Chapter 1780: Mutual Testing

Dong Rui looked as told, only to see another "Dong Rui" standing a few feet away, also holding a lotus flower from the altar table, staring at him in utter surprise!

What astonished him most was that He Lingchuan was standing beside this "Dong Rui," as was the Ghost Ape.

The dead monkey was even pointing at him, chattering excitedly!

He could understand the Ghost Ape's words:

"Another master! The master in the mirror is moving!"

What the hell! A shiver ran down his spine. He looked around and realized that neither He Lingchuan nor the Ghost Ape was actually beside him!

Qianhuan asked him, "Now, do you think you are real or an illusion?"

The source of the voice seemed off.

Dong Rui looked again and saw that Qianhuan was also standing by He Lingchuan, several feet away from him.

They... they all seemed to be standing in front of an invisible mirror, lined up neatly, staring directly at him in the reflection!

"I..." He opened his mouth, unable to find the words for two seconds. "I... I'm real, of course!"

And then He Lingchuan, looking enlightened, pointed at him and uttered a profound statement:

"When the real becomes false, the false also becomes real."

Dong Rui felt a chill: "Hey, hey, stop that!"

Are we even good teammates anymore?

Qianhuan asked him, "Now that you can't find the mirror, your only remaining basis for distinguishing between real and illusion is yourself. Consciousness means real, unconsciousness means illusion, right?"

With the mirror, his reference point, gone, Dong Rui could only search for the next reference point to distinguish between reality and illusion.

The harder and more abstract the reference point, the more difficult it became for one to make an accurate judgment.

"Right..." Dong Rui suddenly shivered and quickly waved his hands. "No more, no more! Don't mess with my consciousness!"

His current reference point was his "consciousness." If this great蜃 Immortal were to run amok in his mind, making him unable to distinguish between reality and imagination, wouldn't he be ruined?

Qianhuan walked directly in front of him, took the lotus flower from his hand, and casually put it back into the vase. "All right, that's enough."

Dong Rui's shoulder sank as the Ghost Ape jumped onto it and sat down, then bared its teeth and made a face at him, making him want to punch it.

He turned around, and He Lingchuan was right beside him.

Dong Rui let out a long sigh of relief, feeling at ease.

He stretched his neck and looked behind Qianhuan again; it was empty, nothing there.

This meant Qianhuan had withdrawn the illusion.

"Illusions are not necessarily simple tricks of the eye," Qianhuan said calmly. "Blurring the boundary between reality and illusion confuses reality and illusion themselves."

What is a boundary? A boundary is a fulcrum, a pivot point for judging reality and illusion. If you remove it or blur it, who can still tell what's real and what's illusory? He Lingchuan pondered, "The boundary that Immortal Venerable speaks of, is it essentially a rule? To manifest from the void, one must at least blur the rules between the void and reality."

Qianhuan glanced at him, a little surprised.

"You're somewhat close. At your age, you were actually able to grasp that point?"

His words, unusually, carried a hint of approval.

He Lingchuan made an excuse, "Just a sudden flash of inspiration."

In truth, he was thinking of the Panlong World.

Why was that world considered an illusion? Following Qianhuan's logic, it was because the Great Square Gourd itself was the boundary. Outside the Gourd was real, inside was illusory.

What if...

He Lingchuan's heart quickened. What if the Great Square Gourd, as a boundary, became blurred?

If the inside and outside of the Gourd became indistinguishable, then could the Panlong World and the real world "mix" together and merge?

Realizing this, the gloom in his heart lifted, and his thoughts seemed to flow freely.

"It seems Immortal Venerable's sixty years of secluded cultivation have been remarkably fruitful," He Lingchuan said, bowing to Qianhuan with genuine joy on his face. "Congratulations!"

An uninformed person would have thought he was sincerely congratulating Qianhuan.

"To advance further from the pinnacle of achievement faces countless obstacles," Qianhuan said softly. "The day you reach my level of cultivation, you will understand that human power is finite, yet the mysteries of heaven and earth are infinite."

"Even the Great Evolution Heavenly Pearl can't help Immortal Venerable achieve enlightenment?"

Qianhuan chuckled faintly, "Do you think one or two supreme treasures can allow you to glimpse the Great Dao? It's not that easy."

He then asked He Lingchuan, "Who is your master?"

"I've never formally acknowledged a master. I either figure things out myself or train in the military."

Qianhuan walked towards the sand table. "The military? After the Middle Ages, cultivators began to advocate entering the Dao through martial arts and achieving enlightenment through killing, because of its quick results. However, in ancient times, this method was highly undesirable, as it led to murderous karma disturbing the mind and karmic retribution entangling one, making a good end difficult."

His meaning was clear: cultivators in the later Middle Ages, with limited progress, could choose to enter the Dao through martial arts. But in an environment with abundant spiritual energy and a higher cultivation ceiling, this path was no longer suitable.

He Lingchuan subconsciously looked at the sand table. If achieving enlightenment through killing led to karmic retribution, then what about annihilating the living beings on the island with a mere flick of a hand? Would there be no retribution then?

Or did it mean, 'the disciples bear the burden of the work'?

This time, Qianhuan took the initiative to say, "From you, I seem to see a glimpse of an old acquaintance's demeanor."

"Oh?" He Lingchuan asked, curious. "Which old acquaintance?"

"Neither like a celestial demon nor an immortal," Qianhuan said slowly. "Have you heard of 'General Hong' or Panlong City?"

He Lingchuan's heart instantly skipped a beat. He never expected General Hong to be mentioned in this context, in this manner.

But his thick skin was truly beyond compare; he could remain unperturbed even if a mountain collapsed before him:

"I have. She was an unparalleled general from over a hundred years ago, and Panlong City was the small city that resisted Beijia until its very last moment. Immortal Venerable was in charge of Mount Ling at that time, right? How did you come to meet her?"

"By chance encounters, the world's affairs are unpredictable," Qianhuan replied, then asked him, "Where did you say you were from earlier?"

"The Yangshan Archipelago."

Qianhuan's gaze was piercing: "No, where were you born?"

"In the Panlong Desert. I grew up listening to the stories of Panlong City." He Lingchuan didn't think there was anything to hide about this. Qianhuan wouldn't suddenly take an interest in a "minor character" like him unless he had noticed something, for example, his ability to pull away the Haoyuan Golden Mirror, which hinted at a hidden power capable of disrupting the "rules" of a minor grotto-heaven.

He Lingchuan even suspected that the eaves bell, the token Mount Ling had him bring, contained certain information within its chimes, very likely mentioning details about He Lingchuan himself.

Otherwise, with Mount Ling being full of talented individuals, why would Wang Xingyi insist that He Lingchuan seek out the Upside-Down Sea?

Mount Ling knew He Lingchuan's secret, knew his deep connection to the Great Square Gourd. Now, Qianhuan must know too, right?

If so, Mount Ling had no good intentions in sending him here at all.

He Lingchuan wasn't angry at this thought.

It didn't matter. He had long harbored ill intentions toward Immortal Qianhuan, so he had to allow others to reciprocate.

Besides, he had always suspected that Immortal Qianhuan had some connection to the historical Panlong City. Therefore, Immortal Qianhuan, who presided over Mount Ling more than 150 years ago, was very likely particularly interested in people and events related to Panlong City and the Great Square Gourd.