***
The following night, Bai Yunsheng appeared right on schedule, standing in front of the inn right on schedule as well.
As for why he had come here… the reason was quite simple: Wu Guanyue had sent him a message through Chu Yingfeng.
Chu Yingfeng had taken the initiative to show up early that morning… Because he had been forced to see Bai Yunsheng in the flesh the night before, Bai Yunsheng really didn’t want to see him. Every time he caught sight of that expressionless face, cold as snow and ice, his entire body felt uncomfortable.
Then Chu Yingfeng opened his mouth, and he felt even worse…
Chu Yingfeng’s tone was as flat as ever. “Bai Yunsheng, you don’t want anyone finding out about what happened last night, do you?”
Bai Yunsheng: “……”
Bai Yunsheng exploded. “What the hell did you just say?!”
Chu Yingfeng’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. He merely said coldly, “The innkeeper would like you to come to the inn tonight. That’s what she asked me to tell you.”
Bai Yunsheng: “……”
Bai Yunsheng fell silent.
A threat… This was a threat… It was practically a naked, blatant threat.
But what a useful threat it was!
Although he didn’t believe for a second that Chu Yingfeng actually had a Trace-Shadow Pearl… whenever he imagined the possibility of everyone seeing him with his bare bottom exposed, the terror rising from the depths of his heart drowned out every last bit of rational analysis…
Thus, after his face twisted for an instant, Bai Yunsheng still agreed—though with immense humiliation.
Chu Yingfeng looked at him with an extremely strange expression.
Bai Yunsheng was already annoyed beyond words. “What are you looking at?!”
Chu Yingfeng withdrew his gaze. As he walked away, he seemed to sigh faintly. “So concerned with your dignity. A fatal flaw…”
Bai Yunsheng: “……”
Bai Yunsheng exploded again. “Easy for you to say! If you’ve got the guts, you strip too!!!”
His shout had been so loud that it attracted the curious gazes of several Dongtian disciples.
Chu Yingfeng ignored him and disappeared from the spot.
And so, Bai Yunsheng still came.
Even though he knew he shouldn’t, he came anyway.
Wu Guanyue had gone to such lengths and risked her life… er, she had stripped him of his clothes, clearly not because those clothes were particularly expensive or exquisite. She must have had some other purpose. She must want to discuss something with him.
Now, he was willing to sit down and have a talk with her.
This was a banquet at Hongmen, but certainly not one intended to kill him.
Since that was the case, what was there to worry about? Things couldn’t possibly be worse than they had been yesterday anyway…
Bai Yunsheng gave himself this little pep talk before coming alone to the banquet.
Of course, he had still brought along every last piece of equipment he had.
The Immortal-Slaying Saber, the Origin-Returning Sword, the Heart-Protecting Mirror, the Soft-Spined Armor…
At that moment, Bai Yunsheng stood on Qihua Road with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the inn’s signboard.
The sign was densely covered in tiny, minuscule characters recording who-knew-what. It radiated an evil aura that made Bai Yunsheng unable to resist taking a closer look and reading it carefully…
“Ah ah ah, oh oh oh, uh uh uh…”
Bai Yunsheng: “……”
Bai Yunsheng stopped reading and called out loudly from in front of the inn, “Bai Yunsheng of the Profound Heaven Sect has come to seek your instruction!”
The lantern hanging outside the inn suddenly swayed in the wind, its flame flickering eerily.
No one answered, but the door creaked open by itself.
Bai Yunsheng furrowed his brows… but he was not a coward.
He had gone out of his way to come here tonight. Nothing had happened yet—could he really just slink away with his tail between his legs?
Bai Yunsheng gave a heavy snort, flicked back his robe, and strode into the inn.
At that very instant, he was suddenly surrounded by a cloud of mist!
Bai Yunsheng sensed that something was wrong and immediately tried to retreat—but it was already too late!
The mist had completely swallowed him up!
His body suddenly underwent a tremendous transformation… Bai Yunsheng widened his eyes in horror as he discovered that he was changing from a human into… er, a cat?
…Was it a cat?
The cat had an ugly face and stood upright on two legs, its posture grotesque. At the same time, the inn before Bai Yunsheng’s eyes vanished, replaced by a crude road paved with brown bricks. Above the road floated several individual blocks of brick.
If he had arrived in Meishan City a little earlier and enjoyed keeping up with the latest trends, he would have realized at once—
It was Cat Mario! The Cat Mario that had taken Meishan by storm!
But he didn’t know… didn’t… know…
Bai Yunsheng was shocked and flustered… but after finally calming down, he discovered that he could no longer soar through the air. All he could do was jump and move forward…
…A mirage beast.
That was his conclusion.
Indeed! This was, of course, Wuyun’s handiwork!
These past few days, with Cat Mario becoming wildly popular, the spiritual energy Wuyun had absorbed had been truly substantial. Its level had risen along with it, and at this very moment, the Black Cloud Cat was already a seasoned LV.4 mirage beast—chest puffed out proudly!
…Its size had increased along with its level, too. Recently, whenever Wu Guanyue balanced it on top of her head, she could feel the heavy weight of life pressing down on her neck.
All right, enough digressing. In short, creating illusions was a mirage beast’s specialty. Bringing a two-dimensional version of Cat Mario into the three-dimensional world was naturally no problem at all!
Bai Yunsheng, trapped inside the mirage beast’s illusion, could only obey the rules of the illusion… Once someone fell into a mirage beast’s mirage-scape, they had to find the key to the illusion before they could successfully escape…
Where was the key?
Bai Yunsheng warily hopped forward.
Every time he landed, a “toot~~~~” sounded beside his ears. It didn’t resemble the sound of any musical instrument he had ever heard. Although it was ridiculous, it kept his nerves stretched taut.
