Chapter 205: Demon Heart Illusion! The terror of being sliced to pieces, I won’t buy this routine!

Deafening waterfall roars echoed in his ears, smashing into the pool and stirring up mists all over the sky.

Gu Lan stood at the edge of the cold pool, looking at the huge waterfall hanging down like white silk, and took a deep breath.

"Demon Heart Array…"

He did not hesitate, completely silencing the Purple Extreme Golden Core in his body that had just condensed into the form of "Fire in the Stone". Along with the Devilish Qi on the soul-devouring sword and the fluctuations of the two strange flames, everything was completely restrained.

At this moment, he looked just like a mortal without any cultivation.

"Plop!"

Gu Lan leaped forward, plunging headfirst straight into the bone-chilling waterfall current.

The impact of the water current was immense, as if tens of millions of heavy hammers were pounding on his back, but in front of Gu Lan's formidable Physical Body, it was not enough to damage his bones and muscles. He went against the current, forcibly squeezing forward, and finally penetrated that thick water screen, entering the cave behind the waterfall.

As soon as he stepped into the cave, the sound of water outside instantly vanished.

As if cut off by a knife, the entire world fell into absolute silence.

There was no light, no wind, and not even the air circulated.

"This is entering the array?"

Gu Lan tentatively took a step forward; what he stepped on under his feet was not hard rock, but something soft and sticky, like stepping on the internal organs of some huge creature.

Suddenly.

The darkness before his eyes receded like a tide, and a dazzling strong light instantly occupied all his vision.

Gu Lan instinctively raised his hand to block his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, his entire body instantly stiffened.

He was no longer in any back-mountain cave, but was tightly bound to a huge bronze pillar. Thick chains pierced through his shoulder blades, and blood dripped down the chains onto the plaza paved with white jade.

This is… the Qingyun Sect's main peak plaza!

"Gu Lan! You Demonic Path spy, deceiving your Master and destroying your ancestors, your crimes are unforgivable!"

Roars full of anger and hatred surged from all directions.

Gu Lan raised his head and saw the plaza densely packed with people. There were Qingyun Sect Disciples he was familiar with, severe Law Enforcement Hall Elders, and even the Qingyun Sect Master who should have died in the Sword Tomb.

On every single one of their faces was written disgust and spurning towards him.

And less than ten steps directly in front of him…

Jiang Wanqing, in a flurry of white clothes, holding the hanshuang sword, looked at him with a frosty face.

"Senior Sister…" Gu Lan opened his mouth, only to find that his voice was frighteningly hoarse, as if a ball of fire was stuck in his throat.

He tried to sense the power within his body.

Empty!

The Purple Extreme Golden Core was gone, the strange flames were gone, and even his Pure Yang Body seemed to have been completely crippled. Right now, he was just a useless person with no power to truss a chicken and whose shoulder blades had been pierced.

"Don't call me Senior Sister, I find it dirty."

Jiang Wanqing's gaze was so cold it lacked a trace of warmth; she walked up step by step, the sword tip pointing directly at Gu Lan's heart.

"You lurked by my side for ten years, defrauding my trust, just to destroy the Foundation of my Qingyun Sect today. Gu Lan, you truly make me feel sick."

"Pfft!"

Without any hesitation.

The hanshuang sword directly pierced into Gu Lan's left shoulder, and the cold Sword Qi instantly exploded within his Meridians.

"Ah——!"

Gu Lan let out a miserable, piercing scream. It hurt! It hurt like hell! This pain was one hundred percent real, absolutely not something ordinary illusions could simulate!

"This is the first sword, offered in sacrifice to those fellow Disciples killed by you!"

Jiang Wanqing pulled out the sword, and blood gushed out, staining Gu Lan's lapels red.

Immediately following, with a backhand strike, she delivered another sword thrust, piercing Gu Lan's right leg.

"This sword breaks your Demonic Path delusions!"

Despair, fear, a sense of powerlessness.

Like an airtight giant net, it tightly shrouded Gu Lan.

"Kill him! Slice him into a thousand pieces!" The surrounding Qingyun Sect Disciples shouted crazily, bloodthirsty light flashing in their eyes.

"This… this is an illusion… it must be an illusion!"

Gu Lan gritted his teeth, desperately telling himself this was fake. But that bone-deep pain, that constantly draining vitality, and Jiang Wanqing's gaze filled with hatred—everything was too real.

Just at this moment.

The sky suddenly darkened.

A mass of dark clouds gathered above the plaza, and Ye Hongzhuang's lazy yet proud figure slowly descended from the clouds.

"Yo, my little undercover agent, how did you end up in such a miserable state?"

Ye Hongzhuang covered her mouth with a light laugh, her gaze sweeping over those battle-ready Qingyun Sect members as if looking at a group of ants.

She walked up to Gu Lan, she extended her slender fingers and gently stroked his blood-covered cheeks.

"As long as you beg this sovereign, as long as you completely surrender to the Demonic Path, this sovereign will take you away right now, and by the way… kill everyone who bullied you, how about it?"

"Embrace the arms of the devil, Gu Lan. The Righteous Path cannot accommodate you; you can only find your true belonging in endless slaughter."

Ye Hongzhuang's voice was full of bewitchment, like a devil's whisper, eroding Gu Lan's final psychological defense line bit by bit.

As long as he nodded.

As long as he released the killing intent within his heart, he could break free from this endless pain and step those who betrayed and mocked him under his feet.

"I…"

Gu Lan lowered his head, a heavy ferocity flashing deep in his eyes.

That's right, he was an undercover agent anyway, and neither side liked him anyway; it was better to fall completely and slaughter to his heart's content!

"Clang!"

Jiang Wanqing's sword was raised once more, this time aiming directly at the center of Gu Lan's brow.

