The Loose Immortals who were willing to let their spirit beasts take the risk didn't hesitate for long. They directly ordered their beasts to keep moving forward, while those who weren't willing to risk their spirit beasts wanted them to come back.
However, it didn't take long for one Loose Immortal after another to turn pale.
Ju Hua had naturally noticed their changing expressions. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"They can't come back!" one Loose Immortal said.
"My spirit beast told me there seems to be an invisible barrier blocking its way!"
"Once you enter, there's no way out?" Ju Hua nodded. This perilous place worked much like certain grand arrays: once you entered, you couldn't leave.
It made sense. The God-Fiends had gone to great lengths to lure them into this perilous place. Clearly, it wouldn't be easy to deal with!
As Ju Hua pondered, some of the more hot-tempered spirit beasts in the distance revealed their true forms and began furiously attacking the invisible barrier. But no matter how they struck it, the barrier remained unmoved.
It was like an ant trying to shake a tree...
"Since you can't return, have your spirit beasts move forward too!" Ju Hua ordered.
"Yes!" the Loose Immortals had no choice but to agree.
Though they were unwilling, they had no other choice for now.
The spirit beasts soon vanished from the Loose Immortals' sight. Ju Hua didn't sit idle either. He ordered several Loose Immortals to lead teams out and scout the surroundings, to see how far this unknown perilous place extended.
A quarter of an hour passed quickly. The spirit beasts that had entered the perilous place gradually lost contact with the Loose Immortals outside. Not a single one managed to send back a message!
By this point, the Loose Immortals outside had begun to turn pale.
The spirit beasts that had gone in weren't especially powerful, but most of them were no pushovers. If they hadn't even had time to send back a message, it could only mean that the danger inside this perilous place was beyond anything they'd imagined.
And just moments ago, they themselves had almost gone in!
A few more quarters of an hour passed, and the several Loose Immortals Ju Hua had sent to investigate the perilous place returned one by one to the Shuixuan Warship.
"How did it go?" Ju Hua asked.
"I couldn't find its limits!" one Loose Immortal replied. But when he saw Ju Hua's expression darken slightly, he immediately stopped hesitating and continued:
"However, about a hundred miles from here, I encountered a Loose Immortal from the Baiji Clan. According to him, they too were lured by a group of God-Fiends, and over a thousand of their people have fallen into this perilous place."
"The Baiji Clan?"
At this, Ju Hua furrowed his brow.
Then he took out his Communication Magic Treasure and contacted Immortal Baiyun, the Baiji Clan's commander.
As the Loose Immortal had said, the Baiji Clan's army had also been lured by the God-Fiends, and over a thousand of them had fallen into the perilous place.
Ju Hua had a bad feeling. He contacted the Loose Immortals of the other major clans as well, and the results of those calls made him sigh inwardly.
Just as he'd expected, the other clans had also been lured by the God-Fiends, just like the Zhuanshui Clan and the Baiji Clan. Though many clans had seen through the God-Fiends' plan, quite a few had still fallen for it.
Their army had originally numbered more than seventy thousand. If those trapped in the perilous place couldn't make it out alive, then their force would likely be reduced to no more than fifty thousand.
"But the God-Fiends have paid an even heavier price!" Ju Hua couldn't understand. The God-Fiends had first endured in silence for three months, then devised this plan. Was their goal really just to inflict losses on them?
True, the God-Fiends had achieved their goal, but their own losses might not have been any less than the Human Race's.
Leaving aside the other clans' situation, the Primordial Spirit Fiends that had acted as bait for the Zhuanshui Clan alone had numbered fifty. Forty-nine of them had died just to lure them to the edge of this perilous place—and the Zhuanshui Clan hadn't even been trapped inside.
One could say that those forty-nine Primordial Spirit Fiends had died for nothing! The God-Fiends who lured the Zhuanshui Clan had met that fate; surely those who lured the other clans hadn't fared much better.
As Ju Hua pondered, Ancestor Tianyang's voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
"Ju Hua, this is the Illusion Demon Realm. Anyone who enters will soon fall into endless illusions. Unless one of us Celestial Immortals leads the way, those trapped inside will have little chance of making it out alive. For now, you should take a detour."
Ancestor Tianyang's voice soon faded away. Ju Hua had plenty of questions he wanted to ask, but Ancestor Tianyang had left too quickly, so he could only press his doubts down for the time being.
With Ancestor Tianyang's warning, Ju Hua didn't hesitate. After conferring with the commanders of the other major clans, he led the Zhuanshui Clan's army in a detour in another direction.
This perilous place, known as the "Illusion Demon Realm," was extraordinarily vast. On top of that, the army moved slowly through the Autumn Mountain Great Marsh, so the detour took nearly a month.
On the night the Zhuanshui Clan's army finally passed around the Illusion Demon Realm, Ancestor Tianyang appeared in Ju Hua's room aboard the Shuixuan Warship.
"Ancestor!" Ju Hua cupped his hands in salute.
"Ju Hua, do you have many questions?" Ancestor Tianyang asked.
"Not exactly."
After a moment's thought, Ju Hua continued, "I'm just wondering: since Celestial Immortals can leave the Illusion Demon Realm, why didn't the Celestial Immortal ancestors of the other clans go in and bring their people out?"
"Because it isn't worth it," Ancestor Tianyang replied without hesitation.
"Isn't worth it?"
"At the center of every Illusion Demon Realm is a kind of strange stone known as a Mirror Stone! Ordinary living beings who enter the Illusion Demon Realm are drawn into endless illusions and can hardly escape, but those holding a Mirror Stone are immune to most of the illusions within it!" Ancestor Tianyang continued.
"The God-Fiends have lived in the Autumn Mountain Great Marsh for countless years. They must have Mirror Stones in their possession. Do you understand now?"
"Ancestor, do you mean that God-Fiends holding Mirror Stones might be lying in wait inside the Illusion Demon Realm, with the Celestial Immortals of the various clans as their targets?" Ju Hua asked in surprise.
"Very likely!" Ancestor Tianyang nodded.
"Though we Celestial Immortals can resist the illusions inside the Illusion Demon Realm with our Celestial Immortal Dao Hearts, doing so still takes up a great deal of our attention and inevitably reduces our strength. If we fought the God-Fiends under such circumstances, the outcome would be difficult to predict!"
"I see!"
Ju Hua nodded. Ancestor Tianyang's meaning was clear.
The lives and deaths of a few Loose Immortals and Primordial Spirit Daoists weren't worth the Celestial Immortals of the various clans taking such a risk. After all, even a Celestial Immortal would be in extreme danger if trapped inside the Illusion Demon Realm by Void-Return Fiends holding Mirror Stones!