Illusion

"You..." Xiao Yuan stared blankly at the beautiful severed head. The guilt and grief in her heart ground to a sudden halt the moment Commandery Princess Yinyao spoke. She had never seen a yin corpse that could still speak after being decapitated. Even though Yuanshi Tianzun's yin corpse was quite different from ordinary ones, this went far beyond anything she had ever known. "You're all right?" she asked, seeking confirmation. "I am not all right. But this is the Spirit Realm, so I can absorb lunar energy on my own. However, the spirit talisman formation within my body has been damaged, and I need treatment." Commandery Princess Yinyao's red lips moved, and the small megaphone in the distance projected her voice: "Repair my body with spirit talismans and materials within three shichen, and I will survive." Xiao Yuan nodded. Adrenaline surging in this desperate crisis, she forced herself to sit upright. A fierce will to live burst forth from her limp, weakened body. With great difficulty, she brought out her ceramic jar and reached inside, only to freeze. The jar was completely empty. Her Rebirth Gu were all gone. It was as though a bucket of icy water had been dumped over her, thoroughly extinguishing the survival instinct she had barely managed to kindle. The light in Xiao Yuan's eyes faded swiftly. She collapsed powerlessly, the rise and fall of her chest gradually ceasing. She was already hovering on the brink of death. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Greed Divine General—having recovered his strength—stride forward until he reached her and Yinyao's severed head, raising his long saber. On the other side, an agile serpentine form twisted through the brush, flattening grass and trees and churning up clods of earth. The bizarre, alluring Snake Woman charged into the battle, crimson light glinting in her pupils. Behind her followed Yi Chuanmei and Bai Ren Zhan. Their objective was crystal clear: Commandery Princess Yinyao and Xiao Yuan. Strike the enemy at their weakest—kill the two of them first, then slowly whittle away the official faction's young scions. Clang! A narrow-bladed saber wrapped in viscous yellow light came spinning through the air, crashing violently against the blood-colored blade. Sparks flew. The flying saber was extraordinarily heavy; Greed Divine General stumbled backward, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger tearing open. Boom! The narrow-bladed saber crashed into the ground not far from Xiao Yuan and Commandery Princess Yinyao, gouging out an enormous crater and showering them with a downpour of flying gravel. Across another part of the battlefield, a thunderous roar boomed: "Get lost!" Immediately after came the explosion of a wave of flames. Jiang Ju, the Fire Scion, was like a rocket booster, intense crimson fire blazing fiercely from all around him. He charged toward the three assailants sweeping in from the hillside. His left foot stomped forward with a heavy thud, and his right fist pulled back, his fiery-red fingerless gauntlet blazing as brilliant as the sun as he punched outward. In an instant, a sea of fire materialized out of thin air, crashing toward Snake Woman and her two companions. A blinding brilliance and terrifying heat swept across the area. The lush greenery was carbonized in a flash, while the sand and rocks twisted, melted, and turned into dark-red lava. The pupils of Yi Chuanmei, Snake Woman, and Bai Ren Zhan shrank. In a frantic scramble to evade, they pulled out every defensive prop in their inventories to weather this terrifying conflagration. Screens of cyan, yellow, and black light flared up, only to shatter one after another. The flames engulfed all three. Yi Chuanmei and her companions let out bloodcurdling shrieks, as though living people had been thrown straight into an incinerator. The piercing agony and despair were laid bare in their screams. The three rolled about in the sea of fire, wailing as scales cracked and flesh melted away. In a single exchange, they had suffered horrific injuries. As one of the few official Saints who stood as equals with Fu Qingyang, Jiang Ju was just that terrifying when unleashing his full power. Yet after throwing that punch, Jiang Ju's aura rapidly waned. His flaming fist was not a skill; it was purely the eruptive release of compressed fire-spirit power. Simple, violent, and devoid of finesse, it relied entirely on brute force. While the Fire Scion held off three evil-faction classes with sheer, reckless might, Huang Taiji abandoned his refining process and rushed before Xiao Yuan and Commandery Princess Yinyao, tossing his last vial of Life Source Fluid to Xiao Yuan. Then, with a stomp of his foot, earthen walls swiftly rose and merged into a mound. Commandery Princess Yinyao's headless body in the distance was likewise enclosed in a small earthen mound. Greed Divine General watched coldly, chuckling. "Your orthodox faction's moral bottom line really is a weakness that never fails. Giving up your Mountain God skill is tantamount to crippling yourself." He glanced over at his three charred companions in the distance and laughed. "Come over here. Don't let Jiang Ju slaughter you. Heh, our hunting hour has arrived." With that, he inhaled deeply, his chest expanding, and blew out a vast, dense fog with a loud whoosh. Like a tidal wave, it surged in all directions, blanketing an area dozens of li around. "Methodical and unhurried. It seems you planned this out before making your move," Huang Taiji said, his brow deeply furrowed. Whether an enemy was in a hurry was his benchmark for gauging their hidden cards. The less rushed an enemy was, the more dangerous they were. And the more panicked an ally was, the less reliable they proved. Mist was the core ability of a Mist Lord. For Greed Divine General to hold it back until now showed that everything so far had gone according to their plan. Whoosh! Whoosh! Just then, the shrill whistle of wind rang out. The thick, viscous fog violently shuddered and rolled upward all at once, exposing the silhouettes of Greed Divine General and his allies. Yet in the very next second, an even greater wave of dense fog surged in, filling the void. "No good. The fog covers too large an area to blow away. We need a Rain Master to deal with this." Jiang Ju clamped a black iron whistle between his lips and took advantage of that brief moment of clear vision to rush over and regroup with Huang Taiji. *Can't blow it away...