Chapter 48

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Chapter 48

As the illusion broke, all the sealed memories returned to the cultivator’s mind. Among this group, the two Hehuan Sect cultivators had the most unfortunate status.

Although Yu Jiu was unloved and neglected by his parents, he still had a relative who was a queen, and despite his mental struggles, his material conditions were quite good. The other cultivators were all nobles, with high status, and even Hu Xiao Bai, his spirit pet, was favored by the emperor.

However, these two Hehuan Sect cultivators, due to the nature of their training, had fallen into a brothel and had very tragic backgrounds. Yet, they originally were Hehuan Sect cultivators and quickly became the leading performers.

When the illusion shattered, it was just the right moment for the younger female disciple to prepare for her debut. When she came back to her senses, she looked a bit regretful, "Why didn’t the illusion break a bit later? I was so close to tasting the good stuff."

Because it was a female-dominated country, the male guests she received were of quite high quality. Everyone liked to dress well, and the men willing to spend lavishly looked good, so according to the Hehuan Sect’s style, she didn’t lose out.

Her senior brother let out a breath of relief but complained that the illusion lasted too long. In a country where genders were reversed, it was truly unfriendly to men, and serving those strong female guests was a nightmarish memory for him.

During this time, the thought of those things made him feel nauseous, and if he couldn’t adjust his mindset, it might harm his cultivation in a short time.

Fortunately, he did not stay in the illusion for too long. Otherwise, according to the unpredictable twists of the illusion’s script, he would have faced terrible experiences like being tricked out of money by a poor scholar and suffering from a miscarriage. If he could not remember these things, it might break his heart and cause him to fall into the illusion completely.

The long and short dream came to an abrupt end, and no unfortunate soul had yet been unlucky enough to die within the illusion.

Although his cultivation did not regress, he certainly felt the mental shock. The male cultivators of the Hehuan Sect were like this, and the others were not much better off. The women were fine; experiencing the gender-reversed illusion was somewhat interesting. The faces of the few male cultivators did not look good. Once proud and exceptional, they now had to live like ordinary women in a mortal world household.

The ambitious grand master within the illusion had now regained his memories as a Buddha Child, and his expression turned pale.

As a grand master, Shi Rujing’s status was naturally more noble than ordinary men. In that special country, he could offer himself to the gods and did not need to marry and raise daughters like other men or manage a household. He also did not have to worry about ending up like Yu Jiu, suffering under the thumb of a wicked stepfather, and finding ways to enter the palace to secure a better future.

However, as the Buddha Child and the rightful heir of the Buddha Sect, he possessed many secret methods to see through the illusion yet was reduced to a mere mortal by such a small illusion, completely losing his memories. The thought of needing to connect with the Empress Dowager felt humiliating to him.

Shi Rujing was an extremely proud person, and at this moment, he felt a subtle change in the gazes of Emperor Yun Chuyou and Song Mingzhu.

After all, in the illusion, he wanted to seize Yun Chuyou’s kingdom and use Song Mingzhu as a puppet to take the stage.

However, looking at Ye Xuanye, the leader of the Tianyuan Sect, he felt somewhat lucky, as he was still a grand master, much better than the others. The top disciple of the Tianyuan Sect dressed as a woman, and the Tianheng Sect was even more surprising; the leading disciple of the spiritual world’s number one sect was unexpectedly a bride-to-be.

That’s right, the Elder Martial Brother next to Song Mingzhu is an important member of the original book’s main character group. However, this gentle Elder Martial Brother, due to his overly stable personality, couldn’t take the place of the male lead and can only be considered a supporting character who admires the female lead.

However, he is a positive supporting character, and the ending for him is likely a happy one arranged by the author, where he successfully becomes the leader of the Tianheng Sect. He is much luckier than the group of villains from the Qingxu Sect.

