Ch151 Illusory Demons

Seconds ago, we were flying leisurely above an abandoned forest.

Now, the full force of my newly upgraded enchanted Azure Lightning Attack Talisman erupts meters away from my face into the chest of a Foundation Establishment Phantom.

From the pressure alone, my defensive talisman cracks and destabilizes.

The golden sword falls into my right arm, and I get ready to trigger it as a last resort option.

My preparations become unnecessary as I hear an agonizing scream, and watch as this Illusory Demon is fried from the inside out by Azure Lightning.

He had cold and calculating eyes, like this was just another simple mission, but now his grey, lifeless eyes widen in shock.

The silver club in his hand falls.

His illusory soul manifestation dissipates to mist.

The Demon’s meridians burst, his dantian shatters, and a wave of dense white souls, hardly any of them his own, flood out of the fat, burnt corpse that is pounded down into the earth below over five meters deep.

The shockwave of vibrating lightning incinerates all of the trees within 15 meters, and a deep, burnt crater is all that’s left behind.

Crackling Azure Lightning tethers to the ground and doesn’t go away. The harmony enchantment binds with the earth and rocks left behind, permanently scarring the land.

My heart pounds in my ears, and I don’t even breathe.

My full right arm is glowing gold, waiting for this Demon to move again, but he never does.

The only movement I sense is a hungry pull from deep in my sea of consciousness.

It is my Blood Soul Dagger sensing this fresh kill, wishing for me to walk closer.

I activate another enchanted defensive talisman and cautiously walk down the crater to stand on top of this corpse.

Streams of white and grey qi, soul, and subtle vibrations leave what’s left of him, flowing into the crystal dagger in my mind.

It fills up with energy, saturating its base to become a milky white hue. The over 125 perfected blood demon physiques I mirrored into it finally have something to latch onto. Stacking up physiques from my training simulations certainly is powerful, but anchoring the weapon with actual qi and wisps of this demon’s soul has just made the weight of this hidden weapon become almost twice as strong in my mind.

I reach down and pull what’s left of his flesh, silver club, and storage ring into my system storage, then run toward where I heard Lan Xin crash down before.

Sharp pressure fills the air as I witness a battle taking place in another now-burning portion of forest.

A far more lanky illusory demon battles against Lan Xin.

He constantly releases large wisps of his soul to create phantom copies of himself, and he holds a strange, long white bamboo staff.

This demon’s scan shows almost identical readings: Ye Chumiao, a 2nd level Foundation Establishment, with a late-stage Illusory Demon physique.

Lan Xin’s soul senses are nowhere near as refined as mine, and she does not have the added perception of the Illusory Demon’s concealment art either.

She’s constantly fooled by the decoys, and hit over and over by the white staff.

Dense ripples of soul attacks burst through her physique, leaving bright white and grey scars all over her flaming body.

However, her soul and mid stage spirit grade physique is steady enough to tank them.

Every time she’s hit by a decoy, it gives her an opportunity to attack the real demon.

Both of the silver blades I gave her glow bright yellow in her hands, like they’re a part of her physique.

The decoy is just a collection of soul wisps made as a disguise, but it still holds the strength of a 1st level Foundation Establishment. It is weak enough for Lan Xin to kill in a single hard slash if aimed right. Every time it’s destroyed, the real demon yells out in agony and releases more wisps of soul from deep inside its physique.

I killed the demon who attacked me before I could even see any of his special techniques. Now, I watch a soul jade around this demon’s neck pumping white mist into his physique, and can see that even the white bamboo staff in his hand is being imbued with illusory souls that are not his own.

The few deep yellow and orange gashes Lan Xin makes in this Demon’s real flesh are slowly healed when she’s occupied fighting a clone.

He is far more powerful and rich with energy than the Phantom Lord I remember facing months ago.

However, this woman is far stronger too.

Loud clangs and cracking metal echo through the hot air, as one of Lan Xin’s daggers explodes when it collides with the demon’s staff.

She spins and slashes with the other, opening the deepest yellow gash yet across his chest.

A bright white talisman explodes between them as the demon forcefully sends himself backward, and a low-grade tier 2 blast of hot qi imbued with demonic souls hits Lan Xin point-blank, sending her flying backward into a boulder nearby.

It makes her flames die down, and she coughs up blood, but still stands to her feet and raises her remaining blade.

“Qi refiners! You were nothing but qi refiners! How could our information be so wrong!” the demon yells while Lan Xin runs back toward him.

She channels a ton of flames into the one dagger left in her hand until it glows bright yellow and vibrates with invisible flames on its outer edges.

The demon tries to form another soul manifestation, but his eyes dart about and realizes he does not have enough time. He turns to run as Lan Xin throws the flaming dagger at his back.

His eyes widen in fear…. But just before impact, a hair-thin needle collides with the yellow blade.

