“Yang Zanxing!” Gu Baiying was both shocked and furious.

“Too late.” The Mirage Woman looked at Zanxing, crumpled on the ground, and smiled slightly. “This is ‘Mirror Shadow’—it can peer into the deepest fears in a person’s heart and use them to weave illusions.” She kicked the motionless Zanxing on the ground with her toe. “Little immortal, do you know? Sometimes, living in fear is more terrifying than death.”

…

The surroundings had become a desert.

The sun hung right overhead, tirelessly scorching the earth. In the desert, nothing could be seen but golden yellow. After looking for too long, even the sky took on the barren color of sand grains.

Rustling sounds came from beside her ears.

Zanxing suddenly opened her eyes and saw red little snakes continuously pouring out from all directions. These small serpents were blood-red all over, their scales so smooth they were like broken mirrors, clearly reflecting human faces.

Looking closely, it wasn’t an illusion. In those mirror-bright scales, there were trapped, twisted human faces. The faces were still struggling, their eyes filled with terror, as if the people trapped within were suffering tremendous pain.

Zanxing’s heart shuddered. The next moment, those blood snakes seemed to sense someone’s presence and suddenly raised their heads to stare at her in unison. Being watched by those cold vertical pupils, Zanxing felt her hair stand on end, and an uncomfortable feeling immediately surged up in her heart.

Instinctively sensing trouble, she was about to turn around when she discovered that behind her, those red little snakes had somehow already crowded in as well. They surrounded her and slowly approached.

If she were caught by them, if she were caught by them… A thought arose in Zanxing’s mind: she would be forever trapped here like those faces in the scales!

She wanted to run, but as soon as this thought appeared, her feet seemed to be fixed in place. No matter how hard Zanxing tried, she couldn’t move a single step. The Panhua Stick at her waist had disappeared at some point. Unable to move her body, Zanxing could only watch helplessly as those blood snakes pressed toward her.

She didn’t know if it was her imagination, but as the distance shortened, the originally cold vertical pupils of the blood snakes began to show a trace of human-like emotion. Zanxing could even see greed and excitement in them. The forked tongues made “hissing” sounds that disturbed one’s mind into chaos.

The first blood snake had already slithered to her feet, raising half its body as if it wanted to climb up her leg.

Zanxing closed her eyes.

Immediately after, a sharp shriek rang in her ears. Zanxing looked down and saw that the blood snake had been bounced away, falling far on the ground and breaking into two pieces.

Zanxing was stunned.

The writhing mass of snakes simultaneously stopped advancing. The desert became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

In the stone chamber, the Mirage Woman made an “eh” sound.

From the woman collapsed on the ground, a burst of light suddenly blazed forth. With a “whoosh,” that thread-thin blood snake suddenly drilled out, as if it had touched something invisible and been bounced back, falling on the ground where it twitched a few times before going still.

The Mirage Woman was greatly shocked: “You…”

Zanxing opened her eyes.

Gu Baiying was stunned.

Zanxing’s heart was also filled with surprise and doubt. In the illusion just now, when those blood snakes surged toward her, the Xiaoyuan Pearl on her body had suddenly vibrated violently. A light shield emanating from the Xiaoyuan Pearl enveloped her, and those blood snakes turned to smoke and disappeared as soon as they touched the light shield.

This pearl… was protecting her.

The Mirage Woman grabbed her collar, her suspicious gaze wandering over Zanxing’s face, her tone ominously dark: “A woman who has lost her Yuanli, merely at Golden Core stage, can resist my ‘Mirror Shadow’. What exactly is strange about you…” She seemed to think of something, her expression suddenly excited: “Could it be that you have some spiritual treasure on you?”

“If there were a spiritual treasure, you would have discovered it from the beginning.” Gu Baiying glared at the Mirage Woman, struggling to stand up. “Don’t waste your effort—let her go.”

“Shh,” the Mirage Woman pointed her snake staff at Gu Baiying. Gu Baiying suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. She spoke unhurriedly: “Don’t be anxious, little immortal. Your meridians are about to burst—it will be your turn soon.” She looked at Zanxing again. “Although this bitch seems to have no spiritual treasure, there must be something strange inside her body. Otherwise, my illusion technique couldn’t possibly be useless against her. I want to cut open her internal organs to see clearly what exactly is peculiar about this…”

After speaking, her tone suddenly became vicious, her fingertips having transformed into blade edges at some point, about to slash down at Zanxing’s neck—

“Junior Sister!”

“Little Uncle Master!”

A golden axe suddenly flew over. The Mirage Woman couldn’t dodge in time and had to release her grip and lean aside. The Qianyang Axe fell to the ground without its usual dazzling brilliance, looking like just an ordinary golden axe.

Tian Fangfang ran toward Zanxing, helping her up from the ground and asking, “Are you alright, Junior Sister?”

Zanxing shook her head.

Mendong ran to Gu Baiying’s side. Meng Ying and Mu Cengxiao drew their swords toward the Mirage Woman. Mu Cengxiao said angrily, “Demon woman, surrender now!”

The Mirage Woman blinked: “How surprising. It seems this hunt’s prey is more interesting than usual. What,” she smiled mockingly at the two people before her, “are you two also a pair of lovers with hearts stronger than gold?”