Ye Xuanye still has his cold and expressionless face, making it hard to see any change in his emotions. However, from how often he looks at Yun Chuyou and observes Xie Fuzhi’s little actions, it’s clear that he is not finding it easy to calm down right now.

It’s one thing for Xie Qi since he is originally his Martial Uncle, but how could Yun Chuyou, such a young girl of the same age as him, end up becoming his mother?

Although he calls her Empress Mother, he finds himself feeling an odd sense of embarrassment that makes his face hot. Luckily, because Ye Xuanye has an Ice Spiritual Root, he quickly uses Spirit Qi to cool himself down. With his frozen expression, no one is paying attention to him, so nobody notices his unusual behavior.

At this moment, Hu Xiao Bai transforms from a human into a little white ball of fluff, jumping into Yun Chuyou’s arms and whining, "Master, Little Bai has suffered so much in the illusion! Those nasty beasts stole my food and made me go hungry for several days!"

In the illusion, he became a confused little Bai fox. He was bullied and suffered a lot before Yun Chuyou found him and brought him to Meng He, where he was treated cruelly. At that time, he simply thought he was an ordinary fox and didn’t remember he was a talkative fox spirit, so he couldn’t express his suffering.

Hu Xiao Bai was pulled out of Yun Chuyou’s embrace by a small sun-kissed hand, and the person grabbed his tail and began to rub it around, saying, "Elder Martial Sister gave you to me, so you must stay here with me!"

"That was an illusion, and everything in it is fake, do you understand? I am my master’s contracted beast, not yours!" Hu Xiao Bai yelped in protest as he was roughly played with, using all four legs and five tails to protest.

Meng He did not care at all and firmly stopped the restless Hu Xiao Bai, "Elder Martial Sister, I will take good care of it for you."

He did not feel embarrassed by anything that happened in the illusion at all; after all, he was a noble concubine. Since the illusion combined everyone’s real-life situations, it meant that he was the most beloved junior disciple of Elder Martial Sister.

Thinking about this, the single-minded young demon felt a bit proud; Yu Jiu, who went against him, was just a cousin and only became Concubine Xian through trickery. A junior disciple was still a junior disciple; Yu Jiu would always be his younger brother.

Yu Jiu at this moment did not have the heart to argue with Meng He, this foolish person. Thinking of his plans in the illusion, he did not know whether to feel disappointed or relieved. After taking such strong medicine, Elder Martial Sister still remained unaffected; truly, she had a high character, even more serious than Liu Xia Hui.

"Elder Martial Sister, where should we go next?"

The younger martial sister Zhong Wei might have been the least affected one. After all, everything she experienced in the illusion was much better than her real life; in reality, she had lost her mother, and her real father was heartless, but Elder Martial Sister treated her very well.

She quietly thanked her stars that the illusion didn’t last long; otherwise, she feared she might get caught up in a power struggle and do something that would betray her Elder Martial Sister.

"Let’s explore the surroundings first."

After entering the small door, it was still a room, but this room was much larger than the first. The room was filled with many delicate models, including palaces and clay figures. From the details, it was clear that these models represented scenes from the illusion.

When Yun Chuyou came out, the first thing she looked for was Xie Fuzhi’s trace, but Xie Fuzhi was not there, and the person who transformed into Xie Qi was also absent.

She could sense that the person should be hiding nearby. After exiting the illusion, Yun Chuyou’s storage ring and system panel returned to normal. The map function of the system could be used no matter where she went.

However, unlike in the Qingxu Sect, the map of the Qingxu Sect could be unlocked as long as a place was determined to belong to the Qingxu Sect’s range. Even if she had never been to that place, she could access the details.

But outside of the Qingxu Sect’s territory, whether in the Mortal World, spiritual world, or secret realm, only the places she had physically stepped on would be recorded on the map.

From the map, she could see that her younger martial brothers and sisters and spirit beast were in this small room. There was also a small red dot from Qingxu Sect outside the room, which showed where they had just entered.

