Clutching two invitation letters as they stepped into the ruins, Su Yunyu silently congratulated himself for having slaughtered those three hundred Nightmares earlier; otherwise, they genuinely wouldn’t have met the requirement of two thousand.
This Immortal-Demon ruin was an opportunity-filled domain left behind in the wake of the ancient Immortal-Demon War. Managed directly by Tianji Pavilion, it opened only at irregular intervals.
As for the Nine-Heads Spiritual Rhinoceros Grass, in the original novel, it was something the Dragon-Heaven protagonist had stumbled upon purely by virtue of his protagonist halo.
Consequently, the narrative provided zero specific details regarding its exact location.
Standing amidst this expanse of shifting clouds and flowing historical traces, Su Yunyu hesitated for barely a single second before deciding to nudge Xiao Shuying:
“Where do you think we should head next?”
Leveraging the Dragon-Heaven protagonist’s golden-finger luck was entirely reasonable.
Presumably, the Will of Heaven wouldn’t allow the protagonist to select a perilous path.
Meanwhile, gazing at the landscape that was both intimately familiar and somewhat distant, Xiao Shuying recalled the events of his first life:
Back when he entered this mystic realm, Xiao Qingran had secured the invitation letters and was forced to bring him along to maintain a facade of harmonious fellowship, though she constantly plotted to murder him within the confines of the realm.
At that time, while managing to parry Xiao Qingran’s continuous traps, he had desperately sought out rare encounters and spiritual herbs. During an episode where he fell victim to a Mirror Demon’s illusion, it was a sudden, inexplicable stabbing pain that shocked him back to awareness.
Immediately afterward, he had reached a fork in the road: the left path featured a small pile of stacked pebbles, and driven by suspicion, he chose the alternate route, inadvertently stumbling straight upon the divine grass.
His fortune had been freakishly exceptional and this wasn’t an isolated occurrence, whether back in the Xiao estate or up at the Tianxuan Sect.
Though Xiao Shuying hadn’t forgotten the precise direction where the divine grass lay, he hesitated…
If he guided Su Yunyu directly to it without missing a beat, wouldn’t that merely invite unnecessary trouble for himself?
After all, Su Yunyu harbored overt covetous desires toward the Spirit of the Three Realms; the moment he learned that he was standing in the presence of that supreme, supreme-luck-bearing entity.
At that thought, Xiao Shuying’s gaze darkened, and a plan crystallized in his mind.
Pointing his finger outward, he declared: “Let’s head this way.”
This path led to a coordinate that deliberately brushed right past the divine grass, missing it entirely.
As for what perils awaited along the way, Su Yunyu had no need to know.
Strolling along this route, they advanced until they reached the edge of a dilapidated, decaying pavilion. The surrounding grass was sparse, the stone platform overgrown and desolate, scattered with broken tiles and fragments, an eerie, gloomy landscape.
It appeared entirely ordinary, yet the moment they stepped inside, the atmospheric rhythm subtly shifted, as though the scenery itself was undergoing a phantom metamorphosis under hidden currents.
Just as Su Yunyu began scanning the area for any sign of the divine grass, he heard Xiao Shuying call out in a soft, ethereal tone from ahead:
“Master…”
“What is it?” he lazily responded. Before he could turn his head toward the voice, the sharp hiss of a sword clearing its scabbard pierced the air, and a searing, agonizing pain violently tore through his chest.
He blinked, his vision blurring in bewildered confusion as a wave of excruciating agony rippled outward from his heart, shaking his entire frame. Looking downward, he saw the sharp tip of a blade plunged deep into his chest.
Following the hilt upward, he was met with the visage of Xiao Shuying, whose eyes were completely devoid of warmth, locked in a dark, brooding glare as he gritted out:
“You are not my master!”
“Xiao Shuying, what has gotten into you?!”
Su Yunyu’s heart skipped a beat as he demanded an explanation with sharp, tense severity, momentarily terrified that the Dragon-Heaven protagonist might have somehow recovered memories of his past life and decided to run him through.
Yet Xiao Shuying remained entirely silent, shoving the blade fractionally deeper into his chest.
Paleness draining the color from Su Yunyu’s face, the lack of verbal response finally tipped him off that something was profoundly wrong.
Xiao Shuying would never act this irrationally, nor would he casually drive a sword through his chest without provocation.
Where, exactly, did things go wrong?
Summoning the Xuehua Sword, Su Yunyu slashed outward to deflect the blade piercing his heart. Instead of relenting, “Xiao Shuying” raised his sword for a ferocious follow-up strike.
Amidst the ringing clash of steel, Su Yunyu finally identified the anomaly: the entity before him was not the real Xiao Shuying; it possessed a bizarre, slippery elusiveness comparable to a phantom shadow.
Since his tier as the number one cultivator in the world was hardly a decorative title, the more elusive the “Xiao Shuying” grew, the more fiercely Su Yunyu unleashed his sword intent, weaving a dense, inescapable web of kinetic energy that filled every conceivable gap around them.
