So there was only one explanation—the body she was in right now wasn’t her real body at all!
When realization dawned on her, Lin Jiu drew in a sharp breath, her fingers trembling slightly as another detail from the novel suddenly emerged in her mind: After Liu Qingyin took her own life, she found herself in front of the sand gate of the fourth level. Wang Weizhi’s body was pressed tightly against hers, so close that they were practically embracing each other. Liu Qingyin was naturally flustered and anxious, but no matter how hard she tried, her body wouldn’t move. All the while, Wang Weizhi’s gaze was fixed on her, his eyes twinkling with a sly smile, and it was only after about one incense stick of time later that she was finally able to break free from his arms.
When reading this scene, Lin Jiu had only focused on how the female lead blushed under the assault of the secondary male lead’s body heat, how her heart beat so fast, how she felt guilty toward Wei Liang, and other trivialities. She hadn’t thought deeply about why the two of them were completely immobilized after leaving the third trial.
The truth was… this level was similar to a dream. Their true bodies were actually asleep outside. So, if Qin Yunxi had already exited earlier and targeted her defenseless body outside…
Lin Jiu’s scalp instantly tingled, and her heart pounded wildly in her chest. Was the current calm because Qin Yunxi had yet to notice this perfect opportunity, or because Wang Weizhi was protecting her?!
She summoned the glazed crimson sword but found her grip on its hilt unsteady.
‘No, wait… calm down, calm down first.’ Lin Jiu took a deep breath, gradually steadying herself. ‘Wang Weizhi has been gone for quite a while now. If nothing has happened to me yet, it must have something to do with him. Since he trusted me enough to end his own life and leave this place, I should trust him just this once. If I’m right, something big will soon happen in this illusion.’
’Wang Weizhi… just hold out for me a little longer. Don’t let me down!’
Suddenly, a deafening roar echoed from outside. Lin Jiu’s vision dimmed, and as she looked up, she saw a massive shadow sweeping across the sky, crashing down with a thunderous impact that shook the ground repeatedly.
Another colossal, bizarrely shaped figure rose in the distance, resembling a moving mountain that loomed high over the city. Moments later, yet another massive body emerged from the ground. These creatures seemed completely mindless, ferociously attacking each other.
There was no need to guess. The monsters in the fray must be Ji Yuan and the remaining members of the Wang family who had consumed too much of the so-called ‘elixir’!
Lin Jiu felt her heartbeat quicken, thundering in her ears. Taking another deep breath to forcibly suppress her growing unease, she gripped her sword tightly and dashed toward the mayhem.
The burning pain in her blood had been completely purged by the Karma Lotus. With a silent command from her mind, spiritual aura surged to the tip of her sword, forming a dark golden ribbon that shot through the air and latched onto the edge of the roof in the distance.
“Retract!” The aura ribbon contracted in an instant, propelling Lin Jiu into the air. She soared across the length of a street, landing awkwardly on the roof’s edge, shattering a few black tiles underfoot.
Looking back, she realized she had leaped nearly a hundred meters!
“Not bad. Pretty strong.” Lin Jiu nodded to herself. From her vantage point on the rooftop, she could clearly see the chaos at the center of the storm. A slender figure in white darted through the battlefield, carrying to safety townsfolk who had failed to flee in time—it was none other than Liu Qingyin.
Seeing Liu Qingyin still in the illusion put Lin Jiu somewhat at ease. As long as Liu Qingyin remained inside, she would be completely defenseless, and Qin Yunxi wouldn’t risk leaving her alone with Wang Weizhi under such circumstances. This meant he wouldn’t take any actions that might result in his immediate ejection from the secret realm.
Lin Jiu let out a soft sigh of relief and began scanning her surroundings. Her gaze locked onto a thick, fallen wooden pillar about two hundred meters away. Though only cultivators at the Nascent Soul stage could fly freely with their swords, Lin Jiu, still in the early Golden Core stage, was eager to experience the sensation of flight ahead of time.
Gripping the hilt of her sword tightly, Lin Jiu and the glazed crimson sword, ‘Red Beauty,’ were perfectly in sync. The brilliant red glow coursed along the blade’s surface, pooling at its tip. At the same time, Lin Jiu infused the sword with a burst of spiritual aura.
A slender golden chain as thick as a pinky quickly materialized at the sword’s point!
“Go!”
The chain flew out like an extension of her arm, expanding rapidly to over a hundred meters in length. With a flick of her sword, the dark golden chain twisted and shot forward in the blink of an eye, coiling tightly around the fallen wooden pillar.
“Retract!”
Lin Jiu’s body was lifted into the air once more, this time descending from the roof toward the ground. The chain pulled her along, allowing her to adjust her direction and speed at will. The strong wind struck her face like sharp blades, causing her cheeks to sting, while the hem of her robe flapped noisily behind her. It felt as though she were being carried by the wind itself.
Lin Jiu’s heart soared with exhilaration as she deftly weaved through the battlefield, dodging shards of wood and debris hurtling from the chaos at the center.
Getting closer, she saw that Liu Qingyin was in a disheveled state—her lips pale, her black hair messy, and her white dress stained with dust and debris. The ever kind-hearted female lead was escorting a family of three away from the heart of the battlefield.
There were four monsters in total, and the scene was utter chaos. Lin Jiu observed for a while and noticed that three of the pitch-black creatures were working together to hunt down a massive, blood-colored serpent with two horns on its head. The serpent was undoubtedly the mutated form of Ji Yuan, slithering nimbly through the alleyways, its massive body filling the narrow streets.
The three pitch-black monsters resembled bears in form but were far clumsier than Ji Yuan. They rampaged wildly, tearing through anything in their way without the slightest hesitation. Walls crumbled like falling sands as they smashed through them, hurling debris far and wide. Though they relentlessly pursued Ji Yuan, the serpent was far too cunning, slipping past them time and again. Occasionally, the three monsters collided with each other, producing deafening crashes like iron mountains colliding, yet none of them sustained any damage.
At the edge of the battlefield, Lin Jiu noticed a massive crater filled with rubble and splatters of blood. Piecing together her observations, she deduced the events—Ji Yuan and the members of the Wang family had fought over the elixir and undergone mutations. At present, the four had lost all sense of reason and began attacking one another in a frenzy. With their mutated bodies nearly indestructible, none had been eliminated yet.
As a genuine devil cultivator, Ji Yuan hadn’t lost his mind like the others. He had coiled one of the black monsters and flung it away, creating a massive crater and crushing many of the illusion’s inhabitants. The unlucky creature that was hurled out was immediately disqualified. The remaining three, perhaps enraged by this, had their faint traces of reason stirred and joined forces to hunt down Ji Yuan’s serpent form.
Lin Jiu’s guess was quickly confirmed. Ji Yuan slithered nimbly through two alleyways, his long tail coiling around a small brick house. With one swift motion, he uprooted the entire structure, including the people within, and flung it directly toward the massive iron fist of one of the rampaging monsters! The roof of the house had already been torn off, revealing a round-faced little boy squatting inside a rice jar, his big, confused eyes blinking blankly.
The monster chasing Ji Yuan closely had no idea it was a trap. Driven by pure rage, it only wanted to tear the blood serpent to shreds! With a mighty swing, it raised its massive fist, ready to smash the fragile house—and the boy inside it—into pieces.
The boy was about to meet his end under the crushing blow of the iron fist!
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