Yun Chuyou looked towards the door and saw a sneaky figure. The person noticed her gaze and quickly shrank back.

This action and speed were good. Xie Fuzhi seemed to be in a normal state, and there shouldn’t be any problems with his body.

She guessed that Xie Fuzhi was too shocked and shy, so he temporarily couldn’t face his rebellious apprentice and was hiding away.

To be honest, when executing Plan B, she had prepared for failure, but unexpectedly, a small attempt succeeded.

At this moment, she began to believe Xie Fuzhi’s words; this phoenix should be a thirty-thousand-year-old little phoenix. It looked beautiful on the outside, but deep down it was as fragile as a paper tiger, innocent and pure, just a fleeting kiss like a dragonfly touching water, yet it made her head feel like it was on fire.

Thinking of the scene before the illusion shattered, Yun Chuyou couldn’t help but smile widely.

Never mind, she decided to pretend she hadn’t seen anything. Yun Chuyou pulled her gaze away from the not-so-good-hidden figure and carefully examined the objects and details in the room.

On the other side of the room, the sneaky Xie Fuzhi was pressing his finger tightly against the doorframe, peeking out now and then to check the situation.

His gaze didn’t spare a moment for anyone else in the room; it was completely focused on Yun Chuyou’s face, as if everyone and everything else were air, and the whole world consisted only of Yun Chuyou.

The fiery feeling had successfully cooled down, but when he thought of that scene, Xie Fuzhi’s head would occasionally emit a puff of white smoke, causing his mind full of secrets to malfunction.

"Yun Chuyou kissed herself!" Not just a kiss on the forehead, but also on the cheek and the lips!

Serving the emperor in the bedroom is a responsibility and duty each lady in the palace must fulfill, and choosing beautiful women for the harem is also something the emperor should do.

It’s completely normal for the emperor to kiss the empress; it wasn’t a long kiss, just a brief touch of lips, like a feather lightly brushing against the mouth without leaving any real presence.

But… at that time, Chuyou already knew her true identity. She remembered everything; she remembered she was Yun Chuyou, the leader of the Qingxu Sect, and that she was Xie Fuzhi’s apprentice, Yun Chuyou!

With all memories intact, the kiss that fell on her lips surely had great meaning.

Xie Fuzhi pressed his lips tightly together, his face serious, as he seemed to still feel the soft touch and fresh scent that lingered there.

Chuyou must have eaten her favorite grape-flavored candy, with a light grape fragrance. The candy was sweet and sour, just like the kiss.

Ah! The phoenix wished he could turn into a screaming chicken, his fingers almost out of control as he scratched at the door frame in front of him. What does that kiss really mean?!

Is it just like the previous game of jumping off a building, done only to give him a thrill?

Xie Fuzhi had to admit that he was indeed stimulated by his apprentice’s little trick. The heavy emotions that had always weighed down his heart and the countless secrets hidden away in time had long been pushed away, and his mind kept replaying those scenes.

He tried to recall every word Yun Chuyou had said in the illusions of his memory, every subtle expression on her face, and even the frequency of her throat’s movements, in an attempt to analyze Yun Chuyou’s true thoughts at that moment.

They say a woman’s thoughts are as deep as the sea. Xie Fuzhi used to not believe this, but now he truly did: What was Chuyou really thinking at that time? Was it a moment of impulse, or was it planned in advance?

How can she suddenly kiss him without saying a word? Does she know what kissing means? Has Chuyou always had feelings for her master? If she has thought this way for a long time, how long has it been, and how deep are those feelings?

His mind was filled with questions of why and what to do. Usually a bit crazy, he now felt like a baby bird that had just hatched, scared of the outside world. At the slightest sound, he quickly withdrew into his shell.

He should have taken charge; he even imagined a hundred thousand ways to control his disciple the moment he came out. But when he saw Yun Chuyou open her eyes, he instantly flew back, only daring to peek out like a frightened chicken.

