Triple Illusion
Almost forgetting the important matter, Han Jiang stopped Cang Jingqi: "Go outside and kiss her." Although she didn't want to stop either, Cang Jingqi seemed even more out of it than she was.
Cang Jingqi held Han Jiang's hand tightly, not letting go, staring at Han Jiang's lips, and moved closer again.
Han Jiang quickly raised her hand to block Cang Jingqi's approaching face: "Sister Wen is still waiting for us. I have something to discuss with her."
The fact that the target of the system's strategy is the Demon Lord's identity and not Cang Jingmo must be told to Wen Xu as soon as possible. Once she and Cang Jingqi pull out the Cangjing Sword, Cang Jingqi will become the Demon Lord, and the target of the strategy will change.
Cang Jing frowned slightly, clearly reluctant to let go of Han Jiang.
“Even if they find the sword, they’ll wait for the two of us to pull it out. There’s no rush,” Cang Jingqi said.
"That's not it." Han Jiang didn't know how to explain to Cang Jingqi, so she could only say in a forceful tone, "Are you leaving or not? If you're not leaving, I'm leaving!"
"Let's go, you just say you're leaving."
The two stood up from the ground and only then did they remember to observe their surroundings.
They were at the mouth of a river, and up the river was a valley.
Han Jiang recounted her experiences in the first two illusions, and Cang Jingqi was quite surprised: "I was here as soon as I entered the secret realm. Miss Wen said we should split up to find you and A Mo. I just happened to be passing by and sensed your spiritual power."
“Both the Second Prince and I encountered illusions, and we got separated after falling from the first illusion.” Han Jiang rested his chin on his hand, noticing the gold thread on his wrist.
There are two strands of thread, loosely wrapped around the wrist.
It's like a piece of yarn that you can't shake off.
There was none on Cang Jingqi's wrist.
Could it be related to the previous two illusions?
Unable to sense the source of the golden thread's spiritual power, Cang Jingqi decided to temporarily set it aside and head into the valley.
The further Hanjiang walked, the more familiar it felt. The terrain and scenery seemed like something I had seen before.
Upon seeing the plants growing in the valley, Han Jiang realized, "Isn't this place too similar to Shenlu Valley?"
Cang Jingqi nodded: "It's not just the same, this place is almost exactly the same as Shenlu Valley. I was on the outskirts just now and didn't notice anything unusual about the valley. But it seems a bit different now. Every year, Amo and I go to Shenlu Valley to collect herbs, so we won't mistake it. We even ran into you last year."
"Aqi, I think this place is also an illusion." If the golden thread on the wrist symbolizes the number of layers of illusion one must pass through, then how many layers must one break through to see the real Cangjing Sword?
"Not only that, the illusion here can also be altered." Cang Jingqi picked a herb that "can cure everything" and held it in his palm to feel its spiritual power. "The spiritual power of these herbs is no different from that of the real thing. If we destroy this place, the suppressive effect of a large number of herbs will be released, and we may still not be able to escape the illusion."
"Both of my hallucinations ended with me waking up underwater, so this sea is not as simple as it seems. I want to go back into the water and take a look."
Cang Jing retorted, "With your swimming skills? I'd better go in."
With someone else doing it for him, Han Jiang was too lazy to do it himself: "First, find Sister Wen."
Wen Xu hadn't gone far; he encountered them shortly after entering Chenlu Valley.
While Cang Jingqi walked into the depths of the sea, Han Jiang told Wen Xu about the system binding.
"Cang Jingqi briefly appeared in the system's binding history, which means that the position of Demon Lord is not completely fixed on the male protagonist. During the period when Cang Jingmo died, the system will re-evaluate the new Demon Lord."
Wen Xu rarely swore, but said helplessly, "Let's proceed according to the original plan for now. At worst, we'll see if the position of Demon Lord can be passed on to Cang Jingmo."
