Chapter 17 You're deliberately humiliating me.
Deep in the mountains, there is an abandoned old house.
Hearing rustling sounds from the bushes, Qi Hong was the first to run out. He turned back and exclaimed excitedly to the people behind him, "This is it! I'm not mistaken, come quick!"
He rushed forward excitedly. Jiang Zhishui pushed aside the bushes, her hand still raised. Jing Qianheng bent down and came over, glancing up at her. She casually removed the leaves from his head and pulled him forward.
Jing Qianheng looked down at the ropes in the hands of the two men.
She stopped holding his hand.
Even with ropes binding him, he can still be restrained.
Qi Hong pushed open the door, and a thick layer of dust fell on him. He brushed it off a few times in disgust and urged Jiang Zhishui, "Hurry up, what are you dawdling for? The monster will be here soon."
The entire house was pitch black, giving it a somewhat eerie feel.
Qi Hong bolted the door and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
He led the two inside, saying, "This is the house my grandfather gave me. My father always said that if anything strange happened, we should hide here. It's the safest place in Qiyun City."
Jiang Zhishui also sensed that something was amiss here. "Who is your grandfather?"
“He was a wandering cultivator obsessed with Taoism who abandoned his family.” Qi Hong, exhausted from running all night, sat down on a chair and said, “I’ve never met him. My father told me that he came back once when I was born, gave me this house, and then left again.”
Jiang Zhishui said, "You brought us here so casually, aren't you afraid your father will scold you?"
Qi Hong poured himself a pot of tea, paused, and said, "I'm the only one left in my family. My fiancée ran off with someone else, and I have nothing left. Who would care about this anymore?"
With such a commotion at the restaurant, the demons will definitely be searching for them everywhere, so it's best to hide for now.
Qi Hong was quite frightened. He told Jiang Zhishui that she could wander around the house as she pleased, and he found a room to rest.
The house is surrounded by abundant spiritual energy, making it a truly auspicious place. The courtyard and surrounding area are filled with Xuan Yue wood, which is hated by demons, and the surroundings are also full of flowers and plants that suppress evil spirits. The strong fragrance of these plants prevents any demons from approaching this place.
"Jiang Zhishui, you weren't affected by the illusion, were you?" Jing Qianheng guessed this from her actions in the restaurant.
The two were in a treasure vault. Jiang Zhishui was looking for something useful when she heard this. Caught off guard, she looked up at Jing Qianheng in astonishment, "You..."
"Yes, I'm awake too." Jing Qianheng answered before she could even ask, seeing her expression.
"So you didn't either..." Jiang Zhishui happily moved closer to him, but halfway through her smile, she met his cold face, her lips tightened, and she gave an awkward laugh: "Well... that's good."
She bent down to untie the ropes binding the two of them, then changed the subject, saying, "This is a trap set by the demons. We've both fallen under an illusion; we need to find a way to break free..."
The implication is that what happened earlier was out of necessity and a helpless act to cover up the truth.
Jing Qianheng rubbed his wrist and turned to walk away.
Jiang Zhishui held the rope, staring at his back, unsure how to continue.
"When did you become conscious?" Jiang Zhishui eagerly moved closer, standing a few steps away from him.
Jing Qianheng looked at the several iron masks on the shelf and replied, "From the very beginning."
"..." Although Jiang Zhishui was afraid he would be angry about the medicine she had given him earlier, she still asked cautiously, "Why were you able to stay conscious?"
"And you?" Jing Qianheng turned to look at her. "And how are you able to stay sober?"
Jiang Zhishui felt there was no point in hiding it, so she said directly, "I have my master's protective blood jade, so I'm fine."
"Isn't Elder Bai Zang in seclusion?" Jing Qianheng noticed her eyes darting away and guessed, "...You stole it?"
"No." Jiang Zhishui denied it with a serious expression. "Don't worry about that. Tell me how you got away with it. Maybe we can find clues to break the illusion."
Jing Qianheng continued to stare at the masks. "It's probably related to my constitution. Just like when I encountered the vine demon last time, I'm immune to this kind of sorcery."
Jiang Zhishui thought about it and realized it made sense.
However, it seems that Qi Hong has also woken up from the illusion.
Was it because of Pei Jing? On a whim, he wanted to amuse himself by playing with these people and wanted to see their true reactions, so he dispelled Qi Hong's illusion?
The demon race can manipulate the fall from grace mechanism, causing people to be forever trapped in an illusion, and probably, to a certain extent, can also drive people mad when faced with a cruel reality while still conscious.
All life and death in the illusion are entirely at the mercy of the demons.
Jiang Zhishui couldn't help but ask, "Since you were sober from the beginning, why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Jing Qianheng took a mask from the shelf and placed it on Jiang Zhishui's face, slowly approaching her and saying, "I also want to ask you this. You were sober from the beginning, which means that you were deliberately... taking the opportunity to humiliate me just now?"
Jiang Zhishui felt a sharp pain as the mask slammed onto her face. She trembled, snatched the mask away, and rubbed her cheek.
