Chapter 134 - The Strange Illusory Realm (2)

Past the entrance and exit of the academy, several winding stone stairways came into view. One led up the mountain, one led down, and three stretched forward into the distance.

The stone steps disappeared into the lush forest. Sunlight filtered through the treetops and scattered in bright patches across the ground. Cicadas and birds called endlessly in the summer air, and the unique earthy fragrance of the mountain woods drifted all around them. The paths curved away into quiet, hidden depths.

Xu Yuan chose one of the forward paths and walked on, while Tian Yan followed silently behind him.

A heavy, oppressive silence slowly spread between them.

In the end, the two stopped beside a mountain stream filled with birdsong and the scent of flowers.

Green grass grew thickly along both banks of the stream, and a pavilion stood quietly in a clearing ringed by trees.

Xu Yuan stopped and pointed at the pavilion, signaling that they would rest there.

Inside the pavilion were stone tables and stone chairs. The mountain breeze swept through, lifting strands of their long hair.

Xu Yuan sat down on a stone chair and said nothing. He simply stared at Tian Yan.

Under his gaze, after a moment, Tian Yan took the initiative and said in a low voice, “The reason these disciples can call me by name should be because, when I was forcibly dragged into this illusion, my Heaven Deriving Art tore away part of the illusion’s soul intent.”

“What does that mean?”

“You don’t even know that?”

“Cut the nonsense.”

Tian Yan pursed her lips. She did not hide anything on this matter and said softly, “Simply put, because of the Heaven Derivation Art, my soul intent can resist most soul-bewitching illusions in the world.”

Hearing this, a thoughtful look appeared in Xu Yuan’s eyes. He remembered how Tian Yan had strolled through that Soul Bewitching Corridor earlier as if she were taking a casual walk, finding the exit with effortless ease.

Tian Yan seemed to guess what he was thinking. Her eyes curved into a smile.

“An illusion that bewilders the soul works through a process. Take this self-forgetting illusion we’re in right now. The first step of dragging someone into the illusion is to temporarily erase their independent awareness. Only then can it stuff them into a certain identity inside the illusion without them realizing it, leaving them to sink deeper and deeper forever.

“But my soul intent lets me stay conscious the whole time, so from the very first step, I was already trying to break free. In the end, I failed, but I still damaged part of the illusion. My current identity and condition are probably the result of that mad woman forcibly patching over the damaged section.”

Xu Yuan listened carefully and suppressed the thoughts churning in his heart. The Heaven Deriving Art was this terrifying? It could even resist an illusion created by the Beguiling Divine Sakura?

He drew in a slight breath and asked softly, “What part of the illusion did you damage?”

Tian Yan tilted her head back, pressed her lips together, and gave him a playful smile. “Probably this identity I’m wearing now. I think she was called Wang Yuchu. At first, I thought that if I destroyed this identity, I’d be able to condense my original strength inside the illusion. Unfortunately, I failed.”

Xu Yuan quietly listened until she finished, then asked the question he cared about most. “All right. Then why are the people in this illusion reacting to what we do?”

Tian Yan shook her little head and said in a low voice, “I don’t know. This illusion has already gone beyond what I understand. It’s like this place has formed a world of its own. Under normal logic, no one’s soul power should be able to sustain such an enormous cost.”

Everything in this world had its own underlying rules. It was not the sort of place where you could clap your hands and shout something into existence.

After a moment of thought, Xu Yuan reminded her, “This is an illusion created by the Beguiling Divine Sakura.”

“Huh?” Tian Yan was clearly stunned. “The Beguiling Divine Sakura couldn’t possibly have a tree spirit.”

From ancient times to the present, this kind of divine tree had always been strictly monitored by sects. Even when it was used to refine spiritual creatures, they would never allow it to develop independent awareness.

Xu Yuan was stunned too. He had thought Tian Yan already knew about this.

