Illusion

“I will take care of the child for you. You should go back first. If you stay any longer, I’m afraid Muhe will come looking for you. It won’t be good if she finds out,” Cui Heng said to Wang Xiaoxia as he sat up.

Wang Xiaoxia smiled slightly, ultimately not telling Cui Heng that Mu He had seen the two of them. She simply said:

"good."

Cui Heng then left with peace of mind. Wang Xiaoxia watched him gradually disappear into the white expanse from afar, while she remained motionless.

Mu He returned before Cui Heng, looking absent-minded. Cang Ze was sitting in the cave warming himself by the fire when he saw Mu He's appearance and felt a little strange.

"What's wrong? Where's your brother?" Cang Ze asked.

Mu He seemed not to hear, her eyes fixed on the campfire in front of her, her mind filled with images of Cui Heng embracing a woman. She didn't dare to look closely, but she felt that the figure looked exactly like that demoness. But how could that demoness, who was clearly injured in the Demon King's Palace, appear here?

"Muhe?" Cangze called her again.

Muhe finally came to her senses and shook her head.

Seeing that she remained silent, Cang Ze quickly stood up, pulled her into his arms, and said gently:

Is it cold outside?

Mu He nestled into Cang Ze's arms. His body was warm from the fire. She wondered if her brother's body had been warm too. She couldn't help but feel a little sad, or perhaps jealous.

When she first met Cui Heng, he appeared before her like a god to save her from a predicament. From that moment on, she fell hopelessly in love with him, and her heart belonged to no one else. However, he said he was her brother, so she tried her best to control her heart. Because of his words, she married into the Ghost King's Palace, ruthlessly severing her feelings for him. And Cang Ze was indeed very good to her. She originally thought that being with Cang Ze for life would be quite good.

People only realize the value of something when they lose it. She thought she would never be attracted to Cui Heng again, but when she saw him entangled with another person, the jealousy in her heart made her want to rush over, but what reason did she have to rush over?

Not long after, Cui Heng returned from outside. He brought with him a chill, and Mu He turned around abruptly upon hearing the sound, putting some distance between herself and Cang Ze.

"Did I disturb you?" Cui Hengping said gently, a smile on his face.

Despite the freezing weather outside, he wore a smug expression, as if he had encountered something wonderful.

Cang Ze looked at him with some suspicion and asked, "Brother, where have you been? Why are you so happy?"

"Is that so?" Cui Heng said calmly, but he couldn't hide the smile in his eyes.

Mu He could no longer control her desires and ran over to hug Cui Heng tightly. Cui Heng raised his hand, wondering what was wrong with her all of a sudden, and looked at Cang Ze with some confusion. Cang Ze just pursed his lips and shook his head.

"What's wrong, Muhe?" Cui Heng asked softly, but his hand remained suspended in mid-air without embracing her.

"Did you run into anyone when you went out, brother?" Muhe asked, nestled in Cui Heng's arms. She wanted to hear him tell her in person that everything that had just happened was just her hallucination, that it was all fake!

"No," Cui Heng said, but his expression turned cold. Perhaps Mu He had discovered or seen something, but in any case, he couldn't let her hurt Xiao Xia anymore.

Mu He then happily looked up at Cui Heng, like a child, and said:

"Why have you been gone for so long, brother? I was so worried about you!"

Her smile looked fake, as if she was deliberately trying to please him.

Cui Heng frowned slightly. It seemed that Mu He had noticed him as soon as he left, and perhaps she had also seen him with Xiao Xia. However, judging from her expression, she probably hadn't seen clearly. He was only focused on Xiao Xia's safety at the time and hadn't noticed her.

“I went out for a walk and saw that you two were sleeping soundly, so I didn’t tell you. I encountered a few komainu on the way and tried to catch one, but it escaped, so it took me some effort to come back,” Cui Heng said calmly.

A half-truth is more convincing, so Cang Ze didn't think much of it and simply said:

"In that case, why don't we go together and also look for Wuyan's whereabouts along the way?"

“Alright,” Cui Heng agreed.

Muhe had no choice but to let go of her hand and go with them to find Wuyan.

The faceless creature is not easy to find in the extremely cold northern region, but there is a kind of insect that has the ability to transform because it lives nearby. This insect likes to absorb people's spiritual power and its habits are similar to those of the ice silkworm. However, unlike the ice silkworm, it does not spin a cocoon to turn into ice crystals. Therefore, most of them transform into the appearance of ice silkworms, absorb enough spiritual power, and then secretly escape.

To lure this insect, one must first lure out the Ice Silkworm. Before meeting Cui Heng, Cang Ze used this place as a medicinal ingredient to attract the Ice Silkworm. It was at that time that Cui Heng noticed this insect. After much investigation, he discovered that Wu Yan was actually here.

"Brother, I will attract the ice silkworms here in a while. You just need to wait and see what happens," Cang Ze said. From beginning to end, the only person he could trust was Cui Heng.

