"Old man, stop fussing," Xiahou Aotian scolded the ring grandpa as he looked down. Now a high-level Dominator wielding rule-based items and equipped with countless tricks, he crushed the Qin Dynasty fangshi at his peak in both status and power.
Knowledge knows no age; the accomplished shall lead—which basically meant: *I'm more badass than you, so I get to strut.*
That was precisely the creed the Scholar profession lived by.
"Even though your version is outdated, your experience and judgment still have some merit," Xiahou Aotian said. "Following this great protagonist to defeat a demigod will be an achievement you can brag about for the rest of your career."
The Qin Dynasty fangshi flew into a rage. "Judgment and experience are worthless before absolute power! They can be shattered in a breath! You insolent brat, you can be blindly confident in yourself, but why the hell are you blindly confident in me too?!"
As they bickered, Xiahou Aotian noticed that the sole-heir Knight hadn't spoken for a long time. Turning his head, his expression instantly changed.
Zhai Cai's face was a pale blue, white frost clinging to his eyelashes and his lips bruised black. He had already frozen into an icy corpse.
Seeing this, Xiahou Aotian hurriedly opened his inventory, pulled out a deep-red overcoat, and draped it over Zhai Cai.
A faint dark-red glow lit up, bringing warmth. White steam rose from Zhai Cai's body, and after a dozen seconds or so, his eyes rolled slightly before his stiff expression loosened back to life.
"Hiss, hiss..." Revived, Zhai Cai rubbed his hands vigorously, his lips shivering. "So cold... It's so cold..."
Xiahou Aotian snapped irritably, "You're a Knight whose stamina and physical endurance are second only to an Earth Monster's, and you're frailer than a Scholar like me?"
An eighth-level Knight's cold resistance was actually inferior to a Scholar's!
Shrinking his neck into his collar, Zhai Cai said, "Damn it, there's something wrong with this blizzard. Just now I was thinking, *It's so cold, I might as well freeze to death,* and then I really came close to freezing to death."
Hearing that, the ring grandpa immediately transmitted a solemn mental ripple:
"You are trapped in an illusion where your thoughts become reality. The colder you feel, the more the cold will kill you. If you believe you've frozen to death, you will truly be dead."
Xiahou Aotian had a sudden realization. When he first entered the dungeon, he had felt freezing cold too—increasingly so, with the stinging sensation of cold icy rain slapping wildly against his face—especially while butting heads with Zhai Cai.
Later, his attention had been drawn away by the ring grandpa, so he hadn't focused on the cold, and consequently, his body had stopped freezing.
The sole-heir Knight, on the other hand, had been ignored and left to his own stray thoughts.
Zhai Cai quickly reined in his mind, forcing himself not to think anything related to the cold. But feeling the steady warmth radiating from the dark-red coat, he felt a flicker of doubt.
The coat Xiahou Aotian had given him was merely a Saint-level item. How could it fend off a world of ice and snow created by an Illusion God?
The moment that thought crossed his mind, thick ice formed over the coat, completely ruining it so that it could no longer give off any warmth.
*Damn it! I can't think any negative thoughts harmful to myself...* Zhai Cai reined in his mind once more, but right then, an uncontrollable thought entered his head again:
*My arm is so cold, it feels like it's going to freeze stiff!*
*Crack!*
A sound like shattering glass came from Zhai Cai's arm, and the limb hung limply inside his sleeve.
At the exact same time, a crack sounded from Xiahou Aotian's right leg.
The two shared a knowing look. In tacit understanding, no words were needed for them to realize what had happened to each other, and in even greater tacit understanding, neither mocked the other with: *Couldn't control your brain again, huh?*
As a native of the Second District, Xiahou Aotian understood a bit more than Zhai Cai. He said in a deep voice:
"This is bad. Illusionists can manipulate emotions, and our opponent is an Illusion God. Whatever he makes us think of, we'll inevitably think of! Resisting is completely futile."
"Then aren't we..." Zhai Cai forcefully swallowed the words *totally dead*.
He feared that the moment he voiced them, they would be done for on the spot.
