Hearing this, Song Wulan first froze. After reacting, he tilted his head as if incredulous: “How did you do it?”

As Song Wulan spoke, he looked her up and down, thinking repeatedly: “A fate master couldn’t possibly have such fast formation-breaking speed. How did you do it?”

“How did I do it?” Jiang Zhaoxue laughed lightly, putting away the Yin-Yang Yiyi Lantern, finding it rather amusing: “Now I am the blade and you are the fish. Before you ask me this question, you should be answering mine—”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue’s gaze turned colder. She raised her hand, and Song Wulan’s entire internal body structure lit up. She could clearly see the circulation of spiritual power and blood through his organs. Staring at these fundamental operations sustaining human life, Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t help but ask: “What exactly are you?”

Song Wulan smiled as he looked at her: “Take a guess?”

“Nine years ago in the capital, I killed you with my own hands,” Jiang Zhaoxue studied him, thinking aloud, “With those injuries, an ordinary mortal couldn’t possibly survive. What are you really?”

“If I tell you, will you answer my question?” Song Wulan looked at her with a smile, seemingly completely unaware he was the one who could lose his life at any moment.

Seeing his composed appearance, Jiang Zhaoxue elegantly took a seat. A chair appeared out of nowhere. Sitting in the chair, she propped up her chin and said lightly: “I can consider it.”

As she spoke, dozens of light needles abruptly pierced Song Wulan’s fingertips. His face paled slightly, but he still smiled: “I’ve told the Lady what she wants to hear, yet the Lady only considers—such an unfair matter, I shouldn’t agree to. But thinking about it, since it’s the Lady asking, and I admire the Lady, it seems I shouldn’t seek fairness…”

Before he could finish, a light needle instantly pried up a fingernail. Jiang Zhaoxue said impatiently: “Don’t talk so disgustingly. Get to the point. How did you survive back then?”

“Ah…” Song Wulan tilted his head back slightly in pain, breathing lightly.

A fate master’s constitution was much frailer compared to ordinary cultivators. Apart from rapid wound healing due to spiritual power, pain sensation was almost no different from mortals.

Song Wulan didn’t hide his pain at all and said slowly: “The Lady truly has such a cruel heart…”

As he spoke, the light needle pressed into another fingernail. Song Wulan finally stopped playing word games and immediately said: “I did indeed die.”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue raised her eyelids. Seeing the light needle stop, Song Wulan felt somewhat relieved. His tone recovered its steadiness as he continued: “As you know, I possess the Void Body. This body of mine is something countless homeless beings dream of possessing. Normal vessels must match the abilities of parasitic beings to allow parasitism, but the Void Body doesn’t require that. When this body is parasitized, it can completely merge with the parasitic being. However strong the parasitic being is, this body can bear that much power.”

With that, Song Wulan raised his head languidly: “All things born of heaven and earth have their balance. Such a covetable constitution naturally has absolute protection. Therefore, to seize the Void Body, one condition must be met—I must personally agree. So from childhood, countless evil beings tempted me, but they were too stupid. So stupid I could see what they were at a glance. Even if I died, I wouldn’t give my body to them. Until you killed me—”

Song Wulan raised his eyes, studying Jiang Zhaoxue: “I found it so fascinating.”

“Wow, what a huge pervert.”

Listening, A’Nan couldn’t help but gasp: “What exactly does he want to do?”

“So you sacrificed your body to an evil being?” Jiang Zhaoxue understood and probed: “A Wraith Fiend?”

Hearing this, Song Wulan laughed: “A Wraith Fiend? Does such trash deserve it?”

“Then what is it?”

Jiang Zhaoxue frowned, momentarily unable to determine what the other party was.

But not knowing the other party’s identity, she couldn’t rashly act.

Song Wulan didn’t directly answer her, circling around to continue: “I handed my body to him, helping him accomplish what he needed to do. From then on, I merged completely with him. He is me, and I am him.”

“What do you want?”

“It’s quite obvious.” Song Wulan smiled. “Whatever you’re looking for, that’s what I want.”

“The God-Slaying Sword.”

Jiang Zhaoxue stated with certainty. Song Wulan didn’t hide it, only continuing: “Nine years ago, severely injured, I followed you all and was swept into the Lingxu Fan. In the Lingxu Fan, I couldn’t obtain it and was severely injured by you again. To obtain the God-Slaying Sword requires some special means. Three conditions must be met for the God-Slaying Sword to emerge. First, an evil being appears in the world, or someone related to Haocang Shenjun appears. Second, sufficient power to nourish the God-Slaying Sword and allow it to emerge. Third… pure yin blood is needed. Back then, I calculated that five years later, you would appear with pure yin blood. So I established the Blissful Eternal Life Sect, used the Sacred Pool to feed Xinluo Garments, and waited for you all along.”