Crack. Like shattering glass, the surrounding scenery fractured into a million splintered shards, instantly reassembling into an entirely different, superimposed vision.
Clatter. The Xuehua Sword slipped from his grip and fell directly to the ground. Staring at the reality unfolding before him, Su Yunyu froze in utter stupefaction…
Observing Su Yunyu standing motionlessly like a statue, his gaze floating vacantly with zero response to external calls, Xiao Shuying knew the man had officially fallen into the illusion.
For anyone possessing weak cultivation, this illusion could easily prove fatal, trapping them indefinitely. Yet Xiao Shuying was well aware that the trap could not physically destroy Su Yunyu, even though the pain experienced within the hallucination remained painfully real.
He had deliberately guided them down this route, and Su Yunyu’s current entrapment unfolded precisely as anticipated. If calculations held true…
The next instant, a microscopic rustle brushed against his ears, accompanied by a subtle shift in the localized magnetic field. His eyes narrowing sharply, Xiao Shuying braced himself as the hallucination initiated its sequence.
Consciousness blurred under a wave of intrusive mental intrusion, wiping away his recognition of the illusion. When Xiao Shuying’s vision cleared to register his surroundings once more, he found himself standing inside an inn chamber.
This is.
His gaze locked in sharp focus. Before he could process the shift, the ambient sound of trickling water drifted to his ears.
Wait, this scene feels uncomfortably familiar.
Before he could investigate the source, the splashing subsided, replaced by light, unhurried footsteps. Shifting his gaze sideways with casual indifference, his initial nonchalance instantly shattered into profound astonishment.
Beneath the hazy veil of nocturnal mist, a slender, graceful figure moved with flowing wrist motions. Su Yunyu, whose natural visage was already breathtakingly striking, was bathed in an apricot-pink blush stirred by lingering steam, draped loosely in nothing more than a gossamer outer robe.
Xiao Shuying froze for a full second, complex emotions rippling across his eyes. Averting his gaze, he offered a cautious probe:
“Master?”
No verbal reply was forthcoming; there was only the damp, humid mist carried over from a freshly taken bath, accompanied by the slow, deliberate rhythm of approaching footsteps. As Xiao Shuying attempted to retreat a few paces, Su Yunyu had already closed the distance entirely.
Even with his gaze purposefully averted, his lowered peripheral vision couldn’t avoid catching sight of a pair of unclad, bare jade feet standing firmly upon the wooden floorboards, glistening with droplets of water that slowly rolled down the skin.
Skin as pale and delicate as petal-pink porcelain, beaded with crystal-clear moisture that dripped downward to pool into a small, damp puddle of light upon the floor.
A wave of agitation and restless heat spiked through Xiao Shuying. Just as the syllable “Mas–“ escaped his lips, a pair of arms suddenly looped around his neck,
Su Yunyu had pulled himself flush against his chest, leaning his head close while one hand gently traced the contours of his cheek, breathing a cool, orchid-like fragrance across his skin:
“Do you find me, beautiful?”
Despite the intimately familiar scent of musk and orchid wafting through the air, Xiao Shuying’s eyes turned frosty cold. A sarcastic, derisive curve touched his lips as he shoved the man away with violent force, snarling:
“Get away from me! Do you honestly believe you can mimic him?”
Just as he whipped out his blade to strike, “Su Yunyu” shifted tone entirely:
“You know, I’ve wanted to kill you for a very long time.”
The previous overflowing tenderness and seductive allure vanished in an instant, replaced by an aloof, pristine, unyielding ruthlessness:
“Why do you think I treated you with such kindness? Naturally, it was all a prelude to murdering you.”
This tone, this chilling indifference, steadily fused with the loathsome, hateful phantom of the primary antagonist from his first lifetime.
Staring unblinkingly without a single flicker of hesitation, his fingers clamped so tightly around his sword hilt that the pressure dug deep grooves into his palms, Xiao Shuying felt a turbulent, suffocating wave of malice surge overwhelmingly through his chest, prompting him to grit his teeth and demand:
“So, you intended to kill me all along?!”
At that moment, his consciousness spiraled into chaotic, obsessive paranoia. Even though he had rationally deduced moments prior that the figure before him was merely an illusion, he remained thoroughly ensnared by the emotional turbulence engineered by the trap.
Bursting into a sharp, piercing laugh that grew steadily louder and more unhinged, carrying an undertone of chilling mania, his once clear and tranquil eyes flashed with a dark, consuming fury as he roared aloud:
“As expected! So the truth really was this!”
“So, in the end.” Xiao Shuying lifted his bloodshot eyes, glaring directly at the apparition before him as he let out a jagged, furious scream:
“In the end, you still intend to murder me!”
Triggered by that fierce, uncontrolled outburst of raw hostility, the illusionary figure abruptly began to flicker and dissolve, while the ambient trap shrieked in absolute terror:
Ahhhhh, such terrifying spiritual pressure!
