Who understands? He traveled through time with a high-spec spatial ability.

Fa Cai's feathers stood on end, and the map of lights on its wings suddenly began flashing violently: "Danger signals from all directions! Master, we're surrounded!"

Qiao Jingjing swiftly drew her dragon scale dagger, simultaneously taking out a stack of talismans from her spatial storage and holding them between her fingers. She keenly sensed that the surrounding air was beginning to distort and the ground was trembling slightly.

"Underground!" She leaped up suddenly, and the instant she left her spot, dozens of sharp bone spikes burst from the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the surrounding trees suddenly twisted and deformed, their bark peeling off to reveal rotting flesh inside—these were not trees at all, but monsters disguised as trees!

"Soul-Devouring Demon Trees!" Fa Cai exclaimed in alarm, "They secrete a poisonous mist that paralyzes the nerves!"

Qiao Jingjing immediately held her breath and activated the talisman in her hand.

The talisman transformed into a fireball and shot out, but was blocked by a layer of transparent viscous liquid as it approached the demon tree. Even more terrifying, the viscous liquid actually reflected the flames back!

She dodged to the side, the fireball grazing her sleeve. The sleeve instantly burst into an eerie green flame. Qiao Jingjing decisively cut off the cuff; the burning fabric, upon hitting the ground, even corroded a hole in the rock.

"Physical attacks are ineffective, and spells will be reflected..." Cold sweat beaded on Qiao Jingjing's forehead as she suddenly noticed that the jade key at her waist was getting hot. With a thought, she channeled her spiritual power into the jade.

Suddenly, the jade burst forth with a blinding blue light. Wherever the light shone, the demonic tree let out a shrill scream, and the flesh on its trunk began to rot and fall off. But soon, new buds of flesh grew from those rotten places, regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"The regeneration speed is too fast!" Fa Cai shouted anxiously. "Master, we have to find a way to break through!"

Qiao Jingjing scanned her surroundings and noticed that the demonic trees in the southeast seemed relatively sparse. She quickly took out a crystal-clear bead from her spatial storage; this was the "Frost Marrow Bead" she had asked Zhuzhu for.

"Let's take a gamble!" She forcefully hurled the Frost Marrow Bead towards the southeast. The bead exploded in mid-air, and an extremely cold aura instantly swept out, freezing all the demon trees in that area into ice sculptures.

"Go!" She grabbed Fa Cai and used her lightness skill to rush towards the gap. Just as they were about to break through the encirclement, the ground suddenly collapsed, and a huge black hole appeared beneath their feet!

Qiao Jingjing reacted quickly, throwing out a rope to entangle herself in a distant tree trunk. However, the tree trunk suddenly snapped, and she and Fa Cai plummeted into the abyss.

During her descent, she saw that the walls of the black hole were covered with countless red eyes, which blinked simultaneously and made a chilling "clucking" sound.

"It's the Thousand-Eyed Demon Cave!" Fa Cai flapped his wings in terror. "Those who are devoured by it will be trapped in nightmares forever! Master, hurry and enter the space!"

Qiao Jingjing bit her tongue, spitting out a mouthful of blood that automatically formed a complex talisman in the air.

The moment the talisman took shape, the jade key at her waist suddenly flew out and merged with the talisman, transforming into a long sword gleaming with blue light.

"Break!" She gripped her longsword and slashed downwards with tremendous force. The sword light flashed like a rainbow, cleaving the black hole in two. The red eyes burst open, emitting piercing screams.

As the last red eye dissipated, the descent abruptly stopped, and absolute darkness enveloped the surroundings. Qiao Jingjing felt her consciousness being pulled into a strange space, surrounded by countless mirrors, each reflecting a different scene, the image of her deepest fear flashing before her eyes.

Covered in blood, Tantai Zhou knelt amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, reaching out his hand to her, his voice hoarse, "Jingjing...save me..."

Her heart almost stopped. She instinctively wanted to rush over, her fingertips already touching the mirror, but she stopped abruptly at the last moment.

"Wait a minute..." She suddenly noticed that Tantai Zhou's sword in the mirror was held in a reverse grip, a mistake he would never make on the battlefield. This detail was like a bucket of ice water poured over her, jolting her awake.

"No...this is an illusion!" The illusion is mimicking him from my memories!

The scene in the mirror suddenly distorted, transforming into a snowy night when she was abandoned by her family as a child. The biting cold wind pierced her soul, and the despair she felt back then surged back like a tidal wave.

“An illusion test…” She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and stopped looking at the mirrors. “These are all fake.”

A moment later, Qiao Jingjing suddenly sneered and walked towards the mirror: "Is that all the tricks you have?" She gathered spiritual energy at her fingertips and drew blood runes on the mirror's surface, "Breaking Through Illusion!"

All the mirrors shattered, but the real killing move was revealed then. The fragments did not fall to the ground; instead, they floated in the air and reformed, transforming into countless sword-wielding "Tantai Boats" that surrounded her.

Each phantom carried his uniquely gentle smile, yet the tip of his sword pointed directly at her heart.

"Master, be careful!" Fa Cai's exclamation was cut off by the illusion.

Qiao Jingjing discovered that the blue-light longsword in her hand was melting away; the illusion was dismantling her weapon.

At the critical moment, she suddenly channeled all her remaining spiritual power into the dragon-patterned jade pendant at her waist. It was a jade pendant given to her by Emperor Xuanjing as a symbol of power, and it contained the true dragon aura of an emperor.

The jade pendant emitted a golden light that resonated with the jade key, and the phantoms suddenly froze.

She took the opportunity to bite her finger and used her blood as ink to write in the air: "With my true heart, I shatter your falsehoods."

The moment the eight characters were formed, the entire illusion shattered like glass.

Just then, the jade key suddenly became scalding hot, flew out from her waist, and hovered in mid-air. At the same time, the space began to tremble violently.