"Hmm?" Suddenly, Yin Xuan tilted his head, sensing something, and his entire demeanor visibly brightened. His eyes curved into crescents as he exclaimed with genuine relief, "Second Junior Sister, Zi Yin, you’re finally awake."
At last, this household no longer needed him to worry.
Having a reliable junior sister and a dependable future brother-in-law was truly a blessing.
Shen Hefeng and Lu Jiayao, who had been in the middle of a heated argument, immediately ceased their bickering and rushed over to check on the two.
Overjoyed, Lu Jiayao lunged forward to hug Wen Shuangbai, only for Xie Ziyin to raise a hand and block him. Undeterred, Lu Jiayao simply pivoted and threw his arms around Xie Ziyin instead.
Who cared who he hugged? As long as he got to hug someone!
Xie Ziyin: "..."
Was this guy a reincarnated golden retriever?
Xie Ziyin mercilessly shoved him away again.
Twice rejected, Lu Jiayao wasn’t the least bit disheartened—in fact, he seemed accustomed to it. He immediately poured out his fervent and sincere emotions through words instead: "Shuangbai! Zi Yin! I was so worried about you! Thank goodness you’re alright!"
Meanwhile, Shen Hefeng, ever sharp-eyed, noticed something unusual. Stroking his chin, he glanced between Wen Shuangbai and Xie Ziyin before performing a quick calculation with his fingers. "Something’s off here. You both woke up at the same time? What a coincidence. Did you two share the same dream?"
"None of your business," Xie Ziyin retorted as he stood, casually offering Wen Shuangbai a hand to pull her up.
Wen Shuangbai steadied herself with his help and scanned the surroundings before her gaze settled on the still-unconscious Li Zhuohua. "Senior Sister hasn’t woken yet? How long were we out?"
"Not long," Yin Xuan replied gently. "Third Junior Brother Lu Jiayao and I had just broken free from the illusion of the wooden hut and found a place to rest when you two and Hefeng woke up one after another."
Shen Hefeng’s insufferable competitive streak flared up again. "I was clearly much faster than them."
Wen Shuangbai turned to him. "Shen Hefeng, what was your inner demon trial about?"
Shen Hefeng didn’t hide it. "Just dreamed my dead parents came back to life, trying to trick me into staying. As if I’d fall for that?" The Taoist smirked. "I sent them straight back to the underworld."
That sounded similar to her own experience. Wen Shuangbai nodded and looked at Lu Jiayao.
First, this kid was blessed by the heavens. Second, though he wasn’t born into wealth, his family had always been harmonious, and his nature was pure—no inner demons made sense.
But...
She glanced at her senior brother, her expression shifting to surprise and admiration.
Despite his tragic past, he hadn’t developed any inner demons either. His mental fortitude was something she couldn’t hope to match.
"Now only Senior Sister Zhuohua remains unconscious," Lu Jiayao muttered, crouching beside Li Zhuohua. The woman’s brows were tightly furrowed, her expression fierce even in slumber. "I wonder what her inner demon is. She looks like she’s in a terrible state."
Yin Xuan observed for a moment. "She seems to be killing someone."
That was the expression this swordswoman always wore when fighting.
Wen Shuangbai nudged Xie Ziyin with her elbow. "Will Senior Sister be alright?"
"Physically, she’s fine," Xie Ziyin said after a brief examination. "Her spirit is trapped in the dream illusion. She’ll have to break free on her own."
The group exchanged a few more words, mostly listening to Yin Xuan and Lu Jiayao recount what had happened in the wooden hut after they’d fallen unconscious.
Finally, Lu Jiayao asked, "Should we just wait here for Senior Sister to wake up?"
Wen Shuangbai shook her head. "We’ll wait and act at the same time. Here’s the plan—you all stay and guard Senior Sister. Zi Yin and I will check out the mass grave you mentioned."
Xie Ziyin, standing beside her, lowered his head and chuckled.
Shen Hefeng’s eyes had been darting between the two. "What, am I not allowed to go?"
"?" Wen Shuangbai gave him a baffled look. "It’s not like I own the mass grave. Go if you want, don’t go if you don’t."
Shen Hefeng pressed, "Then why did you only mention Xie Ziyin and not me? Am I not part of the team?"
Wen Shuangbai: "...Because you’re insufferable!"
"Don’t waste time on him," Xie Ziyin said to Wen Shuangbai. "Let’s go."
—
In the end, however, the duo became a quartet.
