Illusion of Emotion

Yaan hardly had the time to process what was said, before the voice which echoed out from all directions suddenly announced the start of the challenge!

Instantly, all ten of the red robed figures charged towards Yaan, making use of their full cultivations to rush around the hall and surround him.

Not only did they possess equivalent cultivation to himself, but they also showed near perfect team work!

"Defeating ten copies of myself…interesting!"

Despite this seemingly impossible setup where he was being forced to battle against ten replications of himself, each possessing power equal to himself, Yaan actually showed a slight smile. He had been thinking for some time that he would like to test himself properly, but the problem with this was finding a worthy opponent who wouldn't end up killing him.

What better opponent could there be than himself?

But when he thought about it, this wasn't actually a good test if he wanted to see how he measured up against typical cultivators who followed a single path, since all of these copies also possessed Yaan's multiple cultivations.

Whoosh!

With no time to think about it any longer, Yaan was forced to act as the ten figures rushed in towards him. They all moved their bodies slightly differently, some preparing to throw punches, others kicks, and so on. It seemed that without any weapons and without any arts or spells, this was the tactic they resorted to.

However, that's not to say that this was an easy assault to evade. Yaan's gaze became serious when he noticed the Astral Power and Vital Energy surging through the bodies of all ten copies, pushing them to their highest strength right from the beginning!

There was no time to warm up, and as he was surrounded by this attack, Yaan was forced to utilise his Agile Sword Arts in order to escape. He did his best to only use a shallow version of his Agile Sword Arts, since the ten figures would gain the ability to utilise anything that Yaan himself displayed.

Yaan's footwork was fast. He swiftly evaded the attacks whilst keeping an eye on the movement pattern of the ten copies. His expression changed when they began changing their own footsteps merely half a second after he used the Agile Sword Arts. Yaan had only just evaded the ten attacks by ducking down and sliding out from the encirclement, when the ten copies spread out, forming a net that would quickly surround him once again!

Yaan's expression darkened slightly. He didn't expect that they would adapt to his arts so quickly. They were able to mimic his techniques almost immediately after he used them himself.

He did not have the luxury to hold back at this point, as doing so would lead to his defeat…however, likewise, displaying all of his sword arts without defeating his opponents would put him in a position of absolute disadvantage.

'I need to kill quickly!'

Yaan had this thought and immediately acted.

Ever since Yaan's possessions and swords were taken from him, he had been considering the best way to deal a lethal blow to his opponents. He had always fought with a sword, and whilst his experience with hand to hand combat was not non-existent, it was certainly lacking.

Yaan closed in on the nearest figure as he used his Agile Sword Arts to pull back and away from the others, allowing him to single out one opponent. With that, his entire body blurred…

Whoosh…Bang!

As his form became partially illusory and seemed to vanish and reappear a dozen feet ahead, Yaan kept his eyes closed. He utilised the Agile Illusion Art, or at least, a variation of it…he was trying to use his hand, tightened and straightened like a lance, as a sword!

When his eyes were shut, Yaan pictured his hand as the blade and his arm as the whole sword. When his eyes reopened, an explosive sound akin to metal on metal resounded outwards.

Blood dripped down from the copy's chest and its eyes slowly turned dull. Ignoring the searing pain across his right arm, Yaan mercilessly twisted his arm around and leaped backwards, obliterating the Vital Core within the copy's chest.

The moment the Vital Core was damaged, the copy was already done for. With that final destructive action, its Vital Energy dispersed, its body lost all signs of life and it dropped to the floor, dead.

Even for Yaan, killing this entity which resembled himself perfectly, was eery and a very strange experience. Part of him expected this copy to dissipate like an illusion, but its body remained lifeless on the ground. He did not have time to dwell on this however, because he knew that every second now could be the difference between failure and success.

Whoosh!

Yaan moved again, turning to the left and taking three steps forwards, before once again blurring towards another copy. He grit his teeth as he struck through its chest, causing the skin across his arms to tear apart once again. These copies also possessed Mythril Rank bones, so even piercing through the flesh was quite arduous, whilst Yaan's skin was only Gold Rank, meaning that it could not withstand the strain.

The reason he gritted his teeth tensely was not actually because of the pain though, but because two copies closed in on him from either side, right as his arm was impaled through the other copy's chest!

He leapt backwards, before raising his arms to either side and slashing outwards. In this moment of crisis, Yaan's neck tilted back and his gaze shot upwards, only to find that unknowingly, another figure was directly above him! He had no time to think, so relying on instinct alone, his two arms became wrapped up in illusory water…

Cutting Typhoon Art!

It had been some time since Yaan last utilised this art in battle, but it was still his best combative art for fending off multiple opponents who were coming at him from all directions. Not only that, but it was simultaneously offensive and defensive, allowing him to block the three strikes whilst lashing out with a powerful counterattack.

BANG!

The three figures flew back as a wave of sharp illusory water slammed into them. Yaan's was shredded from his arms, revealing his dense flesh below. Despite successfully fending off his opponent's his expression became severe, because following behind those three, three more arrived like ghosts!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Peugh!"

The three copies broke through Yaan's Cutting Typhoon by doing what he had feared the most - they stole his Agile Illusion Art.

By using Yaan's own method and forming a sword with their arms, the three stabbed towards him at the same time. A feeling of immense danger assaulted Yaan's senses, not only from these three, but also from a fourth copy behind him!

He twisted his body hastily, doing his best to predict their path of movement so that he could evade the attacks before they landed.

Bang!

