Chapter 656: Suffering a Grave Loss
Chapter 656: Suffering a Grave Loss
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
As the illusory realm descended upon the four protectors of the Ancestor Mother Religion, the blue-eyed man became immersed entirely within moments; his soul was led into an illusory world, and there, it started a new life.
He had a true love, he had his clansmen, and he fought for them. He even had a new name—Blade Nine! He completely forgot his real identity!
Such was the state of true immersion created by the illusory realm.
Just like when mortals dreamt, they often forgot who they really were, the souls of these protectors could be deceived by the illusory realm, leaving everything under another person's control, including the fate of their lives!
...
The gray-robed female protector proved to have a stronger cultivation heart. Even though she was also dragged into the illusory realm, her soul was not deceived. She maintained a fundamental clarity of thought and knew she was of the Ancestor Mother Religion and had been lured by Xue Ying of the cultivator cosmos into an illusory realm.
'This is just an illusory realm.'
'Break for me.'
'Break.'
The gray-robed female protector continued to sense her fleshy body, so she was able to operate countless of her green branches and leaves to protect herself. But despite being able to detect her own body, she would be unable to see the surrounding real world until her soul escaped from this illusory realm.
...
The moment Protector Huo Zhu was pulled into the illusory realm…
His powerful soul roared out—
'Break!'
The invisible energy surrounding the surface of his body tore apart the illusory realm. Now that his powerful soul and willpower were working in concert with the mythical energy surrounding his body, the illusory realm could not resist for long.
...
The one who had the easiest time dealing with the illusions was actually the violet-robed old man. He opened a single eye, but his vision was cold and filled with wisdom. The very moment he fell into the illusory realm, his soul and willpower had already shattered it!
"Huo Zhu, hurry up and save the other two," he transmitted in a clearly flustered tone.
"I know." Protector Huo Zhu was already conscious and had already opened his mouth to spill out flames. The surging inferno then split into many snakes which swimming out in every direction. They quickly spread out with speed far beyond that of Protector Huo Zhu's personal flying speed, and the direction they were heading in was that of the gray-robed female protector and the blue-eyed man.
'To have suddenly displayed such a formidable illusory realm… this Dong Bo Xue Ying truly hid his abilities well.' The violet-robed old man was slightly anxious.
******
Even though Xue Ying was already aware that the experts of the Ancestor Mother Religion were weaker on average regarding their cultivation hearts, the effect of the illusory realm still left him in shock and joy at the same time.
'The woman is maintaining her consciousness, but she can't struggle out of it. The man is in an even worse state—his soul was completely subdued.' Xue Ying tried to suppress the ecstasy rising up in his heart. The female protector might not be able to struggle out, but she was still able to control her body, as well as those branches and leaves, so killing her would not be easy. However, the situation was entirely different when it came to the blue-eyed protector.
His soul was thoroughly deceived, and Xue Ying was now in control of his fate.
'Get over here.'
Xue Ying took a single step inside the Mirage, teleporting directly to the side of the blue-eyed man. He then extended his hand which left the Mirage world, to grab him in the real world.
Once grabbed…
'In you go.' Xue Ying easily sent the blue-eyed man into his Cultivation Eden.
His soul had been hoodwinked, and the blue-eyed man was now essentially in a deep sleep—he was unable to offer any sort of resistance.
'Another one down!' Xue Ying was thrilled. Now that he eliminated two protectors, he could not help but feel proud of himself.
'Time to deal with another one.' Xue Ying multitasked in his control over the illusory realm to leave the blue-eyed man immersed in it, while simultaneously teleporting over to the side of the gray-robed female protector.
A shackle suddenly appeared in his right hand, and with a wave, the item entered the real world and moved out to entangle the gray-robed female protector; he was trying to pull her into the Mirage world.
However, the gray-robed female protector had managed to cover herself in many branches and leaves already, to the point that there wasn't even the slightest gap in her defense. Even the internal areas of her body were covered by the same branches and leaves. At the same time the shackles appeared to restrict her, the branches and leaves also began moving to entangle the shackles with strength so terrifying that Xue Ying found he could no longer move them. In fact, the shackles were starting to pull away from him.
Seeing this, Xue Ying quickly shrunk the shackles to get rid of the restriction, then brought them back into the Mirage world to collect them.
He no longer dared try to pull the gray-robed female protector using this item. After all, with the entire body of that gray-robed female protector being guarded by those branches and leaves, he simply could not move her even an inch.