Shen Hefeng had woken up after Yin Xuan and Lu Jiayao had already moved everyone away from the mass grave, so he hadn’t seen it yet.
Lu Jiayao, ever the enthusiast, tagged along to guide them. "Look, it’s right over there!"
Following his direction, the group turned their gazes toward the slope ahead.
It was a vast, downward-sloping stretch of land, its blackened soil littered with bones—human and demonic alike—so densely packed they covered the entire hillside.
Amidst the corpses and blood-soaked earth, clusters of Spirit Mirage Grass sprouted, piercing through hardened bones as they swayed in the wind.
Wen Shuangbai lifted her head, her eyes tracing the distant sky where a pale sun hung, its weak light casting an eerie glow over the heart of the Spirit Mirage Valley. A shiver ran down her spine.
This place wasn’t a snowy mountain.
The snowy mountain had been an illusion conjured by the Spirit Mirage Grass. In truth, they had entered this mass grave.
Wen Shuangbai studied the terrain carefully. The grave resembled an inverted mountain, its diameter narrowing as it plunged deeper into the earth.
Earlier, the six of them had believed they were climbing a snowy peak, ascending upward. In reality, they had been descending all along—down into the depths of this burial ground.
Lu Jiayao led the other three cautiously along the path he and Yin Xuan had cleared, skirting the scattered remains. He pointed at a withered patch of Spirit Mirage Grass growing from a human skull. "This is where we woke up after breaking the illusion."
Wen Shuangbai sighed. "This must be Miss Xue’s skull."
In the illusion, the woman of the wooden hut had introduced herself as Miss Xue.
Her story was likely true.
According to her tale, five hundred years ago, she and her friends had infiltrated the Spirit Mirage Valley to save their junior brother, searching for a cure.
But judging by the scene before them, they had met a grim fate—all perished here.
Only the Spirit Mirage Grass, nourished by her remains, had absorbed her memories and woven them into illusions, luring more cultivators to their doom and feeding the land with their deaths.
Not daring to disturb anything recklessly, Wen Shuangbai refrained from collecting Miss Xue’s bones. Instead, she stood silently for a moment, closing her eyes in mourning before opening them again, her sharp gaze piercing toward the deepest part of the grave.
She had finally grasped the crux of this trial in the Spirit Mirage Valley.
The Sacred Tower likely wanted them to destroy whatever lurked in the depths.
...
Before the Mystic Heaven Mirror, the cultivators of the Xuantian Continent watched with bated breath.
From the moment Wen Shuangbai and the others stepped into the mass grave, their anxiety had been palpable.
They never saw any snow-capped mountains—only endless fields of bones and six people muttering nonsense while making bizarre gestures at thin air.
Naturally, there was no cozy wooden cabin in the snow either, just a grotesque, otherworldly plant bursting from the ground.
[It’s over, it’s over! They must be trapped in an illusion!]
[If they don’t snap out of it, they’ll die inside the Sacred Tower.]
[This place is too eerie—it’s making my scalp crawl. Have this many people really died in the Xuantian Continent?]
[Speaking of which, I recall an old folktale. A thousand years ago, the Xuantian Continent was engulfed in a war between seven nations. The three largest armies clashed, leaving no survivors and the land littered with corpses. Every kingdom sent search parties, but none could recover the bodies. I always thought it was just a myth, but… could it be true? Could the Divine Ghost Valley be the mass grave of those three armies?]
[Hard to say. I’ve never even heard of this Divine Ghost Valley before.]
[Seems the spectral chaos five hundred years ago wasn’t baseless—everything has its roots.]
[Heavens, please let them wake up soon. Qingzhou finally has a shot at claiming first place, defending the Sacred Tower, and wielding the Xuantian Order! Don’t let it all fall apart in the second-to-last trial!]
[Folks, mark my words—Jade Rhino Valley, the ones who left after digging up that eerie plant, might end up the dark horse. Divine Evolution Temple’s barely hanging on after a beast attack in the desert. Purple Flame Realm’s stuck in an underground tomb, with Di Yanran and Di Qi both injured. And now Qingling Mountain’s trapped in a mass grave illusion. What if all three major factions wipe out, leaving Jade Rhino Valley to take the crown?]
[…Stop it, you’re scaring me.]
The mood among Qingzhou’s cultivators remained grim, their appetites gone—until five of the six finally snapped out of the illusion, reigniting their hopes.
[Thank the heavens for the eldest disciple and Lu Jiayao. I can’t imagine what would’ve happened otherwise.]
[Everyone played their part! Our Qingling Mountain team is unstoppable together.]
