Chapter 268: Intentions Also Harm People

Angry Squid:

Thump! Thump!

Li Fan's heart instantly began to pound uncontrollably, as if he had just witnessed his own tragic death in the near future. Subconsciously, Li Fan was about to mentally recite "Return to True" to revert to his anchor moment. However, in a flash, he vaguely felt something was wrong and forcibly stopped himself.

The Xuanhuang Heart Refining Spell slowly dispelled the constantly surging fear in his heart, transforming it into mental nourishment while also granting Li Fan a precious moment of calm thought.

“Could it be that Zhang Zhiliang discovered something and is intentionally trying to harm me this way?”

“No... he should have already advanced to the God Transformation stage by now. Dealing with a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator like me wouldn't require such an elaborate scheme.”

“He could just act directly.”

“So, the reason for this strange situation now is the effect of the Intent Horse itself?”

As he was thinking this, Li Fan suddenly felt a momentary daze. The hairs on his back stood on end, as if someone were staring at him. Li Fan was startled and immediately turned around. He saw Zhang Zhiliang staring at him eerily, a smile that was hard to describe on his face.

Li Fan instinctively retreated, spiritual energy surging within him, his Congyun Sword about to strike. But in an instant, Zhang Zhiliang's figure vanished again. Li Fan was momentarily stunned before realizing he was inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror. Even an entity like the Heavenly Physician would cause a considerable stir if they tried to force their way in. How could Zhang Zhiliang possibly enter so silently?

“A hallucination?”

Li Fan turned his head again to look at the Intent Horse's corpse on the ground, immediately noticing something amiss, and frowned. The Intent Horse's corpse had inexplicably shifted its position.

“Is it dead or alive?” Li Fan couldn't help but wonder.

Fear assailed him once more, lingering in his heart. A slight chill ran through his body.

“This Intent Horse is a bit strange.”

“However, I have 'Return to True,' so no matter how dangerous it is, it can't harm my life...”

Upon thinking of this, Li Fan felt a little more at ease. Strangely enough, as he thought this, the inexplicable fear in his heart suddenly receded like a tide.

“Interesting...” Li Fan's gaze shifted slightly. However, he was still in the state of having a human body and a horse face, so it was clear the matter wasn't over. Seizing this brief reprieve, Li Fan's thoughts raced as he considered countermeasures.

However, before Li Fan could come up with anything, the situation changed again. The sound of an arrow piercing the air suddenly came, followed by a dull thud as it sank into flesh. Li Fan looked in the direction of the sound and saw a flying arrow, seemingly from nowhere. It struck the Intent Horse's left arm squarely.

Just as Li Fan was about to pull out the arrow to see if it was real or fake, a sharp pain suddenly struck him. Coincidentally, the pain also came from his own left arm. Li Fan swept with his divine sense, and his expression immediately darkened.

The same location, the same wound! Even when Li Fan used his spiritual energy, he couldn't heal the wound. He bought a trauma elixir in the Heavenly Profound Mirror and took it, but it still had no effect. The wound remained.

“This...”

“Is it real or fake?”

Li Fan's mind perceived a burning, stinging sensation on his arm; everything felt so real.

“So, everything that happens to the Intent Horse is reflected onto me?”

“If...”

His wild thoughts didn't continue; Li Fan forcibly activated the Heart Refining Spell to clear his mind of distractions. Ignoring the pain on his body, he continued to ponder countermeasures.

“Theoretically, Zhang Zhiliang has no reason to toy with me. This Intent Horse is indeed a treasure that can enhance one's divine soul.”

“So, can it be inferred that the bizarre scenes that just occurred were so real because they bypassed my senses and directly affected my divine soul?”

“Beyond the concept of ordinary hallucinations, directly striking the divine soul...”

As Li Fan was contemplating, a sharp sword suddenly appeared. Gleaming coldly, it sliced off the Intent Horse's right index finger at the root. The sharp pain made Li Fan involuntarily gasp. He looked at his own right hand, and indeed, his index finger was gone. Only blood continued to flow. Li Fan brought his mutilated right hand before his eyes and observed it carefully.

“Is it real...?”

“Or fake?”

Reason told Li Fan that everything happening to his body was merely the Intent Horse's effect on his divine soul. It was all illusory. However, the persistent burning pain from his body forced Li Fan to doubt his own judgment.

“If all of this were just an illusion, then it wouldn't matter.”

“But what if I judged incorrectly, and these wounds are real?”

“If I just stood by and let these changes continue, wouldn't that mean I'm waiting for death?”

A thought couldn't help but pop into his mind. “To determine if it's real or fake, why not ask someone else to verify it?”

With this thought, Li Fan exited the Heavenly Profound Mirror. And when he paraded around in front of other cultivators with his horse face, without drawing any strange looks, Li Fan finally became certain that this was indeed an illusory experience brought about by the Intent Horse.

But...

“Gasp!”

Li Fan touched his chest; a deep wound had appeared there. In the time he spent outside verifying, a total of eight wounds had already appeared on Li Fan's body.

“The speed at which they appear is increasing, and the wounds are getting larger.”

“Even knowing these are illusions, at this level...”

“Truth and falsehood no longer matter.”

“So, if this continues, could I really die?”

Before he transmigrated, Li Fan had heard of a certain form of torture. The prisoner's eyes would be blindfolded, and their arm cut with a knife. Then, water drops would imitate the sound of blood dripping, while they were constantly whispered about the loss of blood. Although the wound on their arm had long since clotted, they wouldn't die from excessive blood loss. However, some prisoners, under the continuous psychological suggestion from others and themselves, truly believed they had lost too much blood and subsequently slowly died. When one truly believes they are dead, then they will genuinely die.

Li Fan guessed that the effect of the Intent Horse operated on the same principle. Because the illusions had reached a point of being almost indistinguishable from reality, if he did nothing and simply waited for events to unfold, when the Intent Horse's corpse sustained fatal injuries, such as its head exploding, Li Fan could very likely be affected by the synchronized injuries, truly believing he had suffered such severe wounds, and then inexplicably die.

This was the precise influence of one's own perception on the body. To circumvent this... Unless...

Li Fan opened his "Return to True" panel. He stared intently at the charging progress.

“As long as 'Return to True''s automatic self-protection isn't triggered, then no matter how real the sensations feel, there's no danger to my life.”

Thinking this, Li Fan's heart felt much more secure. The panic in his heart gradually disappeared.