Chapter 130 – Illusion and Reality

The black shadow was denser than the night, blotting out the sky and earth like a real mountain range. Yet, it was not lifeless; instead, it was restless, exuding a chilling aura that inspired fear. Zhang Xiuqi’s reaction was swift—a Yellow Talisman was already flying from his hand, aimed at the shadow. However, the shadow moved faster than expected, and in the blink of an eye, the two were completely engulfed in darkness.

Wei Yang hadn’t anticipated this. His vision was now pitch black, and even the LED light above his head emitted no brightness. He immediately reached for the bone chain around his neck and took a step back. With his sight gone and the situation unclear, his priority was to stay close to Brother Qi. Yet, with just that one step, the hairs on his back stood on end—the person beside him had disappeared, along with his presence and heartbeat.

“Brother Qi!” Wei Yang turned around abruptly, looking behind him. But there was no one there. The entire world had turned into a cold, silent void, leaving him standing alone in the icy stillness.

The talisman hadn’t had its intended effect. Zhang Xiuqi clenched his teeth and spat a mouthful of true saliva onto the Suihou Sword in his hand. With a forceful swing, he slashed horizontally! Whether it was evil energy or yin energy, nothing could withstand the killing blade. With a soft shhh sound, like cutting through thick canvas, the darkness was split open by the short sword!

A slight sense of relief washed over him, and Zhang Xiuqi immediately glanced to his side to check on Wei Yang. But what he saw froze the blood in his veins. The figure that had been standing there was gone. The forest remained, the starlight remained, but Wei Yang was nowhere to be found. His hand trembled slightly, and then seven copper coins flew from his hand. This had to be some kind of illusion—no evil entity could erase a living person so completely. It had to be an illusion!

Sure enough, as the coins embedded themselves into the ground, a barely perceptible ripple appeared in the air. The scene before him shifted slightly, as if a transparent film had been peeled away, becoming more natural and real. However, this change did not ease Zhang Xiuqi’s tension at all. His gaze fixed on the ground beside him, where a patch of dark red was seeping into the soil, not five meters away.

It was the color of blood.

Zhang Xiuqi’s face turned deathly pale. Without hesitation, he raced along the trail of blood, his heart pounding in his chest. He told himself that only a few minutes had passed—Wei Yang would be fine. He still had the Bone Formation with him, he should be…

Zhang Xiuqi suddenly came to a halt. He stopped so abruptly that his knees ached faintly. Sweat dripped down his forehead, but he didn’t feel it—his entire body felt hollowed out. Under a large tree not far away, a body lay sprawled on the ground. Black hair was scattered across the forehead, covering the once lively eyes. The lips were pale, devoid of any color, and there were a few scratch marks on the face. But what was unbearable was the massive gash in the abdomen, as if the person had been split in half. Blood pooled like a deep pond, enveloping the figure and pulling it toward the embrace of the underworld.

It was not a wound that could be survived.

Deep down, Zhang Xiuqi knew this, but his footsteps didn’t stop. He stumbled forward, refusing to believe or accept it. He just wanted to grab that person’s hand and pull them back from the abyss of death. His once sturdy shoulders slumped as he reached out toward the cold body…

Wei Yang took a deep breath. His hands were still trembling, but his rationality had returned. Although he didn’t know what had happened, he knew Zhang Xiuqi’s capabilities and firmly believed that the man couldn’t have disappeared without a trace in an instant. There had to be something strange about the darkness. He had been careless earlier—turning his head abruptly had likely extinguished one of the soul fires on his shoulders. If he acted recklessly again, his situation would be dire.

The key now was to break through the darkness. Wei Yang looked at his palm, where he should be holding the Bone Formation, but there was no light at all. He reached up and touched his head—the LED light was still warm, as if it was still working, but he couldn’t see or hear anything. The revival of his Wu Family bloodline had given him eyes that could pierce through yin and yang. If even these eyes couldn’t see through the darkness, what could?

Wait. Wei Yang suddenly realized something was wrong. It was possible to be unable to see one’s hand in front of their face, but it shouldn’t happen in this kind of forest. Not only were the stars and moon in the sky, but even the white light on Lao Ye’s back couldn’t be easily blocked. The light on his head was still on, but he just couldn’t see it.

Something was blocking his vision!

Wei Yang suddenly understood. Whatever it was didn’t want him to see. If that was the case, wouldn’t it be simpler to take away his sight? If he couldn’t see the world in front of him or find Brother Qi, his tense mind would collapse, and he would be conquered by the shadow. If that was the case, then was the Bone Formation in his hand still glowing?

Without hesitation, Wei Yang bit the tip of his tongue and spat true saliva onto the Witch Bone, his eyes fixed on his palm. Gradually, a light pierced through the darkness, a thin but stubborn silver glow emanating from his hand.

The Bone Formation was fine! Wei Yang’s heart leapt with joy, and he immediately raised his hand high. As he did so, the light seemed to ignite the surrounding darkness, emitting a faint hissing sound. In less than half a minute, the stars and moon returned, the grass returned, and the dense forest quietly reappeared. He even saw Lao Ye’s wobbling figure and the silver light on its back. The darkness had retreated!

Where was Brother Qi? Wei Yang’s gaze swept across the surroundings, and he immediately spotted the figure standing with his back to him. Zhang Xiuqi had somehow walked over to a large tree about ten meters away, his body trembling as he slowly bent down, as if reaching for something.

Wei Yang’s heart tightened, and he shouted, “Brother Qi! Stop!”

He knew Zhang Xiuqi too well. No matter what had happened or what he was seeing, the man would never leave him alone. If his own vision could be shrouded in darkness, what was Brother Qi seeing?

