Heart seem stronger than his two Dao Hearts? This was a bug!

“Junior Brother, follow me! This is the trial—it doesn’t test how many talismans or spirit weapons you have, nor how prepared you are. It tests what your Dao Heart truly is!”

Xu Shen roared, covered in blood, which turned into radiant light, blocking most of the sound barrier attacks.

But as he took another step forward, more barriers transformed into hellfire, soul-crushing winds, bone-slicing blades, and blood-burning poison.

Instantly, one of his legs corroded and was stripped down to bare bone.

Of course, this was an illusion—they were all in soul form, so there were no real bones.

But this was exactly the power of the sound barriers: through changing sounds, they first stirred your emotions, then altered your senses, and finally drew you into an illusion. Yet these illusions felt more real than reality itself.

It was like exposing your softest part to the cruelest blade.

And this was only three times the difficulty? It felt like thirty times!

Yet this was where a cultivator’s courage to press forward lay.

Li Si understood. In this regard, he had always relied on tricks through the Fate Forge. He had obtained the Crystal Clear Dao Heart and Bedrock Dao Heart, only to be mocked by the Phantom Bride Xia Xiaowan.

Yes, a Dao Heart should only be forged in blood and fire.

Xu Shen’s Crystal Clear Dao Heart was the standard, the complete one—one Dao Heart that surpassed his two.

Moreover, seeing how recklessly Xu Shen fought, it wasn’t that he didn’t value his life, but that he had seen through life and death, even reaching a higher level.

He was actually honing his Crystal Clear Dao Heart here.

Damn, what a monster!

Watching Xu Shen’s bright umbrella grow increasingly luminous and sturdy, Li Si also threw caution to the wind. Time to meet force with force!

Li Si followed closely behind Xu Shen step by step.

If the four Soul Lamps went out, so be it.

In fact, Xu Shen’s Soul Lamp had already gone out. His body was reduced to a skeleton, blood completely drained, yet he shone brighter, like the sun.

Sheltered by Xu Shen, Li Si bore only half the pressure from the sound barriers, but now he had only his Bedrock Dao Heart left. So, he resolved to be like a rock—unmoving, unaffected, no matter the dangers or torments.

In just four steps, Li Si felt as if he had died four thousand times.

Then, Xu Shen was gone—completely vanished. Only the umbrella formed from his Crystal Clear Dao Heart remained, bursting into fierce flames brimming with boundless vitality. It not only reignited Li Si’s four Soul Lamps but also lit Mi Zhou’er’s lamp.

“Junior Brother, Junior Sister, keep moving forward. Don’t stop!”

Xu Shen’s voice thundered in their ears. The flames he had become were so powerful that they floated forward effortlessly, activating even more terrifying sound barriers with each step.

Li Si and Mi Zhou’er were like two dying dogs. With each step, their Soul Lamps threatened to go out, only to be relit by Xu Shen’s flames.

By the time Li Si reached the seventh step, he was “destroyed.” He experienced what Xu Shen had just gone through—his soul disintegrated, but his unyielding, indestructible Bedrock Dao Heart remained.

Amidst extreme agony and the brink of death, his strength suddenly returned. His Bedrock Dao Heart transformed into a sea of flames three times larger than Xu Shen’s.

Then, everything cleared. Before even completing the twelve sound barriers, he passed the trial.

“You have lit a Bedrock Soul Lamp. Soul Evolution Level increased by 200%. You can light two Soul Lamps.”

“Note: As long as the Spirit Lamp burns, the soul does not die. By burning the Soul Lamp and honing the Dao Heart, you can resolve 500% Soul Corruption and become immune to all conventional mind-control and illusion attacks.”

“Note: When faced with a fatal soul curse that you cannot otherwise avoid, the Bedrock Soul Lamp will burn itself out to negate the curse once, after which it will be lost.”

—

So that was it. The Palace Ruins Secret Realm was this incredible.

Li Si fell silent. He now understood that Xu Shen must have obtained the Crystal Clear Soul Lamp by burning his Soul Lamp and honing his Crystal Clear Dao Heart.

Then, he and Xu Shen focused on Mi Zhou’er, continuously relighting her Soul Lamps and encouraging her forward. Truly, using talismans, spirit weapons, or other methods to cheat in this trial would be a disgrace to such a great secret realm—it truly was the best whetstone.

Mi Zhou’er was in a miserable state, on the verge of collapse several times. But at the brink, Li Si and Xu Shen’s encouragement pulled her back.

She inched forward slowly—only three steps. At the eighth step, she successfully lit a Crystal Clear Soul Lamp, as she only had the Crystal Clear Dao Heart.

She passed instantly. There was nothing further—no additional storylines. In truth, for those who endured the Twelve Sound Barriers at this intensity, the rest was trivial.

Li Si guessed that the most valuable trial ground in the Palace Ruins Secret Realm was the Twelve Sound Barriers. The subsequent stories were more like compensation.

“Let’s go back. There’s no need to return unless we obtain a second Dao Heart.”

Xu Shen was calm. He had now gained one Crystal Clear Soul Lamp and three ordinary Soul Lamps.

Mi Zhou’er was the same.

As for Li Si, he obtained one Bedrock Soul Lamp and six ordinary Soul Lamps.

“Thank you, Senior Brother Xu. Thank you, Junior Brother,” Mi Zhou’er said. She was dark and thin, but her voice was surprisingly pleasant, like the gentle trickling of a spring.

“You should call me Senior Brother,” Li Si protested.

“Oh? Then will you call Jiang Ying ‘Junior Sister’? But she calls me ‘Senior Sister’.” Mi Zhou’er grinned, revealing eight small, white teeth.

Li Si was speechless.

“Senior Sister!”

“Good boy!”