People in the Imperial Music Bureau: The Storytelling Demon Child Nezha

The stone chamber returned to silence, with only the sound of their heavy breathing echoing in the empty space.

This is... Li Qiye's voice was still trembling slightly, the Heavenly Evil Buddha's trial?

Su Yuqing nodded and took the dagger he handed back: "The first hurdle, the inner demon. Everyone sees something different." She paused, then asked, "What did you see?"

Li Qiye remained silent for a moment, then finally shook his head: "Some shadows from the past..." He changed the subject, "Your eyes, the blue light is more pronounced."

Su Yuqing subconsciously touched the corner of her eye: a side effect of energy erosion. Your hand... She grasped Li Qiye's left hand; the blue flower mark on his palm had grown larger, the petals more clearly defined.

The two remained silent, each seeing complex emotions in the other's eyes.

A deafening crash of ice breaking suddenly echoed overhead. The Ice Demon Guardian's massive claws had pierced through the ice wall, frantically widening the breach, and ice shards rained down.

There's no time! Li Qiye grabbed Su Yuqing and rushed towards the exit. What's next?

I don't know. Su Yuqing followed him closely. Her father only told her that the path of trials had three stages, each of which...

Her words trailed off. The moment they passed through the exit, they both froze in place—before them lay a narrow log bridge suspended over a bottomless abyss, less than a foot wide, its surface covered in smooth frost. Below the bridge swirled black mist, and countless sharp icicles, like swords, could be vaguely seen standing upright.

Even more terrifying, on the other side of the bridge stood a person who looked exactly like Su Yuqing, smiling and waving at them.

The Trial of Mirrors. Su Yuqing's voice was hoarse; she had to defeat her own mirror image to pass.

Li Qiye frowned: Are both of them your reflections?

No. Su Yuqing suddenly spoke from across the bridge, but the voice was a deep male voice, and only one of them could be heard.

No sooner had she finished speaking than Su Yuqing, who was standing next to Li Qiye, suddenly attacked, thrusting her short knife straight at his back!

The shrill sound of a blade piercing the air exploded in my ears at 0.4.

Li Qiye instinctively turned to the side, the short knife grazing his ribs and leaving a neat cut on his robe.

He delivered a backhand elbow strike, but the attacker deftly leaped backward to dodge, landing in the middle of the log bridge.

The reaction was good. The fake Su Yuqing tilted her head, a wicked smile that Su Yuqing would never have given her, but unfortunately, she still had to die.

Chapter 179 Real and fake people

Su Yuqing, who was standing on the other side of the bridge, also moved at this moment. She quickly stepped onto the log bridge and ran towards the center: Li Qiye! Don't trust her!

Two identical figures moved swiftly across the narrow bridge, frost splashing at their feet.

Li Qiye stood at the bridgehead, his right hand instinctively reaching for his waist—the Soul-Suppressing Bell was still not there. He then remembered that the bell had been lost during the battle with the priest in the ice cave.

What, you don't recognize your little lover? The fake Su Yuqing chuckled, her voice suddenly turning into the tone of Master Li Qiye 07. Or is it that you don't care whether she lives or dies?

Li Qiye narrowed his eyes. The sound of the Ice Demon Guards chiseling at the ice came continuously from behind; time was running out.

He had to make a judgment immediately—but the two Su Yuqings were exactly the same in appearance, clothing, and even weapons, and even the way they held the knife was exactly the same.

The mirror image replicates all external features. The voice of Zhen Su Yuqing suddenly echoed in his mind; these were the words she had spoken when they rested by the underground river, but some things could not be replicated.

She was whittling a piece of wood with a short knife, the tip drawing a beautiful arc in the sunlight. My father said that the trials of the Heavenly Evil Buddha are most about one's true nature.

Li Qiye suddenly understood something.

"You!" He pointed at the fake Su Yuqing in the middle of the bridge and threw the knife at her!

The fake Su Yuqing was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: Why?

Based on this, Li Qiye suddenly rushed towards the bridge, not towards any of Su Yuqing's, but directly jumped into the abyss!

"Li Qiye!" Two voices exclaimed simultaneously.

But one of the voices carried a peculiar tremor—the resonance emanating from Su Yuqing's short sword.

In the instant of his fall, Li Qiye reached out and grabbed the edge of the log bridge. His weight caused the entire bridge to shake violently, and the fake Su Yuqing lost her footing, her short knife flying out of her hand.

Now! Li Qiye used his waist and abdomen to flip back onto the bridge and accurately caught the short sword spinning in the air. The moment the blade touched his hand, he immediately felt something different—this sword was cold and lifeless, its patterns dull and lusterless.

A fake. He sneered and threw the fake knife into the abyss.

