Chapter 443

Bang!

With a muffled thud like a heavy hammer striking the ground, a sweet taste rose in An Qisheng's throat; he did not meet the blow head-on, but borrowed the force to dart forward.

Just by the sound, he knew that the one who had unleashed this move was not the guard Li Miao, but the Emperor himself. With his body-protecting true energy reduced to less than thirty percent due to his heavy injuries, he could not withstand the Emperor's full-force sneak attack.

Jizhao, this earliest lost realm of nature cultivation.

For a thousand years, it was a realm that only Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng had ever attained.

It was also the most important realm among the three natures of heart, spirit, and intent.

Since appearing in this Great Shuo world, it seemed never to have truly revealed its divine wonders. It had either failed against otherworldly demons like Li Miao, or proved difficult to utilize against opponents who had also attained Jizhao.

Only today, against An Qisheng—a Heaven-Man who had cultivated for a thousand years, practicing both life and nature cultivation but failing to attain Jizhao—did this realm finally reveal its overwhelming advantage over other Heaven-Men.

Ethereal and hard to find.

An Qisheng used the force of that punch to dart forward several zhang, and only after flashing away did he turn to raise his palms, yet he could no longer find the Emperor's figure. There were only the two guards who had rushed before him again, fearlessly splashing down attacks that, while not fatal, could not be ignored.

Although An Qisheng's gaze remained calm, his movements clearly carried a hint of anger.

Situated within the Emperor's true-heart illusion, he could not find the Emperor's location at all.

Reality and illusion are hard to fathom.

Clang! —

The golden melon and the axe struck An Qisheng's shoulder, breaking through his body-protecting true energy, leaving two wounds on his shoulder, and getting wedged against the scapula.

An Qisheng lunged forward, his palms drilling from bottom to top into the gaps in the two guards' chests, striking toward their heads.

With body-protecting true energy and life-risking martial arts, his attainment in trading injury for injury and life for life was no less than Li Miao's!

Seeing that the two guards' heads were about to be shattered.

Suddenly, a sharp pain flared in An Qisheng's shoulder.

The golden melon remained on his left shoulder, but the axe suddenly pressed down, breaking through his body-protecting true energy, breaking through the bone, and embedding into the marrow!

With the martial prowess of the golden-armored guards, this was absolutely impossible.

An Qisheng's gaze shifted to look at the guard holding the axe. Right before him, that suit of golden armor rippled like a reflection in water, gradually transforming into a crimson robe woven with gold.

Crown Prince Li Miao squinted at him, glancing sideways.

"I don't mean to belittle you, but how can a Heaven-Man who has cultivated for a thousand years be so easily fooled?"

The next instant, the axe pressed down.

Crack.

The collarbone snapped.

An Qisheng's right hand hung limply, but his left hand suddenly reached out and shattered the head of the guard holding the golden melon!

Then he withdrew and retreated rapidly.

He knew very well that this was an illusion.

In reality, there was no Crown Prince or guards, and his collarbone was perfectly intact, without the slightest damage.

But this was the divine wonder of "Jizhao." The illusion deceived not only the five senses, but also the consciousness and the true heart.

"When the false is taken for true, the true also becomes false; where there is nothing, existence returns to nothing."

Even though he knew all of this was fake, all an illusion, the pain was real, and his consciousness was indeed unable to command his upper arm to exert force.

And what he had traded for was merely a single guard.

Crown Prince Li Miao stood where he was, looking over at him, then suddenly let out a snicker, piercing through his thoughts.

"Are you thinking that trading an arm for a guard is a bit of a loss?"

"Have you ever actually fought Zhang Sanfeng? I feel like you don't really understand Jizhao either... Could it be that Zhang Sanfeng didn't use any effort to beat you back then, and didn't use any Jizhao methods?"

Having said that, Crown Prince Li Miao's expression suddenly turned solemn.

He thrust the axe forward and said in a deep voice.

"Go forth, and be respectful!"

"I obey!"

A response came from the void; the golden-armored guard whose head An Qisheng had shattered emerged in outline from the air, then turned from void to solid, took the axe with both hands, bowed, and turned to look at An Qisheng. Only then did Crown Prince Li Miao laugh with his hands behind his back.

"Illusion, illusion—can something that can be killed still be called an illusion?"

"You didn't just lose a little; you lost big."

The tone was both sharp and mean, and with that half-dead expression, just in terms of being infuriating, it already far exceeded Li Miao. One wondered what kind of image Li Miao had in Zhu Zai's heart to have created such a thing in the Emperor's true-heart illusion.

Yet this mockery still left not a trace on An Qisheng's face.

From the start of the struggle until now, his gaze had remained as calm as water, without the slightest wavering. Even now, with one arm crippled while the enemy suffered no loss, he showed not a hint of emotion.

Suddenly, he spoke.

"Where is the Emperor?"

Crown Prince Li Miao shrugged.

"Guess?"

"I guess it is you."

An Qisheng said calmly.

The Crown Prince raised an eyebrow and laughed mockingly.

"What, guessing randomly because you have no clues? Otherwise, I'll give you three more chances; if you guess right, I'll reward you with a position as a Grand Eunuch, how about that?"

An Qisheng seemed not to have heard his mockery.

His tone remained calm.

"You are right, I have indeed never fought Zhang Sanfeng; he was too strong, and I was defeated in the time it takes to exchange a single glance. If he hadn't been so young at the time, I might not have lived until now—so I truly do not understand Jizhao."

"But I understand heart-images, and I understand true nature."

"The most prominent feature of this true-heart illusion of yours is the unconditional trust and protection for Li Miao, which is why you can manifest three Li Miao clones to fight me."

"But, you are too impatient."

An Qisheng walked forward slowly.

"Impatience, the interval between attacks is too short."

"If you had lengthened the interval between the Crown Prince's and the Emperor's attacks, I might not have discovered it. But under such rapid attacks, you have never used the main body and the Crown Prince to besiege me at the same time—isn't that strange?"

"Impatience, too many heart-attacking words."

"Instead, you revealed the biggest flaw—you just said, 'Go forth, and be respectful'."

"This is what the Emperor says personally to bless a general before an expedition. The full sentence is 'Drink this sweet wine, may you win the first battle! I shall push the carriage for you, waiting for your triumphant return! Go forth, and be respectful'."

"Yet it is said by you, a Crown Prince."

While speaking, An Qisheng had already walked not far from the Crown Prince.

The Crown Prince's expression had already sunk.

An Qisheng's tone still had not the slightest fluctuation.

"Jizhao is the illusion of the true heart."

"Only what you yourself firmly believe can deceive me. So, while you are deceiving me, you are also opening everything up to me."

"Your true nature is cowardly, afraid to face the enemy directly, so you used an illusion to cover yourself, putting on the hardest, most powerful shell you believe in to hide yourself. This shell—is Li Miao."

An Qisheng's and the Crown Prince's gazes crossed.

He captured the fluctuation that flashed and vanished in those eyes.

"It seems I guessed right."

An Qisheng said calmly.

(End of chapter)