"Okay," Cui Heng replied, pulling Mu He to hide in a secluded spot.

Cang Ze sat down on the ground after the two of them left, holding his breath and spreading his spiritual energy around his body. The cold wind was not as biting as it had been a hundred years ago. Back then, he was so thin that he was skin and bones, and it was a miracle that he had survived. Now, he was stronger and his cultivation was more profound.

The snow was always blown away by the wind, flying up and landing on Cang Ze's head and eyebrows. The warmth of his body melted the snow, but the wind blew it back into ice. The snow and ice merged into a pale white color on Cang Ze's face, making him look like a white-haired old man in his twilight years, with even his skin frozen blue-purple.

After a long while, the ice cicada slowly arrived, crawling along the white snow to Cang Ze's body, biting into every inch of his skin and hair, hanging there waiting to freeze into ice crystals.

Gradually, more and more ice cicadas gathered, biting Cangze into a white, ancient tree. The ice cicadas were emitting a faint white light, and Cangze's spiritual power dissipated little by little.

Seeing that the time was right, Cui Heng quickly flew forward, his silver-white body standing in the air. He stretched out his hand and summoned a folding fan, gently fanning it at Cang Ze. Countless ice cicadas immediately opened their mouths full of fine teeth and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces of ice crystals. Only a few turned black and fled into the distance.

Upon seeing the pitch-black insect, Cang Ze abruptly stood up, ignoring his dizziness, and hurriedly chased after it. Cui Heng and Mu He followed closely behind.

The insect crawled incredibly fast, finally disappearing into a frozen cave. From a distance, the cave blended seamlessly with the melting snow, making it indistinguishable. Only upon closer inspection could one discern that it was indeed a cave. The entrance was sealed by ice, and a dark expanse could be vaguely seen inside, its depth unknown. Cui Heng stepped forward alone, and with another wave of his fan, a beam of white light cleaved towards the cave entrance. The ice instantly split open, creating a massive gash. Countless cracks spread outwards from the gash, eventually shattering into pieces that fell to the ground and vanished.

The cave was silent and empty. Muhe subconsciously reached out to grab Cui Heng's hand, but Cui Heng turned around, smiled slightly, and pulled his hand away.

“If we’re pulled like this, it could easily get you into trouble if we encounter any danger!” Cui Heng said softly.

Mu He pouted and had no choice but to put her hand down, gently tugging at the corner of Cui Heng's clothes behind him.

Only then did Cui Heng turn around with satisfaction and head towards the cave entrance alone, with Mu He following closely behind and Cang Ze covering their retreat.

They hadn't gone far when the once pitch-black cave gradually transformed into a bright white, and the cave walls seemed to have no edges, as if they had entered a boundless space. They gradually lost their way out, and the hand behind Cui Heng had somehow been lowered.

"Your Majesty? Muhe?" Cui Heng suddenly couldn't hear the movement behind him and hurriedly turned around to look, but he couldn't see anything. These two people should have followed him.

"Muhe? Your Majesty?" Cui Heng called out again, but there was still no reply.

He had no choice but to look around for an exit, but it seemed to have no end and he couldn't get out no matter how he looked.

Looking up at the boundless white expanse, a thought suddenly struck him. He raised the folding fan in his hand, which instantly transformed into a short knife, which he gripped tightly. With unwavering determination, he slashed his palm without hesitation, and blood rolled onto the ground, pooling into a river that flowed in one direction. Cui Heng sheathed his knife and followed the trail of blood.

Muhe was obediently following behind Cui Heng when suddenly a white light flashed, stinging her eyes and causing her to instinctively cover them. When she looked again, she was shocked to find that Cui Heng and Cang Ze had disappeared, leaving her alone in the vast, empty white space.

"Brother? Husband?" Muhe cried out in fear, but her voice seemed to be drowned out, with no echo at all.

Mu He couldn't help but feel scared. She squatted down and covered her face, weeping. Her tears fell to the ground with a 'plop' sound. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself back on the day she first met Cui Heng a hundred years ago.

That day, she secretly ran away from the Demon King's Palace, but encountered a few thugs on the way. Mu He's cultivation was not high, and she was defeated after fighting with them. Just as the leader of the thugs was about to hurt her, a white light suddenly appeared in front of him. The white figure waved his hand lightly and knocked down all the thugs. When he turned to look at her, his face was so beautiful that it seemed like a god from heaven.

"Brother," Muhe murmured.

"Muhe, why did you run away? Are you disobeying your father again?" Cui Heng said, a warm smile on his face, gently stroking the hair on her head.

"Brother~" Muhe's voice began to slur, completely forgetting that she was going to find Wuyan, and she indulged herself in this moment, unable to extricate herself.

"Do you love me?" she asked, tears sliding gently down her cheeks, cool and refreshing.