Chapter 249: There’s a Fraud Shop
“Wait a minute!” As expected, Zhen Yuan called out to her, and continued with a difficult expression. “Fellow daoist, my shop truly does not have rules on trading items. Why don’t we do this? You can first head to the back chamber for a short rest. Once I have asked my boss, I will then give you a response?”
“Fine.” Zhu Yao agreed straightforwardly. After following Zhen Yuan through twists and turns, she arrived at a courtyard and then sat next to a stone table.
After Zhen Yuan informed her of some things, he retreated away. Zhu Yao sat for exactly an hour, yet only a servant-like girl had served her with some tea and snacks in the middle, and the rest of the time was whiled away in silence. Zhu Yao faintly sensed that there was something amiss, and just as she was about to head out to ask some people.
Suddenly, a formation shone underneath her feet. A large number of vines shot out, instantly trapping her firmly.
What was this situation?
“You human practitioners sure are stupid.” Zhen Yuan suddenly appeared in the courtyard, and looked at her with a complacent smile, on his shoulder stood little demonic beast with looks similar to a rat and a bird. He then waved his hand. “Take it.”
That demonic beast instantly materialized into a flash of light, and then an instant later, returned onto Zhen Yuan’s shoulder. In its mouth, it was biting on her storage pouch.
The hell, so this was actually a fraud shop.
Zhen Yuan took the storage pouch, and weighed it in his hand. “If you’re tactful, then eliminate the imprint on this storage pouch on your own. I will then allow you to die a more straightforward death.”
“Who in the world are you?” Zhu Yao said with a sullen voice. “That artifact used to seal the Devil, why is it in your hands?”
“Me?” The man laughed. “You dared to break into this Illusory Realm Island, but am actually unaware of my identity?”
“Illusory Realm Island?” Zhu Yao was startled.
“There’s actually people who do not know about Illusory Realm Island.” Zhen Yuan smiled even deeper. With a wave of his hand, the new and exquisite looking courtyard earlier, as though its colours were fading away, began to change. The stone table turned into a stone rock filled with moss, while the trees turned into a man-eating flower with its bloody mouth opened wide.
While those houses had all disappeared, turning into a dense forest.
“How is this possible?” Zhu Yao widened her eyes. Although she had suppressed her cultivation, her divine sense had been paying attention to her surroundings. She actually did not realize that everything was an illusion.
Zhen Yuan coldly laughed. “When you appeared in the sky, I spotted you right away. As long as you land on the ground, you will definitely be struck with my illusion technique.”
“What’s with all those human practitioners?” She had clearly saw the huge number of people in the streets, and every single one of their cultivation levels and appearances were all different. She had even spoken to one of them. If this was all just an illusion, it was impossible for something like spiritual energy to be imitated as well.
“They are all actual human practitioners, and not illusions.” Zhen Yuan patted his sleeves without a mind.
“…” Actual human practitioners!
“That is why I said you human practitioners are all too stupid. Even though you all clearly know that this ocean region is dangerous, you still have to send yourselves here.” Zhen Yuan gave her a scornful look. “The moment they hear treasures are being auctioned here, they would rush over like a nest of bees. So I casually crafted this illusion, and have them experience the day of the auction over and over again, trapping them within this illusion forever. After their deaths, their souls won’t even be able to escape. This way, their everything will be mine.”
So those people were all souls of human practitioners who were tricked here, and their material bodies were formed through the illusion. It was no wonder her divine sense did not sense any anomaly.
“Initially, I had wanted to use this method to deal with you, but unfortunately, your luck is pretty bad. You’re just so unwilling to participate in the auction and step foot into the core of the formation, so my illusory realm is unable to deal with you. This is why I have no choice but to personally deal with you myself.”
“You trapped so many practitioners just to steal their mystic artifacts and treasures?”
He looked down at the storage pouch in his hands, and then kept it. “It’s your fault for carrying so many treasures, isn’t it? When you were flying on your sword earlier, you used a seventh rank penultimate grade mystic artifact. Though there are many seventh rank mystic artifacts, penultimate grade mystic artifacts are rarely seen. Since you have already sent yourself here, how can I just let this opportunity go?”
“I don’t think that’s the case!” Zhu Yao looked straight at him, no, at it! “The reason you have trapped these practitioners here, are most likely to feed on their lifeforce, right?”
Zhen Yuan was startled, a hint of fluster flashed past his eyes. He then angrily said. “A bunch of nonsense. How can I possibly be interested in the lifeforce of humans?”
“Is that so?” Zhu Yao coldly laughed. “Earlier, you mentioned ‘you human practitioners’ twice, which proved that you’re basically not a human. No matter if it’s a demon, spirit, or a demonic beast, mystic artifacts are completely of no use to them. By trapping so many human practitioners, if it’s not to feed on their lifeforce to raise your cultivation, could it be that you’re raising them just for fun?”
His expression sank, and killing intent flashed in his eyes. In an instant, he summoned several icicles and swung them towards her. “Since you found out, then I can’t let you live.”
