Chapter 417: The Lieyang Despotism is Flashy and Showy

"Nine o'clock at night..."

"It's only six o'clock now, still early." Zhang Suannai checked her watch, looking quite experienced. "The command post told us to go over at nine, so the target must be arriving here at nine. Should we go over and wait, or set off later?"

"How far is Mengong Lake from here?"

"Four hundred kilometers as the crow flies."

"Four hundred kilometers..."

Flying at full speed, it would only take half an hour; flying slowly, it would only take an hour. It wasn't too far.

Chen Shu pretended to hesitate: "Let's go over and take a look first."

"Fine, but fly slowly."

"Mm."

Two figures suddenly shot into the night sky.

The "flying slowly" she spoke of was the same logic as a casual ride. She always wanted to push him to his limit to show off how fast she could fly, yet Chen Shu's Wind-Riding and the Spirit Power Quality bonus from his Double Spirit Sea didn't indulge her, keeping him stuck tightly behind her.

"Whoosh..."

Zhang Suannai gritted her teeth and accelerated.

Turning her head to look, Chen Shu was still following behind.

Fine! No more racing!

By the time Zhang Suannai slowed down, Mengong Lake was not far off.

Current time: 6:30.

It got dark early in Xixiao, and night had already fallen on the ground, but after flying into the sky, the afterglow of sunset still lingered in the west. Lowering his altitude slightly, Mengong Lake on the distant earth looked like a giant mirror, reflecting the embers of the west and the clouds.

This lake was much larger than Jinghai.

Jinghai was over a hundred kilometers around and tended to be narrow and long, while this lake was rounder and solid, with a circumference of over three hundred kilometers, larger than the jurisdiction area of many cities.

One could faintly see boats and soldiers on duty in the lake, but the Square Body had not been activated, and the level of guard was not high.

"Let's go down and wait."

"Mm."

The two descended rapidly.

Hanging in the air required constant use of Spirit Power and was easy to be discovered; after landing, it was easier to maintain Dark Silence on the ground.

Zhang Suannai told Chen Shu to dig a hole, and the two hid inside, restraining their Spirit Power. She then took out several bags of snacks and generously shared them with Chen Shu, as if in her eyes this was just a game, and the tension was not even as high as when she had a showdown with Chen Shu in the Martial Body competition.

Time reached 8:59.

"Bang!"

Two figures burst out from the ground and flew toward the coordinates.

A scan with his Spirit Eye pierced through the darkness, revealing only a private car driving on the lakeside road.

Xixiao was very chaotic, and with the recent heavy crackdown, there was fighting everywhere; usually, once night fell, very few people dared to come out.

The Spirit Power fluctuations in the car were not unusual; they were neither extraordinary like a High-level Practitioner, nor pitch black like someone using a Dark Silence method. It was as if ordinary people were sitting in the car, or as if no one was sitting in it at all.

A very profound concealment method.

But while they could deceive the Spirit Eye of a Spirit Cultivator and deceive detection equipment, they could not deceive the prying eyes of the Secret Sect and the four major systems of Heaven, Human, Buddha and Dao.

The two flew over and landed in the middle of the road.

"Screech!"

The vehicle braked hard, the front of the car shook a few times and came to a stop, its headlights illuminating the pitted surface of the concrete road.

Eyes piercing through the glare, a man and a woman were sitting in the car.

The man in the driver's seat poked his head out, a local Xixiao face with features bunched together in the middle, looking at them with confusion and anxiety. The woman in the passenger seat did not poke her head out, but she opened her eyes wide, glancing from time to time at the man beside her, and from time to time at them blocking the way, looking lost and helpless.

"What's wrong?"

The man in the driver's seat asked aloud.

"Two..."

"No need, no need to confirm their identities; my Spiritual Sense has already felt the danger on them." Unknowingly, a delicate Long Sword had appeared in Zhang Suannai's hand. "You don't need to pretend anymore, let's keep it simple."

"Swish!"

With a flick of the Long Sword, Sword Qi like snow and frost flew toward the car with its headlights on, slicing through the night sky until it was submerged in the intense glare of the headlights.

At this instant, there was a loud boom.

Countless glowing Runes emerged from the car, of various colors, instantly filling the area by the lakeside and connecting into one.

"An Illusion Array!"

"You go left, I go right, spread out!"

Only two reminders from Zhang Suannai echoed in his ears.

Then the world suddenly changed.

The starlight disappeared, the crescent moon disappeared, the embers on the horizon disappeared, and the boats with lights on the lake disappeared, leaving only ink-like blackness.

"Whoosh!"