'Those branches and leaves are stronger than me,' Xue Ying muttered inwardly. 'Right, even the Blood Serpent Spear could not penetrate them before.'
"Hong hong hong~"
The firm branches and leaves were suddenly forced apart, now that a figure of flame could be seen rapidly closing in. This was none other than the flame avatar previously displayed by the Protector Huo Zhu. Its strength was titanic, so it was able to quickly force apart those branches and leaves.
He had to do so since the female protector was trapped in an illusory realm so her branches and leaves could not discern between enemy and ally. However, Protector Huo Zhu's strength had always been much higher than Xue Ying's, so even this avatar of his was this powerful. He soon reached the side of the female protector, covering her with his boundless flames.
Xue Ying turned over, only to see that the distant violet-robed old man had already rushed over to Protector Huo Zhu's side, and had already been safely collected by him.
"Hu." The gray-robed female protector, who had already entered the protection of the flames, was quickly collected as well; Xue Ying's illusory realm could no longer influence her.
By now, there were only two people left in this sealed world.
One was Protector Huo Zhu, who was incomparably furious, and the other was Xue Ying, who was standing safely inside his Mirage world.
"Dong Bo Xue Ying, hand over Protector Zhong She." Protector Huo Zhu's body was tall and sturdy, and the invisible force covering the surface of his body had already begun spreading over. "Do that, and I'll let you live."
"Hahaha, you sure can maintain your arrogance despite the terrible state you're in. Want to kill your way over to me? You can just go ahead and try. However, I have a feeling you won't even be able to find me." Xue Ying's voice was clearly reverberating within this sealed world, but no matter how Protector Huo Zhu tried to investigate its source, he could not find the slightest trace of Xue Ying's position.
"Hand over Protector Zhong She. If you have any conditions, you can go ahead and state them." Protector Huo Zhu was forcing down his fury.
He was one of the peak experts of the Ancestor Mother Religion, but he was well aware that he could not deal with Xue Ying as it stood. The contradiction left him feeling inwardly stifled. Regardless, he had to at least try and think of a way to save Protector Zhong She.
After all, from the very moment they first stepped into this cultivation cosmos, they had always been cautious. Many of the Paragons had never ever seen an expert from the Ancestor Mother Religion since they would only ever appear in the Lower Three Edens of the Six Heavenly Wheel, where they held an absolute superiority! From the time they entered this cultivation cosmos and up until just previously, they had lost just two of their protectors. But now, this seemingly ordinary Xue Ying had already caused the death of Protector Cheng Yun and even captured Protector Zhong She alive.
They had truly underestimated him.
After all, the intelligence reports stated that he was just a stage four World Deity, so sending Protector Cheng Yun should have sufficed. However, their carelessness led to them falling under a scheme which eventually caused them to lose a great general.
But never would they have thought that, even with four protectors acting together, they would still end up falling into another trap!
Xue Ying was absolutely one of the rarest types of experts in this cultivation cosmos, one of the few people who opened a Dao related to illusory techniques! People like the White Sovereign, the Heavenly Emperor of Great Destruction, the Water Devil King, or Monarch Hex Cricket and such others might seem powerful, but all of the Daos they opened were in no way related to illusory techniques! Even the Rulers with the greatest of statuses like the Temporal Island Lord and the Myriad God Palace Head did not follow any Dao related to illusory techniques.
There were only a few Paragons who did.
The majority opened all sorts of Dao, but those who opened Daos related to illusions could be counted on one's fingers!
And Xue Ying, with his Dao of Mirage, was precisely one of these select few. His illusory realm was a technique with a wide area of effect, which meant he could cause four protectors to fall into it at the same time. Even though three of them managed to escape, the blue-eyed man, Protector Zhong She, had disappeared—he had evidently been captured by Xue Ying.
They had truly lost this battle to a great injustice! In truth, the main reason they lost was purely that they underestimated Xue Ying. This person had seemed entirely unremarkable amongst many powerful Paragons of the cultivation cosmos, but their carelessness and his techniques eventually led to them suffering a consequential loss.
'He is truly cunning; he's been planning this the whole time. Back when he dealt with Protector Cheng Yun, he did not display the illusory realm, nor that technique which allowed him to easily hide and flee.' Protector Huo Zhu looked around him, but he could find no trace of Xue Ying within the sealed world. 'He is not a part of the regular world. Does that mean he is in another world? He'd been flying slowly all this time, but even that was fake! He truly hid himself too deeply!'