One day, Xu Xuan passed through a treacherous stretch of sea marked on his chart as the "Illusory Mist Sea."
Gray-white mist, too thick to disperse, shrouded hundreds of miles of ocean.
Not only did it severely obstruct vision, it could also distort cultivators' spiritual perception.
Countless eerie illusions arose and faded within it.
There was no telling how many cultivators who had rashly ventured inside lay buried there.
Concealing his aura, Xu Xuan rode the Blood Shadow Sword cautiously through the dense mist, where visibility fell short of a hundred feet.
His spiritual sense could extend only a few feet beyond his body before it grew sluggish and distorted.
Just as he relied on his keen intuition to avoid a concealed spatial turbulence,
the mist ahead suddenly churned violently.
The phantom of an enormous palace, resplendent in gold and jade, with carved beams and painted rafters,
loomed intermittently within the roiling sea of mist.
Immortal mist wreathed it, and phantom spirit cranes circled in flight.
Faint strains of ethereal, wondrous music drifted over, drawing the heart and spirit toward it.
"A mirage?"
Xu Xuan raised his brows slightly, unbewitched by the magnificent illusion.
Phantoms formed by unusual environments like this were hardly rare at sea.
But the next moment, his gaze sharpened.
Deep within that splendid, illusory palace image lurked an exceedingly faint trace of Sword Intent!
That Sword Intent was as feeble as a candle guttering in the wind, yet it carried an unyielding edge.
His mind stirred slightly.
The Blood Shadow Sword hovering before him spontaneously gave a low hum.
Its blade trembled gently, entering a strange resonance with that trace of Sword Intent!
"Not entirely illusory-interesting."
Xu Xuan immediately changed direction, abandoning his planned route.
Instead, he followed that thread of resonance, cautiously flying toward the