Meng Ying said nothing and directly drew her sword to charge at her: “No need for more words.”

The black “Moon Soul” was usually sharp, able to precisely cut even the finest hair. Meng Ying’s swordsmanship was also among the best in Taiyan Sect, yet today she couldn’t get close to the Mirage Woman. Mu Cengxiao wanted to join the battle, but as soon as the Mieshen Saber was drawn, it turned into golden quicksand, flowing through his hands and leaving nothing behind.

Looking around, everything was the same—all the spirit artifacts in everyone’s hands had turned to sand grains, the stone bricks under their feet had become wasteland, everything returned to nothingness, like the desolation after a mirage is punctured.

“What’s happening?” Mendong couldn’t dodge in time, and half his body sank into the quicksand. He shouted out in panic.

The Mirage Woman smiled charmingly, her tone gentle: “I told you long ago—this is my illusion. Even if you can break it once, I can immediately weave new illusions. You’ll never be able to get out.”

“Don’t joke around,” Gu Baiying stared at her coldly. “There’s no illusion that can’t be broken—you just need to destroy the rules within it.”

“Rules?” Zanxing looked at him. “What are those?”

“When great demons weave illusions to lure people in, once you accept the ‘items’ in the illusion, you’ll be bound by the rules. For example, in this illusion before us, the person weaving the illusion established the rule from the beginning that all Yuanli would disappear completely. Once we enter, our Yuanli cannot recover.” He paused, then continued: “But as long as you find the source of the illusion and destroy the real illusion, all rules will automatically disappear, and Yuanli won’t be constrained.”

“Worthy of being a disciple from a great sect—you found the solution so quickly.” The Mirage Woman said with a smile, “Absolutely correct.”

“The source?” Zanxing was puzzled. “Does that mean Dou Niang?”

Xu Dou Niang—from the beginning, they had entered Wufan City because they encountered Dou Niang, and it was precisely because of Dou Niang’s reunion with Tian Fangfang that they drank the Xu family’s water and accepted the “rules” of this place.

“Dou Niang…” Tian Fangfang was stunned.

The Mirage Woman smiled slyly: “Almost forgot—there’s still one more person.”

In an instant, wind and sand rose, the sand grains gradually gathering in one direction, slowly condensing into the figures of two people. One was Xu Fu, the other was precisely Xu Dou Niang.

The two suddenly appeared in this place. When they saw the surrounding scene clearly, they were startled. Dou Niang cried, “Ah ya!” and Xu Fu hurriedly protected Dou Niang in his arms. This honest man looked at everyone somewhat fearfully and spoke in confusion: “Honored immortals, this…”

“Do you see?” The Mirage Woman’s slender fingertip traced across her lips. Without even looking at the father and daughter, she only said: “You guessed correctly—this is Xu Dou Niang’s illusion. As long as you break Xu Dou Niang’s illusion, you can restore your Yuanli.”

“Break the illusion?” Tian Fangfang didn’t understand. “What does that mean? How do we break it?”

The demon woman’s face was beautiful as a flower, but the words from her red lips were ice-cold: “Kill her father, and the illusion will naturally break.”

Dou Niang was shocked and began trembling all over, looking uneasily at Tian Fangfang: “Big Brother Tian, what does she mean? Why kill my father? What is an illusion?”

“All of Xu Dou Niang’s obsessions arose because of her father. As long as you kill Xu Fu, the eye of the illusion will break, and all rules will be voided.” The Mirage Woman said with a smile.

After a moment of silence, Zanxing asked: “If we kill him, what will happen to Dou Niang?”

“Everything in an illusion is no different from the real world for the illusion’s master. The longer you stay in an illusion, the more you sink into it. If you kill her father and shatter her illusion, she will naturally be in agony, forever immersed in pain. Among those lost in Wufan City’s illusion, some were lured in by me, but some actively sank into it. Xu Dou Niang is the latter.” The Mirage Woman smiled. “But actually, this little girl died long ago. If you shatter her illusion, at least you can recover some Yuanli and have the qualifications to compete with me.”

The Mirage Woman looked at Gu Baiying with great interest: “One eternally suffering soul in exchange for your vitality—for you, it’s a guaranteed profitable deal. Little immortal, how will you choose?”

Zanxing’s heart shook. Xu Dou Niang, surrounded by everyone’s gazes, was now anxiously trembling in Xu Fu’s embrace, tightly gripping Xu Fu’s hand. The old man protected Dou Niang’s head with one hand while comforting her: “Dou Niang, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.”

Zanxing’s gaze grew cold.

This was Xu Dou Niang’s illusion. This little girl, sold by her birth father to pay gambling debts, was sinking into a beautiful illusion in Wufan City, her steps bound by false familial affection, forever lost here. Xu Fu was the father she had fantasized about—loving, gentle, who would never abandon her and leave. Killing Xu Fu and destroying her illusion would be destroying her hope.

Dreams must eventually end, but not here, and not in this way.

She was about to speak when she heard Gu Baiying sneer: “Bullying those without the strength to truss a chicken—is that your way of making deals?”

“Fake, listen well.” He said coldly: “Disciples of our sect never survive by oppressing the weak.”