The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

The difficulty of the questions gradually increases, ranging from the habits of spiritual plants to the timing of alchemy, from rare and exotic animals to ancient elixir formulas.

Each question was extremely poetic, not involving human suffering, but only discussing the wonders of nature.

It's as if the Flowing Cloud Medicine God from a thousand years ago transformed all the exotic flowers, rare herbs, spiritual springs, and immortal trees he saw and heard during his travels across the world into test questions, leaving them for those destined to meet him in the future.

Tangxi Xue answered calmly.

Her voice drifted in the wind, yet seemed to be gathered by a force, transmitting every word into the spirit hidden somewhere.

Beneath the underground palace, Si Xingxuan was also answering.

His speed increased, and the trajectory of his fingertips across the jade disc was as smooth as flowing water.

Occasionally, when he encounters a tricky question or two, he answers it even faster; only such difficult questions can barely satisfy his interest.

He noticed that detail.

Each time he finished answering a question, a mark would appear in a corner of the jade disc in addition to his handwriting.

That's the shape of a step.

Moreover, the number on the steps increases by one after each question is answered.

He raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Does answering a question add another step to the next level?"

He was silent for a moment, then chuckled softly.

"So, I'm not answering the question for myself. I'm paving the way for someone else."

He withdrew his finger, looked up at the new question that had appeared on the jade disc, and spoke with a hint of self-mockery in his tone.

"Interesting. Si Xingxuan, Si Xingxuan, you've finally become someone else's stepping stone."

He was silent for a moment.

That's interesting.

He came here seeking opportunities, but now he has become someone else's stepping stone.

Most people would probably just walk away in the face of such a situation.

But Si Xingxuan is no ordinary person.

He found this extremely interesting.

"Fine."

He reached out his hand again, his fingertips landing on the jade disc, a hint of arrogance in the smile on his lips.

"Since you've set this trap, I'll accept it. I want to see if the person above is worth paving this way for me."

He snapped out of his distractions and continued answering the questions.

Level 10, Level 20, Level 30.

Tangxi Xue climbed higher and higher, the clouds and mist behind her grew thicker and thicker, and the steps beneath her feet became more and more stable.

She advances to the next level for each question she answers correctly.

For every question the person underground answered correctly, she moved up one level.

The two, one above and one below, one in the light and one in the dark, were like two parallel rivers flowing in the same valley, yet never able to meet.

She didn't know who he was, only that there was someone who was solving the same problem with her and paving the same path for her.

Level 40, Level 50.

The two answered each other and laid out the stone steps, which stretched towards the clouds at twice the speed.

Tangxi Xue stood on the fiftieth step, looking back at the path she had come from.

The stone steps stretched all the way from the depths of the sea of ​​clouds, each step shimmering with a warm light, like a silver river suspended in the sky.

She knew that half of the light was lit by that person.

Level 60, Level 70.

The difficulty of the questions suddenly increased.

Instead of asking about the habits of the spiritual plant, we ask about its spirit.

Instead of asking about the ingredients in the elixir formula, people now ask about the mindset during the alchemy process.

Question: There is a sacred spring called the River of Oblivion, in which lies a stone the color of black jade. Grinding this stone into powder can be used to refine an elixir called Oblivion. However, the efficacy of this elixir lies not in curing illness, but in healing the mind. Question: What mind is being healed?

Tangxi Xue paused for a moment on the sixty-seventh level.

What kind of heart does one heal?

She thought for a moment and replied, "The more attached one is, the better. When people are attached, it's like a stone sinking in water, unable to be freed. The stone of the River of Oblivion has been submerged at the bottom of the water for countless millennia, long forgetting that it was once a stone on a mountain peak. Therefore, this stone is used in medicine to help people learn to let go."

The stone steps are solidified.

Underground, Si Xingxuan's sixty-eighth question simultaneously surfaced.

Question: If the Pill of Forgetfulness is successfully refined, the person who takes it will let go of their attachments. However, after letting go, their heart will feel empty, with nothing to rely on. Question: What should fill this emptiness at this time?

Si Xingxuan thought for a moment, and this time he remained silent for longer than ever before.

Then, he wrote with his finger: "Make up for it with your will. When the old obsession is gone, a new one is established. It is not attachment, but the power of will. Will to love one person, will to do one good deed, will to keep one promise. Obsession is a shackle, the power of will is a lamp."

After writing this line, he stared at the spiritual light on the jade disc for a moment, then suddenly chuckled softly.

"This question doesn't feel like it's testing me. It feels like it's asking me."

The jade disc lit up.

At the foot of the snow-covered Tangxi River, the sixty-ninth step is solidified.

She glanced down and a strange feeling welled up inside her.

The answers given by the person below and her answers do not seem to be isolated.

She answered "Let go," and he replied "After letting go."

The two essays are related, as if they were writing the same article on the same piece of paper; she wrote the first part, and he wrote the second part.

Level 80, Level 90.

As Tangxi Xue climbed higher and higher, the clouds around her changed from white to silver-blue.

The aura of the Immortal Medicine Garden grew stronger, and a halo began to faintly appear on the horizon.

Level 100.

She stood on the last step.

The woman's voice rang out for the last time, ethereal and gentle: "Welcome to the Crystal Palace. I look forward to meeting you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the clouds and mist dissipated.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

It was a garden of celestial medicines that did not belong to the human world.

"Is this the Immortal Medicine Garden?"

Tang Xixue stood there in a daze, momentarily forgetting to breathe.

The Immortal Medicine Garden quietly unfolded before her, the spiritual soil resembling a layer of solidified rosy light spread across the ground.

Countless rare and exotic plants grow in competition.

The fragrance of the medicine was intoxicating, extremely faint and lingering, like a wisp of smoke rising from a distant mountain.

One sniff and you feel refreshed; two sniffs and you feel completely at ease; three sniffs and you want to stay here forever, doing nothing but quietly enjoying the fragrance.

Tang Xixue stood there, her gaze slowly sweeping across the entire Immortal Herb Garden, from the nearest Starfall Mushroom to the furthest Seven-Colored Immortal Herb.

Every herb seemed to beckon to her, every fragrance seemed to beckon her to stay.

All she had to do was walk in, bend down, and extend her hand.

One plant, two plants, ten plants, a hundred plants.

Her heart, though filled with snow, had enough space to hold the entire garden.

With these miraculous medicines, how many people could she save?

All she had to do was walk in.

She withdrew her gaze and began to walk.

She did not step into the garden of immortal herbs.

She walked past it.

I walked along the narrow stone path beside the garden without stopping.

To the left is a garden full of rare and precious materials, to the right is a bottomless abyss.

Her gaze remained fixed ahead.

The fragrance of the herb garden behind her was still chasing after her, like a thousand hands tugging at the hem of her clothes.

She didn't turn around.

From the moment she received the key from the old Taoist priest, she carried a heavy responsibility; the lives of all the survivors of Yaoguang City were entrusted to her.

The spiritual essence is broken, the Three Lives Tree is destroyed, and the Eroding Moth is awakening in the darkness.

Every moment she delays, the people in the city become more dangerous.

The medicinal herbs in the Immortal Herb Garden are indeed very tempting; even picking just one would be enough to cause a sensation throughout the Nine Provinces.

But she can't stop.

Not even for a second.

She walked through the garden of immortal herbs, following the path paved with white jade.