Chapter 28: A Real Illusion

“So much treasure!” Qing Hongchen and Qing Han’s faces were slightly flushed. Strangely enough, however, a bizarre atmosphere was giving everyone pause, despite the great number of treasures present.

Lu Yun stared unblinkingly at the cottage-sized bronze outer-coffin in the middle of the main hall. Unknown evils laid within any such coffins. As a tomb raider, he would rather face a thousand-year-old zombie than deal with a bronze outer-coffin.

Back on Earth, the sect of tomb raiders that Lu Yun belonged to was prestigious in its field. Flourishing and prosperous, there was once a legion of them all over the world.

However, they’d once encountered a bronze outer-coffin during an excavation, which marked the thriving sect’s fall from grace. Their numbers dwindled, until finally, there was only Lu Yun. With his reincarnation into the world of immortals, there was no one left of his sect on Earth.

But this is the world of immortals, and I’m a cultivator now. That coffin isn’t going to stop me! He trembled with great excitement. He would see with his own two eyes just what kind of evils lay within the bronze outer-coffins that’d doomed his sect!

“Nineheavens Ganoderma!” the Skriver city lord suddenly shouted. “A legendary supplement surpassing even ninth-rank ingredients! Consuming it will immediately make one an immortal!” He roared and rushed to one of the corners to fight for the ganoderma.

“Bastard, get back here!” Li Youcai cried out in panic. “There’s a formation over there!”

Crack!

Out of nowhere, black lightning struck the city lord. He screamed as his body was fried into a lump of charcoal.

Crack crack crack!

He’d triggered a mechanism, and bolts of lightning showered down, striking everyone in the room.

“Master Thirteenth!” Qing Hongchen shouted, his expression panicked.

Eyelids twitching, Formation Thirteenth stooped down and put a hand on the ground.

Bzzt.

Lines of formation etchings appeared on the tiles of the main hall. A powerful defensive formation abruptly materialized, shielding everyone within. However, there seemed to be no end to the lightning, which ruthlessly struck the formation again and again.

“What a formidable thunderstorm. This is the tribulation cultivators undergo when they ascend to immortality!” Blood trickled down from the corner of Formation Thirteenth’s mouth, his eyes shining with disbelief. “What is this formation?! It’s summoned an immortal’s tribulation!”

“Get the hell out!” He sent a pulse of power through the formation, pushing everyone but him and Qing Hongchen out of it. The main hall was flooded by an electric sea, tearing everyone outside the formation to pieces.

“It’s all an illusion.” Lu Yun lifted his hand and watched as a strand of lightning thicker than his arm struck him. It hurt. Every cell in his charred body was screaming, and he could smell burned flesh.

“The pain is so real,” he murmured. “If not for the lightning, I wouldn’t have seen through the illusion.” His body healing at an unnatural speed, he put his hands behind his back and leisurely strolled further into the main hall.

“Cultivators and immortals crave treasure, so there’s an endless supply of that here. They fear heavenly tribulations the most, so that happened too. And right, the bronze outer-coffin is one of my biggest fears. Something sensed my fear and created it. I’ve already died once, though, so why should I be afraid of a mere coffin?” Lu Yun chuckled, then disappeared from the main hall. A faint white figure flickered and followed suit shortly afterward.

Master Thirteenth’s formation had been broken. With a final cry, he and Qing Hongchen collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

Is this the underground palace of the burial mound, or is it Truewater City? Lu Yun scanned his surroundings as he walked, his eyebrows furrowed. Strange. Why is there light underground?

As soon as he said that, his vision went dark. Something is following me to confuse my senses. This is an enhanced version of Ghost Hits Walls!

He stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes, silent and unmoving. A soybean manifested in his hand, which he lightly threw into the air. A faint vibration manifested a seven-meter tall giant in golden armor before Lu Yun. Bean Soldiers!

“Bloody hell, is there anyone as evil as you?!” The giant barely made a sound before he died, then disappeared.

Chilled to the bones, Lu Yun stood rooted to the spot. There was a bottomless pit in front of him, one that had devoured and decimated the bean soldier as soon as he fell in. The soldier’s spirit had now returned to the other world.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Thank heavens. I knew I was in an illusion, but I couldn’t see through it. If I’d taken one more step, I would’ve fallen to my death. Lu Yun’s back was drenched in cold sweat. Knowing he was surrounded by illusions didn’t mean he could pierce through them and see the environment as it truly was.

There was a faint, whispering sigh, and the world around him changed. Rays of strange red light cut through the darkness, signaling the return of his vision.

Palm-sized bugs clung to the stone walls around him, their red glow illuminating the room. The bugs remained unmoving, seemingly asleep, but Lu Yun felt his hair rise of its own accord.

Corpse flies!

A whole colony of glowing corpse flies! They were several times bigger than the flies in Mount Carmine Dusk, each of them as large as his palm.

It looks like something’s following me. It created the illusions to lure me here so that the darkness would devour me. The fact that it didn’t just kill me tells me it can’t.

A large door slowly opened next to Lu Yun in the next moment.

“Infernum Lu Tian greets the master!” Holding a large sickle, a man dressed in a black robe appeared beside Lu Yun. He was one of the four immortals Lu Yun had killed with the Enneawyrm Provenance Formation. They had been Lu Yuanhou’s followers that had been bestowed the surname Lu, and were named Tian, Di, Xuan, and Huang, respectively.

“Get up,” Lu Yun ordered. “Take off your uniform and follow me.”

“Understood!” Lu Tian hurriedly took off his robe.

There were many dangers within the great burial mound, and Lu Yun would be safer with Lu Tian protecting him.

……

“What’s going on?” After an indiscernible period of time, Formation Thirteenth and Qing Hongchen finally came to.

The surroundings were illuminated by luminous pearls. There were no extravagant palaces or exotic treasures. They were in an enormous stone chamber, surrounded by piles of skeletons. Who knew how many had died in this place?

“Was it all an illusion?” Formation Thirteenth felt his skin crawl. He hadn’t realized it at all! “Where are the others?”

Other than skeletons, the only ones left in the chamber were Formation Thirteenth, Qing Hongchen, and the Skyriver city lord. The latter was lying prone on the floor, seemingly dead. Scowling, Qing Hongchen stepped on the city lord. “Are you dead or not?”

“Fifth young master! I’m still alive?” The city lord jerked awake and looked at Qing Hongchen. “Ah, my Nineheavens Ganoderma!” He lifted his hand and saw himself clutching a skull that was looking back at him with a mocking grin. With a shriek, he threw the skull away. “What’s going on here?!” the city lord’s voice trembled.

“It’s fake. It’s all fake,” Formation Thirteenth sighed. “Lu Yun was able to see through the illusion. He’s better than me.”

“Lu Yun has joined my banner, which makes him one of mine. How dare he abandon me?” A cold, vicious smile tugged at Qing Hongchen’s lips. “If he can see through the illusions here, I’ll make him be my guide!”