With a twist of her hand, Zhu Yao summoned a mass of flames, turning the vines entangling her into ashes in a blink of an eye. Even those approaching icicles had turned into steam under the high temperatures.
“You didn’t eat the snacks?” His face was filled with shock.
“Snacks?” Zhu Yao dug through her memories for a moment, and only then recalled that a servant-like girl had served her those snacks earlier. “So those carried poison? I’m sorry, but it’s been a long time since I ate anything other than the food my master makes. Because they’re just too unbearable to eat.” Her appetite had long been tamed.
“…” The corner of Zhen Yuan’s lips twitched, as he was showed a face filled with affectionate love.
“Hmph, so what if you’re able to use mystic arts? You’re still going to die here today.”
He coldly snorted, as his sleeves fluttered without any winds. His hair began to wildly fly, and his cultivation which was just at the Foundation stage earlier, suddenly began to skyrocket. From Azoth Core, to Nascent Soul, and then it actually broke through into the Demigod stage, finally stopping at the early stages of Demigod. Evidently, he was concealing his cultivation earlier. In an instant, the pressure of a Demigod filled the entire island.
“As an Azoth Core human practitioner, I wonder what you’re going to use to fight me?”
“Wait a minute!” Zhu Yao sighed, as she too released the restrictions on her own cultivation. The pressure of a Demigod human practitioner instantly pushed back.
“Y-Y-Y-Y-You…” His face was covered in shock. “How is this possible? You’re actually one too.”
“Hoho. Concealing cultivation or whatever, I know how to do it too.” Moving her hand, Zhu Yao reached out her arm and summoned her own spiritual sword. She then flew up and slashed towards the enemy. “Stop with all the nonsense, if you want to fight, come!”
Only then did Zhen Yuan regain his senses. His body flashed as he evaded her attack, and in the next instant, countless tree vines drilled out from underneath the ground, entangling towards Zhu Yao. Zhu Yao dodged in a flash, but those vines looked as if they had eyes grown on them, as they followed her wherever she went.
Zhu Yao had no choice but to fly even higher, while casting arts to burn away those vines with flames. However, just as she had burnt a portion of them, another bunch of even more vines pounced towards her. Because she was unvigilant for a moment, her right leg was entangled by a thin vine. Turning around, she hacked it apart with a wave of her sword.
However, the half that was sliced off suddenly had buds opening from it, and in a blink of an eye, they exploded. Zhu Yao felt pain from her leg, as large amount of venom was shot out from the buds, and half of her lower robe was completely corroded away. She hurriedly summoned spiritual flames to burn away that half-sliced vine, but still ended up receiving damage with her leg turning bright red. It motherf**king hurt.
“It’s no use. You’re definitely not a fire spirit vein holder. Your flames are basically unable to catch up to the speed of growth of these vines.” Zhen Yuan smiled arrogantly, looking as though his victory was ascertained.
Zhu Yao was instantly enraged. “Momma’s egg, you could have chosen to burn anywhere else, but you actually had to burn my clothes! My master isn’t by my side, and this old lady here only has this single set of clothes used to keep up appearances, yet you still burnt it!” Flames of fury instantly surged all the way up, and for a moment, she was furious to the point of wanting to slice someone into pieces.
Forget about loving nature and its trees and flowers, she immediately performed hand seals and cast Heavenfall. In an instant, countless bolts of lightning came descending down, blasting the exterior of the entire island into charred crisp, while its interior was left tender and soft.
Zhen Yuan was instantly dumbfounded. He simply could not believe his own eyes. “You… Y-You. You’re a lightning…”
“Even if you find out now, it’s too late!” Zhu Yao raised her hands, and an especially thick and large lightning bolt charged straight towards it. With a loud blast, it struck straight on its target.
The vines next to Zhen Yuan instantly turned into ashes, and it directly fell down the sky. With a “puaah” sound, he puked out a large mouthful of blood, and his eyes dimmed. He suddenly cast a wind type mystic art, blowing up the sand and ashes on the ground, and blew them towards Zhu Yao.
Then, its figure flashed, turning into a ray of green light. It was flying into the horizon.
It was trying to flee!
Zhu Yao erected a defensive barrier to block the approaching sand and ashes, waving the spiritual sword in her hand at the same time. It materialized into a long whip formed by lightning, and instantly wrapped onto that ray of green light. With a swing of her arm, it was yanked back with sheer force, and it fell onto the ground with a “pata” sound.
Several bolts of lightning descended, he had completely lost the strength to retaliate.
“St… Stop!” Zhen Yuan no longer had the arrogance it once held, as it shouted out with a flustered look. Holding up something in his hands, he loudly said. “Let me go, otherwise… Otherwise, I will destroy this mystic artifact.”
In his hands was exactly the fan that sealed a part of the Devil.
“Don’t come over, otherwise I will destroy it!”
Zhu Yao stopped, frowning.
Zhen Yuan was joyous, as he thought that his threat was effective. “Didn’t you come here looking for this? Don’t force me! It’s either the fish dies, or the net splits!”