It nudges its trajectory away, exploding into a ball of flames and only burning off one of the demon’s arms.

Lan Xin’s eyes widen next, and she freezes in place mid stride.

Tiny white dots appear all over the outside of her body, shimmering with silver light.

Dozens of thin silver needles hold her in place, unable to move and closer to finish the kill.

The injured demon lets out a laugh and collapses on the ground, groaning in relief.

“Big bro, avenge Ye Chufan…” he murmurs, and my eyes track to where he looks.

In response, I pull out my emerald swallow and let it fly around me, activating its battle mode that lasts one minute.

I activate two enchanted stone bullet talismans at once, moving straight toward the illusory demon grasping his staff on the ground.

Thin silver needles fly out from the thick forest and explode, sending dust clouds into the air.

My defensive talisman shatters, as a silver needle stops centimeters from my forehead, and another is blocked with a loud twang as my emerald swallow swoops down to block it from hitting my back.

A third hits me in the chest and explodes into metal fragments as my obsidian silk vest blocks it.

I’m still sent flying backward from the impact force and lose sight of the battlefield as dust clouds and chaotic tier 2 qi from other missed needle impacts shield my view.

All of a sudden, Lan Xin’s voice rings out.

“Let’s escape! Come on, this way!” I see her running away from the explosions, with torn robes and a look of urgency on her face.

For a split second, I pivot my feet to follow, but my stomach drops when I realize subtleties in her soul are different.

There is no sign of the instinctual sharpness that usually flares in the back of my mind, and when I look deeper, there is not even a serpent hidden in her chest.

On top of that, she was hardly at her limit. I’ve seen her lose almost all her skin, shatter every bone in her body, and battle to the point where her soul was stretched and damaged so badly she was on the verge of being a husk.

Something is wrong.

This is a perfect visual depiction of her, but I’m certain that it is not Lan Xin.

I don’t wait any longer, and trigger the weapon sitting on the edge of my sea of consciousness, ready to be released at any time.

A cracking sensation twists through me, making both my souls shake, and a ringing sound makes me deaf, but a tiny crystal dagger is summoned into existence in front of me.

It looks milky white and glows with the weight of 125 perfected Blood Demon’s crimson physiques.

The instant I lay eyes on my target and mentally confirm it, I feel the dagger break its mental link with me and explode forward with a mind of its own. I don’t even have to lift a finger.

A loud twang echoes through the air as over a dozen nearly invisible silver needles on a direct course toward me explode into metal fragments.

My eyes widen, as if I had waited even a second longer, I’d be impaled all over, paralyzed and unable to move.

It is not only me that appears in shock, the eyes staring the dagger down can’t believe it either.

They shift from the bright yellow ones of Lan Xin to a sharp grey of an illusory demon beneath the disguise.

For a fraction of a second, the blood-red aura in the air sends out a killing intent of a late stage foundation establishment cultivator.

The dagger pierces right through the chest of the fake beautiful woman, exploding this demon’s dantian and the collection of dense souls attached to it forming this mirage.

His perfected physique breaks before I can even examine it. No special life-saving talismans have time to activate; he cannot even turn to run. The flashing image of a stern old man covered in scars, wearing a black cloak, can be seen for a moment as life leaves his eyes.

His meridians burst, and the pressure from the dagger’s collision explodes all of the flesh in his body to blood mist.

A system scan flickers in my mind as he dies and disintegrates into the air.

[Automatic Inspect Function Activated…]

[Ye Chuxiang] [Age: 165]

[3rd Level Foundation Establishment]

[Earth, Metal, and Water Spiritual Root][5th Grade]

[Acquired Illusory Demon Physique][Perfected Stage - Mortal Grade]

[No Innate Physique]

[Tasked by his Patriarch of the Ye Clan to follow through with a secret investigation, to find the identity and location of Jiang Duo’s killer. The eldest Ye brother of the Chu generation has mastered the Illusory Demon’s Mortal Grade Physique. He is capable of mimicking the qi aura and visual appearance of any cultivator at just a glance; no one below the late stage of Foundation Establishment can see through his tricks. He is one of the Ye Clan’s Elite Assassins, using silver needles to paralyze opponents before they even realize they’re in his presence.]

The crystal dagger hits the ground right behind this demon, and a flood of qi and physique vibrations leak out, wasted. It completed its kill with ease; I didn’t even get to see this dagger’s full power.

My breathing grows heavy, and blood trickles from my nose. I stare on past what’s left of this demon, and tingles cover my whole body.

The real Lan Xin breaks out of the confines of the silver needles holding her back and runs forward to relentlessly let out waves of fire from her palm, covering the scared demon left on the ground.

He tightly holds onto his staff and doesn’t even try to block the waves of yellow fire.

The man’s terrified eyes stay locked on me in disbelief as the life is burned out of him.