He was neither decisive nor brave, as if a thousand worries had taken root in his mind, repeatedly entangling and pondering.

Yun Chuyou didn’t know he was struggling inside. Once she was sure everyone was okay, she focused all her energy on examining every detail in the room.

This room was bigger and more spacious than before. The models and clay figures on the shelves were different; they were not fragile illusions that shattered at a touch, but real objects that could be taken.

Meng He shouted at the cultivator who was taking a model, "What are you doing? Are these things yours alone?"

Although he didn’t really like these little trinkets, if someone else took them and he didn’t, that meant he lost out.

Shi Rujing glanced around and confirmed that there was no sign of spiritual power on these items, "If you want to take them, go ahead, I won’t share in the spoils."

The four great guardians behind him showed no interest in these low-end treasures in the secret realm. They all listened to the Buddha Child and quietly played the role of silent tools.

The two cultivators from Hehuan Sect were lost in thought and had no opinions, except for the one holding the item and Meng He.

On one side were members of Tianheng Sect, and on the other side were members of Qingxu Sect. Even though the other side had disciples from the top sect, Meng He was not intimidated at all.

Zhong Wei wanted to ease the situation, but since Yu Jiu didn’t speak, she naturally turned her gaze towards Yun Chuyou. If Elder Martial Sister said something was needed, then it was settled. She wasn’t afraid of such a powerful force as Tianheng Sect.

Yun Chuyou glanced again at the door frame, which was almost damaged. Since the core of the illusion was Xie Fuzhi, the treasure that created the core must have fallen into Xie Fuzhi’s hands immediately.

It was enough for her to quietly become rich; keeping these models didn’t mean much anyway. After all, the story in the illusion was quite dramatic, and whenever she saw these things, she would think of those over-the-top scenes.

"They are just some wooden models, Ah He, if you really like them, you should talk with him about how to share."

After all, Meng He seemed to want them too. Yun Chuyou wouldn’t stop him from pursuing what he liked. Even a top sect like Tianheng Sect had no right to expect other cultivators to give up things without question.

They didn’t plan to please Tianheng Sect and didn’t expect to get anything from them.

Song Mingzhu said, "I don’t want it either."

She felt a bit ashamed about being the Empress Dowager. Looking at the model, she didn’t feel like missing it would be a lost chance, so she generously said she would not compete for it.

When Meng He heard Yun Chuyou was not interested, he quickly pulled his hand back, appearing very generous, "Then I don’t want it anymore. You can take it if you like."

Something that Elder Martial Sister did not want was definitely not something very good. He was only competing earlier because he didn’t want the Qingxu Sect to lose out.

With no one competing for it, all the models in the room were taken into the storage space by the previous cultivator.

The four walls of the room were plain colors, but after the shelves were taken away, sharp-eyed Zhong Wei noticed a pattern on the wall behind, "Senior Martial Sister, come look! It looks like there’s a mural behind this shelf!"

Before, the models were blocking it, creating a visual blind spot. After they were moved, she saw that the edge of the board behind the shelf had very subtle patterns, carved designs that blended in with the wall color, only showing a tiny bit.

However, none of the cultivators present had poor eyesight. Following Zhong Wei’s pointing finger, everyone discovered the pattern.

"Let me try."

Ye Xuanye was not only skilled in swordsmanship, but also quite good at other magical practices. With a gentle wave of his hand, a heavy shelf that looked impossible to move was easily pushed aside, revealing a wall full of paintings.

Yu Jiu asked with some hesitation, "This painting looks like a love story, doesn’t it?"

Meng He stared for a long time, petting the fox, and said, "This doesn’t match the script from the dream; it looks like a love story between the Demon Woman and the monk."

At the mention of the monk, all eyes turned to Buddha Child Shi Rujing.

The well-informed Ye Xuanye said, "The story in this painting should relate to Sword God’s good friend, Master Liao Kong."