"So the Spirit Realm matched us into this dungeon just to feed us to him?" Zhai Cai used conversation to divert his attention and keep his mind from wandering.
"How should I know? Should be, might be, probably... there'll be help, right?" Xiahou Aotian replied.
The moment those words left his mouth, a crack came from his chest and abdomen, and Zhai Cai's right leg cracked as well.
The two exchanged glances and fell into silence.
Right then, hairline red strings darted across the white snow, winding around Xiahou Aotian's and Zhai Cai's arms, legs, and torsos, binding them like bandages.
A faint golden light flared, reconnecting the frozen, shattered torsos and legs, restoring their flesh-and-blood texture.
Turning their heads, they saw a woman in a silver mask at the other end of the red strings, dense threads extending from beneath her splendid red gown.
It was none other than the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter!
Feeling vitality return to their bodies, the two breathed a sigh of relief. With a powerful healer present—
Walking across the crunching snow, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter stopped before them, her face full of disdain. "Just you two? Did the Spirit Realm drag me into this dungeon just to feed kills?"
Zhai Cai and Xiahou Aotian squinted, chiming in dryly with identical chuckles, "We'd like to know that too."
"Then why drag me along to die with you?!" the Qin Dynasty fangshi fumed.
Xiahou Aotian ignored him and analyzed, "This is clearly a multiplayer dungeon, and multiplayer dungeons have a cap of six people. Given the boss's strength level, we definitely have more teammates."
The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter thought for a moment and said, "Let's solve the immediate problem first. The illusion arises from the mind, so we can alter it ourselves."
Zhai Cai immediately proposed, "I suggest thinking in reverse: *I'm so hot, I'm so hot...*"
He repeated "I'm so hot" like an incantation.
The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter and Xiahou Aotian began silently chanting along in their minds.
A few seconds later, the boundless, pristine expanse of ice and snow abruptly changed, transforming into a golden desert. The sky was cloudless and blue, a glaring, scorching sun hung overhead, and the air was thick with blistering heat.
Zhai Cai and Xiahou Aotian felt their mouths parched and throats dry. Bean-sized beads of sweat rolled down incessantly. Within just a few seconds, heatstroke overwhelmed them, leaving them dizzy, lightheaded, and on the verge of dehydration.
Xiahou Aotian smacked his chapped lips. "Th-This doesn't seem right. We jumped from an iceberg straight into a sea of fire."
Zhai Cai stumbled. "I... I feel like I'm going to burst into flames."
And then, the desert erupted in roaring flames, turning into a veritable sea of fire.
The Holy See's sole-heir Knight spontaneously combusted.
Jiang Yu'er fumed, "What kind of useless teammates are you two?! Stop letting your minds run wild and stop blurting things out! Put out the fire, quick!"
Their skin split and flesh charred by the heat, the two hurriedly visualized the freezing ice and snow from before.
Consequently, the desert, blazing sun, and sea of fire vanished, and the snowy plains reappeared. A frigid gale carrying heavy goose-feather snowflakes and icy granules slapped wildly against their faces.
Zhai Cai and Xiahou Aotian collapsed with a thud, white steam rising from their bodies before white frost quickly coated their split, charred flesh.
Jiang Yu'er sighed, flicked her fingers, and sent two droplets of blood into the half-charred bodies to heal their burns.
"C-Cool... It's cool now..."
"Just a bit too cool..."
Xiahou Aotian and Zhai Cai wheezed weakly.
"Wait, something's wrong!" As Zhai Cai's head cooled down, he said, "We've been in this dungeon for so long, yet we never once thought of fighting back. We ran into mortal danger twice, and we didn't even use any items..."
A weathered, deep voice drifted from the distance:
"That is because your fighting will has been worn away. Without Purification, you will sink endlessly into alternating illusions until you finally perish."
The three turned their heads to see a tall, white-haired old man walking toward them, trudging through the snow with uneven steps.
The old man was corded with muscle capable of tearing tigers and leopards apart, his skin faintly golden, with a golden sun emblazoned between his brows.
Who was he? Zhai Cai didn't recognize the old fellow.
