The activation of his Soul Sentinel Scarf was all it took for Bai Yunfei to realize that he was being hit with a spirit-based attack! And with the Charm Bracelet activating, that specified what kind of spirit-based attack it was.

It was an....an illusion!

Bai Yunfei came across a situation like this once before half a year ago. There had been an early-stage Soul Exalt with a rare affinity for illusions and a class five soulbeast with an affinity for illusions as well. Together, they were able to put Bai Yunfei in an illusion where the ‘environment’ was an insidious and frightful hell where it felt like Bai Yunfei’s chest was being stabbed again and again. But with his Soul Sentinel Scarf and Charm Bracelet, the sensations weren’t as strong, and the illusion was easily shattered.

Right now, it felt like the world around him was warping in on itself like a false piece of reality. The illusion was unable to ensnare him in it, and now that it was being broken, the reality of the world was showing through it!!

Bai Yunfei had to admit, he was surprised. He hadn’t expected the illusion to be found out and broken so quickly, even if it wasn’t a very strong illusion (to him). Slightly at ease, Bai Yunfei had the mastiff come down.

They touched onto the ground, but it wasn’t until Bai Yunfei made sure it was ‘real’ ground they touched until Bai Yunfei felt relieved. Thanks to the combined efforts of the Soul Sentinel Scarf and Charm Bracelet, the effects of the illusion was much weaker to Bai Yunfei. He could see what the illusion was trying to show him wasn’t all that much different to reality. For example, a giant boulder that was warping a bit in the illusion was there in reality as well.

No. It seemed as though this illusion wasn’t trying to ‘change’ something, but to ‘hide’ something....

The pulses of elemental energy was getting more and more obvious to Bai Yunfei’s senses. As he carefully treaded forward, Bai Yunfei made sure to ready his soulforce just in case he had to fight.

Little by little, Bai Yunfei made his way deeper in. It wasn’t until he came to about twenty steps later that he came to an invisible ‘barrier’. A barrier that could be passed through to enter a special ‘area’.

An ‘area’ that was completely invisible from the outside area.

“Boom!!”

There was a muffled explosion from beyond the barrier. A large wave of orange light erupted from beyond, but then it broke up the moment it hit the barrier.

From there, Bai Yunfei felt at least ten different sources of soulforce!

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

There were soul cultivators! Battling! At least a dozen of them!

This was a sight to be surprised about!

Crouching to the ground, Bai Yunfei hid his soulforce even more to try and determine what was going on beyond the barrier.

About a kilometer from the other side, there was an intense battle taking place on the flatlands.

In this battlefield, there were three figures surrounded by at least ten enemies, and on the ground, there were almost another ten corpses!

Bai Yunfei had to suppress a gasp, these people were....late-stage Soul Exalts! The three people surrounded were late-stage Soul Exalts, and the people attacking them were also late-stage Soul Exalts—some of them were even peak late-stage Soul Exalts!

Bai Yunfei had never seen a battle like this before!

There were another three people about a hundred steps to the side closer to Bai Yunfei. One of the three persons had their arms and legs bound together from his spot on the ground, and there were another two standing above him. From their clothes, Bai Yunfei surmised these two people were from the same group the other three people were.

That was what Bai Yunfei saw.

It was with great relief that Bai Yunfei realized no one had noticed him here yet. With how chaotic the influx of energy was, Bai Yunfei’s soulforce was obfuscated, and the soulforce of the three soulbeasts were low enough to be considered invisible. So that left Bai Yunfei free to pay attention to the battle without fear of detection.

Bai Yunfei swept his eyes across the battlefield, taking in everything that could be seen, and gawking as his eyes registered what those things were.

The battle taking place was tremendous and conspicuous without a doubt. But when he was on the other side of the barrier a minute ago, he hadn’t sensed a thing almost!

It was because of the ‘illusion barrier’. The strength of the illusion was enough to hide everything within a kilometer radius of this mountain.

Bai Yunfei could tell that this barrier was obscuring the area within this dome, hiding it from the eyes and senses of any outsider.

And the reason why he felt like everything was ‘fine’ and ‘normal’ before was solely because of the effects of this illusion barrier.

And not only was it hiding the visual reality from the outside, it was masking up the outflux of soulforce and elemental energy!

Bai Yunfei hadn’t even heard of an illusionary construct capable of something like this before.

The ones who were powerful and knowledgeable enough to place down an illusionary barrier like this had to be the people currently surrounding the other three. And with them having late-stage and peak late-stage Soul Exalts, a feat like this wasn’t all too impossible....

Still awed by what he was in, Bai Yunfei made sure to take a look at the battle still going on farther away.

Aside from the two people guarding the other person, there were twelve people fighting the three. Of those twelve, seven of them were late-stage Soul Exalts while the other five were peak late-stage Soul Exalts.

But even against such a powerful force like this, the three late-stage Soul Exalts weren’t losing. They were in fact holding their own quite well!

From what Bai Yunfei could see, the three people fighting were all quite young. The tallest of the three was shining furiously with orange light, meaning he had an affinity for earth. He held a long zhanmadao, and with the orange light covering his entire person, he looked like a stone giant. Roaring loudly as he swung his weapon around, the man was able to create gulches in the ground with each swing and intimidate his enemies from getting too close to him. And with his armor providing a substantial amount of defense, the man looked all but impervious to damage.

To his right was a young man bathed in green and blue light; this one held an affinity for both wind and water! And from how fluidly the man was swapping between the two elements to attack, this person was a genius in bi-elemental usage.

This one had no weapon in his hand, choosing to use his hands for close combat. His footwork was strange with how he seemed to flow from place to place like a drunkard. With each time he leaned his body to dodge an attack, his arms would fly out in surprising ways to hit his enemies. And with this way of attack, he was completely able to fight the four people surrounding him without getting hurt!

The third person wore white robes was being protected by the two fighters. He had no elemental energy radiating from his body, but there was was a strange flow of energy coming from him, so that none of his three enemies dared to get close to him.

Every so often, the two people protecting him looked over at him, as if afraid of any danger befalling him.

It was clear to see these twelve people were fighting not to kill their opponents, but to capture them like the one back there. Elsewise, the three wouldn’t be able to fight for as long as they did.

But then, the man with the zhanmadao suddenly roared loudly before stabbing his weapon into the ground!