The Real Ones Have Arrived

Wang Xuan opened his eyes. His forehead and face felt cool, and the burning pain from the Red Substance had disappeared. He looked at the two people in front of him.

"Here we go again. Do you really think my memory has been wiped off?" He glanced at the terrifying meteorite passage. Above the rock wall, the demonic flower was only a few feet away. It really wasn't far.

"Get up quickly," said Demon Lord Yanyan, her red dress tattered from the fire.

Wang Xuan didn't stand on ceremony and pushed her away. He even grabbed one of her fair and delicate wrists, intending to throw her aside.

However, he couldn't be thrown; instead, he was lifted up, and a large, white fist was about to smash into his face.

With a bang, Fang Yuzhu reached out and grabbed the wrist of the Demon Lord Yanyan, stopping the scene.

Wang Xuan felt the force of the punch hitting his face, and his face was in excruciating pain. Even the booming sound that was so close at hand could cause incredibly terrifying destructive power.

"It looks just like the real thing." He remained calm. It wasn't his first time in this place; did they think they could fool him with an illusion? What a joke!

Then, he calmly and composedly reached out and shook his hand in front of the demon lord, saying, "Wake up, you're just a puppet."

The scene fell silent. Demon Lord Yanyan seemed surprised and found it unbelievable. Then, as she was lost in thought, a hand suddenly pinched her cheek.

"I must say, this dream is quite realistic. The Demon Lord's face is fair and translucent, and quite supple. I've never seen her perform the Demon Immortal Dance in reality. Why don't you perform one here?" Wang Xuan said calmly.

The passage was deathly quiet, utterly silent, except for terrifying red granular matter falling from above, burning him in excruciating pain.

"This kid... he's gone mad!" Not far away, someone finally spoke from the red mist; it was Zhang Daoling.

Wang Xuan glanced at him and said, "Old Zhang, I'm sorry, but I probably think about you a lot in my mind, so you appear quite often in the illusion."

The scene was eerie. The Demon Lord's face changed from pale to radiating a murderous aura, and his right hand instantly rose, as if he was about to slap Wang Xuan to death.

"He just woke up and is still a bit dazed," Fang Yuzhu said, quickly stopping her.

Not far away, Qi Yi, Demon Ancestor, Qi Teng, Nether Blood Sect Ancestor, and Zheng Yuantian were all badly burned, but they all looked at Wang Xuan with strange expressions.

"Ha, the scene is exactly the same as when I left last time. Who are you trying to fool?" Wang Xuan didn't find it funny at all. He thought that the Demon Flower underestimated him and actually connected with his last dream.

Is this going to turn into a TV series? He got annoyed and said, "Can you be more professional? You should be fooling me with a realistic scene."

He discovered that the Demon Flower paid great attention to detail; even the environment remained unchanged, exactly the same, with the positions of the suspended meteorite fragments presented exactly as before.

As for the state of those people and other details, they were all so well done that they seemed too real.

For a fleeting moment, Wang Xuan's mind wavered. Could it be that the real person had come? He shook his head; it was impossible.

He bit into the fruit of the First Immortal Tea that he had in his mouth, then the Iron Stake in his hand collided with the stove lid, making a crisp and realistic sound, in order to wake himself up and escape from the dream.

In fact, as the surrounding light dissipated, he felt completely clear-headed and had indeed woken up. But why were those Dao Body still there? They were all looking at him, their facial expressions were so perfect, and their eyes were strange.

"He's gone mad, there's no use keeping him alive, let's kill him," said Demon Ancestor Qi Yi.

Wang Xuan glanced at him and said, "Old Qi, I've beaten your son, who has Mental Illness, into submission. He calls me 'Uncle' now."

After saying that, he smiled. So what if it was an illusion? He could chat with anyone on a normal day, and he didn't mind saying a few more words now.

"Just crush him," Zheng Yuantian said, his entire body covered in armor.

Wang Xuan glanced at him and said, "Old Zheng, are you trying to act cute? Do you know you're already dead!"

Then, he felt the power that could burn mountains and boil seas. Zheng Yuantian didn't hold back and slapped him directly. The meteorite passage exploded and trembled violently. Various meteorite fragments fell and Red Substance poured out, making the place seem like it was about to be destroyed.

"Old Zheng, you're still so fierce even after you're dead?!" Wang Xuan was shocked. If this kind of power hit his primordial spirit, it would probably shatter it.

This is very strange. He couldn't help but prick himself lightly with Iron Stake to clear his mind. Was he still in the illusion?

But his other hand wasn't idle either; it held the furnace lid, which transformed into a shield, blocking in front of him to protect himself. He didn't dare to smash it out.

He worried that it was an illusion, that he was being lured by the demonic flower amidst all the falsehoods, and that he might end up being crushed to death. What if the target was his own head?

"Thump!"

During the passive defense, a loud bang rang out as Zheng Jueshi struck the furnace lid, causing it to erupt with strange runes, and the entire passageway reverberated.

"Holy crap, did Old Zheng become my inner demon after he died? He's coming to torment me in this illusion, and he's so fierce!" Wang Xuan thought it was outrageous.

He felt something was very wrong; it felt like a real-life version of the event, rather than a dream.

During this process, he tried many times to wake himself up and not to be trapped in the dream. However, each time he was able to sense that he had cut off the falsehood and erased the illusion, and had not fallen into the trap. However, there were indeed those figures in the meteorite passage, very real, with unfriendly expressions.

"Don't stop me, he must be killed!" Zheng Yuantian.

