Xiao Li is still that genius

In ordinary circumstances, Ying Bing would naturally be no match for the Rivers and Mountains Scroll.

But now, within the borders of the Celestial City formed from the fragmented Heavenly Phoenix Domain, she possessed the other half within her—making her half a master of this realm.

Thus, that True Spirit truly hovered in midair, refusing to be swallowed by the void's rift.

At the same time, Ying Bing's delicate brows suddenly furrowed.

"Someone is activating the Rivers and Mountains Scroll... and it's not Jingtai."

The sea of clouds was abruptly dyed into a flowing golden lake, layer upon layer, with purple qi surging from the east.

Ten thousand beams of sunlight pierced through the clouds, growing brighter with each layer they passed, until at last, they became a radiant sun illuminating heaven and earth.

The great sun resembled the gaze of some unfathomable existence, coldly observing Ying Bing and the True Spirit.

In an instant, the sun and moon shone together.

"Is that the spirit of the Rivers and Mountains Scroll?" someone in the imperial capital asked.

"It must be."

"Seems His Majesty finds the Frost Fairy unsuitable—does Li Mo not deserve a second chance?"

"But Li Mo was born from the Human City. It was unfair from the very beginning."

"Can the Frost Fairy contend against the spirit of the Rivers and Mountains Scroll?"

As all knew, the Rivers and Mountains Scroll was a Heaven’s Fortune Artifact. Even the power of the Seventh Realm seemed childlike before it, capable of widening the gap between Eighth Realm Transcendent experts.

Had it been anyone else, there would be no doubt.

But Ying Bing had already defied reason too many times...

"All who enter this domain must abide by its rules. Release the True Spirit."

A voice, vast and inhuman, echoed from the great sun, as though its every word embodied absolute law.

It actually spoke!

Many in the imperial capital who had witnessed the Celestial Trials numerous times had never heard the spirit of a Heaven’s Fortune Artifact speak.

"This is not your endless land of rivers and mountains."

Ying Bing remained unmoving.

Between her and Li Mo, many things no longer needed words.

Upon entering the Celestial City, she had already understood his intentions.

Becoming mortal had been Li Mo’s own choice—he too was seeking his own Inner Landscape.

Tension crackled between the two sides.

Moon and sun now stood in opposition. Within the Celestial City, mortals knelt, not daring to raise their heads; martial artists trembled in fear; even the Celestials fell deathly silent.

The True Spirit, encased in a cocoon of light, remained suspended in midair.

Though neither side had yet struck, neither would relent.

BOOM—

Then, an anomaly erupted.

"From the foreign lands..."

The thought had barely formed in Ying Bing’s mind when—

A surge of mist churned in the abyssal darkness, like a sinister sea of blood, endlessly roiling.

A black coffin emerged from its depths, its mere appearance enough to evoke visceral horror.

Splash—

The coffin slid open, revealing an arm—pale as death, yet covered in scars.

Though lifeless, its seething blood essence ignited a towering pillar of energy.

The Blood God!

The first wave of calamity had barely passed, yet He had already arrived in haste!

Clearly, He had not come for Ying Bing, nor for the spirit of the Rivers and Mountains Scroll.

He too was here for Li Mo.

"Why?"

Some were baffled.

The Frost Fairy and the scroll’s spirit could be understood.

But strictly speaking, the Blood God stood opposed to both—why meddle now?

The three factions each had their own motives.

The moment the coffin opened, an undisguised gaze fell upon the True Spirit. His intent was clear.

"Heh... Why fight over him?"

"If I take him, then make him vanish, wouldn’t that satisfy everyone?"

Before the words even left the churning sea of blood, the ashen hand was already reaching out.

At that moment—

Within the cocoon of light, Li Mo, eyes closed, twitched slightly.

Before him, scenes of his first cycle of life and death replayed. The Thousand Forms Art, cultivated by countless individuals, manifested within his True Spirit.

His comprehension was swift—he was on the verge of awakening.

Outside, the struggle intensified.

Seeing the Blood God’s hand approach, Ying Bing dissolved into moonlight. A frigid radiance erupted, freezing the limb and eroding it through the passage of time.

Seizing their clash—

Light and shadow crisscrossed within the great sun.

The Rivers and Mountains Scroll did not contain the Dao of Miniaturization.

Rather, it embodied the Dao of Light and Shadow—the Dao of Manifesting Illusion as Reality.

Mountains and rivers materialized, depicting landscapes from across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, descending upon the world.

No matter how terrifying the Blood God’s hand, it could not traverse the vastness of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

Time might shift the land from sea to mulberry fields, but it could not break the cycle of perpetual renewal.

...

"Has my trial... ended?"

"Yet my Inner Landscape remains incomplete..."

Li Mo stirred awake, peering out from the cocoon—only to find the scenery shifting rapidly before him.

He reached out, attempting to touch the light and shadows, but his hand passed through.

He understood. He was in a pocket realm of sorts, yet nothing here could affect him unless he willed it.

"I’m still in True Spirit form... I haven’t left the Celestial City?"

"What is that?"

His eyes widened as a black dot rapidly expanded in his vision.

A rift in the void, filled with phantasmagoric colors, as though leading to another world.

The distance between them shrank—neither moved, yet it seemed to chase him.

"If I’m swallowed by it, I’ll leave the Celestial City’s domain?"

"No, not yet. Only one calamity has passed. That ice block hasn’t reclaimed the other half of the Heavenly Phoenix Domain. My Inner Landscape isn’t finished..."

A cloud formed beneath Li Mo’s feet.

With a single somersault, he traversed one hundred and eight thousand miles, darting away at blinding speed.

Hmm?

A sound of surprise came from the great sun.

The spirit of the Heaven’s Fortune Artifact was astonished once more.

Its first shock came from the fact that the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths it projected had no effect on Li Mo.

This was utterly abnormal. Even Seventh and Eighth Realm experts could only resist by wielding their own Daos to weaken the connection.

Could this brat have ascended to immortality, placing him beyond the artifact’s control?

Yet Li Mo bore no trace of any "Dao" upon him.

And yet—he fled so swiftly!

The artifact’s spirit could not suppress Li Mo with its authority, but it could alter itself.

Heaven and earth inverted. Mountains and rivers reversed.

!

Li Mo suddenly realized—why was he getting closer to the rift the more he ran?

He lost all sense of direction, flailing like a headless fly.

Then—

A beam of pure moonlight pierced through the projection, like a lighthouse guiding his path.

...

Everything unfolding was witnessed by those within and beyond the imperial capital.

"The Frost Fairy is clashing with the Blood God of the Summoning Demons Sect... and Li Mo is resisting the Heaven’s Fortune Artifact?"

"How can Li Mo traverse such distances with a single somersault?"

"How did he shake off the artifact’s influence?"

"He flees, it pursues—Li Mo has no chance of escape."

Questions swarmed in their minds.

But those mysteries would find no immediate answers.

The only question that might soon be resolved was...

Can Young Hero Li stay in the City of Celestials?