Chen Lubai's horse was gone, and she cried and complained like Daiyu burying flowers, and she was just about to blurt out a poem "Song of Burying a Horse" in public.

He Zhizhou and Zheng Weiqi were both practitioners of Taoism. Even if they had reached the level of steel bones, their ability to withstand pressure and beatings was much better than that of ordinary people.

This time they fell off the horse one after another, and except for He Zhizhou's fragile little heart which was seriously injured, the rest were fine.

Master Chen, who rushed over after hearing the news, shook his head in grief, tears streaming down his face: "Let's have a horse meat feast tonight!"

Ningning brought two injured patients who looked like they were attending a funeral back to the guest room. Before she entered the room, she saw Pei Ji's shadow.

"Junior Sister."

He looked at the three of them calmly, and finally fixed his gaze on Ning Ning: "I got a clue."

Zheng Weiqi was so ashamed and angry at the narrator's comment about the horse falling off that she finally regained some energy after hearing the words. She raised her head with shining eyes and said, "My junior brother is still reliable! Please ask a certain wild man named He to learn from me!"

He Zhizhou was thicker than a city wall, so he ignored her and continued, "What clues?"

After asking, he added anxiously: "Brother Pei, you don't know that all the horses in the stable just now went crazy. My senior sister and I fought hard to calm the chaos. According to my inference, there must be a very powerful monster hiding in the Chen Mansion, otherwise they wouldn't react so strongly."

Ningning smiled and said, "Let's go to the room and talk slowly."

Although they had discussed it in front of Chen Yaoguang's door, they finally decided to wait and see, waiting for the demon gate to open at midnight, and then draw their swords to fight -

But that's just talk.

Although sword cultivators are reckless, most of them are smart.

Since they already knew that this level of the tower was extremely difficult to reach, if they could still move like the frog when poked, then in addition to eating horse meat tonight, they might even be able to pick off their own heads and fry them.

There’s not much use in keeping it anyway, so it’s better to use it to fill your stomach.

At that time, He Zhizhou used secret voice transmission to tease Ning Ning "Ning Qingtian", and when she answered, he made a direct sound.

The reason is simple, it is to let the mastermind who may be secretly monitoring them relax their vigilance and reduce their defense against them.

——At the same time, he was also using voice transmission to tell the others his true thoughts.

"What? Someone's secretly spying on you?"

He Zhizhou was confused after hearing this: "Who is the mastermind behind this?" Zheng Weiqi stretched and joined the voice chat group: "It is most likely Chen Lubai."

Pei Ji nodded.

He Zhizhou:?

Wait, are you guys really not having any private conversations in secret? Why is the situation now just like when he was in math class? Everyone was at the same starting line, but when he closed his eyes and opened them again, he couldn't understand anything?

"I've always been concerned about this. If it's impossible to explore the spiritual consciousness in the pagoda, then why did they arrange a plot where Zhao Yunluo was possessed? Wouldn't it mean that we have to watch her die without being able to do anything?"

Ning Ning said: "This is a completely meaningless plot and can be completely discarded. Think about it from another angle. What if the problem is not with the pagoda, but with Zhao Yunluo himself?"

The three of them remained silent, listening to her continue, "Imagine that there is something that looks exactly like a human, can move, laugh, and talk, but has no consciousness. She is certainly not a dead object like a table or chair. Apart from this, there is only one possibility."

Pei Ji replied for the first time: "Hallucination."

As soon as these two words came out, He Zhizhou laughed bitterly: "But didn't Ningning analyze it before? The problem is not with the pagoda——"

Having said this, he suddenly froze.

What if... the illusion in Chen's mansion did not come from the pagoda, but was another illusion within an illusion?

"The pagoda nourishes the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and is extremely powerful. It is said that the whole show should be done in a complete manner. Even if it is an illusion, the characters in it should be endowed with illusory consciousness - but ordinary monsters are far from reaching this level."

Ning Ning thought for a while, then said seriously, "Do you remember that when we came back with Chen Lubai, she was called away by Master Chen as soon as we reached the gate. His daughter-in-law was in danger, but the father called his little daughter aside to nag about other things. It's not normal no matter how you think about it."

