Huo Shen

The Dark Universe is deathly silent. Traveling from Qiu Long Planet back to Yuan Planet via the Heritage Spaceship of Lord Shen takes approximately five days.

After fulfilling all of Lord Shen's requirements, Lu Yan'an expressed his desire to return home. "Now that we have entered the Virtual Universe, it shouldn't matter where I cultivate, right?" He had been away from Yuan Planet for five years, and with the millennium spent in the trials, Lu Yan'an missed his family back home dearly.

Seeing his resolute expression, Lord Shen could only helplessly agree to Lu Yan'an's wish to go home. It was merely a matter of distance, after all; it would be the same once he returned to Yuan Planet!

Thus, they bid farewell to Qiu Long Planet, where they had lived for five years, and boarded the Heritage Spaceship to embark on the journey home.

Although this was not his first time entering the Dark Universe, the sensation of traveling through it remained incredibly surreal. The space was filled with nothing but individual points of light—an ocean of "light spots." Beyond these beautiful specks, this vast expanse held nothing else. Viewed as a whole, the entire Dark Universe appeared incredibly empty and lonely.

Inside the spaceship, within the Virtual Universe.

"Your foundation is completely solid, and I no longer need to worry about your martial arts. So, let us begin learning illusionist secret techniques." Inside the Killing Space of the Virtual Universe, Lord Shen began to introduce the secret techniques of illusionists to Lu Yan'an.

"As an 'Orthodox Illusionist', you don't need to worry about the entry barrier when learning these techniques. Now, we just need to find those with immense power!" As he spoke, Lord Shen searched his optical computer for suitable techniques.

After a long while, Lord Shen looked up and asked Lu Yan'an:

"There are quite a few techniques, but I would like to hear your opinion. Do you want to learn the 'obliteration' type that focuses on lethality, or the more refined 'control' type?"

Hearing Lord Shen's question, Lu Yan'an raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile:

"Lord Shen, can't I learn both?"

"You certainly can, but there is no need! Learning them together will only drag down the progress of both. Learning them one by one is actually faster!" Lord Shen shook his head and explained to Lu Yan'an with great patience.

Hearing Lord Shen's answer, Lu Yan'an nodded and did not insist on dual cultivation.

"Then please, help me introduce these two types of techniques!"

"The obliteration-type illusion technique targets the soul of soul-based life forms and focuses on increasing lethality. It is more bizarre and harder to defend against than direct physical damage."

"The control-type illusion technique focuses on restricting the opponent's state and requires more precise soul attacks. It does not aim to destroy the opponent, and it is much harder to break. Oh, by the way, the technique you used in your previous trial was a control-type technique!"

Lord Shen introduced the differences between the two, then paused as if remembering something, and added:

"However, I must tell you: the former is easy to start but has a low ceiling; the latter is harder to start, but once cultivated to a certain level, it can achieve the functions of the former!"

"Since you've put it that way, do I even have a choice? I'll go with the control type." Lu Yan'an wore a wry smile; Lord Shen's words were a blatant hint.

"Hehe, I just wanted you to feel involved!" Lord Shen teased with a laugh.

Although Lord Shen liked to pull these kinds of stunts, it had to be said that it was truly reliable! Since Lu Yan'an received the inheritance, Lord Shen had never made a decision on its own regarding any choice; it always analyzed the pros and cons and let him decide. In truth, with its Immortal-level strength and insight, it was more than capable of making decisions for Lu Yan'an. Yet, its behavior made Lu Yan'an feel a sense of respect he hadn't felt in a long time!

"The control-type technique I have chosen for you is called 'Huo Shen'. It is the signature technique of a Marquis-level Immortal Illusionist and is currently the most suitable one for you. The downside is that it is too difficult to master—of course, that only applies to those 'Illusion Manipulators'! Hehe."

Lord Shen began to introduce this illusionist technique.

"Huo Shen" consists of four levels:

The first level, Huo Ren, requires the ability to construct the basic framework of an illusion in a short time, complete the coverage, and apply it to a single target.