“Five years ago… you calculated the Pure Yin Body,” Jiang Zhaoxue tapped the armrest lightly, couldn’t help but praise, “Your divination skills are truly outstanding.”

“Actually, I’m not only outstanding at divination.”

Song Wulan spoke. Jiang Zhaoxue raised her eyes to look at him and saw Song Wulan’s lips move slightly, then three copper coins flew up!

The instant the coins flew up, A’Nan screamed: “He was setting up a formation just now. He’s gambling!”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t move, only watching the formation instantly spread through the space. The three copper coins spun down, and the light chains and cage locking Song Wulan instantly exploded. Song Wulan tapped his toe and flew backward with a laugh: “Lady Jiang, fare…”

His voice barely fell when the three still-spinning copper coins suddenly exploded!

Song Wulan’s pupils shrank sharply. He sensed something wrong, but before he could think deeply, the ground rolled toward him like seawater lifted by wind.

Light swords shot out like water droplets from waves, densely firing toward him, instantly piercing all his non-vital areas and pinning him with a “ding” to the wall behind!

His body froze, then excruciating pain came overwhelmingly. Yet Jiang Zhaoxue remained seated in her chair throughout, her expression as calm as ever.

Song Wulan couldn’t help but raise his head in shock, crying out in alarm: “What did you do?”

“You created an illusion to trap me, not knowing this place is my illusion?”

“What are you saying?” Song Wulan didn’t understand for a moment. Jiang Zhaoxue said slowly:

“From when we started with that fluctuation in the space-time rift five years ago, we entered your game, right? Since you’ve waited for us five years and know the whereabouts and abilities of us five, how could you not prepare early? So these five years, you not only established the Blissful Eternal Life Sect but also set up an illusion sufficient to deceive me and Shen Yuqing. From the moment we separated in the space-time rift, we had already entered your illusion. From that time on, everything we experienced was deliberately manufactured by you.”

“When did you know?” Song Wulan couldn’t figure it out.

Jiang Zhaoxue tilted her head, only saying: “I had some suspicions on Qixi evening, but I only guessed whether you’d done something to affect people’s minds. It wasn’t until entering the Snow Cang Mountain Range that I gradually became certain. First, you knew too much about us. Wherever we went, whatever we did, you seemed to know. Everything we experienced seemed deliberately designed to sow discord. Second, this world always has certain rules. Life-Devouring Beasts are indeed natural counters to fate masters, but they’re hard to find. Where would the Human Realm get so many Life-Devouring Beasts? As for the Twelve Crossbow Formation, each opening requires exponentially more power. The reason no one has ever opened the Thirteen Crossbow Formation is because anyone capable of opening it must be above Tribulation Crossing stage. If you could create the Thirteen Crossbow Formation, why not directly kill us? More importantly—”

“Ming.”

Song Wulan spoke, realizing: “He warned you.”

He said everything here was an illusion depleting their spiritual power.

If the Snow Cang Mountain Range was an “illusion,” then why couldn’t all of this be an illusion?

She started suspecting from that moment—

“So I wondered, what kind of formation could deceive both me and Shen Yuqing? Then I thought of an ancient formation called the Mizhen Illusion Array. It uses Xuanyang Stones as formation eyes and lures out the greatest desires in people’s hearts within the illusion. This formation extracts people’s divine souls into the formation, consuming human life as the price. Everyone the entrants see is real. Even if a Tribulation Crossing cultivator came, they’d have difficulty distinguishing truth from falsehood. And this formation is based on Xuanyang Stones—we must be in prolonged contact with Xuanyang Stones. Before we entered the Snow Cang Mountain Range, I don’t know where the Xuanyang Stones were, but after entering Snow Cang Mountain…”

Jiang Zhaoxue smiled: “We’ve been carrying three carts of so-called ‘dark azure stones’ all along.”

“So you confirmed it the night before last.” Song Wulan reacted, then asked strangely: “Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“The Mizhen Illusion Array isn’t easy to break, and forcibly breaking it would certainly kill all the people you captured for the formation. So I could only seek another way. You want the God-Slaying Sword. You definitely need Mu Jinyue, the Pure Yin Body. So you would inevitably take her away in the chaos. And when you take her away, you’d need to open the Mizhen Illusion Array. That would be my chance.”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue smiled: “I went along with your plan, pretending to fall into your trap. But secretly, I preserved the Yin-Yang Yiyi Lantern’s spiritual power, pre-drew a luck gambling formation on it and sealed it, while also placing a substitution talisman on Mu Jinyue.”