"And as soon as we said goodbye, Chen Lubai came to the room to visit her sister-in-law. It was too much of a coincidence."

Zheng Weiqi nodded after hearing this: "Perhaps she already knew that the fake people in the illusion have no spiritual consciousness, and guessed that once we can't sense Zhao Yunluo, we will continue to try to sense him on other people. If she is the creator of the entire illusion, her spiritual consciousness should be detectable by us, and then all the lies will be exposed."

He Zhizhou said "Oh" heavily: "That's why she deliberately left at that time, and waited for us to leave the room before coming back to investigate the situation!"

He has never been fond of using his brain, but now he inevitably turned into a curious baby: "But there is one thing I don't understand. If the illusion was created by Chen Lubai, then she didn't need to use the Nightmare. This thing would expose her too easily. Wouldn't it be better to replace it with another monster?"

This sentence also stumped Zheng Weiqi.

Yes, they set up a scene of a Nightmare possessing a person, deliberately exposing the fact that Zhao Yunluo had no spiritual consciousness.

What does Chen Lubai want?

"It should be related to the difficulty of creating the illusion."

In the silence, Pei Ji spoke up: "I have read some books related to this. The books claim that setting up an illusion requires a huge amount of spiritual power, which ordinary monsters cannot bear. Moreover, the area of ​​Goose City is not small. It is very difficult to cover all aspects."

This person, who had always been at the top of the academy, spoke in a calm voice and easily defeated the two poor students, Zheng Weiqi and He Zhizhou.

It was the first time Ning Ning heard of such a thing. She looked up at him with some curiosity, and then heard Pei Ji say, "In this case, the most convenient way is to use memory, combining illusion with memory, which greatly reduces the difficulty of scene construction. So the scenes we see now should all be the past events that Chen Lubai remembered in his mind and really happened in Goose City."

Therefore, all the people in the Chen Mansion and even in Goose City, including Chen Yaoguang being attacked by the painting ghost, Zhao Yunluo being possessed by the night nightmare, and even Chen Yueming playing in the mud on the street, all really happened.

"Wait, wait, wait, if everything around us is just a memory, then the real Goose City now——"

He Zhizhou paused, then suddenly realized: "I understand! Do you still remember the incident when the demon gate opened? Maybe Goose City really suffered a disaster, and Chen Lubai missed her home so much that she created this illusion to remind her of her family."

This seems to be the most convincing explanation today.

But Ningning always felt something was wrong, for example -

"But if that's the case, what's Chen Lubai's intention in keeping us here? How can an ordinary little girl like her have the power to create illusions?"

Pei Ji spoke in a cold voice, with no ups and downs in his tone: "Most importantly, if she is the only one behind the scenes, why is this floor of the pagoda called 'extremely difficult'? How can so many seniors be troubled by something that can be solved by just killing her?"

He Zhizhou looked at him blankly.

Then he said to Ning Ning with great emotion: "Is Pei Ji also a fake person? Can he really speak so many words in one breath?"

"Anyway, there are still many doubts in this floor of the tower."

Zheng Weiqi rubbed her brows and said, "How about this? Let's have one person secretly investigate the secrets in Goose City, and the rest of us stay in Chen's house to lower Chen Lubai's guard. That person should live alone and be taciturn. Even if he doesn't stay with us, he won't make her suspicious. Who do you recommend?"

He Zhizhou was silent for a moment.

He Zhizhou: "Sister, if you want to order Pei Ji around, just say so. There's really no need to find adjectives according to his template."

=====

So time goes back to the present.

The incident at the stable passed without any major incident, and the four of them sat in Pei Ji's room, listening to his report of the day.

“I found three things in total.”

Pei Ji said: "First, if there is a barrier around Goose City, you can't move forward after flying a certain distance with your sword."

Ningning sat on the chair, propping up her cheek and looking at him.

“…Second.”

The young man in black calmly lowered his eyelashes, his Adam's apple moving slightly: "The people in the city said that there is something wrong with Chen Lubai."

Chengying chuckled twice in a weird way: "We are talking about serious matters, why are you still shy? Hehehe. If she looks at you, you should look back at her."

