Chapter 508: with translation of chapter title

"Sorry, I really didn't mean to, I couldn't control myself just now" Yao Wenju, after understanding what had happened, helped me up with remorse.

"Actually, this isn't your fault; just now we both fell into the illusion." I coughed twice, propped myself on the ground and used the leverage to sit up.

"What exactly is this eerie place? Why did I see……" Yao Wenju's face showed a pallor of lingering fear; he paused, then hesitated and swallowed the words he was about to say.

I asked: "What did you see?" Actually I was also curious why he was so angry and uneasy.

He stood silently for a long time before saying: "I saw Yirong die."

Yao Wenju must have suffered greatly in the Ruyi Realm; compared to him, I should consider myself comfortable.

"This is the Buddhist Sect's Ruyi Realm, infinitely amplifying a person's **, and infinitely destroying a person's psychological bottom line. Money, power, beauty—everything is here." I explained to Yao Wenju: "It's like a primer, slowly creeping into your heart, releasing the demons inside. What you most desire, it gives you; what you most fear losing, it personally destroys what you cherish."

En, Yao Wenju puffed and spat out the talisman originally placed under his tongue, looking at me with interest and saying: "I'm curious, how did you walk out of this Ruyi Realm? Could it be that your heart is really that strong?"

Yao Wenju must never have encountered the Ruyi Realm before; besides Murong JiaJia, I think few people in recent times have seen this strange yin-body illusion. However, Yao Wenju wasn't overly surprised; evidently, his experience is quite broad.

"Hehe!" I rubbed my nose and smiled, not answering, but instead asked Yao Wenju a strange question.

"Have you ever tried this: you clearly dislike a person, dislike a certain habit of theirs, but later you become just like them."

Unexpectedly, Yao Wenju showed no surprise at all, but instead nodded in an unprecedented way.

"I know you're talking about lovers, brothers. It's like you and Little Fat—you dislike his lewdness, yet unconsciously you start becoming lewd yourself." Yao Wenju bluntly stated the key.

Once a girl told me: I hate it when my boyfriend lifts his knees while eating, so I never do that. But once I happened to eat at her house, I found she also lazily lifts and curls her knees while eating.

There was once a southern friend who, to my face, criticized his friend: "He's good in every way, except he loves spicy food; if his meal has no chili, he's unhappy, making me sit far away whenever we eat together, or else I'd tear up." But at a meal half a year later, I saw him running to ask the server for chili, the very spicy kind, saying he'd gotten used to eating like that, it whets his appetite, and if a meal lacks chili, he feels no appetite.

Friends, brothers, lovers—when you dislike a certain habit of theirs, but after long years of getting along, you suddenly look back and find you have each other absorbed each other's habits: a gesture, a temperament, you come to like what they like, even though you once disliked it. Because, in living, you have long ceased to be distinct; you are in me and I am in you. Joy and pain, likes and dislikes, all blend between us, shared.

I am fortunate to have Pangzi, a lascivious yet steadfast brother rooted in my heart; without him, I think I might have completely lost myself, unable to escape this illusion.

"Forget that—let's first think about how to find a way out!" I gazed at the dim copper tomb all around, a deep sense of helpless fatigue rising within me. This tomb, besides being eerie and filled with various invisible dangers, is also like a maze with countless twists and turns.

"That big cockroach shouldn't have gone far; if we walk a bit more, we should be able to find him." Yao Wenju retied Ye Qi to his waistband, glanced at my seriously injured self, a little worried, and asked: "Can you still walk?"

I shook my head and said I was fine, just that the meridians in my body were slightly injured; walking was no problem. However, as I struggled to stand, I still felt a wave of soreness all over, my chest too, as if something were pressing on me, making it hard to breathe.

We searched everywhere for the tomb lord's traces, and found him in a dark corner of the copper tomb, but the result left us disappointed.

