Chapter 35: Horrific Invasion

Xiao Nanfeng walked out of the inner courtyard and toward the outskirts of the villa, but he was surrounded by fog all over. He almost lost his way a few times, but somehow wandered back to the front gates of the villa, near which he had first entered.

He listened carefully by the gates for some time, checking that there was no commotion outside, before climbing the wall to take a look. Unfortunately, at some point, the fog all around them had grown even denser. There was barely any visibility; he couldn't see anything.

Gritting his teeth, he leapt down over the other side, but the moment he landed, he grew alarmed. "Something's wrong!"

The mist all around them abruptly disappeared, replaced by a space shining with purple light.

"Of course something's wrong! I even laid a trap for you using a Talisman of Phantasmagoria. It's a rare Taiqing treasure that isn't available for purchase. You've caused me to incur a huge loss!" an icy voice called out.

Xiao Nanfeng turned to see ten men looking at him with fierce, malevolent expressions.

"Ma Shan? How did you know I'd come out from here?" Xiao Nanfeng's face fell.

"There are misdirection arrays around the Arclight Villa that cause you to lose your sense of direction, and most people will end up circling by the entrance. All we needed to do was to wait here. Nanfeng, you've really wasted quite a bit of our time—but even you won't be able to escape from this illusory realm," Ma Shan informed him coldly, walking forward as he laughed.

"This is an illusory realm?" Xiao Nanfeng blanched.

Illusory realms and dreamscapes were all representations of mental worlds.

I've been evading Madam Rouge all this time by going into deep sleep every day for months, not daring to enter my dreamscape—but now all of you have dragged me into one!

Xiao Nanfeng looked around in anger and mounting fear as he attempted to free himself.

"Don't bother struggling. The realm is sealed shut while the talisman is functional, and no one will be able to get out," Ma Shan taunted, seeing how flustered Xiao Nanfeng was.

"You could have made a move in reality! Why bother with this illusory realm?!" Xiao Nanfeng roared.

"This is Arclight Villa, after all. The Lady Arclight has never cared for the rivalry or enmity between the Taiqing Immortal and Demonic Sects, but are you aware of her temper? If anyone dares to disturb her while she's in secluded cultivation, meditating on the arcane, the unlucky disciple will be tossed out of the villa, all four limbs broken. There's never been an exception—so you must be lucky indeed to have made it out unscathed! Fighting is prohibited in the vicinity of the Arclight Villa. Any commotion that disturbs the Lady Arclight will cause the perpetrators to suffer the same fate. Why do you think we had to waste such a talisman on you?" Ma Shan accused, pointing at Xiao Nanfeng.

"The Lady Arclight?" Xiao Nanfeng hesitated. Cold sweat began to bead on his forehead.

Could that woman in blue have been the Lady Arclight? In secluded cultivation, meditating on the arcane? Was the reason she hadn't spoken to me not because she was deaf, but because she was nearing a crucial breakthrough and couldn't be disturbed? Was I reasonably polite to her back then?

"Cripple him, then we'll leave! Make sure not to disturb the Lady Arclight," Ma Shan instructed.

"Yes!"

The enemy disciples pounced toward Xiao Nanfeng.

"You idiots—do you know how dangerous it'll be to drag me into an illusion? Cancel it at once, or none of us are going to live!" Xiao Nanfeng thundered.

"Ha! You're just trying to deceive us since you're outnumbered. Do you think we'll believe you?" one disciple cried out, charging straight at him.

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes grew cold. He punched forward with a fist. The man's chest caved in, and he was sent flying away.

"What?!" the disciples cried out.

What had just happened? This quickly—and Nanfeng had won?

"This is spiritual power?! You have spiritual power? Aren't you at Acquisition?!" Ma Shan cried out in shock.

In illusory realms, what mattered wasn't physical strength, but rather spiritual strength. Under ordinary circumstances, no Acquisition-realm cultivator would bother training the soul and spirit, and Xiao Nanfeng should have been an easy target to take down—but he had just knocked someone with spiritual power flying! How could this be?

Xiao Nanfeng struck down the rest of the disciples as he rushed at them.

With a palm strike, he broke the arms of a man who had infused his limbs with spiritual power. The man was sent flying into the air as he coughed out blood and screamed.

"Even an Ascension-grade cultivator?!" Ma Shan cried out.

One man struck at Xiao Nanfeng's back with a palm strike, but Xiao Nanfeng easily protected himself with spiritual power. He bent down and kicked at the man with his right leg, straight at his assailant's lower jaw.

With a huge crack, the man was sent screaming backwards. Blood arced across the air. The man's lower jaw had broken outright.

Xiao Nanfeng sent his leg arcing in a sweep, knocking down all those around him. Despite the fact that they protected themselves with spiritual power, they were still sent flying with a single kick, their chests caved in.

Xiao Nanfeng glared viciously at his assailants. "Didn't you hear me? If you don't cancel this illusion, I'll kick your heads open!"

He kicked another disciple in the head, sending him flying into the sky with a spray of blood.

"Charge together—we'll be able to kill him then!" Ma Shan cried out in fright.