Pei Ji's eyebrows flashed with annoyance, but his tone remained calm: "It is rumored that a servant once saw her go to the backyard of the Chen Mansion alone at night, talking to herself in front of an old locust tree. What's very strange is that she had her back to the servant at the time, but somehow she suddenly turned around and looked straight in the direction of that person."

It was the middle of the night, the moon was dark and the wind was strong.

It's scary enough to see a little girl wandering into a deserted backyard and talking to an old tree, but then she suddenly turns her head and just stares at you.

He Zhizhou's scalp tingled when he heard Zheng Weiqi beside him say, "The locust tree is called the ghost in the tree. It is very easy to grow into a monster and take over the body of others for its own use."

She hesitated for a moment, then added in a low voice: "Could it be that the Chen Lubai in front of us now is not her real self, but a pagoda ghost? This would explain why she, a mere mortal, could create such an illusion."

"What's going on in the Chen Mansion?"

He Zhizhou shuddered, and looked around with some disdain: "The Painted Phantom, Nightmare, and Sophora japonica tree spirit were all wiped out. If you don't know, you might think it's the lair of the demon world. And there's also the 'Demon Gate Open'. With so many demons coming, can this city still be saved?"

This was just a spur-of-the-moment remark. Unexpectedly, Zheng Weiqi slammed the table hard after hearing it, making a dull thud: "Do you still remember! I said before that I seemed to have heard the name of Goose City somewhere before?"

He Zhizhou was startled and almost shrank into Pei Ji's arms, causing Cheng Ying to cry out in pain, like a young girl who had been insulted.

"I remember now! Goose City!"

Zheng Weiqi was so excited that she almost stood up from her chair. "During the war between immortals and demons, the demons and monsters were rampant. Among them, a group of evil demons cultivated their blood and souls and joined forces to attack a small county, causing great suffering to all living beings. No one survived. The name of that county was called 'Echeng'!"

After these words were spoken, Pei Ji and Ning Ning both showed an expression of "So that's how it is".

"So," only He Zhizhou turned pale, "the so-called 'the demon gate opens on the fifth day of the sixth lunar month' is probably not a fabricated legend, but..."

He took a deep breath and said, "On the fifth day of June, Goose City was completely captured by the demon cultivators. The people in that city..."

He said no more.

Since it is absorbing blood and soul, no one can survive.

The misty riverbank, the white-walled and green-tiled pavilions, the garden-like Chen Mansion, and the group of children playing in the mud in the alley.

Everything that once existed no longer exists. In its place are demons running rampant and corpses that cannot close their eyes. There is darkness and rivers of blood.

Although this illusion was created by memories of the past, it was very different from the real situation due to their intervention.

No one has ever escaped from the hands of demons. Those seemingly safe and sound moments actually foreshadow everyone's death in a straightforward manner.

Chen Yaoguang was never rescued. He was trapped in a dark and cold cave by the painting spirit, which sucked away his blood, soul and essence bit by bit. He gradually closed his eyes in endless fear and despair.

Zhao Yunluo was unable to escape the control of the Nightmare. He experienced the torture of life and death over and over again in his dreams. Finally, he completely collapsed and never woke up again.

Chen Lubai was lured by the locust ghost in the backyard, and gradually became unconscious, leaving only an empty shell. No matter what the process was, her life was taken away and replaced.

As for the other people in Goose City, they were also buried in the sea of ​​blood and became tools for the demons to improve their cultivation.

All the mysteries seem to be gradually dissipating, and now only the most important question remains.

——No matter whether that person was Chen Lubai or Huai Gui, what was her purpose in trapping them here?

=====

They were already halfway through their plan.

Chen Lubai wrote heavily on the rice paper, and the ink on the brush spread out thickly, like the dark night.

She forced a faint smile from the corner of her mouth, put the paper into the envelope, stood up and walked out.

The wind in the illusion was completely different from the wind outside. Although it was fresh and cool, it made her feel disgusted from the bottom of her heart. But this scene is destined not to last long, when the midnight comes——

Thinking of this, a hint of viciousness flashed across the girl's fair skin.

