Chapter 655: Arrival of the Illusory Realm
Translator: Radiant Translations Editor: Radiant Translations
"Peng."
Simultaneous to Xue Ying's thrust towards Protector Huo Zhu, the latter's wooden rod also landed on Xue Ying with terrifying force. "Hong." He turned into a stream of light and was sent flying far into the distance. At the same time, the internal structure of his Extreme Annihilation Mysterious Body armor rapidly dissipated the incoming force, so even though Xue Ying was flung far away and even spurt out a mouthful of fresh blood, his body and armor were not damaged in the least.
'What? He withstood the attack?'
'He actually used his body to withstand Big Brother Huo Zhu's the wooden rod straight-up?' The three protectors previously standing by the side in a carefree manner were shocked silly. They had nothing but confidence when it came to Protector Huo Zhu, their captain. His combat strength was known to be so tyrannical that he could even fight Monarch Hex Cricket.
While they had received information from the religious leader that Xue Ying's armor was absurdly strong when it came to its defenses, they still thought that Protector Huo Zhu's wooden rod, while it might not kill him in a single move, would be able to defeat Xue Ying in maybe ten or a hundred moves.
But they had just witnessed with their own eyes how Xue Ying remained unscathed and had merely spurt out a mouthful of fresh blood. At their level, as long as one didn't suffer the destruction of part of their life force, coughing out some blood was not even worth mentioning! If one's life force remained undamaged, they would be fine even if they spilled blood or suffered heavy injuries any number of times.
"Mn?" Protector Huo Zhu showed a slight frown. While he did have other moves that were more powerful than what he just used, such as his killing moves or his forbidden moves, an ordinary full-strength attack of his had still not even injured the other party, so he was starting to doubt that a forbidden move would even do the trick.
"This Dong Bo Xue Ying's offense is pitiful, but his armor is extraordinary indeed. Let us proceed with our plan—we will trap and then capture him," Protector Huo Zhu sent to the others.
"Mn."
"Let us capture him first."
After a single exchange of moves, they already decided to change their tactics.
"Sou sou sou sou!"
The four of them rapidly turned into streams of light and took separate paths to surround Xue Ying.
Xue Ying had also gotten a feel for his enemy after this short bout. 'This crimson-skinned protector is exaggeratedly strong. A full-strength attack from my Blood Serpent Spear could not even pierce his skin. I should ignore him and try attacking the other three!'
"Hu." Xue Ying's hand did not stop. Flipping it over, he sent his spear thrusting out towards the blue-eyed man.
The Blood Serpent Spear arced through the sky in an unpredictable motion.
The blue-eyed man's eyes were cold. With a sneer, he grabbed onto a long sword with both hands. The body of this sword was extremely thin and covered to the brim with sculptural images. Without hesitation, he slashed it over.
"Hua."
It was a vicious slash—the world itself seemed to have split into two before his eyes. As it approached Xue Ying, the sword also began stretching.
This time, Xue Ying reacted to the strike in a thoroughly offensive manner, having seemingly discarded any notion of defense. The way he saw it, the sword might have some strange, powerful effect, but it would undoubtedly be weaker than the attack let out by the crimson-skinned protector from before.
Since Xue Ying was the first to strike, his weapon immediately went flying out into the body of this blue-eyed man, who, in response, simply used his body to withstand it. It was quite clear that he had complete confidence in his toughness. As the Blood Serpent Spear neared the body of the blue-eyed man without having suffered any obstructive force, it proceeded to pierce right into his frame, leaving behind a huge, bloody hole.
Seeing this, the blue-eyed man could not help but pale. Even though he stumbled after being struck, the power of his long sword hadn't been affected—it successfully slashed down on Xue Ying.
"Pu~"
The vicious slash caused Xue Ying to be sent flying backward once again and bringing him ever closer to the gray-robed female protector.
"Catch him," the blue-eyed man transmitted to her. Clearly, his attack wasn't meant to kill him, but instead send him closer to the female protector.
"Just leave him to me." Countless green branches came to life and began to appear on the surface of the gray-robed female protector's body. Green leaves and branches were proliferating to envelop Xue Ying.
'Not good.'
Xue Ying did not dare let this restricts himself.
If he were to be caught firmly enough, even if he were to enter the Mirage world to hide, the branches surrounding his body would follow him inside. In fact, if the branches were strong enough, they could even forcibly draw him out!
"Go." Xue Ying's spear once again shot out, this time towards the gray-robed female protector. It was moving at incredible speeds, much faster than the growth of the branches and leaves.
The gray-robed female protector put on a slight smile. At this crucial point in the battle, she decided to move the branches and leaves to form a sphere around her.
"Pu!"
The spear struck the sphere, rapidly piercing the many branches and leaves. But it wasn't long until the force dissipated. It would apparently be tough to break through this sphere.
'Get back,' Xue Ying thought, quickly pulling the Blood Serpent Spear out. Without even a moment of pause, he flipped his hand to sent another strike, this time towards the distant old man dressed in violet robes.