"Old Zheng, you noticed that the lid in his hand is extraordinary, right? We also think there's something wrong with it. Should I take over?" The Demon Ancestor spoke, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and black aura emanating from his body. Of course, his hair was almost burned off here.

"It's unbelievable, they all seem to have come back to life, acting like drama queens. Is this just my imagination? But I'm not usually a drama queen, and I don't like to think about these things."

Wang Xuan found it outrageous; this experience was too bizarre, making him frown in bewilderment, as if he were facing a group of real patriarchs.

He composed himself, looked at Zheng Yuantian again, and said, "Old Zheng, I haven't had a chance to say more to you because you're dead."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Jueshi's eyes instantly turned icy cold. He didn't want to talk to him anymore; he just wanted to kill him!

Wang Xuan continued, "I'm sorry, but in the outside world, I killed you with my own hands. I haven't even burned any paper money for you yet, so I'll just light two here for you, as a way of remembering you. In short, you died peacefully, without suffering much."

"Boy, you've really gone mad!" Even the Nether Blood Sect Ancestor couldn't help but shake his head.

Zheng Yuantian and Demon Ancestor Qi Yi approached, one intending to kill him outright, the other staring at the lid in his hand, both unable to resist the urge to strike.

Fang Yuzhu stepped forward, blocking their path. Facing them alone, she remained remarkably calm, which made even the two powerful figures, who were working together, extremely wary.

"Sister Yuzhu, it's alright, it's all an illusion. I'm currently experiencing the impact of the demonic flower here and can't break free for the time being. But in a dream, instead of fighting with them, it's much better for the two of us to have a chat."

Wang Xuan grabbed Fang Yuzhu's hand, urging her to step back. What was there to care about regarding illusions? It was just a matter of tempering the mind. He was going to fight the demonic flower to the death.

The people around him were stunned when they heard him call Fang Yuzhu "sister" and even drop her surname. They could hardly believe their ears.

Fang Yuzhu turned around and withdrew her hand, a strange look on her face.

Even Zhang Daoling rubbed his forehead and said, "This kid is hopeless. He's either suffering from hysteria or he's really gone mad."

Bang!

Wang Xuan was hit, not hard, but not light either. His body flew sideways. It was the Demon Lord Yanyan who did it. Her eyes were fierce, and she seemed increasingly dissatisfied.

At this moment, Wang Xuan had a feeling that these people really had spirituality and the light of their primordial spirit, which made him break out in a cold sweat.

He shook the furnace lid again and again, and struck it with Iron Stake and the flagpole of the God Slaying Banner. "This is strange today. Why is this happening?"

"I don't believe anyone could get here!" He stared at the rough stone wall of the meteorite passage, where there used to be a hole that, according to his last dream, connected to the Mental World related to the Dao Control Banner, but it was blocked.

Could someone really enter this place from there? Wang Xuan absolutely did not believe it.

"Wake up!" he shouted, shaking the lid repeatedly and exerting all his strength to activate the Great Law of Mental Illness.

The more lucid he became, the more chills ran down his spine. Zhang Daoling, Fang Yuzhu, the Demon Lord, and the others were so clear, indistinguishable from living people.

At the very least, they possess genuine primordial spirit power, which doesn't seem fake at all.

He believed that he had woken up and was no longer in a dream, so why was he still seeing the same thing?

Wang Xuan turned and left, mainly because he couldn't take it anymore. The Red Substance was like fire and thunder, burning him to the point of ecstasy and striking him so hard he was on the verge of collapse.

Those people seemed to be unable to take it anymore, and kept bombarding the cliff face to reopen a passage so they could retreat and catch their breath.

As Wang Xuan swooped down, he also looked back, his Spiritual Heavenly Eye fully open. He was certain that those people were indeed the light of primordial spirits, not fake ones.

Goosebumps rose on his skin. What was happening? Those things... had really come, which he found unbelievable and inexplicable.

Finally, he escaped the passage and hid far away to clear his mind. Was he still in a hallucination? It shouldn't be!

He departed in one breath, leaving this place and returning to the Life Pool. He sat cross-legged in the middle, picked a tea fruit, and without brewing it, bit into it and ate it. It was bitter and astringent, with a faint fragrance.

"I should leave that place now, I'm no longer in the illusion. If I had been so deeply immersed in the illusion, the demonic flower would have had a chance to kill me long ago," Wang Xuan muttered to himself, finally calming down completely.

He opened his palm, holding a corner of red silk in his hand. It was a piece of the red dress that the Demon Lord Yanyan had burned, which he had quietly cut off and brought out.

"It wasn't a hallucination, I really saw them? Impossible!" Wang Xuan felt completely bewildered and was no longer calm.

"Could it be that I've never left the meteorite passage, and I'm only getting rid of it now? And all my recent experiences—killing Zheng Yuantian, Heng Jun's tragic death, and the mysterious shadow trying to devour me—are all fake?"

Wang Xuan felt a chill run down his spine. He felt like he was poisoned, and he could no longer distinguish between illusion and reality.

He carefully buried the red skirt hem in the earthen mound by the pond. He decided to go back to the meteorite crater to take another look; otherwise, he would feel uneasy and like he was going crazy.

Meanwhile, outside, a peerless figure spoke, "Think about it carefully, it's terrifying. The light of my soul is spreading, blurring, and fading into nothingness..."

"Something's strange. What... what's going on? Could it be that the most terrible event of the past is happening again?" Another person was startled awake.