Wind-Riding erupted with a powerful Spirit Repulsion, pushing Chen Shu to fly to the left, covering over a thousand meters in an instant.

Spreading out at this time was a good choice; otherwise, they might be used by the Illusion Array to attack each other. And it had to be fast; if they were slow, their minds would gradually be affected and eroded by the Illusion Array, and they would lose their sense of direction.

Chen Shu lowered his head to take a look—

The individual terminal was still there, but it could no longer be opened.

Strangely, after a while, the individual terminal disappeared. After another while, he had almost forgotten that he was carrying an individual terminal.

Just almost forgotten.

Zhang Suannai stopped; before her was a stretch of deep mountains.

In the depths of winter, the mountain forest was withered, with snow piled on the ground and tree branches, while the mountain before her rose to an unknown height, with the howls of apes and wolves faintly drifting over. A certain force was constantly trying to influence her mind, wanting to make her believe this was real.

"Pah..."

Zhang Suannai spat with disdain, her expression solemn.

She directly sealed her senses.

Do not look;

Do not listen;

Do not smell;

Do not touch;

She slashed out with her Sword!

The Sword Qi was like a physical substance; it was originally a long strip, but it spun at ultra-high speed in the air, turning into a bright, snowy disc that flew in a certain direction until it slashed into a patch of thick, impenetrable black fog. With a sound like scissors tearing through cloth—*shila*—it broke out through the fog.

The person behind gave a muffled groan and dodged rapidly.

More Sword Qi came spinning over.

Furthermore, streaks of Sword Light had already emerged around her, constantly accumulating, more and more, and more and more; the speed of their growth gave one the feeling that "it will soon grow to the point where the Illusion Array can no longer contain it."

Strike with the Sword by feeling! Block by feeling!

Follow your feelings!

The Traditional Sword Cultivator has always been the nemesis of Illusion; a firm and pure Sword heart keeps them from being influenced, while their heaven-defying Spiritual Sense allows them to ignore all flashy tricks.

Come to think of it, Illusion Cultivators had once been arrogant for a period in the history of Yiguo, but they never developed because of the existence of the Sword Sect. In ancient times, there were even frequent cases of a Fifth-tier Sword Cultivator slaying a Sixth-tier Illusion Cultivator. Having no choice, Illusion Cultivators gradually disappeared from this soil that had bred them, though they developed quite well outside of Yiguo where there were no Traditional Sword Cultivators. It was not until the modern era, due to the needs of Spirit Realm technology, that Illusion Cultivators reappeared in Yiguo, but they were no longer called Illusion Cultivators, nor were they Traditional Illusion Cultivators anymore; they were called Spirit Realm Technology Engineers.

Zhang Suannai's solemnity was because of Chen Shu—

Illusion Cultivators do somewhat restrain Spirit Cultivators.

For one, Spirit Cultivators have no Spiritual Sense.

For another, the growth process of a Spirit Cultivator is relatively comfortable; they do not face the threats from fellow disciples at every moment like a Sword Cultivator, nor do they have to endure as much hardship as a Martial Cultivator, and they are even less like the Cultivators of the Daoist or Buddhist Sects who require long periods of ascetic cultivation, and whose Spirit Methods themselves dictate that they are difficult to be invaded by these messy things. Although whether one's willpower is firm or not is a very personal matter, and there are bound to be Spirit Cultivators with firm willpower and Martial Cultivators with weak willpower, on the whole, the average level of willpower among Spirit Cultivators is definitely slightly lower than in other systems.

Finally, Spirit Cultivators themselves are more fragile; if an attack misses the target and they are then attacked from the shadows, it is very easy for problems to arise.

As for Chen Shu...

Although Zhang Suannai really wanted to disparage him, she also knew in her heart that this person was likely the same as her: seemingly unserious, but actually very firm in willpower; ordinary illusions would find it difficult to tempt or confuse him, and having used a Beast Pill during his advancement, his own defensive power was not inferior to an ordinary Martial Cultivator.

But the opponent had two people...

But their friendship was not bad...

But he was her roommate's boyfriend and brother-in-law...

Zhang Suannai was still somewhat nervous, wanting to quickly break through the Illusion Array to go and rescue him.

"Break!"

"Sigh..."

Chen Shu stood in a forest filled with thick white fog; the trees were tied with red cloth strips that swayed in the wind.

Faint, pleasant yet mournful singing drifted from all directions, impossible to trace to its source, making one feel intoxicated and sorrowful upon hearing it, wanting to search for it yet feeling afraid. But as a gust of wind blew the thick fog away, a house appeared before him, hung with lanterns, and a woman sat with her back to him, lightly plucking a stringed instrument and singing softly.

