34: Chapter 34 The "Uninvited Guest" in the Shadows, and the Saintess's Final Move

Shadows are the blind spots where sunlight can never reach, and the most perfect breeding ground for assassins.

The entire venue was stunned by the heaven-shaking sword shadows of the 'Pseudo-Ancestor Master'.

No one noticed that in the shadow crevices of the white marble cloud platform,

a slender black snake had silently crawled out and coiled around Li Mo's ankle.

That was not an ordinary Shadow Evasion technique, but a vicious curse that Sima Changfeng kept hidden—the 'Shadow Follows Form'.

Once entangled by this shadow, the victim's Three Ethereal Souls and Seven Corporeal Spirits would be gradually devoured, eventually turning them into a walking corpse that obeyed the caster's commands, yet showing no external wounds.

Sima Changfeng's scheme was brilliant; he intended to refine this 'mysterious variable' that had repeatedly thwarted him into his own Puppet right under everyone's noses.

"Sssshhh—"

A bone-chilling cold surged violently up from his ankle, countless ice needles rushing backward along his Meridians, stabbing straight toward his Sea of Consciousness.

"You old schemer! You couldn't beat me head-on, so you resort to this trick!"

Li Mo cursed inwardly, but his body remained motionless.

Su Qianqian's gaze was still sweeping over him. If he revealed even a sliver of cultivation fluctuation capable of resisting a high-level curse, his entire Dao ofGou (Survival/Lying Low) would be instantly declared bankrupt.

"Little Black, wake up, time for work!" Li Mo roared wildly in his Divine Sense.

The [Starry Sky Iron Book] in his sleeve, Little Black, trembled slightly.

It did not fly out, but instead, passing through Li Mo's body, it precisely injected a supremely domineering abyssal analysis power into the strange shadow beneath his feet.

[Analyzing... Detecting high-level Karma curse.]

[Reverse-engineering curse logic... Analysis complete.]

[Term Linkage: 'Divine Sense Hacker' (Gold) + 'Shadow Manipulation' (Blue).]

[Reverse Injection Program Initiated: You want to play with shadows? Fine, here's a great treasure hidden in a shadow for you to taste.]

Just as the shadow snake was about to invade Li Mo's Sea of Consciousness, its pitch-black body suddenly twisted.

Thousands of miles away, in a secret chamber of the Great Zhou Dynasty,

the smile of absolute control on Sima Changfeng's lips froze abruptly before it could fully bloom.

He felt that his shadow... was out of control.

From the sensing end of the 'Shadow Follows Form' curse, what returned was no longer the terrified wail of a Soul.

Instead, it was waves of heavy metal rock music potent enough to drive a Divine Soul insane, mixed with countless text streams from 'Overbearing CEO Falls in Love With Me', which slammed into his Divine Soul like a deluge along the curse's Karma line.

"Pfft—!"

Thousands of miles away, Sima Changfeng spat out a mouthful of clotted blood and fell straight off his meditation cushion.

What... what poison was that?!

A logical poison?!

His eyes were filled with bloodshot veins and horror. He had never encountered such an outrageous Divine Sense attack—one that could shatter a person's Dao Heart purely relying on 'nonsense' and 'bad tropes' without any spiritual power whatsoever!

And on the cloud platform, Su Qianqian's delicate eyebrows furrowed even tighter.

As the 'Daughter of Destiny', she felt it.

An invisible line of Karma in the air had snapped.

"In that instant, something inside his shadow seemed to... break."

Su Qianqian stared at Li Mo, and the ink lotus beneath her feet slowly dissipated.

The man before her was like a bottomless black hole.

All rules, logic, and even the purest malice, upon approaching him, would be completely deconstructed and dissolved in an incomprehensibly absurd manner.

"Senior Brother."

Su Qianqian's voice sounded again. This time, all traces of flippancy were gone, replaced only by pure seriousness.

"Up until now in this debate, the Disciples of your Sect indeed possess remarkable eloquence. But Dao techniques must ultimately be put into practice."