"If the position of Demon Lord can be passed down, why pass it to Cang Jingmo? Why not just find someone who likes you to pass it on to?"
Wen Xu said, "Do you think Cang Jing Chong Xue would agree? I really didn't expect Cang Jing Chong Xue to become an obstacle here. In the original book, she was the wingman."
In the original book, it was Han Qi who caught Cang Jing Chong Xue's eye, and her decision to have Cang Jing Mo marry Han Qi was, in effect, a helpful move.
Han Jiang tried to ease the atmosphere by saying, "It's all my fault for being too outstanding and overshadowing the female lead."
"Yes, yes, Xiaoman is super amazing." Wen Xu was amused.
At the same time, Cang Jingqi swam back from the sea. Afraid that her wet hair would stick to her scalp and look bad, she specially used her magic to dry her hair and adjust her hairstyle before walking up to Han Jiang.
"I used my spiritual power to investigate, but there was nothing there, just a dead sea, very much like the Black Sea we saw in the desert illusion," Cang Jingqi said.
"It's so complicated. I only remember it being a maze." Wen Xu was also clueless.
The original book didn't have such a complicated process.
"A maze?" Han Jiang asked.
Wen Xu: "Hmm. The trial in the secret realm should be a maze, and the Azure Mirror Sword is at the center of the maze. We haven't even seen a glimpse of the maze yet."
Cang Jingqi remained silent. He guessed that Wen Xu, like Han Jiang, was not from this world. Therefore, he did not intend to ask too many questions about things he did not understand. When it was Han Jiang's turn to need him, he would tell him.
"Let's find the Second Prince first," Wen Xu suggested.
Han Jiang understood that following the male lead would make it less likely to go wrong.
The three circled the valley but found no trace of Cang Jingmo. Could it be that only Han Jiang had fallen into this illusion? Or perhaps, Cang Jingmo had already escaped from this illusion?
“I think the way out is still underwater,” Han Jiang said. “If it’s not far away, then it’s nearby. My second illusion was broken after I reversed the position of the Cangjing Sword. At that time, the whole island flipped over. You can see that the color of the sky is very similar to that of the sea, so I suspect that each illusion has two sides, an upper and a lower side. The ocean and the sky are opposite to each other. On the other side, the place we are actually in is underwater.”
“That makes sense. The problem is how to get to the other side. We’ve bypassed this valley and haven’t found anything special,” Wen Xu said.
Han Jiang: "Aqi said that the interior of the valley is subject to change, and there must be some kind of opportunity."
“I was inside the whole time. When I thought I had reached the exit of the valley, I found that I had stepped into a new valley, which was Shenlu Valley. When I turned around again, the exit became the entrance. After that, I was always in Shenlu Valley.” Wen Xu recalled the scene at that time.
Han Jiang suspected that the turning point was his own fall into this illusion.
Cang Jingmo said that Cang Jingchongxue seemed to be destined to become the master of the Cang Jing Sword, which meant that the secret realm had the right to choose and control.
Once the two teams enter the secret realm, the realm will, just as it did back then, choose who will become the master of the Azure Mirror Sword.
The fact that Wen Xu did not receive a system notification means that the future Demon Lord is still Cang Jingmo.
Therefore, the secret realm must be arranged according to Cang Jingmo's team, namely Han Jiang and Cang Jingmo.
In the first illusion, Cang Jingmo and Han Jiang awaken in a vast expanse; in the second illusion, Han Jiang directly sees the Cang Jing Sword; in the third illusion, the valley must have been altered based on Han Jiang's appearance.
If the illusion was created based on Han Jiang, then the illusion will shatter as soon as Han Jiang awakens.
"Ah, I still have to go into the water," Han Jiang said. It seems there are some things one can't slack off on.
Cang Jingqi: "Let's go together. If things don't work out, I can still save you."
“I can save him too.” Wen Xu grabbed Han Jiang’s hand.
