In the darkness, Liye’s expression shifted slightly.
Had she discovered it? Had she actually found the anchor of the illusion realm?
No. Even if she had found it, it was useless. She definitely had no idea what the anchor was!
If she chose to attack it with spiritual power or her soul, she would only make the illusion more realistic, ensuring that she would never be able to escape!
Liye’s thoughts raced as he became certain that Yuan Shu could not break through his illusion.
Yet in the next moment, Yuan Shu moved a finger and tossed the fingernail-sized piece of finger bone directly into her mouth.
Liye’s eyes widened abruptly!
No, wait—that bloody piece of finger bone, still stuck with quite a bit of flesh… she had just thrown it into her mouth?
Wasn’t she disgusted?
Was she even a woman?
Or had she discovered something?
Liye stared with widened eyes, his expression filled with disbelief.
Meanwhile, Yuan Shu bit down on the “finger bone.” With a crisp crack, the sweet fragrance of fruit spread through her mouth.
The corners of her lips curled upward. As expected, there was an illusion spell on this thing!
This entire illusion realm probably contained only one real object: this fruit.
That’s right. This was actually a fruit from the real world. Liye had merely used it as the anchor of the illusion realm, sending it into the illusion and making it part of the scenery.
The illusion realm Liye had created was extremely powerful. Yuan Shu had searched all around the mountain of corpses but had found no other anchor capable of breaking the illusion.
She had only sensed that the “finger bone” carried an unusual fluctuation of spiritual power.
It was the Hehuan Divine Tree in her sea of consciousness that had reminded her: it was a Condensing Pearl Fruit.
Using a spiritual fruit as the anchor of an illusion realm reduced the fluctuation of spiritual power and made it difficult to detect. It was indeed an excellent method!
However, Liye did not know that Yuan Shu possessed the Hehuan Divine Tree.
The Hehuan Divine Tree was a divine treasure among spiritual plants, with an exceptionally keen sensitivity to medicinal plants and related objects.
The moment it drew near the spiritual fruit, it sensed the unique spiritual-plant fluctuation upon it and recognized it!
Liye had probably deliberately transformed the fruit into a piece of bloody bone. Anyone who saw it would naturally feel disgusted and would never think of putting it directly into their mouth.
Unfortunately for him, she was an exception!
The instant Yuan Shu swallowed the Condensing Pearl Fruit, the scarlet world before her suddenly lit up as though dawn had broken, flooding with dazzling white light.
The light forcibly squeezed a distinctive band of spiritual radiance between the two stretches of crimson.
The band twisted and turned. Wherever it reached, the illusion realm began to transform.
Yuan Shu narrowed her eyes and stood still. A moment later, the scene before her became clear once more. Brilliant treasure-light entered her eyes, dazzling her senses.
What appeared before Yuan Shu was a magnificent mountain of treasures.
The mountain was piled high with all kinds of spiritual stones and magical artifacts, each emitting powerful fluctuations of spiritual energy.
At the same time, a bewitching, illusory voice appeared in her mind.
“Forget all your troubles and stay here. Every treasure in this place will belong to you…”
Yuan Shu: “…”
Who knew where Liye had plagiarized that voice from? Its tone was rather rough and shoddy.
Listening to it made Yuan Shu grit her teeth.
She walked forward and casually picked up a magical artifact shaped like a copper bell. With a gentle shake, it rang out like a clear stream surging through the air.
Yuan Shu immediately felt her mind clear and her entire body relax.
“This illusion realm is something else. The magical artifacts it creates can actually pass for the real thing?”
If Yuan Shu had truly been inexperienced and ignorant, she might really have been dazzled by all these treasures and riches.
But as a former sect master, what kind of treasures had she never seen before?
Yuan Shu let out a scornful laugh. Her gaze remained clear as she casually tossed the copper bell back onto the mountain of treasures.
Immediately afterward, the scene before her twisted and transformed once again.
When Yuan Shu looked again, she was standing on an Ascension Platform, with tens of thousands of people kneeling before her as the immortals paid their respects.
The crowd shouted, begging her to ascend.
The sky, which had already endured the nine tribulations of heavenly lightning, was filled with drifting clouds of every color and radiant light. The Gate of Ascension had already opened to welcome her.