Jiang Yu'er and Xiahou Aotian, however, breathed a sigh of relief. *Now this makes sense,* they thought. If the main boss was an Illusion God, their side needed at least one Day Wanderer who countered illusion arts.
Crimson Sun Executioner was a peak Dominator under the Taiyi Sect Master, the strongest figure below the Lord of the Stars.
With him around... Just as the thought crossed their minds, the two watched a golden sun rise behind Crimson Sun Executioner's head, casting pure, clear sunlight across the snowbound land where the freezing gale howled.
Yet goose-feather snowflakes and icy granules slapped against the golden sun over and over like slaps to the face. It wobbled on the brink of collapse, failing to provide even a shred of warmth.
*Having him around doesn't seem very useful either!*
the three thought simultaneously.
Right at that moment, another golden sun rose not far away, slightly brighter than Crimson Sun Executioner's Sunrise.
The blizzard abated considerably. Only then did Jiang Yu'er and the other two feel some warmth as the chill seeped out of their bodies, their hands and feet no longer numb.
Startled, they and Crimson Sun Executioner looked toward the rising sun. A goddess in feathered robes, aloof and incomparably beautiful, stepped barefoot across the snow, gliding gracefully toward them.
Zhai Cai still didn't recognize the newcomer, but the three Dominators from the Second District instantly identified her.
The powerful woman backing Yuanshi Tianzun, his pillar of support inside the Spirit Realm!
Empress Sandao!
Why was she here?
Empress Sandao's cool yet stern eyes swept across the four, and she said, "I was teleported here by the Spirit Realm to aid you four heroes in eradicating the heavenly demon within the Dikong Formation as a native of the dungeon."
She merely stated her identity and task in brief. She didn't ask their names, didn't inquire why such a dungeon existed, and didn't mention the conflict between the Lord of the Sun and the Lord of the Stars. It was unclear whether she was simply indifferent or had known all along.
With two peak Day Wanderers, they could actually put up a fight! Jiang Yu'er and the others felt the reassurance of having completed their raid party, ready to try taking down the boss.
With the golden sun hovering above his head, Crimson Sun Executioner gazed into the desolate, snow-veiled distance and said gravely, "Even combining your strength and mine, we still cannot dispel this environment!"
Empress Sandao shifted her gaze, sweeping over Jiang Yu'er, Zhai Cai, and Xiahou Aotian, and said calmly, "You carry the aura of the Lord of the Sun!"
His fighting will and cool head restored, Xiahou Aotian had a sudden inspiration. Opening his inventory, he produced a porcelain vial. "Is it this?!"
This was the life-saving measure Yuanshi Tianzun had left them—the blood of the Lord of the Sun.
A demigod-grade consumable.
Empress Sandao nodded slightly. Raising a hand, she drew the porcelain vial into her grasp and popped the stopper. Two golden droplets of blood drifted from the narrow bottle mouth; one merged into the blazing sun above her head, while the other flew toward the blazing sun above Crimson Sun Executioner's head.
In an instant, the two golden suns erupted with dazzling brilliance. Like a pencil sketch erased by an eraser, the world of ice and snow disappeared bit by bit, laying bare the dungeon's true appearance.
A dim celestial body hung in the sky above a barren expanse of earth.
A colossal figure occupied half the sky, gazing down at the earth and speaking in overlapping, clamorous voices:
"Crimson Sun Executioner, you are the First Elder of the Taiyi Sect, and your allegiance rightfully belongs to the Lord of the Stars. In this pinnacle war of the Night Wanderer profession, the Lord of the Stars will inevitably triumph. It is not too late for you to return to the fold.
"Once the Lord of the Stars seizes the Solar Origin, you will be granted the right to leave this planet and live among civilizations beyond the heavens."
His voices were male and female, old and young, interwoven together.
Crimson Sun Executioner remained silent.
The Southern Illusion God coaxed persuasively, "Following in the footsteps of the Lord of the Stars is not a betrayal of the Orderly. We are the true Orderly. What you are doing is defending order and eradicating evil."
Chapter 1003