The fake Su Yuqing let out a scream, her body began to twist and deform, and finally she turned into a cloud of blue mist and dissipated. The frost on the log bridge melted, revealing the original rough wood grain.

How could you... Su Yuqing ran up to him, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"Your blade will respond to my blood." Li Qiye explained briefly, returning the real dagger to her. No assassin wastes time with words during a sneak attack.

Su Yuqing took the knife, her fingertips inadvertently brushing against his palm. Both of them jolted simultaneously—the blue light in her eyes and the mark on his palm flashed for a moment at the same time.

860 Your hand... She frowned.

"It's alright." Li Qiye withdrew his hand. "What's the next challenge?"

Before Su Yuqing could answer, a deafening crash came from behind. The Ice Demon Guardian had finally broken through the ice, its massive blue head squeezing into the stone chamber, its single eye flashing with a furious, cold light.

"Hurry up!" Li Qiye pushed Su Yuqing onto the log bridge.

The bridge swayed slightly under the weight of the two people, but it was much more stable than before.

They moved cautiously and quickly, the roars of the Ice Demon growing ever closer behind them. Just as they were about to reach the other side, a beam of blue light shot from behind, grazing Li Qiye's shoulder and striking a fixed point on the bridge.

Chapter 180 The So-Called Truth

Hold on! Li Qiye grabbed Su Yuqing's waist and leaped to the other side the moment the log bridge broke.

The two crashed heavily onto the hard stone ground, and the bridge behind them plunged into the abyss with a deafening roar.

The Ice Demon Guardian pounded the ground angrily on the opposite bank, but its massive body couldn't pass through the damaged passage. It was safe for now.

Li Qiye sat up, panting heavily, and found themselves in a circular stone chamber, much smaller than the one in the first level. In the center of the chamber was a stone platform with an ancient-looking bronze mirror on it.

This is...

The final hurdle. Su Yuqing's voice sounded strange; the trial of truth.

She walked slowly toward the bronze mirror, and Li Qiye noticed that her steps became unusually heavy, as if she were struggling against some invisible force.

Miss Su?

"Don't come any closer!" she suddenly shouted sharply. "This hurdle... I have to face it alone."

The bronze mirror began to glow as she approached, its surface shimmering like rippling water. Su Yuqing took a deep breath and slowly raised her face to look at her reflection—

No! She let out a heart-wrenching scream and staggered backward.

Li Qiye rushed forward to support her, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the scene in the mirror—it didn't show Su Yuqing's current appearance, but a little girl with blue eyes and blue hair, being held tightly in the arms of a human woman.

The woman was holding a short knife, the very one Su Yuqing was currently wearing.

This is...

"My mother." Su Yuqing's voice trembled. She was the last generation of tomb guardians, while my father... was the high priest of the Blue-Eyed Clan.

This shocking truth struck Li Qiye like a hammer blow to the chest. He instinctively looked into Su Yuqing's eyes—the blue light around them had become incredibly bright, contrasting sharply with her pale face.

So you possess the bloodlines of both the Gravekeeper and the Blue-Eyed Clan?

Su Yuqing closed her eyes in anguish: After discovering Father's plan to use the Xuanbing Soul to collect the life essence of the living, Mother fled with me and the short sword. Father sent men to hunt us down... Her voice choked with sobs; she had done it all to protect me...

The scene in the bronze mirror changed, showing a rainy night where young Su Yuqing huddled beside a woman's corpse, clutching a short knife. In the distance, several blue-eyed warriors were approaching...

Enough! Li Qiye pulled Su Yuqing close, pressing her into his arms and preventing her from looking at the bronze mirror again. It wasn't your fault.

Su Yuqing's body trembled violently in his arms, her scalding tears soaking his clothes. Li Qiye felt the mark on his palm begin to sting again, but unlike before, this time it seemed to resonate with a strange sensation.

The bronze mirror suddenly made a soft click, and a crack appeared on its surface. At the same time, the wall on the other side of the stone chamber slowly slid open, revealing an upward staircase.

The trial... passed? Su Yuqing raised her head, her tear tracks shimmering in the dim light.

Li Qiye wiped away her tears: It seems that sometimes the truth is more powerful than force.

The two exchanged a smile, a tacit understanding flowing between them. But the tranquility was quickly broken—the roar of the Ice Demon Guardian came from behind again, as if it had found another path.

"Let's go!" Li Qiye grabbed Su Yuqing and rushed towards the stairs.

The steps were narrow and steep, winding upwards. Su Yuqing ran ahead, with Li Qiye close behind, occasionally glancing back to check on the pursuers. After running for about fifteen minutes, light finally appeared ahead.

Chapter 181 There Shouldn't Be a Buddhist Temple Here

"We're almost at the exit!" Su Yuqing shouted.