Song Wulan froze. Seeing his shocked expression, Jiang Zhaoxue felt quite pleased and continued: “To see what’s happening in the Mizhen Illusion Array, you must use a water mirror. When you break open the formation to enter, the water mirror temporarily closes, and you can only rely on perception to capture people. But once the substitution talisman is used, your perception becomes unreliable.”

“You…”

Song Wulan thought hard but couldn’t figure it out: “When did you realize Mu Jinyue was the Pure Yin Body?”

He had watched them the entire way and completely didn’t notice Jiang Zhaoxue discovering this.

The water mirror could see everything that happened outside their sea of consciousness. Outside the sea of consciousness, Jiang Zhaoxue showed no signs at all.

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue laughed lightly: “I’m not an idiot. That Qixi night…”

“At that time, I didn’t know she was the Pure Yin Body yet.” Song Wulan stared at her, stating directly: “I calculated that someone among you was the Pure Yin Body. I originally thought it was you. It wasn’t until she came to me that I discovered it was her. Do you think I was constantly watching her to find her?”

Of course not.

The reason she guessed Mu Jinyue was the Pure Yin Body was because she inexplicably had too many incidents in the book.

Even books must follow basic logic. For Mu Jinyue to constantly have incidents, she must be carrying something.

Since the God-Slaying Sword emerged in the book, there must be a Pure Yin Body. Connecting the dots, she’d be a fool not to figure it out.

However, at first she also thought Mu Jinyue was being targeted by Song Wulan. Now it seemed Mu Jinyue was rather interesting.

But she didn’t say more, only smiled: “Then it seems there was a misunderstanding. But anyway, by a fortunate coincidence, I guessed the right answer. When you pulled me out from the illusion, I simultaneously activated the formation with the Yin-Yang Yiyi Lantern. The Yin-Yang Yiyi Lantern can exponentially amplify all formation power. So this time when I gambled luck, I gambled on giving you an illusion. Within this realm, I am the universe. While you’re in this realm, all divination results—I want auspicious, they’re auspicious; I want inauspicious, they’re inauspicious.”

Hearing this, Song Wulan stared at her deadly. His eyes seemed poisoned—between sinister anger, there was also some admiration. He couldn’t help but say: “Jiang Zhaoxue… you truly… truly are…”

“I truly am what? Am I too cool?”

Jiang Zhaoxue picked up the longsword she’d just taken out and smiled: “Alright, we’ve talked enough nonsense. Time to get down to business. Your Highness, will you voluntarily open the Mizhen Illusion Array, or shall I use your avatar for blood sacrifice to forcibly open it—”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue pressed the longsword against his chest: “You choose.”

Song Wulan said nothing, staring at Jiang Zhaoxue, unable to speak.

What remained here was an avatar, but for cultivators below Tribulation Crossing stage, there’s only one avatar. If the avatar is wounded, the main body is also severely injured.

Opening the Mizhen Illusion Array, he still had room to maneuver. But if Jiang Zhaoxue used his avatar as the “formation setter” for blood sacrifice to forcibly open the Mizhen Illusion Array, neither of them would benefit.

But how could he be willing…

Thinking about losing to the person before him and having to save those two bastards, Song Wulan sneered coldly.

Seeing Song Wulan’s smile, Jiang Zhaoxue felt something was wrong. She instantly withdrew and retreated. But Song Wulan was one step ahead of her, grabbing her longsword. With the several light swords pinning his body, he lunged forward!

The longsword suddenly pierced through Song Wulan’s heart. In pain, Song Wulan collapsed “thump” on his knees before her.

Jiang Zhaoxue looked at him in shock, then saw Song Wulan gripping her sword body, blood dripping from the sword tip. Gasping, he raised his eyes, revealing a face splattered with blood.

“I absolutely,” he spoke with difficulty, “absolutely will not save those two bastards.”

“You think just because you’re dead, I can’t save them?” Realizing what he was doing, Jiang Zhaoxue’s expression turned cold.

The simplest way to break a formation was for the formation master to open it themselves or blood sacrifice the formation master.

But that didn’t mean this was the only way.

Hearing this, Song Wulan wasn’t angry but laughed instead.

He softened his voice, gently reminding: “Forgot to tell you, that river in the Mizhen Illusion Array—I channeled Wangchuan Water.”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue’s expression instantly turned cold.

She stared deadly at Song Wulan. Song Wulan laughed: “Once someone acts in the Mizhen Illusion Array, it completely locks down until the killing intent ceases. Jiang Zhaoxue, Shen Yuqing and Pei Zichen—who do you want to die?”

“Song Wulan.”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue inserted her fingers into the hair at the back of his head. With a grab, she forced him to raise his head.

