An Illusory Demoness

Yaan looked at Rui with a nostalgic expression. She stared back at him with a cold look on her face which showed no signs of letting up.

"On what basis do you make the claim that this world is an illusion?" Rui asked sharply as her eyes locked onto Yaan's.

Yaan smiled wryly. It was only natural that she would act somewhat confrontationally when he came right out and told her that this entire world was merely an illusion.

As he thought about his response, his mind suddenly became racked with agony as his memories from the outside world flooded in. Along with the memories came the pain that his mind had been subjected to before he entered this place.

The torrent of incoming memories this time was like a tsunami, whereas previously, it was closer to the gentle trickling of a stream. Too much information stormed into his mind all at once. In the end, he was simply unable to keep ahold of all of the memories.

Seeing his face contorting in pain whilst he remained silent and still, Rui raised an eyebrow, before narrowing her eyes. She only spoke after Yaan's expression returned to normal and his breathing stabilised. It seemed that she no longer needed an answer to her previous question right now, but she still had other questions.

"If what you say is true, then you entered an illusion and lost yourself, falling completely into the illusion and embracing it as truth. Am I correct?"

Yaan simply nodded. He didn't care to explain himself properly. Whilst what she said wasn't quite right, he felt that it didn't matter right now.

Secretly, this made Rui raise her opinion of him. From her perspective, he looked like an ordinary mortal child, but his mindset alone showed her that this was clearly not the case.

"Is this world one that you recognise?" She suddenly asked.

Yaan nodded again.

"Mm, it's where I grew up, it's a repeat of the past. But, at a certain point, I decided to walk against the preordained fate of this repeating history…"

"You wished to defy your fate, but in doing so, you completely forgot yourself and everything prior to the illusory world. Even so, even knowing this, you decided to continue along this path?"

Yaan had to remind herself that this demonic woman was far too perceptive…she actually saw through everything so easily!

"I did." Yaan nodded.

"Since you are willingly revealing this to me, you have clearly changed your approach to handling this illusory world. What caused the change? Why not go on as you were?"

For a moment, Yaan became silent. He sighed and looked up at Rui with a melancholic expression.

Honestly, he had no idea what he should feel towards this unique demoness. She was like nobody else. She had manipulated him for her own gain, convincing him she was 'evil but truthful', all whilst scheming to kill him for her own recovery.

And yet, she was the reason that he was still alive - she taught him about the cruel truths of this world, things which an ordinary teacher would never expose to their student.

Rui planned to kill him…but she had also saved his life and taught him how to survive in this world.

Indeed, Yaan had no idea what he felt towards Rui, so he just spoke as if she were anyone else.

Rui noticed the deep and complicated look in his eyes. With her intelligence, how could she not understand? Before Yaan even replied, she answered her own question.

"The change was your encounter with me…" Rui murmured, now staring at Yaan as a strange look briefly flashed through her gaze.

"Right. I finally felt danger, despite avoiding the path of my past fate…and then, the ring containing your soul, the ring that I found elsewhere in reality…literally threw itself at me. Even though I was not following that path of fate, we still ended up meeting…"

Yaan spoke his thoughts aloud, but he was careful not to reveal too much to this scheming woman.

Rui was a demon through and through. Actually trusting her would be a moronic move.

Even so, Yaan felt the urge to stay by Rui's side. For now, he wanted to talk with her some more.

After encountering Rui, it was as if his original path, the path that he had been avoiding until now, became entangled around the opposite path that he had been creating for himself.

Yaan understood that he needed to let go of his former thoughts if he wanted to progress. In a way, the path that he had been creating, had reached a turning point, a point that centred around Rui.

As he made this decision resolutely, more memories continued to flood back, causing his face to contort in pain.

Rui watched him expressionlessly. She only spoke once he looked up with a pale expression and exhaled deeply.

"If this world is truly an illusion, then you are in serious trouble in the outside world."

Yaan smiled wryly. He was beginning to recover some of his memories. He remembered Rui, and he vaguely remembered how it was that he came to enter this illusory world, so he knew that she was right.

Ignoring that latter half of her remark, he asked:

"You still don't believe that this world is an illusion? Well, since I'm the one in the illusion, I guess it would be hard for the inhabitants to accept that they're…they're…"

Rui's gaze flashed, but she hid it quickly before Yaan suddenly looked up.

"What are you, exactly? Are you alive? Are you an illusion? And…what exactly makes something an illusion?"

Unknowingly they had started walking side by side. Their direction was random and had been chosen for no particular reason.

However, unknowingly, Yaan was now heading back to the Heavenly Path Sect.

"Illusion…is there really any difference between reality, and a perfect illusion of reality…" Rui murmured, leaving Yaan in a daze as he felt like he had almost comprehended something important.

