Chapter 414: Everyone's Illusion

Mu Yuanzhi was drenched in cold sweat; she could only watch helplessly as Xiao Yichen walked toward that version of herself.

She wanted to cover her ears, close her eyes, summon all her strength, and sprint away!

Can she run?!

Mu Yuanzhi was feeling relieved, when she saw the familiar Eternal Lane appear again ahead.

Another version of her, full of hope, stared at Xiao Yichen as he drew nearer step by step.

"Brother Chen?"

Mu Yuanzhi turned and fled.

"Brother Chen?"

The version of herself in the Eternal Lane sat before her again, full of hope, watching Xiao Yichen, until he drew his dagger!

Only then did this her panic and try to flee.

Yet, just like her present self, there was nowhere to escape.

"Brother Chen, what are you doing?"

Shut up!

Mu Yuanzhi covered her ears.

Rongjin… Rongjin, where are you?!

Even if Mu Yuanzhi clapped her hands over her ears tight, she could still hear the sound of a blade slicing flesh, and one anguished cry after another!

The fear that had long vanished now tightly gripped her nerves.

She felt as if she were being dragged into reincarnation, and then thrust back into that hellish past!

She had clearly escaped!

Could it all be just an illusion?

Actually, she never escaped at all?

Was everything merely a beautiful fantasy before her death?

Rongjin isn't here… Qilin is dead… she too will die…

"Little Yuanzhi!"

"Rongjin?"

Mu Yuanzhi uncertainly loosened her grip on her ears; Gu Rongjin stood right before her, and she lunged into his embrace, clinging tightly and refusing to let go.

"Rongjin!"

Whether it was an illusion or anything else, as long as he was there, she felt at ease.

"Little Yuanzhi, I'm here, don't be afraid! I'm here! I'll always be here!" Gu Rongjin heartbrokenly held Mu Yuanzhi in his arms, his gaze still able to see Xiao Yichen wielding a dagger, slicing again and again at his beloved.

He already knew those were past events he could not stop, yet his heart still felt as if cut by a knife.

Seeing his Little Yuanzhi personally undergo such a horrific past made him feel anguish so great he could not bear to live.

But he couldn't drown in this grief and anger; he had to take her away, leave this place!

The unchangeable past is already past; they have a beautiful future ahead!

This time, he will protect her well!

"Mm, I know! I know!"

All her fragility, at the moment he appeared, was reborn as a strong exterior.

She has been reborn!

With Rongjin present, Little Tong and Little Mo present, Qilin present, and having made many, many friends, her life has begun anew; her future is infinitely bright.

After Mu Yuanzhi renewed her resolve, she fiercely wiped the tears from her face, her gaze steadfast: "Let's quickly find a way to leave this illusion!"

"Mm!" Gu Rongjin tightly grasped Mu Yuanzhi's hand and nodded firmly.

In the next instant, the scene before them was completely renewed.

They were no longer in the Eternal Lane but in Pei Shangling's palace!

Mu Yuanzhi instantly felt a bad premonition.

"Qilin?"

Qilin turned his head to look at Mu Yuanzhi; his eyes showed a rare hesitation.

Mu Yuanzhi's gaze shifted unwillingly from Qilin to the dim corner of the secret chamber, where the person whose legs and arms had been chopped off and placed in a wine vat was none other than Qilin!

To be precise, it was the Qilin of her past life, made into a human pig: his nose and ears had been sliced off, his eyes gouged out, leaving bloody holes; his mouth hung open but his tongue was invisible, having been cruelly snipped away by Pei Shangling.

Mu Yuanzhi stepped back a large step; if not for Gu Rongjin supporting her, she might have fallen.

Qilin's gruesome state had once been just like her own miserable death, appearing in her dreams night and day, becoming an inescapable nightmare.

"Little Yuanzhi……" Gu Rongjin blocked Mu Yuanzhi's view and wiped away her surging tears.

"I'm fine." Rather than herself, Mu Yuanzhi now worried more about how Qilin would react upon seeing this; but when she gently pushed Gu Rongjin aside, the scene before her changed completely again.

At this moment, Qilin was still in disbelief, recalling how his senior sister had once said…… that back then, his senior sister had said it was a nightmare.

So, is someone now materializing his senior sister's nightmare?

Upon suddenly seeing himself turned into a human pig, to claim he wasn't afraid would be a lie.

The shocking human pig was himself!

Qilin felt a tingling numbness on his scalp, his blood seeming to have turned icy cold.

The version of himself opposite him could no longer make a sound, yet his anguished cries were all the more heart-wrenching.

"Rest assured, I won't let you die so easily!"

A sudden sound pulled Qilin's gaze, which he dared not meet, back toward it.

Pei Shangling, with his back to him, seemed to be admiring a work of art, leisurely gazing upon it.

"You say, where should I cut you today? Where should I cut to relieve my hatred?"

Pei Shangling grabbed the human-swine Qilin's hair in one fist, forcing it to raise its head; the Qilin, with only its mouth left among its features, suffered helplessly, able only to emit desperate whimpering sounds.

"I've thought of it—I'll call Mu Yuanzhi to come see her adorable junior disciple; you'll definitely be happy too!"

Pei Shangling's words stimulated the human-swine Qilin; it began to struggle desperately and futilely, but only managed to please the deranged instigator even more.

This ha also similarly stimulated the stunned Qilin; its fury instantly filled its chest!

Damn thing!

His anger also stemmed from his own helplessness.

If this isn't a nightmare? He can't protect himself, nor can he protect his senior sister—what good are all the skills he's learned then?

"Pei Shangling, I'll kill you!" the Qilin shouted angrily, lunging at Pei Shangling, but in the next instant a flashing figure blocked him.

This person is no one else—it's another Pei Shangling!

No matter which one, anyway, as long as it's Pei Shangling, it deserves to die!

"Don't touch the people in the illusion, or you'll sink deeper!" the suddenly appearing Pei Shangling shouted, stopping the Qilin.

"You still understand illusions?! Fine, then I'll beat you just the same!"

The Qilin said, raising its fist to punch Pei Shangling's face!

He can't now use his inner strength; invisibly, it's as if a force is sealing him, leaving him hardly any strength left.

"Calm down, Qilin; we need to think of a way out now!" Pei Shangling's scarlet eyes fixed firmly on the Qilin.

He had just gone through a lot; he saw Xiao Yichen carving A Zhi with a thousand cuts, he also saw his older brother stabbing his sword toward A Zhi; these scenes that made him collapse he had endured, because he firmly believed he could break through these illusions and return to the already reshaped real world.

Even if these were from the past, from a life he doesn't remember, at least they've been turned around now—A Zhi no longer needs to endure these!

Even if he can't do anything, can't change anything, at least he can make amends!

"Get lost, don't touch me!" the Qilin broke out in goosebumps all over; just seeing Pei Shangling made him want to vomit.