True Illusion, the Real Yu Xiaogang

A hazy white light surged from Xiao Yin's palm without warning, instantly enveloping Liu Erlong, who was crouched on the ground!

Liu Erlong only felt her vision blur. Her consciousness seemed to be forcibly ripped from her body and plunged into a bizarre, kaleidoscopic vortex!

When she regained her senses, she found herself not in the kitchen, but standing in a familiar place from an unfamiliar perspective—

It was outside the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's council hall fifteen years ago!

She saw her younger self, dressed in plain clothes, her face filled with stubbornness and reckless resolve, desperately clutching a young man whose face was full of cowardice and struggle—

It was Yu Xiaogang!

The scene was so real that even the air carried the suffocating pressure and despair of the clan from back then.

"Xiao Gang! Come with me! Leave this place! We'll run away together! To hell with the clan, to hell with spirit martial soul theories—we don't need any of it!"

The young Liu Erlong's voice was hoarse, brimming with desperate love and courage.

The young Yu Xiaogang, however, stood stiffly, his face pale as paper.

His gaze darted away. He did not dare meet Liu Erlong's burning eyes, nor did he dare look toward the doors of the council hall.

He could feel the elders' cold stares from within, as well as his father's disappointed sigh.

Then, the illusion's perspective suddenly shifted!

Liu Erlong clearly heard the frenzied struggle raging within Yu Xiaogang's heart at that moment:

Leave? Where could I even go? Without the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, I, Yu Xiaogang, am nothing! I'd be trash expelled from the clan, a cripple whose martial soul cannot even break through!

Go with her? Her martial soul may be mutated, but she is still from a collateral branch—and an illegitimate daughter at that. She can offer me no support at all! She'll only cement my reputation as a traitor to convention!

Father may be disappointed, but at least he still acknowledges me as his son. If I leave with this crazy woman, I'll truly have nowhere left to stand!

My theories... my theories still need the clan's resources and connections to be verified! I can't give up!

She... she is too impulsive. This relationship will only ruin me...

Along with that cold inner monologue, Liu Erlong clearly saw the final trace of struggle in Yu Xiaogang's eyes replaced by intense fear and self-interest.

He suddenly exerted force and violently flung away young Liu Erlong's hand!

"Er Long! Wake up!"

Yu Xiaogang's voice carried deliberately heightened sternness and hypocrisy.

"This is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan! It is not a place for you to make trouble! Our relationship... was a mistake from the start! We... cannot be together!"

Those heartless words, coupled with the weighing of gains and losses in his inner monologue, were like the sharpest ice spike, viciously piercing Liu Erlong's heart!

"No... it wasn't like that... This isn't real..."

The Liu Erlong within the illusion muttered to herself, her entire body turning cold.

She had always believed that Yu Xiaogang had been forced by the clan, that he had no choice!

She had always romanticized his abandonment as a helpless sacrifice!

But the truth... the truth was so ugly!

He had never truly loved her!

What he cared about had always been his own reputation, status, and that illusory future for his theories!

In his calculations, she had merely been a burden he could discard at any time—one who might even become a stain on his name!

The scene changed again.

Twenty years ago, during the early days of the Golden Iron Triangle.

The high-spirited Flender, the taciturn Yu Xiaogang, and the youthful Liu Erlong.

The illusion's perspective entered Yu Xiaogang's mind once more:

Flender's business talent and wealth are indispensable... Liu Erlong's formidable strength... is an even better shield and source of support.

Only by using their power can I gather information faster and verify my theories.

Liu Erlong watched her younger self in the illusion risk her life to support Yu Xiaogang's research over a single word from him. Then she heard the cold, calculating monologue in his heart, and a towering wave of fury and nausea instantly swallowed her!

"Using me... He had been using me all along..." Her entire body trembled. Her nails dug deeply into her palms, yet she felt no pain.

All those moments she had once considered displays of deep devotion had now become naked mockery!

At last, the illusion froze on a study in Nuoding Academy on a recent night.

Yu Xiaogang, bruised and battered, gritted his teeth at a mirror, his eyes filled with venom and humiliation.

His inner monologue rang out, full of obsession and displaced blame:

That little bastard! He was so vicious! If I do not avenge this, I, Yu Xiaogang, swear I am not human!

It is all that crazy woman Liu Erlong's fault! If she had not clung to me so desperately back then, how could I have wandered outside for fifteen years? How could I have ended up like this today!

Boom—!!!

The illusion shattered with a deafening crash!

Liu Erlong suddenly awoke from the spiritual recollection, her consciousness returning to reality!

She was still seated on the kitchen floor, but her entire aura had undergone an earth-shaking change!

Liu Erlong looked at Xiao Yin across from her with complicated eyes, filled with confusion, doubt, and anger.

Seeing this, a trace of confusion appeared in Xiao Yin's eyes as well.

Huh? She woke up that quickly?

Did that thing not work? Damn it, wasn't that a loss?

"What... what was that just now?" Liu Erlong asked hesitantly.

Xiao Yin fell silent for a moment before answering:

"Well... I don't know what you experienced just now, but I do know that all of it was real.

"This is... one of my abilities. It can let you..."

Xiao Yin gave a simple and reasonable explanation of the effects of the Fragment of True Illusion: Sorrow of Choice.

Liu Erlong fell silent. The tear tracks on her face had yet to dry, but there was no longer the slightest confusion in her phoenix-like eyes!

What replaced it was the coldness and resolve of someone who had seen the truth!

"Yu... Xiao... gang!"

Liu Erlong forced out the name through clenched teeth, one word at a time. Her voice was hoarse, yet filled with chilling killing intent!

The deeper the love, the deeper the hate!

"Fine! What a coward! What a hypocrite! What a... cold-hearted wretch!"

She abruptly rose to her feet. The terrifying aura of a Soul Saint erupted from her once more, but this time it was no longer chaotic—it was a breakthrough!

Level 75 Soul Saint!

With the knot in her heart untied, Liu Erlong's long-suppressed rank broke through in furious fashion!

After a while, Liu Erlong withdrew her aura and looked at Xiao Yin, her gaze incomparably complicated.

There was gratitude—he had used that miraculous method to let her see the nauseating truth clearly;

There was shame—for her own foolishness and blindness over all these years;

And there was also a... feeling she could not put into words.

At her most wretched and vulnerable moment, he had forcibly torn away that layer of false cover, even if his method had been rough.

"You..."

Liu Erlong looked at Xiao Yin, wanting to say something, yet feeling countless tangled thoughts clogging her throat.

The flush that had risen to her face from anger had yet to fade, but now it was inexplicably joined by a peculiar blush whenever she faced Xiao Yin.

The cold, calculating voice from the illusion still echoed in her ears. Yet the youth before her, though reckless and infuriating, was... real, and he... seemed to truly have her best interests at heart?

Even if his methods were rather... unusual.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yin's consciousness had completely sunk into his mind.