Inside the illusion.
Chu Xingchen had no idea what was actually happening.
It was still a warm spring day, with a gentle breeze brushing past. His disciple and Xie Lingyu still regarded him with concern.
But the tearing sensation in his arm—splitting through divine sense and soul alike—was no illusion.
For some reason, Chu Xingchen's instincts were screaming at him: don't move.
He endured the agony that made him want to scream, as though he was waiting for something.
But what exactly he was waiting for, Chu Xingchen couldn't say.
Even how he'd ended up in this situation—he only recalled he was in the middle of battle thanks to the system's attribute lines.
Ten years of experience in his previous life, ten years of education through the strange techniques of countless cultivators, had taught him how to cheat death more times than he could count.
It had made him extraordinarily sensitive to the mechanisms that kept him alive.
He roughly guessed that his divine sense had been dragged into an illusion.
And that sudden sword strike just now had been Bai Xuanling moving his body from the outside to dodge.
Though Bai Xuanling said nothing, this confirmed for Chu Xingchen that the situation outside was far from optimistic.
Facing an opponent at the Tribulation Transcendence stage, Bai Xuanling couldn't even spare a sliver of consciousness to send him a voice transmission.
That meant the battle had reached a critical point.
So what about himself?
What could he contribute?
Chu Xingchen's gaze swept across the illusion—or rather, searched for any opportunity to break through it.
But everything looked so real, so natural.
Even the Xie Lingyu from his memories—he couldn't find a single thing out of place.
As if everything were normal.
But the system's attribute lines told Chu Xingchen that nothing was normal.
Chu Xingchen closed his eyes and thought carefully.
Bai Xuanling had been able to use spiritual energy to move his body.
That meant his physical form was still outside, not inside the illusion.
What if it wasn't his divine sense leaving his body to enter the illusion, but rather the opponent's technique acting directly on his perception?
What if his perception had been completely reconstructed, to the point where even his sense of touch was deceived?
Then everything he was perceiving…
Might not be an illusion at all, but reality.
Only his divine sense's perception of the outside world had been distorted.
That explanation held water.
Xie Lingyu's tone—that was the only oddity. Perhaps a trick of the eye.
He perceived gentle warmth all around, but in reality, the outside world might be a living hell.
If that was the case, he had no methods to resist an illusion. To restore his perception to normal, he'd need to see through this illusionary technique.
But Chu Xingchen had no eye-type divine abilities. He couldn't see through illusions.
So what was his only way to break free?
Chu Xingchen's gaze suddenly fell to his arm, then to the sword Wanban in his hand.
If he couldn't rely on his own perception, what about Wanban?
Wanban wasn't a sword that relied on brute strength alone.
It was a magical treasure with its own sword spirit, and the sword spirit had its own mind.
If he could let the sword spirit replace his eyes…
Chu Xingchen thought of this and gripped the hilt of Wanban tightly.
Now there was only one method that could work.
Chu Xingchen closed his eyes, and everything before him turned to darkness.
He stopped perceiving the outside world and sank all his divine sense into Wanban.
A faint white light glowed. The blade hummed softly, as though it truly understood human nature, comprehending Chu Xingchen's request.
Chu Xingchen poured all his divine sense into the sword, feeling Wanban's response.
Outside.
Bai Xuanling didn't know how many times she'd been sent flying. Xu Linglong's endless bombardment of spiritual energy forced her body backward again and again.
The spiritual energy around her had nearly turned crimson.
The killing intent surging within her was like a tsunami about to break.
In her deep pupils, Chu Xingchen saw Xu Linglong behind him, slashing forward with a smile.
"If I can't stop it, then let's walk the path to the underworld together," Bai Xuanling murmured, her hair disheveled, spiritual energy around her vibrating wildly as she prepared to release her seal.
She intended to use every means at her disposal to drag Xu Linglong down with her.
But damn it…
Bai Xuanling stared at Xu Linglong, whose smile was as radiant as a flower.
Yet the thing she cared about most was—she was genuinely reluctant to let go.
But just as the crimson retreated from Bai Xuanling's spiritual energy, turning it back to pure white, a flash of cold light rose from the ground.
A single sword strike cleaved half of Xu Linglong's face open.
At the same time, Chu Xingchen's voice rang out: "Sorry about that. I just needed a short rest."
Bai Xuanling looked over. The dull, vacant look was gone from Chu Xingchen's eyes—now they gleamed with sharp light. He sheathed Wanban once more, his gaze locked on Xu Linglong.
"How did you…"
Chu Xingchen shook his head slightly. "To make a long story short—this one has the ability to read memories. I figured it out from what she told me. The more she said, the more I could guess what kind of illusion she'd trapped me in."
"After all, an illusion needs to know what I'm thinking to simulate it properly, to know what to say."
"The more perfectly she simulated it, the more flaws she actually revealed—because her perfect creation left no room for the unexpected."
"She could guess anything I wanted. She tried to lure me step by step, to make me end myself."
"But as I played along with her act, I suddenly realized she only had access to part of my memories, not all of them."
"Because there was something she couldn't simulate—something she didn't even know existed."
Chu Xingchen's gaze shifted back to Xu Linglong. "I don't think she knew I could use the Divine Artifact technique either—to catch her completely off guard with Wanban."
A scythe materialized in Chu Xingchen's hand—the Immortal Artifact, Immortal's Elegy.
"I've gained some insight into slaying immortals."
Xu Linglong lightly touched her wound, watching crimson blood flow out, yet her smile only grew more radiant.
She paid no mind to the scythe in Chu Xingchen's hand.
The body of a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator wasn't something an Integration cultivator wielding a strange weapon could cut through.
But…
She hadn't expected Chu Xingchen to actually break through her talent-based rule technique.
He really was a disaster!
Xu Linglong's eyes grew colder still. Spiritual energy surged around her, the severed half of her face restored to normal, the dagger in her hand dissipating.
Then a long black bow materialized, and she drew back the string, converting Tribulation Transcendence spiritual energy into an arrow.
She aimed at Chu Xingchen without a moment's hesitation and loosed the shot.
This arrow was fast beyond measure.
Like a meteor, yet faster than any meteor.
It crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, hurtling straight toward the space between Chu Xingchen's brows.
Bai Xuanling straightened her stance and raised her sword, ready to intercept the blow.
But Chu Xingchen was faster—he raised the scythe.
The scythe's blade gleamed with ghostly light.
It struck the origin arrow.
The blade cut the arrow down, but didn't annihilate it completely.
The residual energy began to churn wildly in the air, forming a field of destructive force that instantly swallowed all three of them.
This outcome, clearly, Xu Linglong hadn't anticipated either.
Her intention had been to force Bai Xuanling and Chu Xingchen back. She never expected Chu Xingchen to actually dare block a Tribulation Transcendence cultivator's strike while at the Integration stage.
He blocked it—but not entirely.
The three, caught at the center of the energy field, instantly suffered terrifying injuries.
Xu Linglong had already been cut once; now, swallowed by her own energy field, the wounds on her body were catastrophic.
Deep cracks appeared all over Chu Xingchen's body, his flesh mangled and bloodied.
Bai Xuanling's meridians took another hit. She coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, but still positioned herself in front of Chu Xingchen.
Xu Linglong looked at her body, nearly half destroyed, her aura flickering.
A single lapse had given birth to an unexpected outcome.
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