“You fought her for so long earlier, and you didn’t know that red-dressed woman was the Beguiling Divine Sakura?”

Tian Yan fell silent. An illusion created by the Beguiling Divine Sakura. In that case, no wonder that mad woman, despite being only a soul body, could use a Dao field. No wonder she could trigger the Beguiling Sakura Flower inside Tian Yan’s body at the final moment.

Thinking of this, Tian Yan suddenly raised her eyes toward Xu Yuan and clenched her little fists. “Xu Changtian, you knew that woman was the Beguiling Divine Sakura tree spirit, and you still fed me the Beguiling Sakura Flower?”

Their eyes met for one second.

Xu Yuan looked slightly awkward. He gave a light cough. “Ahem. Wasn’t she insane at the time? Who knew she’d suddenly regain her clarity right at the end?”

After saying this, Xu Yuan dragged the topic straight back on track. “This illusion of the Beguiling Divine Sakura, do you have any way to get out?”

Tian Yan’s chest rose and fell for a while. After thinking it over, she calmed herself and said, “If this is an illusion created by the Beguiling Divine Sakura, then I really don’t know how to leave for now. There are no records of it.”

Xu Yuan frowned. “So in other words, our cooperation ends here?”

The foundation of their entire cooperation rested on one premise, that Tian Yan could get him out.

Yet Tian Yan did not waver much. She merely said, “Actually, you should be glad you didn’t manage to kill me in that hall just now. The people in this illusory world react to our actions. If you killed me, naturally, it would draw their attention too. I think the relationship between us should be adjusted a little.”

As she spoke, Tian Yan gave him a dazzling smile. “After all, I’m your childhood sweetheart now, Jing He.”

Xu Yuan stared at Tian Yan, his gaze flickering.

Tian Yan simply smiled back at him.

Sunlight poured down along the upturned eaves of the pavilion, falling across her fair skin. She looked beautiful.

After several quiet breaths, Xu Yuan suddenly laughed softly.

The moment Tian Yan saw that smile, unease inexplicably rose in her heart.

“Tian Yan, do you know something?” Xu Yuan looked at her with a smiling gaze. “When you incited Ran Qingmo to kidnap me, she taught me something along the way. Do you want to know what it was?”

Tian Yan subtly shrank back. “I don’t want to know. We should still...”

“No. I think you do.” Xu Yuan shook his head. Source qi surged from his raised hand, and the girl opposite him was pulled through the air straight into his grasp. He looked into her eyes. “Not being able to kill you doesn’t mean I can’t touch you. We’re childhood sweethearts now, and this is the Splendorbloom Sect, a place practically soaked in romance and moonlit affairs. Heh.”

As he spoke, he gently wrapped an arm around the girl’s soft, boneless waist.

The instant their bodies touched, patches of crimson immediately bloomed across Tian Yan’s fair cheeks.

Because of the Beguiling Sakura Flower and the bewitching soul poison, even with the Heaven character mantra and the Soul chapter of the Heaven Deriving Art suppressing the effects, she was still teetering on the edge, ready to ignite at the slightest spark.

Tian Yan’s eyes, however, remained clear. “Xu Changtian, I advise you not to do this.”

Xu Yuan did not answer. He simply lifted the red-robed girl onto his lap and let her sit there, then asked casually, “Tian Yan, before you came looking for me, did you not investigate what I used to be like?”

Tian Yan’s golden pupils shrank slightly. She suddenly remembered that the man in front of her was a first-rate lecherous fiend. Her heart trembled faintly.

Her voice remained cool, but her words began to come faster and faster. “You...let go of me. I only don’t know how to leave this illusion for the time being. As long as it’s an illusion, it must have a source. Once we find that source, I’ll have a way to break out.”

“Heh.” Xu Yuan chuckled and did not humiliate her further. He set Tian Yan, whose little face had gone red, back down. “This is the last time. Now, let’s talk about tonight’s gathering.”