She walked in a hurry, hiding her tracks in the twilight, and went straight to the backyard.

The backyard is full of flowers and plants, and green trees. In the center stands an old locust tree.

Sophora trees are yin trees, and even though it is summer now, you can still feel a bone-chilling chill when you get close to them.

The dense branches and leaves swallowed up most of the daylight, casting a layer of darkness on Chen Lubai's face. This time, she did not speak to the locust tree as rumored, but placed her palms on the trunk and silently recited a mantra.

The bark seemed to have received a command and a straight crack appeared in the middle. Then the crack became bigger and bigger. From her perspective, the place behind the crack was not the tree trunk, but another place that was not much different from the backyard.

Chen Lubai didn't make any sound, raised her hand and put the envelope into the gap. Unexpectedly, a fierce gust of wind suddenly blew from behind.

——Someone!

She was caught off guard and unable to dodge, and the man immediately snatched the letter from her hand.

"Miss Chen, you have a very elegant taste. Writing a letter to a locust tree is probably unprecedented and will never be repeated. You are the only one who has done it."

Ning Ning was very agile. After snatching the envelope, she quickly stepped back and nimbly tore open the cover. "Why don't we take a look at what's written in this letter?"

Chen Lubai glared at him, gritted her teeth and said nothing.

"The four of them did not notice anything unusual, and just waited for the Soul Refining Formation to be set up at midnight, and then offered their blood as a sacrifice."

Ning Ning recited loudly, and finally glanced at the backyard entrance: "Senior Sister, what is the Soul Refining Formation?"

"Refining thousands of blood souls for a whole year, and then using living people as a guide to perform blood sacrifices, can greatly increase the cultivator's cultivation and help him ascend to heaven in one step."

Zheng Weiqi slowly walked out from the shadow of the bamboo forest, her white dress cutting through the night: "Using the souls of others to transfer one's own destiny is a method that only extremely vicious people would use. It is listed as one of the ten forbidden techniques."

Chen Lubai knew that he was no match for the sword cultivator, so he took a step back with a sneer. She knew her identity was exposed, but she didn't show any panic. She just said calmly, "Where did I let the cat out of the bag?"

This is actually a villain with very high professional ethics.

"My junior brother has found out an interesting story. I wonder if Miss Chen is interested in listening to it?"

Ning Ning responded politely, "Everyone in Echeng says that the eldest daughter of the Chen family is spoiled and domineering, and she always wants to travel far away to get rid of the constraints of her father and brothers in the Chen Mansion and live freely - but I clearly remember that you didn't tell me that at the time."

"You only know Chen Lubai's temperament, but you know nothing about her life experience. The reason why she told me that she didn't want to leave the Chen Mansion was probably because she was determined to travel around the world, but she was a little reluctant to leave her family, so she secretly came to you to confide in you at night - but you couldn't guess her thoughts, and mistook her lingering feelings before leaving as her unwillingness to leave the Chen Mansion forever."

She subconsciously grasped the hilt of the sword at her waist, and took a defensive posture to be alert to the other party's sudden attack: "What should we call you? Miss Chen? Or... Huai Gui?"

There was silence.

The locust trees were blown by the cold wind, making a rustling sound, like the sneering of thousands of ghosts lurking in the dark, extremely strange.

The locust monster that occupied Chen Lubai's body seemed to have finally given up its disguise. Upon hearing this, it laughed up to the sky and said, "So what? Do you really think that you can leave Goose City safely by breaking my illusion? The soul refining formation will take effect at midnight tonight. Every demon in the city can take your life. Let's see where you can escape!"

She was tired of laughing, and suddenly revealed a trace of regret and sorrow: "The evil cultivators in the city wanted to break your bones and lock you up next to the formation to die. Only I was kind enough to create this illusion so that even if you die, it won't be too painful. Why don't you understand my painstaking efforts?"

This is true.

The incident in Goose City spread throughout the entire world of cultivation. The major immortal sects were overwhelmed by the war and were unable to eliminate all the demons in the city one by one. But in order to prevent the demons from entering the world, they gathered the elders from all the major sects and set up a net to trap the demons in Goose City and prevent them from escaping.