"If Senior Brother can withstand this 'gift' from me, I will personally vouch for the integrity of the Heavenly River Sword Sect to the Great Zhou."

The moment these words were spoken, the entire assembly erupted in an uproar!

Zhao Wuji jumped up anxiously: "Junior Sister Su! Don't be rash! The Imperial Preceptor, he..."

"Silence."

Su Qianqian shot him a cold glance.

The pressure emanating from the depths of her Bloodline instantly plunged Zhao Wuji into an ice cellar, leaving him speechless with fear.

She turned back to look at Li Mo, slowly raising her right hand.

A crystal-clear small seal was spinning in her palm.

"This is the Jixia Academy's 'knowledge-action seal'. It does not test cultivation, only the Dao Heart. If Senior Brother can hold out for three breaths within this seal, you win."

She did not wait for Li Mo's reply.

With a delicate wave of her hand.

A stream of light shot out from her palm, instantly embedding itself in Li Mo's brow!

"Li Mo!" Dugu Yun and Ye Gucheng exclaimed simultaneously.

That 'knowledge-action seal' was a supreme Magic Treasure used by the Confucian school to test Saints. Those who enter it directly face an illusion based on their true heart; if their Dao Heart is even slightly unstable, or if they harbor even a shred of deceit, they will immediately be torn to pieces by the illusion!

"Cousin!" Chu Linger's pupils flashed with a faint red light as her aura began to rage.

"Don't move... I'm fine."

Li Mo sent her a Divine Thought with the last of his strength.

At this moment, inside his Sea of Consciousness.

There was a vast expanse of white nothingness.

The phantom of Su Qianqian's Dao Heart stood in the air, quietly looking down upon Li Mo's true Soul body.

"Finally... I can properly read your true face."

The phantom Su Qianqian's lips curved into a sly and confident smile.

"Let me see just how many secrets of deceiving masters and exterminating ancestors your thick 'book' hides..."

However, the moment her Divine Sense truly touched the core of Li Mo's Soul.

The smile on her face completely froze.

There were no evil cultivation methods there.

Nor were there any earth-shattering conspiracies.

What she saw was an unimaginably huge 'warehouse' emitting multicolored black light.

In the warehouse, rows of shelves were neatly stacked:

"How to Make a Fairy Develop Feelings for You in Three Minutes"

"One Hundred and Eight Ways to Weld the Ancestral Master's Coffin Shut"

"On Perfectly Playing Dead in Front of a Nascent Soul Cultivator"

And... hanging in the absolute center of the warehouse, a giant banner that blotted out the sky, inscribed with eight large, flowing characters:

"None of Your Business, Get Out Now!"

"This... This is... What kind of nonsense is this?!"

Saintess Su, who had been immersed in the books of sages since birth and possessed a clear and pure Dao Heart, felt her entire worldview had been plowed over by a nuclear explosion.

Just then, in the center of the Sea of Consciousness, the always silent System panel suddenly lit up.

[Detecting high-level 'Exquisite Dao Heart' attempting forced reading of the Host.]

[Passive Triggered: There is Beauty in Books.]

[Opponent's Divine Sense locked. Initiate 'Forced Co-reading' mode?]

"Co-reading?"

Li Mo's Soul body manifested in the illusionary realm, a wicked smile splitting his lips.

"Saintess Su, since you like reading so much, I'll invite you to read an 'Unparalleled Marvelous Book' that is absolutely not found in any Confucian classic."

"System, load the first of the Four Great Classical Novels from my previous life—'Journey to the West'... No, load 'Jin Ping...'. Forget it, that's too cruel for her."

"Just load 'Harry Potter'. Let this ancient girl experience what it means to have magical realism logic!"

Boom!

The illusionary realm of the Sea of Consciousness spun wildly.

The next moment, Su Qianqian found herself straddling a wobbling broomstick.

And in front of her, a three-headed giant dog was drooling, staring back at her with its six eyes.

"What... what kind of monster is this?! What kind of Dao technique is this?!"

The Confucian Saintess, the Chosen One, Su Qianqian.

For the first time since her birth, she let out a heart-rending scream.