When the water was above waist level, nothing changed. But as soon as Han Jiang's feet left the ground and she floated up, a huge suction force came from the bottom of the water and dragged her back into the water.
Cang Jingqi immediately noticed and tried to reach out to grab Han Jiang.
Unfortunately, things progressed too quickly, and the force that had descended was completely overwhelming, causing it to fall straight down.
She began to doubt whether the water resistance really existed, as she felt a strong sense of weightlessness, like falling from a great height.
Cang Jingqi and Wen Xu couldn't keep up with Han Jiang's descent speed. As the distance grew farther and farther, Han Jiang's vision became blurry.
She tried desperately to open her eyes, but she still couldn't see anything or hear anything. It was as if some force was forcibly plunging Hanjiang's vision into darkness.
Even more strangely, the further she fell, the easier it became for her to breathe. Han Jiang was fully conscious; she could clearly feel the changes around her, and her descent slowed until she landed gently.
She lay in a shallow pool filled with beautiful fish. In the center of the pool was an altar, spanned by two stone bridges connecting the bank to the altar.
Han Jiang climbed out of the pool, three gold threads intertwined on her wrist.
The pool was surrounded by a tall wall with four openings.
Just as Wen Xu said, it was indeed a maze.
Hanjiang is located in the very center of the maze, with the Cangjing Sword on the altar behind him.
She couldn't help but wonder: Is this skipping the maze and going straight to the ending? Then wouldn't she be able to play the Demon Lord?
The Azure Mirror Sword was stuck there; first come, first served. Han Jiang followed the stone bridge straight to the altar—but couldn't pull it out.
She stood with her feet apart, gripped the sword hilt tightly with both hands, and pushed off the ground with all her might, but to no avail.
I should have lifted more weights regularly; now I can't even draw a sword.
No matter how Han Jiang changed his posture, he could not shake the Cangjing Sword in the slightest.
"Only members of the Cangjing family can draw this sword. You haven't disappointed me; you're the first to arrive." Cangjing Chongxue's voice, like a ghost, came from the sword, startling Han Jiang.
"You, you are..."
Cangjing Sword: "Until the next Demon Lord draws this sword, the right to use it will remain in my hands, so I can communicate with you through the sword."
Since Cang Jing Chong Xue could observe the cold descending through Cang Jing Qi's folding fan, it's not surprising that he's speaking through Cang Jing Sword now.
Han Jiang thought to himself, "We can't discuss this here once everyone's here, or Cang Jing Chong Xue will overhear us."
“I thought it was Amo who directly responded to the Cangjing Sword’s summons. It seems you are more favored by the Cangjing Sword than he is,” Cangjing Chongxue said.
Han Jiang secretly gave Cang Jing Sword the middle finger: You've won my heart, and you still won't let me pull you out?
Having nothing better to do, Han Jiang asked, "My lord, can the position of Demon Lord be transferred?"
"No. I know what you're thinking. You want to draw your sword with Aqi and then make Aqi give up his position so that Amo can become the Demon Lord." Cangjing Chongxue's voice was cold. "Then I'll tell you now, no. The position of Demon Lord can only be passed on through the secret realm of the Cangjing Sword, and unless the Demon Lord breaks the connection with the Cangjing Sword, such as through death, the secret realm can only be opened once every five years."
Five years? In other words, even if Cang Jingqi wanted to pass the position to Cang Jingmo, he would have to wait at least five years?
"These things will only be known once you obtain the Cangjing Sword and become the Demon Lord. The other girl probably hasn't left the Triple Illusion yet, so you will inevitably become one of the sword drawers. I'm just telling you in advance, no need to thank me. After all, we'll soon be mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, won't we?" Cangjing Chongxue's tone revealed goodwill.
Han Jiang could sense that Cang Jing Chong Xue harbored no hostility, just as Wen Xu had said, this person was originally meant to be an ally.
"What does 'triple illusion' mean?" Han Jiang decided to gather as many clues as possible.
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