The treasures left by Sword God were not just this secret realm; there were countless legends about him. Of course, many of these legends are made up, some are borrowed from others’ tales, and some are stories about Sword God’s friends.

"I heard that at that time, Sword God and Master Liao Kong both fell in love with the same woman, but she chose Master Liao Kong."

The female cultivator from Hehuan Sect giggled, "I know this! Master Liao Kong once was Buddha Child of the Buddhas Sect, and he gave up everything for a woman. This senior is a model for our generation."

How amazing is this female cultivator, to captivate both Sword God and Buddha Child? If she had that kind of ability, she would surely leave a remarkable mark in the history of Hehuan Sect, and even in death, it wouldn’t be in vain.

The female cultivator licked her lips with regret. Such a handsome natural swordsman, such a beautiful monk. If only one of them could capture her Yuan Yang, she would surely grow stronger. What a pity, she couldn’t eat meat outside of the illusion, and was unable to enjoy it inside as well.

"This benefactor, do not speak carelessly about the elders of my Buddha Sect."

A prayer bead struck the female cultivator’s mouth, silencing her forcefully. Master Liao Kong is considered a taboo figure for the Buddha Sect; they are not allowed to mention him, nor can others.

"What have you done to me?" the female cultivator accused, but found that her mouth was open wide, and she couldn’t say a single word. All she could do was emit a muffled sound.

"Alright, younger martial sister, you should say a little less." The senior brother apologized for his younger sister but didn’t ask the other party to lift the spell, looking very much like a plastic sibling bond.

Yu Jiu said to Meng He, "Did you see this scene? Doesn’t it look like Elder Martial Sister and you?"

Both are mouthy, both love to stir up trouble, truly causing all kinds of mischief. Indeed, Yu Jiu felt a little unhappy. Why could Meng He, who is like this, be a favored concubine? He offered himself but was rejected by Elder Martial Sister, and in the end, he was only granted the title of Concubine Xian. It really is unfair.

A clever person like Yu Jiu could roughly guess the composition of the illusion. After entering the palace, he had always stayed in his place. In his previous visits, he had only seen the Empress Dowager; he had never seen the Empress, and did not know that Xie Qi was Xie Fuzhi, so he naturally thought the master of the illusion was Yun Chuyou.

Meng He crossed his arms with a smug expression, "I wouldn’t be as foolish as her."

He only bothered people he could handle. The monk before him gave him a feeling of a natural enemy; he really disliked him, but he was very dangerous, so he said nothing.

Yun Chuyou also looked at the mural, "The painting and the rumors are different; it seems that Your Excellency the Sword God is slightly better off and has become that woman’s lover."

"It’s not true; it’s all in your imagination." She heard a familiar voice in her ear; the person she had long avoided reappeared before her.

Xie Fuzhi finally found a good chance to step in; he whispered to Yun Chuyou, "The rumors are true, that’s why he carved a fake picture, to fulfill his own fantasy."

His eyes stared at Yun Chuyou without blinking, clearly saying nothing, yet everything, as if those sparkling eyes were asking, "The illusion is fake, but is that kiss’s emotion also fake?"

Xie Fuzhi looked at Yun Chuyou with such focus, wanting a clear answer.

"Xie Qi, where have you been?" Meng He squeezed in while holding Hu Xiao Bai, "It’s normal for me to be the consort; why are you the queen?!"

Meng He was a man, and now he was much taller than Yun Chuyou, easily cutting off the view between the two.

Xie Fuzhi’s affectionate gaze was all on Meng He’s face, casting flirtatious looks at a blind man.

For the first time, Xie Fuzhi felt that this person’s presence was so bothersome and so unnecessary.

Sensing danger, Hu Xiao Bai became frightened, curling up into a little ball of fur, and forcefully ran away from Meng He, wanting to hide near his owner!

Tiny flames of anger sparked in Xie Fuzhi’s eyes: very well, he declared, today he would deal with the rebellious Meng He, who had become a thorn in his side.