She looked coldly at the person before her. This avatar was completely destroyed. Now it was the distant main body using spiritual power to maintain communication with her.

Jiang Zhaoxue stared at him, reminding him: “Do you know that a cultivator’s avatar can also be refined into pills?”

“What, you want to consume me?”

“No.”

Jiang Zhaoxue smiled, her tone quite gentle: “Zichen is still young and needs nourishment. I’ll gift it to Zichen.”

Hearing this, Song Wulan finally lost his composure. Fear showed in his eyes as he roared: “You dare—”

Before he finished speaking, her fingertips instantly exerted force, violently crushing his skull!

Dharmic light shone from his skull, instantly permeating through his limbs and bones. His entire being was melted by the dharmic light, rapidly transforming into a pill of dharmic light.

On the other side, inside a palace built entirely of pure black marble, Song Wulan cried out in pain and woke up, gritting his teeth: “Jiang Zhaoxue!”

This sound startled the maidservants who all entered, but Jiang Zhaoxue couldn’t hear it.

Suppressing her anger, she quickly packed the refined pill into a gourd, her expression extremely ugly.

Watching the back-and-forth between the two, A’Nan had countless questions circling and said hurriedly: “What is he doing? Why did he throw himself on it? What does that Wangchuan Water mean? And what does it mean that the Mizhen Illusion Array is locked?”

“The ultimate purpose of the Mizhen Illusion Array is to lure those in the illusion to kill each other. Once it finds its purpose achieved—the entrants attacking their own companions—the Mizhen Illusion Array instantly seals all passages in and out. All the energy from their fighting will be devoured by the Mizhen Illusion Array and exponentially used to reinforce the formation.”

As Jiang Zhaoxue spoke, she raised her hand, summoning dharmic light and pressing it to the ground.

Within her formation, she was absolutely safe. Earlier, not wanting Song Wulan to detect her formation’s details, she kept him trapped in the formation. But now, to break the Mizhen Illusion Array, she had to see clearly how Song Wulan set up the formation.

With a rumbling sound, her formation sank into the ground, revealing the original appearance of this place.

This was a deep pit the size of a plaza. Around the pit’s edge, water about a zhang wide flowed in a circle. The center was covered with Xuanyang Stone slabs. In the crisscrossing gaps between the slabs, wooden stakes were inserted. A person was bound to each stake, neat and orderly yet densely packed throughout the entire pit.

These people were all mortals. Looking carefully, she had seen most of them. Their faces were pale, but fortunately all still alive, just with weak auras, as if immersed in a dream from which they couldn’t wake.

In the crowd was an open space. On it sat six beds. Lying on the beds were precisely her, Pei Zichen, Shen Yuqing, Mu Jinyue, Ming, and Pei Shulan—six people.

Seeing this scene, A’Nan gasped and couldn’t help but say: “Why are you all lying here?”

“These are all our physical bodies. When we first came through the space-time rift and experienced that fluctuation, everyone’s physical bodies had already arrived here. Our divine souls fell into the Mizhen Illusion Array. Now they’re all in the illusion. If they act, the Mizhen Illusion Array can never be opened again.”

“Then you can relax.” Hearing this, A’Nan breathed a sigh of relief. “They’re not idiots. You warned them both. With their abilities, they wouldn’t go crazy in this illusion, right?”

“I thought so before too,” Jiang Zhaoxue said while reversing dharmic seals, quickly casting spells, “but if Wangchuan Water is used in the formation, then it’s uncertain.”

As she spoke, she pointed forward, and the scene inside the Mizhen Illusion Array appeared ahead.

This type of spell displaying scenes from within the illusion was called a water mirror. Jiang Zhaoxue watched in the water mirror as Shen Yuqing and Pei Zichen simultaneously fell into the river, and memories of both churned up in the river water.

Seeing those memories, A’Nan froze, then screamed: “Why are these things in the river?!!”

Jiang Zhaoxue remained silent. Watching those surging memories, she also felt a trace of despair and finally explained: “Because Wangchuan River water combined with the Mizhen Illusion Array allows those who fall in the river to see the memories on the other person most likely to trigger their own killing intent.”

“Then isn’t it all over?” A’Nan stared blankly, murmuring: “The Mizhen Illusion Array is locked. No one can enter or exit. Plus, the energy from their fighting becomes nourishment for the Mizhen Illusion Array. Shen Yuqing is half-step Tribulation Crossing, Pei Zichen carries the Lingxu Fan and Yuan Luogong. If they truly let loose and have a massive fight, who can break open the Mizhen Illusion Array?”

“It’s over…” The more A’Nan analyzed, the more she felt: “This is truly over!”