Chapter 1166 - Sea of Illusions
Xia Lun knew right there and then that Yao Xi would not have paid heed to his words.
If she wanted someone to make it across the Fairy Pool, she would want that person to be him or Ye Futian, not someone else.
While it was the first time he had met Ye Futian, Xia Lun had heard a lot about him before. The young man had the attention of his father while his little sister, Xia Qingyuan, likewise held him in high regard. There was no way Xia Lun could not know about Ye Futian.
He deemed Ye Futian to be trustworthy. If Ye Futian indeed succeeded, then he would have to leave the rest to Ye Futian.
Seeing how serious Xia Lun looked, Ye Futian nodded and turned his eyes toward the Fairy Pool before them. He leaped onto a boat and moved forward, heading towards the seemingly nearby island.
The place seemed to be where Yao Xi lived.
The trip enabled them to gain a clearer picture of Yao Xi’s status at the Yaotai Divine Palace.
Xia Lun, Qin Bai, and the others stepped onto their boats and moved forward as well.
They hadn’t had thoughts about Yao Xi initially, but now they yearned for her. They deemed getting her for themselves to be a splendid goal.
The Seven Goddesses of Yaotai played their song above the Fairy Pool. Runes danced about as the scene before them changed altogether.
There was no longer an island before them, for the place had turned into a seemingly endless lake. The goddesses sat in midair and seemed to have become part of the borderless sea outside of the world.
The seven goddesses were all highly trained. One of them was even a Saint of True Self. Their will was imbued within the tune and brought out the true power of the song, bringing all of them into the illusionary ocean. The ocean seemed to be so real that it would have been impossible to distinguish it from an illusion.
That was the true strength of the will of the great path. It enabled the conjurer to meld with the world around them and hold command over the heavens and the earth.
There seemed to be no notable differences between the world of illusions and the true world at all.
A beautiful silhouette appeared vaguely in the distance. It was none other than Yao Xi. She looked as if she was just within arm’s reach, yet at the same time, she seemed to be somewhere high in the skies and completely out of reach.
The boats kept moving forward, yet it seemed as if they had no way of ever reaching their destination.
They knew that they had been trapped in an illusion.
Ye Futian closed his eyes and let the boat continue to move forward despite not being navigated. Like the boats of the others around him, his boat did not change course, always moving forward.
The song became a calm and serene one, no longer the one from before that had made the others succumb to the illusions.
However, Ye Futian was still somehow able to sense how terrifying the new song was. An urge seemed to have developed inside him. He felt himself wanting to cross the pool and get his hands on Yao Xi.
Furthermore, the thought became increasingly intense, just like a spark of lust that had been hidden deep within his mind. Now, it was being unleashed bit by bit.
Said urge compelled him to move forward. It was so strong that he came to see the others as his rivals before he knew it.
The influence was sublime, taking over the urges and thoughts of the listeners bit by bit. This made Ye Futian realize how terrifying it was.
The Heavenly Demon Song of the Six Desires was terrifying indeed.
If it had not been for the fact that his spiritual will was exceptional, he would not have even been able to notice the sublime takeover at all.
At that moment, the others were so affected by the song and their urges were lit up as well.
Chu Xi of the Asura Palace gazed at Yao Xi’s silhouette before him and burned with desire.
He had to get his hands on her.
He glanced around him and found that the one who posed the greatest threat to him was probably Ye Futian.
Yao Xi had been showing interest in Ye Futian since the day before. Furthermore, her conversations with Ye Futian had also differed from those she’d had with others.
Since Yao Xi wanted to pick only one to train alongside her, there was naturally no way that several could make it through the sea at the same time. Only one would be making it to shore.
Such thoughts became increasingly intense as they ate away at his thoughts. He even failed to notice that his thoughts were being affected by hypnosis.
A gust of cold wind blew across the lake, sending a faint chill across the water.
A gray mirage streaked across the surface of the lake at speeds that the naked eye had trouble following, coming and going with a flash.
Ye Futian’s body moved all of a sudden. A beam of light flashed and he disappeared from where he stood. He disappeared without a trace and then appeared in the air above the lake.
The gray mirage streaked by again, creating a chilling gust and a crisp noise. The boat that Ye Futian had been standing on was reduced to dust immediately, disappearing into the lake.
A gray silhouette coalesced, destroying the boat with the gust that it had just blown. Chu Xi was seen standing there.
Chu Xi made a move against Ye Futian in that instant.
He was from the Asura Palace after all, and the cultivators from that place trained in the ways of the demon. The Sacred General of Asura among the Eight Sacred Generals, who bore the title of Asura, was an extremely frightening figure who inspired fear in all those who had heard of him.
To the cultivators of the Asura Palace, they were compelled to bag a kill in their very first shot, without heed for propriety and without giving their opponents any opportunity to fight back. That was the method they believed in.
