The breath keeping Shi Mengying alive was the towering hatred in her heart.
Just then, a breeze suddenly stirred around her, parting gaps in the shadows of the trees above Shi Mengying's head.
Several strands of moonlight poured over Shi Mengying, unexpectedly restoring much of her strength.
In truth, Shi Mengying was never worried that Gu Chen would beat her to death.
As long as she still had one breath left, she could recover in a very short time.
After all, she was a lost pearl of the Phoenix Clan, with Phoenix Bloodline flowing through her veins.
As a Spirit Beast born when heaven and earth first opened, the phoenix possessed the power of being Immortal and Undying.
Phoenix Nirvana and Rebirth in Flames were hardly just folk legends.
Before long, Shi Mengying felt that her internal organs had already recovered completely, and she was able to sit up at once.
Not far away, a sphere of light surging with immense spiritual energy still floated faintly above the broken tree stump.
That was the entrance to the Lingxu Secret Realm. Staring at the ball of light, Shi Mengying's gaze immediately turned even colder and gloomier.
Shi Mengying recalled that, in her previous life, she had initially known nothing of her true identity.
She had thought herself nothing more than a homeless orphan who had grown up without parents.
Later, Gu Chen had saved her and told her she possessed talent for cultivation, setting her upon the path of cultivation.
Yet Gu Chen had never told Shi Mengying who she truly was. He had even often made her bleed.
Thinking back on it now, Shi Mengying's hatred for Gu Chen could have swallowed the entire East Desolation Commandery whole!
"Gu Chen, you deceived me so cruelly in my previous life."
"You used my blood to raise your own Cultivation Level. What a fine scheme you had!"
"Because of you, I never even got to see my clansmen one last time."
"All of this happened because of you!"
"Gu Chen, I will definitely make you pay the price!"
Shi Mengying's eyes were already brimming with endless hatred.
Thanks to her Phoenix Bloodline, the injuries within her body had almost fully healed.
Though she had not recovered to her peak condition, ordinary movement posed no problem at all.
Still, Shi Mengying could not help feeling puzzled.
Why had she been unable to defeat Gu Chen just now?
According to the memories of her previous life, Gu Chen's Cultivation Level should have only been at the Body Tempering Realm at this point.
Yet after being reborn, Shi Mengying had relied on the foundation of her Phoenix Bloodline to break through to the Innate Realm in just a few days.
Under normal circumstances, Gu Chen could not possibly have been her match.
Standing before the entrance to the Lingxu Secret Realm and recalling the battle just now, Shi Mengying remained unable to make sense of it no matter how hard she thought.
After pondering for a long while, she muttered to herself, "I must have been too careless at the beginning."
"Next time, if I use my full strength, I will definitely kill Gu Chen!"
With that thought in mind, Shi Mengying's exquisite face appeared even colder and more murderous beneath the moonlight.
Following the timeline of her previous life, Shi Mengying had first met Gu Chen at a shabby marketplace in the East Desolation Commandery, long after Gu Chen left the Lingxu Secret Realm.
But with the memories of her previous life, Shi Mengying naturally could not wait that long.
She knew that after being reborn, Gu Chen would certainly come to the Lingxu Secret Realm again to seek treasures in order to raise his Cultivation Level. That was why Shi Mengying had come here early to wait for Gu Chen!
At that thought, Shi Mengying slowly raised her right hand and lightly touched the floating ball of light before her.
In an instant, Shi Mengying vanished from where she stood, and the entire forest returned to a deathly silence.
Elsewhere, Gu Chen stood within the Lingxu Secret Realm, staring blankly at the broken walls and crumbling ruins before him.
The Lingxu Secret Realm was, in fact, the ancient ruins of an ancient divine temple.
Simply standing here, Gu Chen could feel that the density of spiritual energy was utterly different from that outside.
If the spiritual energy of the outside world was a trickling stream,
then the spiritual energy here was a vast and turbulent ocean!
Unfortunately, living people could not remain in the Lingxu Secret Realm for too long.
Moreover, one could only enter the Lingxu Secret Realm once in a lifetime.
Whether one was a Daluo Golden Immortal, an Immortal Emperor, or the Demon Lord, anyone who violated the rules would suffer the punishment of the boundless Heavenly Dao.
If not for such restrictions, Gu Chen did not dare imagine what would happen if he remained in a place like this.
Perhaps in less than a month, his Cultivation Level would directly return to the state it had been in during his previous life.
He might even surpass his previous life outright!
Gu Chen had originally thought that since he had entered once in his previous life, he might not be able to enter again.
Yet after being reborn, even the Lingxu Secret Realm's mark on him had been refreshed.
Realizing that he could cultivate within the Lingxu Secret Realm again, Gu Chen could not stop the corners of his lips from lifting slightly.
After crossing the broken stone pillars before the main hall, Gu Chen came directly to stand before a stone gate.
Though it was called a stone gate, this mountain gate stood hundreds of meters tall!
Standing beneath it, Gu Chen was as insignificant as a tiny ant.
In his previous life, Gu Chen and Gu Youwei had spent no small amount of effort trying to open this stone gate.
But things were different from his previous life now.
It was as though Gu Chen had a walkthrough guide in his mind; he already knew the entire Lingxu Secret Realm like the back of his hand.
Gu Chen gently placed his right hand upon the stone gate. After restoring the disorderly totems on it to their proper places, the stone gate before him rumbled open.
"Sure enough, it's still the same as in my previous life."
After confirming that the Lingxu Secret Realm had not changed in any way, Gu Chen walked deeper into it with even greater confidence.
Yet after taking only a few steps forward, Gu Chen suddenly halted.
Whoosh!
The next second, a poisoned arrow shot past the tip of Gu Chen's nose!
Gu Chen knew these mechanisms like the back of his hand. As though returning to his own home, he passed through the corridor of traps before him with effortless ease.
But a mere corridor of traps was nothing. What Gu Chen had to face next was the first trial of the Lingxu Secret Realm.
When Gu Chen reached the end of the corridor, he stopped immediately. Within mere seconds, the wall before him came crashing down, revealing an incomparably vast hall.
"Fine, then I'll play with you again."
The corners of Gu Chen's mouth curled upward slightly, and his entire body brimmed with vigorous battle potential.
Then, Gu Chen stepped into the hall with one foot.
In an instant, the hall seemed to sense something unusual, and the ground began trembling violently.
The twelve stone statues that had stood silently around the hall seemed to be infused with life in an instant, each one turning its gaze toward Gu Chen.
The surroundings were so silent that Gu Chen could clearly hear even his own heartbeat.
Being watched by twelve enormous stone statues was a feeling strange to the extreme.
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