The road ahead gradually revealed itself… There was only one path to take. Bai Yunsheng tried jumping forward…
…and then he returned to the starting point.
…It seemed that something had suddenly shot out of a green pipe and killed him.
After all, this was Cat Mario. Such a thing was perfectly normal. The guests who frequently played games at the inn had long since grown indifferent to it; their mental states did not change in the slightest.
But Bai Yunsheng didn’t know… didn’t… know…
Bai Yunsheng: “……”
Bai Yunsheng’s rage meter increased by 10%.
He drew a deep breath, regrouped, and set off again.
A disciple of the Profound Heaven Sect was a disciple of the Profound Heaven Sect. Even though Bai Yunsheng was technically a hostage-like disciple, his skills were still up to par. He wouldn’t be defeated twice by the same trick. This time, he successfully made it past the dangerous pipe and continued onward…
…and then he returned to the starting point again.
…It seemed that a cloud had just dropped from the sky and crushed him to death.
In the course of playing Cat Mario, this was also perfectly normal. After all, the game was designed to be torturous. During the early stages, dying any number of times was entirely ordinary.
But Bai Yunsheng had never been tormented before…
And besides, Wu Guanyue possessed [Skill: Game Editor]!
She hadn’t dared use this skill before, because she hadn’t had any idea how to modify the game… But now things were different. In order to deal with Bai Yunsheng, she had come up with the perfect plan!
Cancel the checkpoints!
That was it—cancel the checkpoints!
Every time he died, he would have to start all over again, with absolutely no shortcuts! It had gone from a torturous game to the ultimate torture game!
Bai Yunsheng: “…………”
Back at the starting point, Bai Yunsheng’s anger slowly climbed to fifty percent…
But that wasn’t all. Just as he began making his way forward from the starting point for the eighteenth time, the voice in his ears suddenly changed, transforming into a complete and beautiful melody!
A dignified male voice boomed out in song: “Three hundred and sixty-five li～～yeah～～crossing～～spring, summer, autumn, and winter～～～” (*)
Bai Yunsheng: “…………”
Blood vessels stood out in Bai Yunsheng’s eyes…
What the hell kind of mirage was this?!!
Bai Yunsheng felt as if he could sense the malice of the entire world—! Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that today’s Hongmen Banquet would turn out like this!
What kind of Hongmen Banquet was this supposed to be?! What on earth was that Evil Twin-Tails, Wu Guanyue, trying to do?!
Bai Yunsheng felt completely and utterly toyed with. The fury in his heart was simply impossible to suppress!
He let out a furious shout and cursed, “Wu Guanyue! Come out! Hiding behind a mirage beast—do you call yourself a worthy opponent?! Can’t we talk things over?! Why are you doing this?! Why?!”
…No one answered him.
The mocking, beautiful singing continued in his ears, while that damn Cat Mario remained in front of his eyes.
Bai Yunsheng: “…………”
Swallowing his anger, Bai Yunsheng continued onward…
This time, he finally made it safely to the end of the first stage. According to the normal game progression, he should have entered the second stage at this point—but the benevolent Wu Guanyue had placed a stage boss here.
Bai Yunsheng also suddenly discovered that, besides jumping and moving forward, he now had a third thing he could do—
Attack!
The stage boss slowly appeared. It was a simply drawn blade of grass.
But at that moment, Bai Yunsheng didn’t dare act rashly… Although his rage had nearly driven him out of his mind, he could still keenly sense the aura of a conspiracy…
Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. He couldn’t make a careless move.
Bai Yunsheng did not attack immediately. Instead, he circled around the simply drawn blade of grass, which was taller than he was…
Then he returned to the starting point!!!
At that very moment, the blade of grass suddenly split into two. The two halves trapped him between them, one on either side, shouting something about a “pincer attack from both sides” before crushing him to death!!
And so he had to hear it again…
“Three hundred and sixty-five li～～yeah～～”
The beautiful male voice continued to sing…
Bai Yunsheng’s anger level broke through eighty percent!
The veins at his temples bulged, and his temples throbbed violently… Truth be told, he wasn’t particularly good at keeping his temper in check. And especially after someone had seen him at his most vulnerable yesterday, he was unusually sensitive today…
At this moment, he was on the verge of exploding!
And after he died three more times on the way before finally reaching the stage boss, his fury reached its absolute peak!
The stage boss quickly split into two again, attempting to repeat its old trick and execute that “pincer attack from both sides”!
Bai Yunsheng’s eyes were bloodshot, his features twisted with rage. With a furious roar, he shot straight into the air and struck first!!
The Immortal-Slaying Saber flashed into action!!
The saber wind condensed into a single line and came whistling toward them, carrying enough force to cleave even a person’s primordial spirit in two!
“Crack!”
Bai Yunsheng brought his saber down in a single slash, and the sound of a tree splitting apart rang out sharply…
At the same time, the scene before his eyes suddenly changed. The illusory mirage vanished completely, replaced by the courtyard wall, a well, and…
A fallen pine tree?!
This pine tree was, of course, the Seven-Treasure Pine planted in Wu Guanyue’s backyard!
Let’s not forget that Wu Guanyue had [Construction Mode]. Once [Construction Mode] was activated, she could freely move anything inside the inn. Since the Seven-Treasure Pine had been planted within the inn, it naturally counted as an object she could move at will.
The instant Bai Yunsheng stepped into the inn, he had fallen into Wu Guanyue’s trap. Once his anger had been provoked, Wu Guanyue had naturally sent the Seven-Treasure Pine directly into the path of his saber!
And now…
[Activating [CG Mode] to record this beautiful moment!]
—Although she didn’t have a Memory-Reflection Orb, she could genuinely record video～
(*) Zhuang Xuezhong’s “Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Li.” Here it is!