Jing Qianheng watched her scratching her face like a cat, a slight smile playing on his lips. He said in a low voice, "In an illusion, magic cannot awaken the person. Forcibly guiding them will only plunge them into chaos, making them foolish and confused, and they will never wake up."
Jiang Zhishui held the mask and stared at him.
Ever since she learned that Jing Qianheng was the first incarnation of the Azure Jade Emperor, she had been determined to protect him and prevent him from going down the path of darkness. He was in poor health, and she wanted to protect him. Little did she know that he was never weak or easily bullied, and that he always maintained a calm and composed demeanor no matter the situation.
He's much better than her.
Seeing her blank expression, Jing Qianheng raised an eyebrow slightly. "What are you thinking about?"
"Oh, no." Jiang Zhishui turned and walked away, saying, "I was just wondering, where might the core of the illusion array enveloping this city be?"
Jing Qianheng noticed the anomaly as soon as he entered the house. Although the house was protected by a barrier array, preventing evil spirits from entering, he could sense a chilling aura subtly moving throughout the place.
From a young age, he was particularly favored by evil spirits. They would often linger around him, devouring his spiritual energy. He couldn't drive them away and could only let them consume him.
As a result, he often fell ill and nearly died several times.
He originally thought those evil things were there to harm him, but when he grew to a certain age, they fed him back their demonic energy, helping him prolong his life.
Although the house was fortified to suppress evil spirits, the aura that Jing Qianheng sensed seemed to be deep inside the house, more like a seal that was sealing something inside than a defensive structure.
"Qianheng, look."
Jiang Zhishui picked up a book with a blank cover from the corner of the wall, opened it, and found it was someone's diary.
Inside the room, Qi Hong's brows were furrowed, and he couldn't sleep soundly.
In his dream, he was dressed in a wedding suit, going through the wedding ceremony. He was beaming with joy, surrounded by relatives and friends who came to offer their congratulations.
On their wedding night, his bride called him sweetly, "My husband."
But then the scene shifts, and he is standing outside the window, watching his beloved wife and his best friend embrace and express their deepest feelings for each other.
They were plotting how to get rid of him so they could elope together.
“This is a treasure land where even mortals can cultivate immortality. We’re not leaving; we’re staying here.”
"But our matter..."
"Yuehe, the person you love is me. As long as we get rid of Qi Hong, this house will be ours, and we can be together forever."
“He’s become suspicious lately, and I’m afraid we can’t kill him.”
On a rainy night, with lightning and thunder, Qi Hong was covered in blood, and the entire house was filled with corpses. By the time he regained consciousness, he had already killed everyone.
He personally killed all thirty-two members of the Qi clan.
As a child, Qi Hong was dull-witted and visited countless immortal sects, but none were willing to accept him as a disciple. However, he never gave up and became self-taught. He sought out good teachers all over the world and compiled a cultivation manual on his own. He studied it diligently and revised his cultivation method again and again.
Finally, his hard work paid off, and he found a blessed land.
He often heard divine pronouncements, and he thought he had finally grasped the way of the immortals, which made him even more obsessed.
His family members became ugly and evil in his eyes. He felt that they were blocking his path to immortality because mortals were ignorant and could not bear to see him do well, so they tried every means to persecute him.
But after he killed everyone, another memory surfaced in his mind.
There was no betrayal, no disdain, no blame. His wife remained loyal, and his best friend never gave up on him, always trying to guide him back to the right path.
He went completely insane, unable to recall when his memories were real, or where he went wrong, falling into a state of chaos from which he could never wake up again.
Jiang Zhishui closed the journal and finally understood why Pei Jing had specifically brought Qi Hong and the others along. It turned out that Qi Hong was the key to controlling this illusion.
Where are you going?
Now that we've found the key to breaking the illusion, the next step is to eliminate the evil spirit.
Jiang Zhishui took a few steps before Jing Qianheng called her back. She turned around and said, "Come with me."
After realizing that Qi Hong wasn't human, Jiang Zhishui felt a lingering fear. Jing Qianheng sat at his desk, opened the diary, and continued reading. "You go yourself, I'm not going."
"Why?" Jiang Zhishui walked over and said urgently, "It will be difficult to make a move once he wakes up. If you and I work together, we can definitely get rid of him."
Jiang Zhishui stood in front of the desk. Jing Qianheng's fingers, which were turning the pages, paused. He looked up abruptly and saw a pair of eyes staring straight at them from outside the window.
Seeing Jing Qianheng's strange expression, Jiang Zhishui felt a chill run down her spine. She slowly turned her head to see what was behind her, but Jing Qianheng calmly lowered his head and continued reading, whispering, "Don't turn around."
Jiang Zhishui froze completely.
"Go on," Jing Qianheng said calmly, his expression unchanged. He lightly traced a line with his finger, ignoring the thing by the window. "Be normal."
Jiang Zhishui's neck stiffened, her heart pounded, and she gritted her teeth, uttering in a low voice, "Say...say what?"
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