Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

It was not completely unfamiliar. Xu Yuan was still in the rear chamber of the technique transmission hall, just as before. The only difference was that a silk screen had appeared before him, embroidered with mountain ranges and immortal palaces.

Puzzled, he looked around and saw that the shattered dome above had already been restored. Even the marks that time had carved into the bricks and tiles had vanished.

The white jade floor gleamed with a warm, gentle light, as if wreathed in drifting mist. On the sandalwood eaves, carved phoenixes spread their wings as though about to take flight. The lattice windows were made of green tiles, and the inner walls of the palace were piled with jade and stone.

Xu Yuan’s gaze sharpened. With the changes before him and the true form of that mad woman being the Beguiling Divine Sakura, he quickly realized that he seemed to have fallen into some kind of illusion.

Bits of information he had read in ancient records flashed through his mind. Arrays, pills, cultivation arts, medicinal herbs, soul intent, and all manner of other things could cause hallucinations. Some worked on the senses, some acted on the body, and some could even directly affect a person’s soul.

At the lower end, there was Dream Departure Powder, the kind of thing rich young masters in the city liked to play with. At the higher end, there was the soul bewitching corridor of Sakura Leech Lake, and Su Jinxuan’s innate physique, which had made people fall for her against their will.

There were countless types of illusions, and their effects varied wildly.

That knowledge put Xu Yuan faintly on guard. Some illusions could drag a person in like a dream, leaving them completely unaware. They would sink deeper and deeper, until their body died. Since he was still conscious, this should be a kind of self-aware illusion. But that did not mean it was safe.

Some illusions created by evil arts could even kill a person in their dream. If one died within the illusion, the body and intent-soul would remain unaffected, but the consciousness itself would scatter. Simply put, the process of death would feel so real that even you would believe you had died.

After a brief silence, Xu Yuan tentatively looked inward to check the condition of his body. Then, he discovered that his Innate Dao Physique was gone. In its place was an extremely strange physique.

The human body had 127 meridians. This body of his currently had only 103 opened, but 36 of them were extraordinarily broad and resilient, more than twice as wide as the Innate Dao Physique he had nearly died nine times over to obtain.

This was probably another kind of special physique.

But compared to the change in his physique, Xu Yuan soon noticed that the gaseous source qi within him had already condensed into liquid, stretching endlessly like ocean tides. At the very least, this body started at third rank.

Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment, then sucked in a cold breath. As someone who had lived through the age of information overload, the changes in cultivation art, realm, and physique instantly made him realize what might have happened to him. He seemed to have become someone from ten thousand years ago inside this illusion.

After a brief pause, he tried to circulate the Blood Origin Heartfall Art with the source qi inside this body. But the moment the source qi moved, he hurriedly stopped.

Whether he was cultivating, fighting, or healing, the Blood Origin Heartfall Art required every meridian in the body. This body only had 103 meridians open. If he forced the art to circulate, he would only end up with qi deviation.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Yuan guided the source qi again.

A moment later, a small blood-colored mirror appeared in front of him. It was the Blood Mirror from the Blood Origin Heartfall Art. This spell did not require the blocked meridians, so he was able to use it directly. And with his current cultivation realm, the mirror looked almost solid.

Xu Yuan looked at himself in the mirror, and a thoughtful look passed through his eyes. It was still his original face. The only difference was that the faint sakura mark between his brows had now become solid.

Before Wang Yuchu had self-destructed, she had clearly regained her sanity. That smile of release at the very end, and that thanks, had obviously carried goodwill toward him. Perhaps that goodwill came from the bottle of flower carving wine. Perhaps it was because he had cut down the Beguiling Divine Sakura and helped free her from her madness. But if that was the case, was this illusion a chance she had given him?

Xu Yuan thought for an instant, then shook his head. If it was only an opportunity, why had she added a sorry after saying thank you? He still had to be careful. Having made up his mind, he left the rear chamber and walked toward the main room of the technique transmission hall..

His footsteps were very light, but in the vast, lonely palace, they still carried far.

As he turned a corner, Xu Yuan suddenly heard a few faint murmurs.

“Quiet the heart.”

“Focus the mind.”

“Calm the breath.”

...

After a brief pause, Xu Yuan lowered his steps, circled around the rear platform, and appeared in a corner of the main hall.

The main room of the Dome Palace’s technique transmission hall was still as grand and magnificent as ever. Hundreds of meditation cushions were laid out across the white jade floor, and at this moment, a young girl was sitting cross-legged among them with her eyes closed.

She wore a red dress. Her small face was flushed, and she seemed to be meditating with her eyes shut, adjusting her breathing. With that delicate, breathtaking face, who else could it be but Tian Yan?

After watching for a few breaths, Xu Yuan noticed something was off. Tian Yan seemed to still be able to circulate the Heaven Deriving Art.

Xu Yuan’s brows slowly furrowed. He had definitely seen Tian Yan get swept into the sakura petals earlier, so she should have fallen into the illusion as well. But this illusion was clearly targeting the soul. Did that mean the Beguiling Divine Sakura’s illusion could connect the souls of multiple people? Or was the Tian Yan in front of him actually an NPC inside the illusion?

After a brief hesitation, Xu Yuan probed outward with his soul intent.

The chaotic concealment array inside the technique transmission hall had not been activated, so his vast soul intent reached Tian Yan’s surroundings without obstruction. She, however, seemed unable to sense his soul intent. She continued muttering mantras to herself as she regulated her breathing.

And through his soul intent’s perception, Xu Yuan discovered a problem. Tian Yan seemed to have become weaker. The aura leaking from her was at most around fourth rank Body Integration, though he could not be sure whether this woman was putting on an act.

The thought had only just crossed his mind when Tian Yan seemed to sense something. She lifted her eyes and looked toward him.

In the enormous room, the two of them stared at each other from afar in silence.

The atmosphere became slightly awkward.

Xu Yuan was silent for an instant. Then he turned and ran.

Tian Yan’s small face was flushed as she suppressed something inside her. “D-Don’t you run!”

Xu Yuan ignored her and sprinted straight toward the rear hall.

Seeing this, Tian Yan formed a hand seal and cast two mantras on herself, Speed and Haste, then chased after him.

One fled, the other pursued. Xu Yuan rapidly escaped toward the rear palace.

“Freeze!” A soft murmur came from behind him.

Xu Yuan instantly felt an invisible pressure surge in from every direction, trying to forcibly pin him in place.

The sensation was rather novel, but the binding force did not seem absolute. Even without circulating a cultivation art, he could break free with brute strength if he gave it everything he had.

His thoughts raced, and a realization surfaced in his mind. In this illusion, Tian Yan’s strength really did seem to be below his.

Thinking this, Xu Yuan stopped where he was, his guard raised to the limit. When he had been running earlier, he had relied entirely on his body’s physical strength. Although Tian Yan’s cultivation was weaker than his, with the blessing of her Heaven character mantras, she had still kept close behind him.