This woman's back was truly beautiful, slender and frail, sitting in a soft, limp posture, appearing as if she were boneless.

This zither music and singing were truly pleasant; it seemed one could not hear clearly what she was singing, yet it also seemed one could, like a dream, extremely pleasant, yet one did not know what made it so pleasant.

Chen Shu, however, could not help but sigh.

An Illusion Array must be prepared early and used as a trap, or one must find a smooth opportunity to enter, striving to ensure the person does not notice and believes it to be true.

Like now, starting it in a rush, when the other party has already seen the process of you casting the Illusion Array, they naturally know it is an Illusion Array. Afterwards, no matter how you use your own methods to forcibly make them believe it, it is ultimately inferior.

Chen Shu stood where he was, quietly appreciating it.

Until the woman turned around.

What a bewitching and beautiful face—

Her face was smeared with white powder, white to an unnatural degree, her eyes half-squinted with a hazy look, the corners of her mouth slightly curled to both sides, smiling like a canine animal; at first glance, one might think a white fox had become a spirit, and in terms of appearance, she truly looked like a fox demon.

In an instant, a ghost attacked.

Chen Shu closed his eyes, not attacking rashly; if he were to attack, with the range of his Spells, he would definitely hit Zhang Suannai in the distance.

He pressed his palms together and slowly lowered his head.

"Boom..."

Dust rose, and a rosy glow suddenly appeared.

A cold and solemn divine statue appeared behind him, scaring the master of the Illusion Array into a pause; whether it was the ghost or the female demon, both stalled for a moment.

Immediately, a scorching sun rose and hung in the firmament.

It was still the Small Blazing Sun Art.

Under the high temperature, everything turned to ash, the ground rapidly turned red and became fluid, and white smoke hissed up from the surface of the lake in the distance. Not only that, the Spirit Power structure and Runes belonging to the Illusion Array in the air also rapidly disintegrated under the tyrannical Spirit Power of the Blazing Sun Art, returning to the heavens and earth.

It is true that Illusion Cultivators restrain Spirit Cultivators.

But who said the Spirit Sect could do nothing against Illusion Cultivators?

A few seconds later, the scorching sun dissipated, and the ground was covered in red light.

The world had returned to normal.

Two figures were fleeing toward the distance; the lake reflected the shimmering moonlight, and as they swept rapidly through the air, two ripples appeared on the water's surface.

The boats on the lake had already withdrawn when they started fighting, to avoid being accidentally injured.

Chen Shu turned his head to look and saw a person standing on a distant mountain peak, about two kilometers away from him, staring blankly at him, with thousands of streaks of Sword Light swirling and dancing behind her like a vortex, extremely eye-catching.

And her gaze seemed extremely puzzled.

"Chase."

Chen Shu took the lead and gave chase.

Zhang Suannai reacted, transforming into Sword Light, while the thousands of Light Swords swirling like a vortex behind her followed in her wake, cutting through the night sky.

The figures of the two slowly drew closer during the pursuit.

The individual combat terminal appeared and resumed function again, or rather, it had never disappeared or been damaged; Zhang Suannai's voice came from within: "You're done for, you're finished. Do you know that Spirit Cultivators aren't allowed to use the Blazing Sun Art without permission? The roads you burned, the trees, the fish boiled in the lake—the state will have to pay for all of it."

"Deduct it from my salary."

"Your salary isn't worth a damn!"

"Add yours to it."

"I... that still wouldn't be enough!"

"We'll see..."

The two flew over the lake, pursuing relentlessly.

A few minutes meant several dozen kilometers.

As they flew over the center of the lake, the two had already caught up to their targets; Zhang Suannai slashed out with Sword Qi, and the Sword Light behind her accelerated simultaneously, passing her one by one and flying toward the two fleeing figures ahead, the humming and whistling sounds incessant and deafening.

The two dodged and defended in a panic.

Soon, one person fell into the lake.

The remaining person was that female Illusion Cultivator; in her desperation, she formed seals with her hands, and with a boom, countless Runes flew out once more.

The world shifted, and the Illusion Array rose again.

This time, it was purely to stall for time to escape.

Chen Shu, however, did not use the Blazing Sun Art again; instead, he took the opportunity to stop flying, closed his eyes, and his entire body suddenly plummeted downward.

"Splash!"

Compared to the vast Mengong Lake, the figure of a mere human appeared so tiny; even falling from a height of over a thousand meters, it only splashed a small spray of water before being swallowed by the lake.

The water surface soon returned to calm, still reflecting the moonlight.