[Only Senior Sister Zhuohua is left now. Wake up soon, sis—I’ll go vegetarian for three days if you do!]
—
After scouting the terrain, Wen Shuangbai and the others returned to their resting spot.
As usual, Shen Hefeng began divining the fortune and risks of their next move.
A moment later, his round face turned uncharacteristically solemn as he studied the hexagram. “I’ve seen this before.”
“You all know which one I mean.” Shen Hefeng’s voice dropped. “It’s the same as in Polished Light City. A dead end.”
That had been their most brutal trial yet—had they not exploited a loophole, they wouldn’t have survived. Afterward, the Purple Flame Realm’s sect leader publicly revised the rules: no more entering the tower via astral projection. Now, disciples ventured in physically but carried Sacred Summoning Tokens for emergency exits.
“What if one stays behind while the other five descend? If things go wrong, they can crush their tokens and leave,” Wen Shuangbai suggested, referencing their Star Moon Valley strategy.
Shen Hefeng shook his head. “I tested that too. Those who go down die. Only the one who stays lives.”
Lu Jiayao frowned. “Why? The tokens are supposed to work anytime.”
Xie Ziyin, ever the sharp guesser, deduced, “Must be unusable deep underground.”
If true, they’d need a new plan—no more reckless charges. Early trials were for bold gambles, but now, with first place within reach, caution was key.
As the four huddled, brainstorming wild ideas, a sudden roar cut through: “DIE!”
They jolted upright. “?!”
“I’LL KILL YOU!” Before her eyes even opened, Li Zhuohua sprang to her feet, sword slashing indiscriminately. “Liar! DIE, DIE, DIE!”
Murderous intent flooded the air, sending the five scrambling.
Yin Xuan was fastest, slipping away like a shadow. Xie Ziyin came next, dragging Wen Shuangbai with him. That left Shen Hefeng and Lu Jiayao stranded, facing their half-awake, fully enraged senior sister.
Shen Hefeng yanked Lu Jiayao in front of him as a human shield.
Lu Jiayao: “???”
Trembling, he squeezed his eyes shut as the blade neared his forehead. “Senior Sister, mercy! It’s me, Jiayao! Your dear junior brother!!”
The sword halted a hair’s breadth from his skin.
Li Zhuohua squinted. “Real Jiayao or fake Jiayao?”
“Real! I’m real!”
Shen Hefeng peeked over his shoulder, grinning. “Nah, Senior Sister, he’s fake. Beat him up!”
“Prove it!” Li Zhuohua demanded, though Shen’s trademark mischief felt too genuine to fake. Still, after endless deception in her dreams, she wasn’t taking chances.
Lu Jiayao thrust a thumbs-up. “Senior Sister, you’re the best!”
After a pause, Li Zhuohua sheathed her sword with a haughty chin tilt. “Fine. One more chance.”
“……”
Perhaps due to her prolonged entrapment, Li Zhuohua’s mind remained foggy until Xie Ziyin’s elixir took effect.
Rubbing her temples, she fumed, “Some fraud in my dream promised me a peerless sword manual—said I’d be invincible. I trained and trained, only to realize it was garbage compared to my Flowing Rainbow technique. The audacity!”
As she ranted, the others munched on sweet potatoes Xie Ziyin had roasted while brewing elixirs—crispy, fragrant, and delicious.
Wen Shuangbai, mouth full, handed one to Li Zhuohua. “How’d you break the illusion, Senior Sister?”
Between chews, Lu Jiayao guessed, “Did you kill the scammer?”
“Zi Yin, next time, char it more,” Shen Hefeng critiqued, licking his fingers. The Star Moon Valley tubers were delectably sweet. He then shot down Lu Jiayao’s theory. “Too naive. Illusions aren’t that simple.”
“Exactly,” Li Zhuohua agreed, taking a savage bite. “One wasn’t enough. I had to kill them all.”
Everyone: “?”
“Every last one in the dream,” she clarified. “Then copies of you guys showed up. Almost fooled me—that’s why I was last.”
Cultivators watching gasped:
[That works for breaking illusions?]
[If you’re strong enough to slaughter everything in the dream, I guess so?]
"Is Senior Sister Li Zhuohua's obsession to become the number one in the world? Come to think of it, she did achieve that in her dream—after all, she killed everyone..."
While everyone was discussing Li Zhuohua's heart demon illusion, a timid cultivator hesitantly spoke up, "Excuse me, everyone... but when exactly did they dig up those sweet potatoes?"