Just as this hope was rising, the entire staircase suddenly began to shake violently.

Li Qiye slipped and almost fell, but luckily he grabbed onto a protrusion on the wall.

He looked up and his pupils contracted sharply—the Ice Demon Guardian had actually used brute force to break through the rock layer and was squeezing out from the side of the stone wall!

Su Yuqing! Run!

The Ice Demon's single eye locked onto Su Yuqing, who was running ahead, and a beam of blue light shot out.

Without hesitation, Li Qiye leaped into the air, knocking Su Yuqing aside, but was grazed on the left shoulder by the blue light.

A sharp pain instantly spread throughout his body, and he fell heavily onto the steps, feeling that half of his body was numb.

"Li Qiye!" Su Yuqing screamed and pounced on him.

The Ice Demon had broken free of the rock layer and was climbing up the steps towards them, its massive body causing the stone walls to creak. Li Qiye gritted his teeth and propped himself up, shielding Su Yuqing behind him.

"Listen to me," he said urgently, "the exit is up there, you go first."

"No!" Su Yuqing interrupted him decisively. "Either we go together, or we die together!"

She took a short knife from her waist, and the patterns on the blade instantly shone as brightly as day. Li Qiye was surprised to find that the mark on his palm also began to glow, the two lights echoing each other and weaving a net of light between the narrow steps.

The moment the Ice Demon crashed into the light net, it let out a deafening howl.

Its massive body began to disintegrate, its blue ice armor peeling away piece by piece to reveal a body as black as charcoal beneath. Even more chilling was the fact that the body was covered with golden runes, identical to the Buddhist seals that Li Qiye had seen in ancient texts.

This is...

"The seal of the Heavenly Evil Buddha!" ​​Su Yuqing exclaimed. It was no ordinary ice demon, but an ancient warrior of the Blue-Eyed Clan who had been sealed away!

The Ice Demon—or rather, the sealed warrior—seemed to understand their words, a glimmer of clarity flashing in its single eye. It ceased its attack, using its last strength to point upwards towards the stairs, uttering a few indistinct syllables from its throat:

Heaven... evil... not... demon...

After uttering these words, its body completely disintegrated, turning into countless blue specks of light that dissipated into the air. Only the golden runes remained suspended for a moment before drifting away like smoke towards the exit.

Li Qiye and Su Yuqing looked at each other, both shocked by this sudden turn of events.

"Heavenly Evil is not a Demon..." Li Qiye murmured repeatedly. What did that mean?

Su Yuqing shook her head, the blue light in her eyes gradually dimming: I don't know, but I think the answer is outside the exit.

The two helped each other climb the last flight of stairs, finally reaching the sunlight. The exit was a cliffside platform overlooking the entire frozen lake. And in the center of the platform stood a building they had never expected—

A small, dilapidated Buddhist temple.

The wind on the cliff platform was bitingly cold, whipping up fine snowflakes that lashed against their faces.

Li Qiye squinted as he surveyed the dilapidated Buddhist temple before him—it was only about three zhang square, its wooden structure long since rotten and blackened, and the copper bells on the eaves were covered in rust, yet eerily silent.

There shouldn't be a Buddhist temple here. Su Yuqing's voice trembled slightly. The territory of the Blue-Eyed Clan in the Northern Border, the place where the Heavenly Evil Buddha was suppressed... Buddhism has never built a temple here.

Li Qiye walked slowly forward, the rotten wooden planks groaning under his feet. He noticed a crooked plaque hanging above the doorway; the gold paint had long since peeled off, but three powerful characters were still legible:

Chapter 182 The Non-Demon Temple?

Non-Demon Temple.

"Heavenly Evil is not a demon..." Li Qiye murmured, recalling the words the Ice Demon had spoken before it vanished. He turned to look at Su Yuqing and found her standing still, her blue light flickering in her eyes, and her short sword trembling slightly in its sheath.

what happened?

Su Yuqing raised her hand and pressed it against her temple: Something... is calling me.

Li Qiye walked back to her side, and just as he was about to reach out, the blue mark on his palm suddenly burned with pain. At the same time, the blue light in Su Yuqing's eyes intensified, and she bent over in pain, letting out a low groan.

"It's something from the temple..." she said through gritted teeth, "We have to go in."

The temple door was unlocked; with a gentle push, it collapsed with a crash, raising a cloud of dust.

Sunlight streamed through the dilapidated roof, casting dappled shadows in the dimly lit room. In the very center stood a broken Buddha statue, its head and right arm missing, leaving only the seated body and a ritual implement held in its left hand.

Li Qiye gasped – the magical artifact was almost identical in shape to Su Yuqing's short sword, only much larger.

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