Chapter 480: Clear Priorities

The scene before her eyes kept flickering back and forth, never stabilizing for a long time.

Yuan Yao keenly sensed the illusion violently fluctuating, and as she released her spiritual power to probe her surroundings, she was blocked by a barrier.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice coming from behind her.

「Yao Yao！」

Yuan Yao turned her head, and in an instant time and space seemed to freeze; she saw Cang Li standing not far away.

"Third Senior Brother..." Yuan Yao murmured, slightly startled.

Cang Li hurried over, his face grave, saying, "This illusion is very strange; we all need to be careful."

Yuan Yao looked at Cang Li before her, then took out a roasted bird egg from her storage space and handed it to him.

Cang Li lowered his gaze to the roasted bird egg in her hand, puzzled, asking, "What is this?"

"Peel it for me!" Yuan Yao glared at him.

Cang Li froze, took the roasted bird egg from Yuan Yao's hand, and began to peel it for her; just as he was about to hand her the peeled egg—

A flash of icy sword light reflected in his slightly widened eyes, and immediately his whole body was split in two!

At that moment, the spectators watching the match at the Floating Capital Martial Arena were also shocked!

Before they could even process their shock, they saw the figure of 'Cang Li' gradually dissipate.

Seeing this, the crowd instantly realized that this 'Cang Li' was merely an illusion!

"Look quickly!"

Someone noticed that the text on one side of the Water Mirror Spirit Crystal was clearly fluctuating.

They saw Yuan Yao's score change from zero to one.

And her ranking rose to the forefront of the Ninth Province team.

"Who would have thought that the first point in this year's Immortal Sect Grand Competition would go to the Ninth Province!"

"The Ninth Province is just lucky; this 'Illusion Heart Trial' will last seven days, and after seven days I can confidently say the Ninth Province will have the lowest total score!"

"What background does this Yuan Yao have? She's really beautiful."

"Yuan Yao is the sixth disciple of the Thousand Mountain Immortal Lord!"

"A disciple of the Thousand Mountain Immortal Lord? No wonder... she really does have some skill."

"What exactly is this Illusion Heart Trial meant to test?" someone wondered.

Many people also couldn't understand it.

But soon they saw this scene appear on the Water Mirror Spirit Crystal: the moss-covered stone tablet actually appeared at the very center of the entire city, and it began to exude a thick black mist—this was demonic qi!

And these demonic qi gradually spread throughout the whole city.

Next, the Water Mirror Spirit Crystal's image switched to the young disciples trapped in the illusion.

The spectators were shocked to discover that many disciples' expressions began to grow dazed, their eyes unfocused, clearly something was off.

At the very moment their minds faltered, figures like moon-on-water and flowers-in-a-mirror appeared out of thin air around them.

These figures, without exception, were people they knew extremely well—some were fellow participants from the Three Islands Nine Provinces in this trial, others were beings they had previously dealt with in cultivation or training, such as ferocious, vicious demonic beasts.

And these manifested figures were their most trusted companions deep in their hearts.

For this reason, most of the young disciples immersed in the illusion noticed nothing amiss, thinking it was merely a chance reunion, their faces showing joy or reliance, completely unaware that everything before them was just a fleeting mirage.

At the same time—

After Yuan Yao dispelled the illusion of 'Cang Li,' she discovered that Second Senior Sister and the others each appeared in various ways.

Her heart jolted; she vaguely realized that the illusion's false images were shaped by her own thoughts—she had first thought of Third Senior Brother because she was wondering whether she might happen to run into him.

But now, having thought of Eldest Senior Brother and the others, they all appeared.

This discovery made Yuan Yao's heart race suddenly, a chill shooting up from her spine to the top of her head.

Because the figure she most wanted to avoid, yet now unavoidably surfaced in her mind, made her whole body tense.

Just as the outline of that figure began to coalesce in the void before her, about to fully materialize, Yuan Yao's eyes hardened; her only thought was: I must not let him appear!

She sprang up with a sharp tap of her toes on the ground, her longsword humming as it burst forth with brilliant spiritual light, and without hesitation she slashed at the half-formed, still-blurry figure that had just begun to materialize!

Screech—

Where the sword light passed, that figure shattered like a fragile bubble, turning into specks of black mist that vanished into nothing.

She let out a breath of relief.

"Yao Yao, what are you doing?" Xiao Lingwei frowned slightly.

Yuan Yao backhandedly cut her down.

Next came the rest of the 'senior brothers and sisters.'

Meanwhile, many genius disciples on the other side noticed the anomaly and broke through the illusion.

But the illusion kept generating.

While Yuan Yao was breaking through the illusion, a thought suddenly occurred to her.

That the people she thought of close to her would be manifested by demons—so what if the only person she thought of was herself?

She immediately took out a bronze mirror and stared at her own reflection in it.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

As soon as Yuan Yao moved the mirror away, she discovered that her surroundings were filled with copies of herself—at least hundreds of 'herself'.

"Wow." She exclaimed in amazement.

At that moment, spectators watching from all over the cultivation world seeing this scene were all shocked.

Above the Floating Capital Martial Arena, the crowd erupted in an uproar.

"Holy crap, can you even do that?!"

"What on earth is she trying to do?"

At this moment, the myriad immortals on the high platform saw this scene, and their expressions varied.

Soon, they heard Yuan Yao speak: "Your appearances are exactly like mine, but what about your strength?"

The "Yuan Yaos" almost in unison said: "You're the one imitating me!"

Yuan Yao: "……"

Yuan Yao looked at them and sighed impatiently: "You need to get your priorities straight."

And just then—

The "Yuan Yaos" seemed to sense something, quickly surrounding Yuan Yao.

Immediately after, a delicate and exquisite blue figure appeared not far away.

The girl rubbed her eyes and exclaimed in disbelief: "Dad, am I seeing things?!"

Yuan Yao heard that voice, found it somewhat familiar, and swiftly leapt up, hoping to break out of their circle.

But unexpectedly—

They also leapt up.

For a moment, the scene looked somewhat eerie.

Hundreds of Yuan Yaos leapt into midair, then headed toward that delicate and exquisite girl.

"Yuan Yao! Can you use clone technique?!" the girl exclaimed, quickly stepping back a few paces and then swiftly summoning her double kitchen knives, taking a defensive stance.

Yuan Yao finally saw the blue-clad girl's face, and instantly recognized her: "Dong Jiao!"

The fake Yuan Yaos also shouted: "Dong Jiao!"

Hundreds of voices combined, the volume not small, carrying an air of strangeness.

Dong Jiao looked at the large group of Yuan Yaos before her with a strange expression, asking: "What's going on with you now?"

A large group of Yuan Yaos spoke in unison: "Except for me, everyone here is an illusion created by demons."

Dong Jiao: "?"