When his voice fell, a white light however flashed next to it. An object flew out from the storage pouch Zhu Yao snatched back.
“Chick~~~~” A voice resoundingly rang out.
He simply felt his hand heating up, and he then instinctively relaxed his grip. In the next instant, that fan had already flown into Zhu Yao’s hands.
“Good job!” Zhu Yao held onto the fan and Metal Spirit that flew over.
“Chick chick, chick chick…” The Metal Spirit happily rolled around on her palm. I was praised, I’m so happy, I’m so happy.
When Zhen Yuan saw that both his escape and threat had failed, his face instantly paled. It then gritted its teeth. Not knowing what it had done, its entire body began to emit out an azure light, and even the entire island began to rumble. The ground surface which was still charred black earlier, began to protrude out a large number of vines. Long green thorns could be seen on top of them, emitting out cold glints, and they were even dripping with purplish juice. Large ferocious and terrifying man-eating flowers drilled out from the ground with their mouths wide open, looking as though they could pull people in as food at any moment.
Zhu Yao had no choice but to fly into the air, while Zhen Yuan was already enveloped entirely by an azure light. Its figure began to grow, and in an instant, it had already occupied a sixth of the size of the island. It seemed like not that it had already been exposed, it planned to risk its life fighting her, and was now wanting to reveal its true form.
As expected, in fifteen minutes, that azure light dimmed, and a gigantic demonic beast that was a storey high appeared on the ground. It looked really similar to a gigantic toad, and its four limbs were lying on the ground. On its back however was a gigantic purple bud, and poison gas was faintly emitting out from inside. This shape however looked a similar to a creature she had once seen in an anime – Bulbasaur.
Though, this one was even more ugly.
It spat out a breath of poison gas, and the entire island was then covered in purplish poison gas.
Zhu Yao cast an art, once again summoning countless of heavenly lightning bolts that struck and scattered the poison gas. The bud at the back of the demonic beast suddenly opened, materializing vines that swung in her direction. These vines were completely different from before, as they were evidently much faster, and even she was having trouble dodging them.
Just as she evaded one, she was faced with another one swinging straight towards her, and it struck straight on her defensive barrier. She felt a pain surfacing on her chest, and there were faint traces of the barrier collapsing. Gripping onto the sword in her hand, the blade was instantly filled with a purplish lightning glow.
Swinging it out, she slashed one apart, and then, turned around attempting to dodge the remaining ones. However, a beastly roar suddenly sounded behind her.
“Gu…”
“…”
As expected, it was still just a toad!
A black figure instantly came pressing down from above her head. Zhu Yao’s heart clenched, but she realized that there was nowhere to retreat to. That gigantic toad came pressing straight down, and she had already done the preparations needed to summon her sword intent. Just as that demonic beast was about to approach her and squish her into a meat pie.
That gigantic figure suddenly tilted to one side, and then, landed next to her feet with a “thud” sound. As though it was possessed by the Devil, it rubbed against her leg with an infatuated look, calling out.
“Meow…”
Zhu Yao: …
Just what the hell was this situation?
Zhen Yuan, who materialized into a gigantic frog, was startled for a moment. With a swoosh, it fiercely leapt a few steps back, as it looked at her with a terrified look, as though it could not understand its abnormal behaviour earlier either. “You… What kind of mystic art did you cast on me?”
“…” How would she know? Evidently, you’re the one who went mad, right?
In the following situations, things began to develop in a strange direction. Zhen Yuan, who had materialized into a demonic beast, seemed to have activated some sort of hidden attribute. As long as its beastly figure approached her, it would mysteriously turn into an infatuated beast for a second, meowing out in various voices, pleading for hugs, and begging to bear her monkeys.
However, in the next instant, it would then regain its senses and leap away filled with regrets.
This situation happened over and over again, and it never seemed to get tired, as if it had split personalities.
Zhu Yao: …
She turned her head to look at the beast which constantly sprinted back and forth without end.
First it approached her and meowed out…
Then it ran a few steps back: You vile beast, what did you do to me…
Even she was beginning to feel worried for it.
She felt that this sort of situation seemed to be a little similar to the World Favourable Impression Achievement she once had, but its effective range seemed to have shrunk. However, when it was in its human form, this situation did not occur though?
Could it be that it was only effective on demonic beasts in their beast forms?
Wait a minute, when she was squished to death by that stupid dragon back then, it looked like… seemingly… most probably… she did not turn off the World Favourable Impression Achievement.
In that case…
Her entire body suddenly felt uncomfortable.
“Meow~~~~ I want to be touched, I want my fur to be stroked, please?” Bulbasaur looked as though it was about to rub against her leg.
The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. You don’t have fur in the first place, alright? What fur am I supposed to stroke! She did not like scaly toads in the least, alright? Especially ones like this which released poison gas!
Zhu Yao gritted her teeth.
She instantly summoned her sword intent, and at the moment it regained its senses, a phoenix charged into the skies and directly penetrated it. Lightning flashes filled the sky, and even the entire island was filled with various lightning lights.