The corpse guarded by the tomb lord was not an ancestor of the Yang family, nor do we know whose it is; in any case, it's just a pile of white bones with nothing beside it.

"Ah, this dead-headed me, how could I forget that!" I smacked my head hard, then recalled that although the tomb lord has a habit of clinging to the dead, the Yang ancestors certainly did not die with resentment, so how could they be related to the tomb lord's chariot?

"Don't blame yourself; let's walk a bit more—maybe we'll see some clues to this tomb." Yao Wenju patted my shoulder, comforting me.

I nodded and said helplessly, "Well, we have no choice." Just as we turned around, about to step out, a whoosh sounded and a red shadow flashed before my eyes.

"Chase..." This red shadow startled me greatly—crimson, with only one leg—clearly it is the Sunrise troop under the command of the Mei Mountain Witch Goddess Han Duo.

Yao Wenju and I swiftly gave chase and captured that Sunrise; despite my fatigue I exerted myself, drawing a Vajra circle to keep it firmly inside.

"Sunrise, a mountain spirit's form—how could this thing be here?" Yao Wenju also recognized its origin.

I grunted in acknowledgment and said: "This is Han Duo's troop; I suspect she is also working for Yang Shouyi. Now that we've captured this troop, I think I should be able to find QingSongShu and the others."

Having said that, I suddenly froze—this is Han Duo's troop. If Han Duo had come to the Yang mausoleum, then her troop ought to be by her side. In my experience, troops only scatter or dissipate when their master dies, or when their banner is destroyed and the master suffers grave injury.

"Could it be that Han Duo has already clashed with QingSongShu?" I considered this possibility, and the more I thought, the more uneasy my heart grew. A Han Duo alone is nothing for QingSongShu to worry about, but if we add Yang Shouyi lurking in the shadows, then this matter is far from simple.

Anxiously I said to Yao Wenju: "Wen bro, Pangzi and the others might already be in trouble. You still have enough spiritual power—quick, draw a fire-related talisman and strike that Sunrise with it."

Although Yao Wenju didn't understand why I was doing this, he had no hesitation, promptly drawing a Samadhi Fire talisman in his hand and thrusting it at the Sunrise.

The Sunrise took a palm strike, its already feeble body becoming even more insubstantial; at that moment I seized the chance to imprint a palm on its forehead.

Mountain spirits are usually rebellious and extremely hard to tame; although Han Duo's banner might have been destroyed, I still dare not underestimate the backlash of this mountain essence, so I had Yao Wenju strike it again to wound it further before moving to subdue it.

Chanting the words of the troop‑recalling spell, I began trying to communicate with the Sunrise; the process went smoothly, and because the Sunrise was very weak, it offered no resistance.

"Lead me to find your original master, Han Duo." I issued the command to the Sunrise.

But what I hadn't expected was that, as soon as I spoke those words, the Sunrise began to glare at me angrily, and the military seal I had stamped on its forehead almost broke free.

"En!" I shouted and quickly pressed again. This Sunrise is ultimately not my troop; subduing it was only temporary. But why does it stare at me with such anger?

I think it is worried that I might harm its master.

"I never expected that although Han Duo is money‑grubbing, the troops she commands are so loyal!" I took a breath and, trying to sound as confusing as possible, told the Sunrise: "I am not Han Duo's enemy; I am her friend. Your original master is in danger, and I have come to help her."

Han Duo has encountered danger—that's certain. If she weren't in danger, her troop wouldn't be injured and fleeing. In my guess, the one who wounded Han Duo is QingSongShu; only QingSongShu striking her could injure her so severely in an instant.

Under my persistent bewilderment, the Sunrise finally lowered its guard, its expression dull as it walked toward the interior of the tomb.

"Follow it, and it can lead me to Pangzi and QingSongShu." I finally exhaled in relief, but as my mind relaxed, the aftereffects hit—my vision spun and I collapsed to the ground. Fortunately Yao Wenju steadied me, otherwise I would have had another violent collision with the earth.