* Huang Taiji frowned and asked in a low voice, "How many vials of Life Source Fluid do you have left?" Keeping a vigilant watch on the churning fog around them, Jiang Ju replied, "Two. What about you?" "I brought three, but they're all gone," Huang Taiji said slowly. "Two went to Yuanshi Tianzun, and one went to his flirtatious friend. "Yi Chuanmei and the others were burned by you, so they'll need some time to recover. We have to seize this brief window to find a way to turn this around, or we'll be in serious trouble. In dense fog, you won't stand a chance against Greed Divine General." Aside from Greed Divine General, who could move without a trace inside the fog, there were two powerful supports: a Dream Master and a Spirit Medium. Jiang Ju's brow furrowed tightly. "You gave away all three vials of Life Source Fluid? You bleeding-heart idiot... Bullshit! How could I possibly lose to Greed Divine General? Why waste time thinking up a plan? Just fight him head-on! I still have my self-destruction move left!" "Self-destruction is a mutually assured destruction move. Don't use it casually..." A deep sense of helplessness welled up inside Huang Taiji. "Can't you use your brain for once?" "...There's another way. If that turtle bastard Cai Longshen helps us, we might have a shot," Jiang Ju said. Huang Taiji shook his head. "It's not like you just met him yesterday." Cai Longshen had a gloomy disposition—selfish, cold, and utterly merciless. He was as fickle and unfeeling as water. Such a temperament was not uncommon among water demons. If the wind were at their backs, he might show his face. But in a losing battle, expecting him to risk his life was out of the question. Right now, the tide was heavily against them. He was most likely hiding inside the Sword Pavilion waiting for an opportunity, letting Huang Taiji and Jiang Ju serve as cannon fodder while he bided his time. After all, neither Huang Taiji nor Jiang Ju had reached their absolute limits yet. "Stop wasting words, both of you! Take Yuanshi Tianzun into the manor!" Xiao Yuan's voice called out from inside the earthen mound. "Complete the main quest and take control of a sword array. That's our only chance to turn the tables!" "Great idea!" Jiang Ju's eyes lit up. He immediately took out the black iron whistle and blew into it with a shrill blast. A gale whipped up out of nowhere, parting the thick fog and revealing the earthen coffin in the distance. "They're circling at a distance. It's safe..." Huang Taiji sensed the ground, pinpointing the enemies' positions within the dense fog through the feedback of the earth spirits. Jiang Ju injected half a vial of Life Source Fluid into his arm, reinvigorating his cells and regaining a good measure of stamina. The two dashed toward the earthen coffin together. Jiang Ju suddenly paused and glanced back at the mound. "What about the two of you?" Xiao Yuan's voice came from inside: "My injuries are nearly healed. If you take the coffin, you'll draw their fire, which makes me safer." "Huh, who knew a Spirit Medium could be so smart?" Jiang Ju praised her with delight. Wasting no more time, he followed Huang Taiji toward the coffin. Huang Taiji's palms glowed with yellow light as he pressed them against both sides of the Nine Dragons Glazed Cover and gave a gentle lift. The massive glazed cover rose from the ground, shrank rapidly, and was retrieved by Huang Taiji. Then, hoisting the earthen coffin onto his shoulder, he strode with heavy steps toward the Mountain God Manor. As he walked, immense gravity enveloped the area dozens of meters around him. Layer upon layer of stone armor coated his body and the coffin, providing airtight protection. Meanwhile, Jiang Ju flanked him, keeping watch and ready to strike down any enemy who dared seize the coffin. Thud, thud, thud. Huang Taiji marched forward with heavy strides, soon arriving at the foot of the manor. Throughout the journey, his senses told him that Greed Divine General and the others were pacing them slowly, watching for an opening, yet never making a move. Whoosh— With the whistle in his mouth, Jiang Ju blew away the dense fog, revealing a flight of cracked stone steps. Overjoyed, he cried, "Go up! Once we're up there, the main quest is complete!" Huang Taiji took a step forward and set foot on the stone stairs. His expression suddenly shifted. "There's no Spirit Realm notification..." Right at that moment, the sound of the earthen mound bursting open echoed from behind, followed by Xiao Yuan's bewildered, terrified voice: "Where did you two go?! Why aren't you guarding the coffin?!" Having healed her injuries, she had emerged to assist her allies, only to find that Jiang Ju and Huang Taiji had abandoned the coffin and vanished. As Xiao Yuan's voice rang out, something seemed to burst like a punctured bubble. Jiang Ju and Huang Taiji looked up—where was there any coffin on his shoulder? They had fallen under an illusion. Shrouded by the dense fog, they had succumbed to an illusion without realizing it, lured away from what they were meant to protect. *The coffin!!* Flames erupted from Jiang Ju's body, transforming him into a streak of blazing light as he bolted back, clamping the black iron whistle in his teeth and blowing with all his might. Whoosh! Whoosh! The gale parted the dense fog, sweeping it to both sides as he charged through. Ahead, he saw the coffin holding Yuanshi Tianzun resting quietly where it had been left. And standing over it, Greed Divine General and Bai Ren Zhan raised their long sabers high, slashing down with all their might.