Ye Futian was known throughout Emperor Xia’s Realm and was extremely powerful. He had beaten Xiao Sheng before he had even become a saint. There was no way Chu Xi would have greeted or warned Ye Futian, given that he intended to make a move against him. He simply acted. His speed was such that hardly anyone noticed what happened.
Yet, Ye Futian was able to evade that attack—a testament to his baffling speed.
Ye Futian had been able to evade the attack due to his extremely powerful perception, which had become especially powerful after he’d become a saint. Saints were capable of melding their will with the world around them, so no actions around them were able to escape their notice. They were capable of tracking every pulse of movement around them. As such, even though they were crossing the Fairy Pool, he was nonetheless able to sense Chu Xi’s actions within that split second.
Space-manipulation had been used in that very instant, enabling him to disappear from where he stood and evade that attack.
Even he had to admit that the attack from Chu Xi had been perfect. If it had been someone else in his stead, they would not have been able to evade such explosive attacks.
Despite having missed the first time, Chu Xi did not stop attacking. He flashed and mirages appeared, shrouding Ye Futian in an instant. Demonic might was brimming and many exterior incarnations were appearing all around. All of them were of Chu Xi himself, surrounding Ye Futian.
Every single one of them held a blade that looked extremely sharp.
Chu Xi made his move and the flashing of the blades was seen. Many of the exterior incarnations brought their blades down and it seemed as if the power of the great path had buried the space they occupied.
Blade Art of Asura, Hell of Asura.
Boundless flashes of the blades were seen in that space as they tore through space. The attacks were seemingly meant to cut that space up into pieces.
The ones at the Fairy Pool all looked in that direction and saw Ye Futian being buried in the flashes of blades.
That was the Blade Art of Asura. It was probably difficult to find wiggle room while trapped by that skill.
Ye Futian, who was being buried by the Hell of Asura, burst all over with holy light all of a sudden. He melded with the great path and multiple layers of the will of the great path burst from his body in an instant.
He did not stay where he’d been as he resisted the other party’s attacks. The space around him was shaken and the vast space seemed to have been frozen. The overpowering Footwork of Xuanyuan was brought out and the extremely dazzling light surged into his arms, flowing to his fingers as he pointed forward.
Crackling, high pitched sounds were heard as the blade was bashed against Ye Futian’s body. However, the dazzling light that coursed about his body seemed to be indestructible armor that prevented him from being cleaved. The fingers that he pointed tore through the Hell of Asura, heading straight for Chu Xi at breakneck speeds.
Chu Xi looked at that incredibly dazzling silhouette before him turning into golden lightning and charged forward, feeling that he was in trouble.
He was baffled as to how Ye Futian had been able to tell his true body from the illusions with just a single look.
He dissipated into a gray mirage and quickly saw a terrifying storm of sword aura whipping up in the air. One dazzling sword after another shot out from the air and headed straight for Chu Xi’s body.
Chu Xi froze momentarily. Ye Futian arrived at the very next moment. His body descended like a bolt of lightning that was shrouded in holy light. He pointed his finger forward and brought about a terrifying sword will that headed straight for Chu Xi.
Chu Xi cleaved a flash of the blade in a hurry, tearing through the space before him. Yet when that finger arrived, the flash of his blade was broken and the light from the finger pierced through his body.
Chu Xi’s body dropped from above in an instant, falling into the Fairy Pool and sending splashes everywhere.
Ye Futian then grabbed Chu Xi from the water and hoisted him up. He shot a cold glance at his opponent and said, “Get lost.”
He clapped as soon as he uttered the line, sending Chu Xi flying back to where he’d come from.
The light on Ye Futian disappeared and his body landed on Chu Xi’s boat where he stood quietly.
The others took one look at him, wondering if that holy light about him had been something he’d learned while training in Dali Dynasty. It was rumored that the unique training method had been something imparted to him personally by the imperial advisor of Dali.
The young palace lord of Asura Palace was completely overwhelmed. He struck first and yet he had been defeated, losing the right to fight altogether.
The sound of the guqin was heard again, but it was no longer the Heavenly Demon Song of the Six Desires. On a boat floating on the pool, the Master of the Hundred Flowers Valley was playing the guqin. His tune seemed to be able to affect the will of others, making it increasingly difficult for them to control themselves.
The sound seemed to be attempting to meld with the Heavenly Demon Song of the Six Desires.
Auras emanated from the handful of people remaining as they continued to move forward. There was a faint stifling aura on the pool.
Ye Futian felt himself growing increasingly irritated and anxious. It was evident that he was being affected by the sound of the guqin as well.
He kept his eyes forward and said, “This place is the sea of desires and is difficult to wade through. Please, I implore you all to return. It is not worth having your states of mind be affected by the sea.
One by one, they turned to look at him and frowned somewhat.
Ye Futian had his hands behind his back at the moment. He was heading forward in silence, yet telling the others to go home.