Rui glanced down at him, observing his expression and taking note of his thoughtful reaction to her words.

"Are you afraid? That if I break the illusion, you'll die?" Yaan finally replied after some time.

"For me to die, I would first need to be alive. Are you saying that the inhabitants of this illusion are true, living beings?"

Rui's calm voice almost sounded teasing, leaving Yaan feeling uncertain. It was as if she already knew the answer, like she was only trying to get him to think. But more importantly, the way she was acting towards him felt somewhat different compared to the Rui that he remembered…

Was it because he was more mature, so she was treating him differently? Had she realised something that he had not? Was the illusory Rui different from the real Rui?

Or maybe, she was just acting, manipulating him once again…

Did he…ever really know Rui, or was everything about her just an act?

The pair continued to converse as they walked.

"So this illusion really is a trial." Rui nodded as Yaan finally remembered and explained how it was that he had arrived in this world.

He found that whenever he focussed, he was able to cut through a membrane of darkness, digging deep into a vast empty space. He would grab the countless specs of lights floating in patterns throughout this space, before taking them for himself.

He quickly realised that these lights were his memories, but these memories were all poisoned to a horrifying degree. Rui also noticed this, making her feel bewildered as to why he had entered this shocking trial in such a desperate state. His mind was afflicted by poisons, astral spirits, and even the Calamity of Insanity Pill!

Yaan endured the pain, focussing on remembering as much as he could. Clearing up the toxic fog around a memory would purify it, allowing him to absorb it into his mind. This allowed him to restore the memory for himself in this world, without risking him exiting the illusion like before.

For now, he did not want to leave the illusory world. Or rather, he knew that the way in which he left this world was of the utmost importance…

"So, you've finally accepted that this is an illusion?" Yaan chuckled, but he wheezed slightly in pain at the end there, since he was still adjusting to the absorption of his memories.

"Caring about questions like that is why you are still unable to complete the trial." Rui spoke indifferently. She clearly didn't care about his suffering in the least.

Yaan remained silent, but he thought back on their earlier conversations.

He had been discussing various types of illusion trials with Rui, starting from the weakest and most ordinary, but eventually getting into the more incredible illusion trials…like this one.

As Yaan's memories came back and he described how he had come here and why he did it, Rui hid her shock. Still, she did explain to Yaan that an illusion trial like this was not even close to ordinary, it was actually amongst the most mysterious known to this world.

Illusions which could train the mind, but also acted as trials, were not strange. After all, illusions were renowned as being one of the best methods of training the mind, but also testing the mind.

When you became fully enveloped by an illusion like this, you could only rely on your mind to bring you out. Because of this, all-encompassing illusions were very popular amongst those who pursued psyche cultivation.

Even so, Rui refused to explain why she believed that this illusory world was so shocking.

"Since you're able to reach through the illusion and grab the memory fragments from your psyche, you should easily be able to break through this illusion by force. Just recover your memories, then spend a few months attacking the-"

"I already said that I won't do that." Yaan cut her off firmly.

Rui became silent, but she already knew that he would say this. After all, Yaan discovered this method almost as soon as he found himself in this world, but he rejected it after just another few moments.

"Then which method will you choose?" Rui asked as she glanced down at him.

They had now been walking for three days without rest, speaking a few sentences maybe once every hour or so. Neither was the talkative type, and they would only open their mouths if they had something important to say.

"None." Yaan replied flatly. As Rui looked at him expressionlessly, Yaan laughed and shook his head.

Rather than explaining his choice with words, he suddenly reached out with both arms.

Ti!

He tore through an imperceivable wall, reaching a vast empty space. With a calm and resolute gaze, Yaan reached out, then dragged back as many fragments of white light as he could fit into his arms as possible.

Rui only saw the lights flash around Yaan's head, followed by a thick corrosive sludge which latched onto the lights and made its way into his brain.

Within the corrosive sludge on the white lights, there was a particularly strong astral spirit, along with the Calamity of Insanity Pill's toxic power!

Until now, Yaan only tentatively took back his memories, reaching for a few at a time. This time though, he deliberately drew in as many of the densest, most powerful memories as possible!

These turned out to be the very same memories afflicted by Ghu Lin's poison, the countless other poisons, the Calamity of Insanity Pill, and the 2-Star astral spirit!

The illusory world protected Yaan from all of these damaging things which had been tearing apart his mind before coming here. This suggested that his consciousness no longer resided within his mind in the real world, and instead, his consciousness had been totally transferred into the illusion world!

He realised that this was one of the reasons that the old man had agreed to send him into the trial. The trial itself was dangerous for Yaan, but at the same time, it protected him from his dangerous predicament.