If you want to break free from this formation, you have to use the Soul Refining Formation to improve your cultivation, and then work together to break the formation. However, the soul refining formation must be initiated by a living person. Since the fall of Goose City, no living person has been willing to come in.

After nearly a year, four ignorant youngsters finally broke in.

This is their best chance.

If you use force, if you encounter a chaste person who commits suicide, your plan will inevitably fail. It was Huai Gui who suggested setting up the illusion. As long as a few people were trapped in the illusion, they would naturally have no intention of escaping and would be obsessed with the illusion.

"There is no point in talking any more."

When Zheng Weiqi thought about how she had been tricked by these monsters, she immediately became furious, drew her sword, and pointed it at the eerie old locust tree beside her.

This tree is not only the true body of the Sophora ghost, but also the channel for her to communicate with the outside world. It is most likely the center of the entire illusion.

The sword light split into several white shadows, as cold as the wind.

Zheng Weiqi originally thought that Huai Gui would overestimate his own capabilities and fight them to the death, but unexpectedly, the latter just raised half of his lips and sneered.

Like a magic trick, the figure of Huai Gui quickly disappeared into the night, leaving only a sinister voice in the wind: "You better be prepared - I'm not the only one who wants to kill you outside the illusion."

=====

Zheng Weiqi's sword light was as bright as stars and moons. Ningning suddenly opened her eyes from her coma and the first thing she smelled was a foul smell of blood.

The stench was like blood and flesh fused together, gradually rotting over the years. It made her subconsciously hold her breath and shift her attention to what was in front of her.

She was actually still in the backyard of the Chen Mansion, but the situation was completely different from that in the illusion.

The old locust tree in the backyard that had become a monster was incredibly large, with its roots and branches almost filling up the entire space. Its thick, long whiskers prostrated on the ground, extending all the way to the backyard entrance, and were still growing.

The most horrifying thing was that those roots seemed to have become some kind of breathing animal, with dark brown skin constantly rising and falling. In the turbid night, they looked like wriggling giant pythons, which made her feel nauseous.

The roots coiled around her, binding most of her body to the tree trunk like ropes, leaving only her cheeks, neck and a small area of ​​her chest exposed, making her completely unable to move.

And when she raised her eyes, she saw the real Chen Mansion.

The blood tore through the sky, and the night was endless. A cotton-like cloud obscured most of the moonlight. Moonlight poured out from between the clouds. It was a dark red color that was no different from blood, like tears of blood flowing from beneath the eyebrows, looking down from the dome, full of murderous intent.

The blood moon was hanging in the sky, and there were ghost lights on the horizon. The remaining trees had all had their essence sucked away by the old locust tree and had long since lost all life. Only a few remnants that looked as hideous as ghost claws remained.

Suddenly, a strong wind blew, blowing through her long black hair. As her hair rose and fell, Ningning saw in her blurred vision a skeleton collapsed in the corner.

The wild grass is overgrown and the tiles on the walls are mottled. The silent pavilion was covered with blood, casting a thick shadow on the cold white bones. Dense green moss climbed up from the joints, dyeing the skeleton a light blue-gray.

The skeleton was very small, and it looked like a young child, curled up in a ball with his hands covering his head.

The cracks that penetrated deep into the bone marrow were clearly visible in the darkness of the night. One could imagine how unbearable the pain was.

Ningning's heart sank as she guessed her name.

The clouds covering the remaining blood slowly moved westwards, quietly swallowing up the last ray of light. Ningning took a deep breath and secretly gathered strength at her fingertips.

The sharp sword light was as fast as lightning, and in a moment it pierced through the giant vines wrapped around her body. Blood gushed out from the vines without any warning.

A wild and arrogant laugh was heard in the distance, accompanied by flames all over the sky.

There was a fishy smell and white bones everywhere nearby.

The midnight hour is approaching.

"It's one thing after another, my brain is almost useless, and my hands are busy too."

Zheng Weiqi followed closely behind, leaping down from the vines, and rarely showed a bitter smile: "This level of the tower... don't they want us to kill all the demons in the city?"