Yun Youyue, propped up by Jin Lingfeng, stood and sternly questioned Xia Lingling, "Lingling, didn't you say there wouldn't be any problems? Why didn't Bai Shengyi and Sun Chongyang follow the plot of the illusion?"
Yun Youyue's face was pale and unsightly.
Xia Lingling had always had a low presence in the team.
Now, standing in a corner with her head hanging, she heard Yun Youyue's questioning. Only then did she slowly raise her head and say expressionlessly, "Are you suspecting me?"
"No." Yun Youyue frowned. Thinking of Xia Lingling's identity, she took a deep breath and softened her tone to explain, "I'm just worried if there will be any problems with Sun Chongyang."
Yun Youyue was still very annoyed. Although she had controlled her tone and it wasn't as sharp, her words were very direct.
"Lingling, you know, I've paid too much to control parts of this secret realm. There's a wisp of my spiritual consciousness in that long-eared rabbit. Logically, Sun Chongyang should obey the rabbit, but now, he's eaten it!"
"This is a mess! This is not what you said!"
Bai Shengyi was one thing, but Sun Chongyang, who had always been within their calculations, had also broken free from their control, which was problematic.
After all, they had waited for more than half a year for this day.
More than half a year ago, Sun Chongyang had fallen out with them and insisted on leaving their team. Yun Youyue decided to go all the way and secretly tampered with the spiritual artifact Sun Chongyang used for navigation, ensuring that Sun Chongyang would still encounter Bai Shengyi.
At the same time, Xia Lingling had planted a soul-devouring worm on Sun Chongyang.
The soul-devouring worm was something that cultivators from outer continents used to harm others. Usually, it was silent and inconspicuous, but it would quietly sneak into a cultivator's dantian, follow the spiritual energy from the dantian into the sea of consciousness, nibble away at the cultivator's spiritual consciousness, and finally cause the cultivator's actions to be influenced by the person controlling the soul-devouring worm.
"Don't be nervous. When the soul-devouring worm is used on a demonic beast, it will naturally stimulate the beast's reproductive desire. Sun Chongyang's true form is a Heavenly Dragon Snake, and now he's merely blinded by desire. Isn't this exactly what you and I want?"
Xia Lingling was calm to the point of being ruthless.
"Bai Shengyi will definitely not surrender. When they are both injured, we can make our move, and it will be foolproof."
Xia Lingling's words calmed Yun Youyue. She pushed Jin Lingfeng away and said coldly, "Good, I'll trust you one more time."
Turning her head, Yun Youyue instructed Jin Lingfeng, "Jin Lingfeng, this time you will divide your spiritual consciousness to possess the rabbit within the secret realm."
The feeling of spiritual consciousness being severed was truly painful; she never wanted to experience it again!
Facing Yun Youyue's matter-of-fact command, Jin Lingfeng replied politely, "Okay, don't worry, I will definitely get revenge for you."
...
Bai Shengyi walked through the illusion three times without seeing the rabbit. She was contemplating how to deal with the Black Snake's desire for meat in the next round.
She did not connect the illusion with Yun Youyue and the others at all. She thought it was Bai Murong's doing, as she hadn't heard any news about Bai Murong for more than half a year. However, given Bai Murong's personality, Bai Shengyi felt that Bai Murong wouldn't just give up after one failure.
"What is this?" Bai Shengyi kicked something and squatted down, her eyebrows raising in surprise.
It was a sword.
Strange, could the core of this illusion be swordplay?
As the long sword entered her hand, a scorching sensation flowed from the hilt into Bai Shengyi's palm. Bai Shengyi instinctively swung the sword, and the illusion, which had been calm, was suddenly swept up by strong winds.
"So the wind on the grassland really is related to the underground! Wait, the underground..." Bai Shengyi paused. "So I'm underground now? Then is this body mine, or is it an extension of the illusion?"
No one answered, but Bai Shengyi already had an answer in her heart.
She looked at the long sword in her hand, a chill creeping from her feet to her forehead.
And this moment of realization seemed to open the switch that sealed the pain. The pain of flesh being cut, the bone-deep torment, surged towards her like a tide, so intense that she gritted her teeth and grunted, falling to her knees with a thud.
Bai Shengyi's face was pale, and cold sweat dripped profusely, but she dared not faint.
The physical pain undeniably confirmed her guess was correct.
Since she was using her own body to enter the secret realm this time, Sun Chongyang was also clearly in his own body. Therefore, Sun Chongyang himself was... a snake demon?
Bai Shengyi was not wrong. Sun Chongyang's lineage was indeed descended from the Heavenly Dragon Snake, but over the years, only Sun Chongyang had successfully returned to his ancestral state.
The instinct of the Heavenly Dragon Snake tribe was to reproduce. In the eyes of the Heavenly Dragon Snakes, the more offspring they had, the more prosperous the tribe's power would be, and the greater the hope of transforming into a dragon.
Yun Youyue only found out about this secret by chance, which led her to plan this scheme.
It was just that she had underestimated Bai Shengyi's resistance to illusions.
Bai Shengyi did not follow the illusion's manipulation as they expected. Instead, because this illusion involved rules, their control over it was limited. This, in turn, allowed Bai Shengyi to seize an opportunity, gaining a moment of respite through the death of the long-eared rabbit, and thus discovering Sun Chongyang's secret.
"My appearance has aged again," Bai Shengyi muttered to herself. "So the core of this secret realm isn't swordplay, but time."
That sword was merely a distraction.
Having seen through this, Bai Shengyi found that another scene suddenly appeared before her.
In the cave, her body had no flesh and blood, only empty sleeves and pant legs, tied to a stone pedestal. The long-eared rabbit happily said before her, "Master, when you hatch the little lord, Lord Black Snake will release our tribe!"
This was what would happen soon according to the illusion's plot.
In the plot, Bai Shengyi sacrificed her flesh and blood to protect the rabbit tribe. However, after her flesh was gone, the long-eared rabbit tied her up and handed her over to the Black Snake to lay eggs. After she laid the snake eggs, her bones and blood would be used to nurture the little snakes...
Kindness was met with cruel betrayal, and Bai Shengyi would believe it was just an illusion and die silently, forgotten by time, with no one remembering her name.
"Welcome to Cangtian Lingfu, human. Good luck."
With a loud bang, Bai Shengyi saw Sun Chongyang transform entirely into his snake form. Twisting his enormous serpentine body, he coiled down from above, opening his massive maw and roaring, "Lay eggs! Give me eggs!"
As he spoke, his tail coiled around Bai Shengyi, his vertical pupils flashing with a cold, scarlet glint.
"Get lost!"
Bai Shengyi's gaze turned colder, and she swung her sword towards the snake's body. However, her current strength was limited. Even though her moves were extremely sharp, she missed.
If Sanghai Lingfu extended time, then Cangtian Lingfu compressed time infinitely, turning a year into a day, pushing time forward incessantly.
Therefore, in a short period, Sun Chongyang became increasingly violent and robust, as if he had consumed too much spiritual meat.
In contrast, Bai Shengyi appeared more aged, and even the hand holding the sword began to tremble.
She could clearly feel her strength weakening.
"Slap!"
Sun Chongyang, seemingly angered by Bai Shengyi's counterattack, lashed out with his tail, sending Bai Shengyi flying. As he twisted his body and slithered back towards her, Bai Shengyi was unsure what to do when she saw a small white rabbit hopping towards her from not far away.
"Master!"