He had expected this ambush to have been perfect, but Xiao Nanfeng was far harder an opponent to take down than he had expected! In fact, he was winning against all ten of them!

Xiao Nanfeng understood that he would have to cause them to fear for their lives if he wanted to get them to dispel the illusion.

Xiao Nanfeng continued to fight, faster and ever faster. He was no weaker than anyone present when it came to spiritual power, and his spirit-imbued Hegemon's Fist was unparalleled in strength. When he attacked, a gust of wind flung his opponents back.

Another three disciples were sent flying.

Ma Shan leapt toward Xiao Nanfeng's back and grabbed the back of his neck.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes flashed as he flung both elbows to his back, causing Ma Shan to spray out a mouthful of blood as his chest collapsed. He was knocked to the ground.

The remaining disciples were no match for him, and he took them all down within a few rounds.

"Can an Acquisition-realm disciple cultivate the soul?!"

"This spiritual strength—he's almost as strong as Zhao Yuanjiao! This is impossible!"

The ten disciples fell to the ground, some coughing out blood, others with fractured limbs. They were glancing at Xiao Nanfeng in astonishment.

"Dispel the illusion, now! Otherwise, you'll all die!" Xiao Nanfeng thundered, stepping on Ma Shan's back.

"You've already won. Why are you in such a hurry? What are you afraid of?!" Ma Shan shouted, still vomiting blood.

Xiao Nanfeng stomped on Ma Shan's body, crushing his chest further.

As he spat out another mouthful of blood, Ma Shan cried out, "Dispel the illusion!"

Purple light flashed all around them, but they remained within the illusion.

"I told you, dispel the illusion! Didn't you hear me? Or do you want to stay here with this madman? Go on, we'd better leave! Even if we end up being beaten up by the Lady Arclight, it'd be better than being embarrassed here by this brat. Dispel the illusion!" Ma Shan yelled at one of his juniors.

"I already did!" the junior disciple replied, his eyes wide.

"You did? Then why are we still within the illusion?" Ma Shan howled back.

"It's true! I really did it! I don't know what's going on either. Are we trapped here?" the disciple fretted.

"We can't get out?" Ma Shan spat out another mouthful of blood, perplexed.

"It's not that you can't get out, but that you're too late!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out. "You idiots!"

Ma Shan didn't understand what was going on. Xiao Nanfeng had won, so why was he getting so upset now? He looked in the direction Xiao Nanfeng was facing, to see a cloud of black smoke frothing in the air. A bleached skeleton was standing in the middle of that smoke.

"Madam Rouge? You really have come, after all?" Xiao Nanfeng called out, a pained look on his face. He had spent three whole months avoiding his dreams and preventing it from entering his dreamscape. Today, however, he had finally failed.

The skeleton itself had grown increasingly irate. Not only had it been unable to enter Xiao Nanfeng's dreamscape, it had been thoroughly humiliated by the wide assortment of incense he had purchased. Now, it felt as though it were about to pay back three months' worth of debt.

It teleported over to Xiao Nanfeng's front, then raked at his chest.

"Hegemon's Fist!" Xiao Nanfeng imbued spiritual power into a fully charged attack.

The skeleton stumbled back one step, as did Xiao Nanfeng.

After a few months of training, am I finally able to fight against Madam Rouge on equal footing?

Xiao Nanfeng's eyes brightened.

When he came to that realization, he suddenly felt that the skeleton was far less frightening than before.

"Ha! So you have your limits, too? I'll tear you apart again today!" Xiao Nanfeng continued his advance.

Man and skeleton exchanged blow after blow. Xiao Nanfeng struck with Hegemon's Fist, leaving countless afterimages behind, but the skeleton was rather speedy itself. It defended against each blow one by one. The two of them exchanged hundreds of blows, but neither could win decisively against the other.

"Again!" Xiao Nanfeng pounced toward the skeleton, but it flashed away.

"No! Stop!" Xiao Nanfeng cried out, rushing toward where it reappeared. It thrust its claws into a fallen disciple's head.

The disciple screamed, then slumped over in a pool of blood. The skeleton sucked at his body, which transformed into a cloud of fog that the skeleton swallowed.

"The cursed effigy that showed up during the recruitment trials? If it kills someone in an illusion, that person will die in reality, too!" one disciple shouted.

"Gather around me, quick!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted. He pounced toward the skeleton, but the skeleton flashed away to another fallen disciple.

"No!" that disciple screamed, attempting to block its claws. However, if he weren't even able to defend against Xiao Nanfeng in peak strength, could he hope to defend against the skeleton when wounded? He was killed immediately, then absorbed by the skeleton.

"Another dead?" Ma Shan cried out.

"Do you all want to die?! Help me defeat it!" Xiao Nanfeng shouted again.

He didn't want to protect the enemy, but it would be far worse for the skeleton to grow stronger. That could tip the fight in its favor.

However, the skeleton had the ability to teleport instantaneously within the illusion, and it flashed right up to Ma Shan.

"No, don't! Save me, Junior Brother Nanfeng! I was wrong! Save me!" Ma Shan pleaded, running toward Xiao Nanfeng.

However, it was far too late. The skeleton's claws pierced through Ma Shan's chest in a spray of blood. He died on the spot.