"Consorting with demons, death is not to be pitied!"

The tip of the sword expanded infinitely in his pupils, and the shadow of death completely shrouded him.

"Screw your death is not to be pitied!"

At the very instant when the sword tip was about to pierce the center of his brow, Gu Lan suddenly raised his head, and on that blood-soaked face, a supremely arrogant, nearly frenzied smile actually appeared.

Not only did he not dodge, but instead he slammed fiercely right into the sword tip!

"You think inflicting some flesh wounds and mental torture can drive this daddy crazy?!"

"You guys underestimate this daddy too much!"

Gu Lan let that long sword pierce through his skull.

No resistance, no begging for mercy, nor any compromise with Ye Hongzhuang's phantom.

At the moment when the severe pain reached its peak,

he closed his eyes and completely emptied all his senses.

"Fire in the Stone is not about suppression, but about 'immobility'."

"No matter how fierce the wind and rain are, I remain unmoving on my own."

"Fake is ultimately fake; this daddy's life can only be decided by this daddy himself!"

Hum——!

Deep within Gu Lan's Sea of Consciousness, that black stubborn stone that had always been dormant suddenly emitted a crisp humming sound.

The purplish-red flame at the center did not erupt into towering flames, but leaped steadily, emitting a soft yet indestructible halo.

Crack! Crack!

The plaza before his eyes, the angry fellow Disciples, the cold Jiang Wanqing, the bewitching Ye Hongzhuang…

Everything was like a shattered mirror surface, instantly covered with dense cracks.

With a crisp clatter sound, the entire illusion collapsed with a crash!

…

Outside.

Qingyun Sect, Nuanxiang Pavilion.

Jiang Wanqing was standing in front of a bronze mirror, putting on the snowy-white and heavy guanghan armor piece by piece.

The armor plates collided, emitting crisp, cold sounds.

This set of battle armor was extremely form-fitting, outlining her perfect figure—usually concealed by wide Daoist robes—vividly and thoroughly, revealing a fatal attraction amidst its coldness.

"Creak."

The door was pushed open.

Hongxiu walked in carrying a bowl of calming tea. Looking at the Senior Sister in full martial attire with her long hair tied high up, a trace of complexity flashed in her eyes.

"Senior Sister, have you really decided?"

Hongxiu placed the teacup on the table, her voice carrying a bit of worry, "The Far North Ice Field is unlike other places; that is a territory heavily operated by the Demonic Path. If you go alone, and even bring the half-volume of the Taixuan Sword Scripture just bestowed by the Sect Master, what if you are besieged by people from the Demonic Path…"

"This is my only chance to save him."

Jiang Wanqing did not look back; she meticulously fastened her bracers, her voice steady without a single ripple.

"Before Master fell, she once mentioned that in that ancient Secret Realm of the Far North Ice Field, there is hidden a 'World-Purifying White Lotus' capable of completely cleansing Devilish Qi. Junior Brother Gu is trapped in the devil's cave, and the Devilish Qi in his body grows deeper by the day. If not purified in time, sooner or later he will be backlashed by the demon sword."

She turned around, her hand grasping the hanshuang sword on the table, the determination in the depths of her eyes making people dare not look directly.

"I don't care what purpose that Female Demon Lord has in taking him to the far north. I only know that I must get ahead of her and get my hands on the World-Purifying White Lotus."

Watching her stance of risking her life for a man, Hongxiu secretly sighed in her heart.

"Senior Sister, if Junior Brother Gu knew you were risking your life so much for him, he'd definitely be moved to tears," Hongxiu said half-seriously, half-teasingly.

The corners of Jiang Wanqing's mouth curled up slightly, a gentleness that only appeared when mentioning Gu Lan.

"He doesn't need to be moved."

"He only needs to live well and wait for me to take him home."

She strapped the hanshuang sword to her back and strode out of the door.

The howling wind whipped up her white cloak, resembling an ice and snow female valkyrie about to step onto a cruel battlefield.

…

Back mountain, inside the waterfall cave.

"Hoo——!"

Gu Lan abruptly opened his eyes, panting heavily, his whole body soaked in cold sweat as if he had just been fished out of the water.

Before his eyes, there was no sunlight, no plaza, only the pitch-black and damp rock walls of the cave.

He lowered his head to look at his own body.

No chains, no sword wounds.

"Damn it, this Demon Heart Array is truly bizarre, specially targeting the places in people's hearts that they fear and are most insecure about."

Gu Lan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, still shaken. If he had really chosen to surrender to the Demonic Path in the illusion just now, or had his mind controlled by the desire for slaughter, he probably would have already turned into a soulless living corpse by now.

Fortunately, he steadfastly guarded that Fire in the Stone, forcibly enduring the mental tearing.

"Since the illusion is broken, it's time to get out."

Gu Lan leaned against the rock wall and stood up, preparing to return by the original route.

Just the moment he took a step forward,

from the darkness deep inside the cave, a very eerie rustling sound suddenly came.

"Jie jie jie…"

An eerie, screeching laughter like a night owl echoed within the empty cave.

"How many years has it been, finally there is a perfect mind capable of piercing through the first-layer illusion of this Demon Heart Array."

The black mist ahead began to churn violently.

A pair of huge, blood-red eyes slowly opened in the darkness, locked tightly onto Gu Lan.

"Such pure Purple Extreme Devilish Qi, yet hiding the fire of ultimate yang… This Physical Body is simply the most perfect Possession vessel bestowed upon this deity by the heavens!"

Accompanied by arrogant laughter, a black afterimage condensed from thick Devilish Qi lunged out from deep within the cave like lightning.

Its goal was extremely clear.

Pointing directly at the Purple Extreme Golden Core at Gu Lan's Dantian!