“Yang Zanxing!” Gu Baiying was both shocked and furious.
“Too late.” The Mirage Woman looked at the fallen Zanxing and smiled slightly, “This is ‘Mirror Shadow,’ which can see into the deepest fears of a person’s heart and weave illusions based on them.” She nudged the motionless Zanxing with her toe. “Little Immortal, do you know? Sometimes, living in fear is actually more terrifying than death.”
*
The surroundings turned into a desert.
The sun was directly overhead, tirelessly scorching the earth. The desert was nothing but golden; after looking at it for a while, even the sky seemed to take on the desolate color of sand.
A rustling sound came from beside her ear.
Zanxing suddenly opened her eyes and saw red snakes continuously emerging from all directions. These small dragons were entirely blood-red, with scales so smooth that they resembled shattered mirrors, reflecting human faces clearly.
Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t an illusion. Each of those mirror-like bright scales trapped a twisted human face. The faces struggled, eyes filled with fear, as if the people trapped within were enduring immense suffering.
Zanxing’s heart skipped a beat. The next moment, the blood-red snakes seemed to sense someone and suddenly raised their heads, staring at her in unison. Being stared at by those cold vertical pupils, Zanxing felt a chill down her spine, and an uncomfortable feeling immediately surged in her heart.
Sensing danger by instinct, she was about to turn around, but as soon as she did, she found that the red snakes had already crowded behind her at some unknown time. They surrounded her and slowly approached.
If they caught her, if they caught her… a thought arose in Zanxing’s mind: she would be trapped here forever, just like the faces in those scales!
She wanted to run, but the moment the thought appeared, her feet felt rooted to the ground. No matter how hard Zanxing tried, she couldn’t move an inch. Her Panhua staff had vanished at some unknown time, and with her body unable to move, Zanxing could only watch helplessly as the blood-red snakes approached.
She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but as the distance between them closed, the cold, vertical pupils of the blood-red snakes seemed to show a hint of human emotion. Zanxing could even see greed and excitement in their eyes. The hissing of their tongues filled the air, causing her heart to race.
The first blood-red snake had reached her feet, raising half its body as if preparing to climb up her leg.
Zanxing closed her eyes.
Suddenly, a sharp screech sounded by her ear. Zanxing looked down to see the blood-red snake flung away, landing far off and splitting into two halves.
Zanxing was stunned.
The swarming snakes halted simultaneously, and the desert fell so silent that one could hear a pin drop.
In the stone chamber, the Mirage Woman uttered a surprised “Oh?”
A sudden burst of light erupted from the woman lying on the ground. With a whoosh, a thin, thread-like blood-red snake was forcefully ejected, as if it had hit something invisible, falling to the ground and twitching a few times before lying still.
The Mirage Woman was shocked. “You…”
Zanxing opened her eyes.
Gu Baiying was taken aback.
Zanxing was also filled with surprise and doubt. In the previous illusion, when the blood-red snakes surged towards her, the Xiao Yuan Pearl on her body suddenly vibrated intensely. The light shield emitted from the Xiao Yuan Pearl enveloped her, causing any blood-red snake that touched it to dissipate into smoke and vanish.
This pearl… was protecting her.
The Mirage Woman grabbed Zanxing by her collar, her suspicious gaze roaming over Zanxing’s face, her tone dark and terrifying. “A woman who has lost her spiritual power and is merely at the Golden Core stage can actually withstand my ‘Mirror Shadow.’ What kind of trickery do you have…?” Suddenly, she seemed to think of something, her expression turning excited. “Could it be that you have some kind of spiritual treasure on you?”
“If there was a spiritual treasure, you would have found it from the start,” Gu Baiying glared at the Mirage Woman, struggling to stand. “Stop wasting your effort and let her go.”
“Shh,” the Mirage Woman pointed her snake staff at Gu Baiying, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood. She spoke slowly, “Don’t be in a hurry, little immortal. Your meridians are about to burst, and it will be your turn soon.” She then looked back at Zanxing. “Although this wretch seems to have no spiritual treasure on her, there must be something unusual within her body. Otherwise, my illusions would not be ineffective. I need to cut open her internal organs to see what’s really going on…”
With that, her tone suddenly turned vicious. Her fingertips, now transformed into sharp blades, moving towards Zanxing’s neck—
“Junior Sister!”
“Martial Uncle!”
A golden axe flew towards the Mirage Woman, forcing her to release Zanxing and dodge to the side. The Qiankun Axe fell to the ground, no longer possessing its usual dazzling light, appearing like an ordinary golden axe.
Tian Fangfang ran over to Zanxing, helping her up from the ground, and asked, “Are you alright, Junior Sister?”
Zanxing shook her head.
Men Dong ran to Gu Baiying’s side, while Meng Ying and Mu Cengxiao drew their swords, aiming them at the Mirage Woman. Mu Cengxiao angrily shouted, “Demoness, surrender now!”
The Mirage Woman blinked and said, “What a surprise, it seems today’s prey is more interesting than usual. What,” she sneered at the two in front of her, “are you also a pair of lovers whose bond is stronger than gold?”