In the blink of an eye, the lifelong pursuit of every cultivator lay directly before her.
With one step forward, she could enter the Gate of Ascension and fly up to become an immortal!
Her emotions stirred faintly for two moments. Yuan Shu blinked, then gave a soft laugh, quickly regaining her composure.
“Ascension is indeed the goal of cultivation. But, Liye, don’t you know that everything must be done one step at a time?”
“Besides, there are far too many people in this scene, and the setting is crude. It’s difficult for me to convince myself that it’s real.”
After speaking, Yuan Shu turned her head toward the empty space not far away.
Liye’s gaze as he spied on her was burning. Even without the Hehuan Divine Tree’s reminder, she could still sense it.
But it was all just an illusion!
…
Inside the underground palace’s cavern, Liye’s entire body was rigid. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he was concentrating all his spiritual sense on constructing the illusion realm.
When he saw Yuan Shu’s eyes clear almost instantly after only a moment of confusion, he was so furious that he nearly vomited blood.
He had been poisoned by Yuan Shu’s medicine. He had no idea where this woman had refined such a drug, but its effects had lasted an astonishingly long time.
His body was currently rigid and unable to move. Needless to say, he could not capture her and drag her back.
The only thing he could move was his spiritual sense!
He had originally intended to use the illusion realm to expose Yuan Shu’s true nature—ideally, to seize hold of some weakness he could use to threaten and manipulate her.
He had tried several times, but none of them had succeeded.
Fear? Treasures? Ascension?
None of those were her obsessions. Then what was she afraid of? Or perhaps, what did she like?
Liye frowned deeply. For the first time, he felt that a mere female cultivator at the Nascent Soul realm could be this troublesome.
If Yuan Shu truly broke free from his illusion realm, wouldn’t everyone laugh themselves to death once they found out?
Liye furrowed his brow in thought. After a moment, he decided to take a risk and probe Yuan Shu’s spiritual consciousness.
If he wanted to deal with her, he first had to know what this woman truly cared about.
That was precisely where the illusion realm he had constructed was most formidable!
…
Within the illusion realm, Yuan Shu raised her hand and gathered spiritual power before swinging it fiercely.
The illusion before her began to tremble violently. Soon, it shattered into countless fragments like broken mirrors and dissipated, leaving behind a vast expanse of whiteness.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Yuan Shu clicked her tongue, sounding somewhat disappointed.
In the darkness, Liye ground his teeth furiously and quietly spread out the power of his spiritual sense.
A moment later, threads of spiritual sense as fine as strands of silk drifted toward Yuan Shu mixed in with the spiritual energy, inconspicuous and difficult to detect.
When Yuan Shu’s mood relaxed, they followed her finger and slipped inside.
Almost instantly, Yuan Shu sensed that something was wrong. With a thought, she shook Liye’s spiritual sense back out.
“Mm…”
In the underground palace’s cavern, Liye’s brows knitted tightly. His spiritual sense throbbed with pain, and he let out a muffled groan.
But only a moment later, the corners of his lips curved into a wicked smile.
He had seen it. He had seen it!
So this was what the woman liked…
“Heh.” He let out a cold laugh, formed a series of hand seals, and reconstructed the illusion realm.
…
The scene before Yuan Shu transformed once again. This time, it became an ornate bedchamber.
A large bed stood in the center of the room, shrouded in red gauze curtains. Strings of pearls hung around it, swaying gently in the breeze and giving off crisp, tinkling sounds.
Then, a large, well-defined hand lifted the pearl curtain.
A handsome man with a tall, slender figure, broad shoulders, and a narrow waist bent slightly as he walked in.
He wore only a pair of white trousers that concealed his long, straight, powerful legs.
His upper body was covered by nothing more than a thin layer of gauze.
Beneath it, his full, firm chest and sharply defined abdominal muscles were faintly visible.
His handsome, fair face held deep-set features, and his eyes were an exceptionally distinctive shade of violet—strikingly similar to Li Xie’s after transforming into a demon.
A silver veil strung with silvery-white pearls faintly obscured the man’s high, straight nose and handsome red lips.
With every subtle change in his expression, his violet eyes glimmered with alluring moisture, their outer corners slightly tilted upward—utterly captivating.
Yuan Shu’s originally nonchalant eyes widened slightly.