As he shouted, he threw out a Five Thunder Righteous Heart Talisman. This talisman was effective against evil spirits and could also help stabilize the mind. With a thunderous boom, Zhang Xiuqi’s body jolted, and he suddenly turned his head!

“Yangyang…” Zhang Xiuqi stared in disbelief at the figure standing in the distance. He had clearly seen Wei Yang lying under the tree, breathless. How could he be standing over there now?

But in that moment of distraction, his body stiffened, and he leapt backward. Just as he jumped, a long, thin vine shot out from a hole in the grass, nearly snagging his ankle. Zhang Xiuqi’s expression changed drastically, and with a flick of his wrist, he slashed out with his short sword!

With a sharp snap, something tough yet brittle was severed. Zhang Xiuqi landed on the ground and took two steps back, shouting to Wei Yang, “Don’t come over!”

As he shouted, a Soul Stabilizing Nail flew from his hand and embedded itself into the shallow hole in the grass. A talisman followed, landing on the grass. In an instant, the talisman burst into flames, and something in the hole seemed to writhe in panic, unable to escape the fire. In less than half a minute, the patch of grass was reduced to black ash.

“What happened?” Wei Yang slowly approached as the flames died down. The whole scene had happened so quickly that he hadn’t even had time to react.

Zhang Xiuqi had already grabbed his wrist, his voice cold: “It was Soul Snatching Grass.”

A type of eerie plant that specializes in bewitching the mind and preying on the living. Anyone who encounters Soul Snatching Grass will involuntarily see what they fear or desire most, and in their confusion, they will be lured over and devoured. Since it only grows near water, it has been the source of many ghost and drowning legends. However, because it is highly valued for medicinal purposes, this grass was once considered a treasure by those who practiced unorthodox methods. It had been extinct since the Yuan Dynasty, so who could have expected to encounter it in this forest? There wasn’t even a pond nearby!

Noticing that the hand gripping his wrist was still trembling slightly, Wei Yang gently patted Zhang Xiuqi’s arm: “No matter what that thing was, it’s good that we dealt with it safely. Brother Qi, I’m fine. Lao Ye is almost out of sight—let’s catch up.”

It was clear that Wei Yang was trying to distract him. Zhang Xiuqi’s uncontrollable trembling gradually subsided, and he nodded to Wei Yang: “Let’s go.”

The hand gripping his arm showed no intention of letting go. Wei Yang smiled faintly and didn’t resist, following him toward the distant light.

Meanwhile, Lao Ye was crawling even more vigorously, seemingly oblivious to the trouble the two humans had encountered along the way. It twisted and turned as it made its way toward the valley ahead. After about ten more minutes of trudging, it finally stopped in front of a dirt pit. It stretched its neck to peer into the pit but didn’t jump in. Instead, it waddled over to Wei Yang and let out a soft “ah.”

“Is the thing here?” Wei Yang seemed to understand Lao Ye’s meaning and turned to Zhang Xiuqi. “Brother Qi, let’s dig it up and see!”

Zhang Xiuqi nodded but didn’t use the Suihou Sword in his hand. Instead, he pulled out a short dagger from his waist and plunged it into the soil. The dirt here was loose, and the blade sank halfway in with ease. His movements were quick, and soon, a palm-sized piece of turtle shell was revealed at the bottom of the pit.

“Holy shit, how big is this shell? Could it really be the Black Tortoise?” Wei Yang was shocked. Having raised turtles for so long, he was all too familiar with turtle shells. What was buried in the pit was clearly just half of a marginal scute. Turtle shells have a fixed number of scutes, usually between 32 and 64, which is why they were used as primitive divination tools. Any turtle’s marginal scutes would number at least 19, but the half-piece in front of him was the size of a palm. How big would the entire turtle have been? Aside from the legendary Black Tortoise, he couldn’t imagine any turtle growing to such a terrifying size.

But Zhang Xiuqi picked up the piece of shell and gently brushed his fingers over the seal script carved into the indentation. He said in a low voice, “This isn’t the Black Tortoise. It’s the Mirage Dragon.”

“What?” Wei Yang didn’t understand.

“Have you heard of mirages?” Zhang Xiuqi explained, “The true creators of illusions and mirages aren’t the legendary clams, but a type of dragon—the Mirage Dragon. However, because this dragon has a turtle-like shell, some people mistakenly associated it with clams. In ancient times, if you found a shed shell of a Mirage Dragon, you could create a Mirage Artifact. Due to its hallucinogenic properties, this item has always been monopolized by the Wu Family as a ritual tool for worshiping the heavens. The Soul Snatching Grass we encountered earlier probably grew here because of this Mirage Artifact.”

Burying a Mirage Artifact in the Water Position would naturally generate endless yin water in the area. Since water nurtures wood, the Soul Snatching Grass thrived here. Combined with the formation set up by Sun Yunhe, the Mirage Artifact had reached its maximum effectiveness. If it hadn’t been for Lao Ye leading the way, no one would have been able to find this hidden treasure.

Hearing this explanation, Wei Yang was momentarily stunned before he suddenly understood. His earlier blindness was likely related to his Wu Family bloodline, so what he had seen wasn’t an illusion but complete darkness—because the Mirage Artifact’s soul-snatching technique had no effect on him.

At any rate, they had found what they were looking for. Wei Yang glanced at the thoroughly wilted Lao Ye and sighed in relief: “Since we’ve found the item, let’s contact Master Zeng. I wonder how things are going on their end.”

However, Zhang Xiuqi frowned. In the urgency of the situation earlier, he had completely forgotten about the scheduled check-in. Now, more than half an hour had passed—why hadn’t his uncle called? Without hesitation, he pressed the call button, but no one answered on the other end. Only the static of a busy signal came through.