Amidst snapping wood and shattering glass, the sound of a mirror splintering into a thousand jagged pieces, the illusionary domain vanished in a blinding flash of light, instantly restoring the landscape to its pristine reality:
A ruined ancient pavilion, sparse overgrown grass, a tranquil azure sky overhead, completely purged of any lingering gloom.
“Hiss,” Xiao Shuying hissed, bringing a hand up to steady his throbbing temples. The violent turbulence within his consciousness, paired with the sudden reflux of his spiritual power, left his meridians aching fiercely now that the illusion had shattered.
With the trap broken, normalcy returned, leaving Xiao Shuying genuinely bewildered as to why he had reacted with such disproportionate rage.
He had always been fully aware that Su Yunyu intended to kill him; why on earth had an illusionary simulation of that reality triggered such an explosive loss of control?
Just as he stood frowning in deep contemplation, the sound of teeth chattering nervously echoed from nearby, as though someone was cowering in terror behind the scenes. Fixing his gaze, Xiao Shuying looked toward Su Yunyu.
Splendid, the man was still trapped inside his own illusion.
Who knew what grotesque or distressing visions the poor soul was currently enduring to remain stuck for so long.
However, resolving that matter could wait. Turning his attention toward the empty air, Xiao Shuying spoke in a soft, lethal cadence:
“Show yourself, Mirror Demon.”
As the words fell, the chattering noise intensified, though no entity dared materialize.
A cold smirk crossed Xiao Shuying’s lips: “If you don’t reveal yourself within three seconds, I’ll carve you into pieces.”
Though currently appearing as an unpretentious youth with seemingly innocent eyes, the freezing, murderous intent radiating from his gaze was laced with terrifying, crushing pressure.
This time, the chattering ceased entirely. Drifting out from the ambient air came a semi-transparent, bubble-like spectral entity.
Seemingly traumatized beyond measure by the sheer pressure Xiao Shuying had inadvertently unleashed during his emotional breakdown inside the illusion, the little demon cowered, shrinking its bubble-like body as it stammered in stark terror:
“Is there, is there something you need?”
Seeing the traditionally arrogant Mirror Demon reduced to such a pitiful state of terror, Xiao Shuying was momentarily taken aback, though it conveniently spared him the trouble of resorting to coercive threats.
“Tell me,” he pointed directly toward the comatose Su Yunyu, demanding coldly:
“What exactly did this person experience inside his illusion?”
“This…” The Mirror Demon twisted about, reluctant to divulge the details.
A sharp glint flashed across Xiao Shuying’s eyes as he snapped with chilling menace:
“Do you prefer I send you straight to reincarnation?”
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” The Mirror Demon harbored zero doubt that this youth was fully capable of turning it into mincemeat, especially after sensing that unprecedented, primordial pressure earlier.
“His first illusion made him relive the moment you stabbed him with a sword, but he broke through it instantly. As for the second illusion.”
The demon scratched the back of its nonexistent head with an ethereal appendage, carefully choosing its words:
“I couldn’t quite comprehend the second illusion. It was filled with bizarre, outlandish clothing and artifacts I’ve never laid eyes on; it felt as though… as though it belonged to a realm entirely detached from this world.”
Hearing that, Xiao Shuying felt a quiet confirmation settle over his thoughts.
He was entirely certain this man wasn’t the original antagonist from the first lifetime, yet possessing a persistence that hunted him across ninety-nine lifetimes meant he was equally far from an ordinary mortal.
Then, who on earth are you, really?
And what is the true meaning behind this endless cycle of reincarnated lifetimes?
Securing his answers, Xiao Shuying’s emotional turbulence subsided significantly as he issued a final command:
“How do we wake him up?”
The Mirror Demon instinctively wanted to offer to release the man immediately, but catching the icy warning flashing in the youth’s eyes, its under-functioning intellect quickly caught on:
“It requires a strong, jarring external stimulus.”
“Understood,” Xiao Shuying nodded in sudden realization, waving a hand dismissively: “You may begone.”
Before the Mirror Demon could dissolve its form into complete invisibility, it watched in sheer horror as Xiao Shuying pulled out a sharp sword, affectionately and tenderly stroked the edge of the blade, and then, without an ounce of hesitation, plunged it straight into Su Yunyu’s chest.
Thump
Accompanied by the visceral sound of steel piercing flesh and a sharp gasp escaping Su Yunyu’s lips, the man’s eyes snapped open as he was violently shocked out of the illusion.
The Mirror Demon’s non-physical form twitched in sympathetic agony. As it hurried to complete its vanishing act, it heard Xiao Shuying’s voice ring out in a tone of frantic, panicked concern:
“Master, Master, are you alright?!”
“How on earth did you.” The man responded in a weak, thoroughly bewildered voice.
“Master, I was caught inside the illusion too.”
The Mirror Demon reached up to scratch the non-existent back of its head once more, concluding quietly that contemporary cultivators had truly evolved beyond its capacity to comprehend.