Without a word, Meng Ying drew her sword and charged at her. “No need to talk.”
The black Moon Soul was usually so sharp that it could cut the finest hair with precision, and Meng Ying’s swordsmanship was among the best in the Taiyan Sect. But today, she couldn’t get close to the Mirage Woman. Mu Cengxiao wanted to join the fight, but as soon as he unsheathed his God-Slaying Sword, it turned into golden quicksand, slipping through his fingers and leaving nothing behind.
Looking around, it was the same for everyone. The spiritual weapons in their hands had turned to sand, the stone tiles beneath their feet had become a desert, and everything returned to nothingness, like a mirage pierced, leaving only desolation.
“What is happening?” Men Dong, unable to avoid it, found half his body trapped in the quicksand and shouted in panic.
The Mirage Woman smiled sweetly and spoke in a gentle tone, “I already told you, this is my illusion. Even if you break it once, I can immediately weave a new one. You will never get out.”
“Stop joking,” Gu Baiying coldly stared at her. “There’s no such thing as an unbreakable illusion, as long as you destroy the rules within it.”
“Rules?” Zanxing looked at him. “What are those?”
“When a great demon weaves an illusion, they lure people into it. Once someone accepts the ‘objects’ within the illusion, they become bound by its rules. For example, in this illusion, the weaver has set the rule that all spiritual power disappears. Once we enter, our spiritual power cannot be restored.” He paused, then continued, “But if we can find the source of the illusion and destroy the true illusion, all the rules will disappear automatically, and our spiritual power will be unbound.”
“As expected of a disciple from a great sect, you figured it out so quickly,” the Mirage Woman said with a smile. “You’re absolutely right.”
“Source?” Zanxing was puzzled. “By source, do you mean Douniang?”
Xu Douniang… from the start, they entered Wufan City because they encountered Douniang. It was also due to Douniang’s reunion with Tian Fangfang that they drank the Xu family’s water and accepted the ‘rules’ of this place.
“Douniang…” Tian Fangfang was stunned.
The Mirage Woman gave a sly smile. “I almost forgot, there’s one more person.”
In an instant, the wind and sand stirred up, and the sand gradually gathered in one direction, slowly forming the silhouettes of two people: Xu Fu and Xu Douniang.
When the two of them suddenly appeared in this place, they were startled by the scene around them. Douniang let out an “Ah!” and Xu Fu quickly protected her in his arms. This honest man looked at everyone with some fear and confusion and spoke, “Immortal lords, this…”
“Do you see?” The Mirage Woman’s slender fingers traced her lips as she glanced dismissively at the father and daughter. “You guessed correctly. This is Xu Douniang’s illusion. If you break Xu Douniang’s illusion, you will regain your spiritual power.”
“Break the illusion?” Tian Fangfang was puzzled. “What does that mean? How do we break it?”
The demoness, her face as beautiful as a flower, spoke coldly, “Kill her father, and the illusion will naturally shatter.”
Douniang was shocked, trembling all over, and looked anxiously at Tian Fangfang. “Brother Tian, what does she mean? Why does she want to kill my father? What is this illusion?”
“All of Xu Douniang’s obsessions stem from her father. If you kill Xu Fu, the eye of the illusion will break, and all the rules will be nullified,” the Mirage Woman said with a smile.
After a moment of silence, Zanxing asked, “If we kill him, what will happen to Douniang?”
“Everything in the illusion is as real as the world to the illusion’s creator. The longer you stay in the illusion, the deeper you become immersed. If you kill her father and shatter her illusion, she will naturally be in unbearable pain, forever trapped in her sorrow. Some people who are lost in Wufan City’s illusion were lured in by me, but others chose to immerse themselves in it. Xu Douniang is the latter.” The Mirage Woman smiled. “Truth be told, this little girl has long since died. If you break her illusion, you will at least regain some of your spiritual power, giving you a chance to fight me.”
The Mirage Woman looked at Gu Baiying with interest. “Trading an eternally suffering soul for your survival is a deal that benefits you. Little Immortal, what will you choose?”
Zanxing’s heart shook as she saw Xu Douniang, surrounded by everyone’s gazes, cowering in Xu Fu’s arms, trembling and tightly holding Xu Fu’s hand. The old man held her head protectively while comforting her, “Don’t be afraid, Douniang, don’t be afraid.”
Zanxing’s gaze grew cold.
This was Xu Douniang’s illusion. This little girl, who had been sold by her father to pay off gambling debts, had immersed herself in a beautiful illusion in Wufan City, entangled by the illusion of familial love, forever lost there. Xu Fu was her imagined father—kind, gentle, and never abandoning her. Killing Xu Fu and destroying her illusion meant destroying her hope.
Dreams should eventually end, but not here, and not in this way.
As she was about to speak, Gu Baiying sneered. “Is bullying the powerless your way of making deals?”
“You fake, listen carefully,” he said coldly. “Disciples of our sect never survive by bullying the weak.”