But now, Yaan had deliberately re-exposed himself to everything!

Rui pupils constricted when she saw this. She knew that any one of these malicious things had enough power to collapse a mortal's mind within seconds…

Knowing that time was of the essence, she leaned over and stretched out her pale hand, intending to detoxify Yaan's plagued mind personally.

"I entered the illusion…not for the trial…but to step onto the path of Psyche Power!" Yaan sharply turned towards Rui and growled out in a pained voice. Rui paused just before touching him.

She stared down at him for a long while, before silently sitting down on the ground, just a few feet away.

'Undertaking a divine illusion trial, not for the trial reward, but to temper his mind…' She thought silently.

When she heard Yaan's words, she could feel the indomitable resolution in his weakened aura.

Like Yaan, Rui was a decisive person. She decided that no matter what, she would merely watch. Whether he lived or died, she would not intervene or even say a single word. If he wanted to survive this calamity, he would need to achieve something truly miraculous.

But this miracle was exactly what Rui wanted to see. She was taking a risk here, but for reasons that only she knew, doing this was her only choice.

An hour passed by. Yaan was still alive, teetering on the cusp of death, but the fact that his heart was still beating was already incredible. His willpower was admirable, but that alone would not be enough.

After two hours, Yaan looked like a dried up corpse. After three, Rui suddenly remember something…

"Despite how he acts, he is currently a mortal, yet he walked for three days straight without any food or water…combined with these poisons and the pressure that he must be facing from this shocking illusion…"

She knew exactly how to help him overcome this enormous hurdle, but Rui remained silent and didn't move.

Yaan slowly raised both of his hands. Like his body, his head was now shrivelled up, giving him a grotesque appearance.

Rui watched him expressionlessly, her thoughts were unknown.

As Rui watched him struggle, Yaan began muttering under his breath.

"The mind as a whole contains a being's intelligence…"

"The sea formed by the fragments of light contain knowledge…"

"The background fabric of this sea is wisdom…"

"And the walls around the sea…form and hold together a being's sentience itself!"

Yaan's voice was weak and raspy, but Rui narrowed her eyes. She watched with a serious expression as Yaan once again reached past that unseen wall, towards his own mind which existed outside of the illusion!

"Ugh…" Yaan involuntarily groaned in agony as his migraine was amplified by multiple fold for every second that he clenched down with his two palms. Yaan's pain tolerance was nothing to scoff at, but even he couldn't help but scream out in agony, until his body lacked the energy to even scream.

He exhaled wheezily. After a full 90 seconds of intense struggle, he pulled back his palms, then slowly pushed them together and materialised a deep dark orb of blurred energy. Cracking sounds echoed throughout his body, until his body could no longer exert anymore force to devour the dark orb.

Yaan gritted his teeth, then leaned in and opened his mouth, biting down with his teeth to crush the orb down even further!

His teeth almost cracked, but he paid no attention to this, because after he bit down on the dark orb, memories stormed into his mind in an incoherent order, draining his mental energy like crazy!

The pain was so maddening that he wanted nothing more than to stop, to scream, to give up…

And yet, his remaining spark of resolution was enough to drive him forwards crazily. He would see this through, no matter what…he would either succeed, or he would die!

Sometimes, a person needed this level of resolution in order to succeed.

His skin turned grey, his bones were almost completely shattered, half of his blood was pooling on the ground below, and so on. It was shocking to see someone still alive in such a state.

Yaan curled into a ball and squeezed down on the orb of darkness with his remaining strength, exerting more power than any mortal should be able to muster.

For some reason, the memory of when he had attempted to block Elder Sun returned to his mind.

Suddenly, Yaan seemed to gain an impossible, overwhelming surge of strength. He pushed down with his entire body so ferociously that the orb was finally compressed into a small enough state that he was able to fully absorb it in one go.

But unlike when Yaan cultivated his body, there was nothing present that could help him to recover from these grievous injuries. The unknown mental fortitude that had filled his body until now, simply gave him the ability to draw out far more of his strength than his body could handle.

As the black energy finally seeped into his flesh, the power instantly reappeared within his mind. The orb exploded, before fusing into and reforming his mind.

Yaan simultaneously forced every malicious entity contained within the dark orb into the same mental space.

The astral spirit attacked first, but it was defeated immediately before the others fell soon after.

Yaan slowly sat up, looking as decrepit as before. Slowly, he let out a sigh, before opening his eyes whilst Rui watched on, looking at him oddly.

"You tore out a portion of your original mind, outside of the illusion, then devoured it into your illusory mind, within the illusory world. Interesting, it seems you are truly determined to to see this through."