"Be careful, his weapon is imbued with a hex poison that is proving very hard to remove," the blue-eyed man relayed to the old man. He had quickly discovered that the bloody hole in his body was recovering very slowly, much slower than it should have.
The violet-robed old man, who had only revealed a single eye up until this point, began frowning. Of the four protectors, he was the only one to not specialize in close combat. Even so, the strength of his body wasn't any weaker than Xue Ying's. Having cultivated to his current level, he was bound to have his ways of defending himself.
"Hu hu hu."
A layer of black fog began forming around his body as he stared towards Xue Ying, thinking to himself, 'Without his blood, the curse won't be sufficiently effective.'
Despite the frown he was wearing, the violet-robed old man was still muttering the said curse.
At the same time, a strange, invisible wave force arrived to envelop Xue Ying's position.
"Mn?" Xue Ying's expression shifted ever so slightly. This wave force was very queer as if it transcended this world and even the Mirage world which was under his control. It seemed to originate from an even higher plane, and it was a sort of energy that did not belong to any of the ordinary categories, and neither was it an attack on the soul. It felt even more mysterious than any of these.
When the attack landed near Xue Ying, it suffered from the influence of Xue Ying's inherent lifeforce which served to gradually reduce its energy, up until it finally caused it to disappear.
'Was that the so-called curse that teacher told me the Ancestor Mother Religion use for their murder attempts? From what I've heard, the best medium for it is one's blood; I can't let any of mine land in the enemy's hands, or the strength of that curse will greatly increase.' Xue Ying might have spurt out some blood just before, but that blood belonged to the energy in his body. A single thought was sufficient for him to bring it back without suffering any loss of energy.
Despite Xue Ying's inner shock, the Blood Serpent Spear continued its thrusting motion towards the violet-robed old man until it finally struck the black fog. The defensive force of the fog was incredible indeed—it felt as if countless lifeforms were rushing out to block the Blood Serpent Spear. After suffering a 50% loss of the original power, the spear eventually pierced right into the old man's frame.
"Pu." The moment it pierced through him, the spear seemed to encounter no more resistance, allowing it to form a massive hole in his chest; it went all the way through!
However, while this particular wound was healing very slowly, the violet-robed old man's other body parts did not suffer any injuries.
'I was unable to injure the crimson-skinned protector in any way. The female protector has those green branches and leaves serving as protection, and I can't utilize the Dao of Mirage to injure her! That means the violet-robed old man and the blue-eyed man are my only possible choices. The blue-eyed man's fleshy body defense is comparable to Protector Cheng Yun's, while the violet-robed old man has the weakest body,' Xue Ying thought. As soon as he got a clear idea of his opponents' strengths and weaknesses, he already began to formulate a plan.
"You can't escape."
The branches and leaves from before had already extended to Xue Ying's current location, but he only laughed in response. All of a sudden, his body turned real and unreal at the same time, and while he seemed to still be there at a glance, he had already entered the Mirage world.
The countless branches and leaves were supposed to pierce right through Xue Ying's body, but they ended up attacking empty space.
"What?!" Everyone, especially the female protector, was shocked. Why had her branches failed to restrict him?
'Time for me to act.' Xue Ying chuckled.
"Weng."
The Mirage world descended, and with it came Xue Ying's illusory realm!
According to the intelligence reports provided to him by the Bloodshed God Emperor, the members of the Ancestor Mother Religion's had powerful, borderline tyrannical bodies, but their weakness was also very apparent—their comprehension of the realm was shallow! A robust body led to a mighty soul, but their low realm meant that their cultivation hearts were merely ordinary. Even though there were a few who had managed to cultivate their hearts to a deep level, such people were exceptions and not the norm…
The higher one's realm, the deeper a level their heart of cultivation would reach.
The Bloodshed God Emperor, the Abyss Primogenitor, Pang Yi, and other such figures had all cultivated to a very high level, but when it came to ordinary True Gods, those who could reach Xue Ying's level were few and far between.
As for the protectors of the Ancestor Mother Religion… they were, for the most part, all roughly equivalent to stage four World Deities, so their cultivation hearts were bound to be ordinary—not even close to powerful. Even though their souls were strong, a weak cultivation heart meant they would suffer greatly when faced with illusory techniques!
Speaking of illusory techniques, having lived in the Black Fog Sea and pondered over the arts of illusions alongside his opening of the Dao of Mirage meant that Xue Ying was at a very high level amongst the Paragons of the Deity world and Dark Abyss. In fact, he might even rank in the top three of this group! Even though other Paragons might have cultivated to deeper, more profound realms, the Daos they opened were not of the illusory type. Meanwhile, Xue Ying had opened the Dao of Mirage, a Dao known for its illusory characteristics. This gave him profound control over illusions.
'I shall let you all have a taste of the power my illusory realm reached with the help of my Mirage world.' It was the first time Xue Ying used the illusory realm against any enemy after his opening of the Dao of Mirage.
"Mn?"
Protector Huo Zhu and the other four felt their surroundings change before their very eyes, and an invisible force began influencing their souls.