The second level, Huo Xin, requires the construction of the illusion's content and its integration with the environment, making it sufficient for multiple targets and immune to group attacks. It also carries a certain degree of soul damage!

The third level, Huo Meng, requires the multi-layered overlapping of illusions.

The fourth level, Huo Shen, requires the permanence of the illusion.

However, when Lu Yan'an heard the name Huo Shen, he raised an eyebrow. He seemed to remember that the genius of the Hao God Clan—Illusion Demon Galaxi—used a secret technique called Huo Shen, didn't he? And looking at the descriptions in the original work, the technique didn't seem very strong. It was only effective when clearing out cannon fodder. When he encountered City Lord Luo at the time, it was broken in a matter of seconds!

Lu Yan'an felt a bit helpless, but seeing Lord Shen explaining it with such enthusiasm, he couldn't bring himself to interrupt.

"Oh well, techniques are just external tools; it mainly depends on the person using them!" Thinking this, he stopped feeling depressed. After all, it was highly recommended by Lord Shen, and although its combat performance in the original work was lackluster, he was not Illusion Demon Galaxi. Don't forget, even if his illusionist methods failed, Lu Yan'an's martial arts strength was ridiculously high!

With that thought, he began to prepare to cultivate the secret technique Huo Shen.

Inside the Killing Space, Lu Yan'an specifically simulated several illusionists who knew the Huo Shen technique and began to practice by comparing himself to them...

In less than three days, Lu Yan'an truly felt how simple it was for an "Orthodox Illusionist" to cultivate such specific techniques! The bottleneck of illusion construction was usually a massive chasm; traditional cultivation methods were a process of trial and error, building slowly—a classic example of "slow work yielding fine results." But Lu Yan'an was different. After feeling the logic of the technique's operation twice, he mastered it directly!

Yes, that's right, he mastered it directly! He skipped the three steps of illusion construction, maintenance, and coverage, and went straight to mastery! There was no such thing as practice making perfect, nor was there any "slow work." "Orthodox Illusionists" were just this unreasonable when cultivating such techniques! In their eyes, once they fully understood the underlying framework of illusions, they could use any technique as soon as they understood its operational logic.

That wasn't even the most outrageous part. After only three days of cultivating the Huo Shen technique, Lu Yan'an had already reached the second level, "Huo Xin"! Lord Shen, observing from the side, was shocked into numbness by his progress. In the original work, when Galaxi participated in the "Universe Genius Battle," judging by the descriptions in the book, he had only reached the second level, "Huo Xin." In just three days, Lu Yan'an's progress had caught up to Galaxi's years of hard work.

Upon successfully entering the second level of the technique, Lu Yan'an finally understood why Lord Shen had recommended it to him. It was simply too perfect for him!

Inside the Killing Space, Lu Yan'an shouted to the sky: "Give me one hundred martial artists of the same level, with the same level of law perception as me! Disable illusion damage restrictions."

As soon as he finished speaking, one hundred white-clad martial artists surrounded Lu Yan'an. What was chilling was that every single one of them radiated fluctuations of the Light Origin Law and the Time Origin Law! Yet, facing this situation, Lu Yan'an did not panic at all. He activated the Huo Shen technique, drawing all the martial artists present into the encirclement of his illusion.

Immediately after, the Time Law permeated his body; he had clearly entered the time-slowing mode. With a light tap of his toes on the ground, he charged toward the nearest martial artist in the inner circle... In less than three seconds, Lu Yan'an fought his way from the inner circle to the outer circle, decapitating the last martial artist the moment they broke free from the illusion.

Three seconds was the longest time Lu Yan'an could trap an opponent of the same level. But in a battle between experts, a hair's breadth is a chasm. Never mind three seconds—even a single instant is enough to decide the outcome of a fight!

Having cultivated illusionist methods, Lu Yan'an could now truly take on a hundred enemies alone!

Just as Lu Yan'an wanted to strike while the iron was hot and continue testing his limits, his enthusiasm was interrupted by Lord Shen's sudden request to log off. As soon as he returned to the real universe, he saw Lord Shen's slightly smiling face:

"You're home!"