"Ugh…"

Yaan grimaced. He barely managed to avoid three of the attacks, but ended up getting struck by the frontal assault. His body was sent flying and blood erupted out from his shoulder. He could feel his bone fracturing in multiple places, but at the same time, the copy that attacked him had broken its fingers.

Bang!

Yaan gritted his teeth as Cutting Typhoon was used against him. He had not even landed, when he was attacked yet again from an unknown direction, causing the skin to be torn from the right side of his body, whilst multiple bones fractured once again.

Finally, he seemed to have broken out from the encirclement, but Yaan's condition was not good. It's not that he was injured terribly, but now…

The copies, all eight of those which remained alive, now knew his best sword arts.

Agile Sword Art, Cutting Typhoon Art and Agile Illusion Art, these were Yaan's three best methods. He was forced to use these methods early on…his original hope was that he would be able to defeat his opponents in a short period of time, but that plan had clearly failed.

'This trial is particularly difficult for body temperers, isn't it? It's too difficult to actually kill my copies, I need to land a powerful strike to the Vital Core every single time…'

Yaan landed on his feet unsteadily. He quickly utilised his Vital Energy to lighten the pressure on his feet and regain his footing. He realised that he was standing on something soft, and after glancing down quickly, he found that he was standing on the corpse of one of his copies.

"Too realistic…" Yaan murmured. He didn't know if these things were true flesh bodies, if they were sentient in anyway, or even if they were somehow illusions, but they really looked just like him.

The image of his own dead body burned itself into Yaan's mind. Even when he looked up and stared at the eight copies charging his way, he had an odd thought.

"To progress, I need to cut myself down. I must stand atop my own corpse in order to lift myself up…"

He couldn't help but recall the True-False Illusion World in this moment. Specifically, he remembered how it all ended. He recalled that feeling of death…

Back then, Yaan allowed his own illusion to devour him. He did this after coming to the conclusion that there was really no difference in the final result, if he devoured his illusion, or if his illusion devoured him. If anything, allowing himself to be devoured, willingly accepting his own 'death' in exchange for power, was the reason that Yaan decided on this approach.

Unknowingly, a desolate feeling enveloped his heart. This feeling felt familiar somehow, and despite the current situation, Yaan suddenly recalled a past battle of his, when he faced Bluebolt, the man with the blue mohawk. In that battle, he was quite distracted, as he had been feeling the lingering effects of experiencing the blood essence illusions.

"How was it that I won that fight again…?" Yaan murmured to himself, recalling how Bluebolt had surrendered without even attacking him once.

He knew that getting distracted right now was not safe, but somehow, he felt as if the extreme pressure of this situation was helping him to recall something. He felt as if he was close to touching on something important…

"Right…that was it."

As the eight figures approached, Yaan slowly lowered his arms and closed his eyes. The desolate feeling emanating from his body rapidly grew stronger, reaching a level that immediately surpassed even that which he had shown previously during his battle against Bluebolt.

"My greatest gain from the True-False Illusion Formation was my comprehension over illusions. I used this comprehension to devise my own sword art, but my understanding is so much deeper than just that…"

As Yaan spoke, for some unknown reason, the eight copies began to slow down. Or perhaps, it was Yaan who had sped up compared to everything around him; it was simply a matter of perspective.

"Illusion…I entered the illusion, I died…the illusion reflected me, then became me, gaining life…I am the illusion and the illusion is me…"

Slowly, without Yaan even realising it, his body started to become less and less corporeal. After a few moments passed by, his body reached a half-transparent form that made him look like a ghost. As he slowly opened his eyes, a deep, unsettling gaze spread out across the hall.

Gradually, Yaan's illusory state returned to normal, only the eery gaze in his eyes remained. The solemn aura that had enveloped the hall grew ten fold stronger in this moment, submerging the entire hall in an illusion.

This illusion had no appearance. It could not be heard, either. This illusion was one that could only be felt.

"You are merely copies of me…you are not me. If you were me, then surely, you would be able to endure the desolate feeling in my heart?" Yaan spoke at an ordinary volume, but anyone who heard his words would shiver and back away immediately. His gaze was strangely serene, given that his aura was now soaked with an unspeakable sense of pain.

The cause of this pain was unclear, but it was obviously there.

The ten copies showed confused looks. As Yaan spoke, they actually each took a step back!

"Do you understand the experiences in my life that have led me to become this way? When people see me, they see a savage, selfish demon, a heartless monster…I know this…"

"Do you understand the doubt and confusion that I feel whenever I think about the various absurd encounters in my life? All of these encounters, all of these chance occurrences…perhaps part of me realised long ago that it was all too much to be coincidence, but until recently, I avoided dwelling on it…it's as if I have no control over my life, as if I am constantly being toyed with by fate…nobody could possibly understand this feeling…"

"Do you know what it means to feel loneliness? To always feel this sense of desolation, this disconnection from everyone around you, without really understanding why you are this way?"

Yaan's gaze gradually became darker as he spoke. He no longer cared about the fact that he was in the midst of a gruelling battle, because in his attempt to search for a method to overcome this battle, he ended up finding something…

Dao comprehension - specifically, he was engrossed in a certain understanding of his own dao…his own heart. And with this dao comprehension, he welcomed a whole flurry of feelings and thoughts into his heart that he had been trying to avoid for so long now.

"I am a demon, a person viewed as evil by the masses. At this point, I can't even refute these accusations, because I really have become a monster…I have become the sort of person that I once hated. I don't even know why I go on, just to continue hurting myself and everyone around me…"

"My actions show that I am clearly selfish and demonic…but only I know why it is that I am this way. Only I have experienced the life that forced me to become this way…"

"So tell me…do you have any right to pretend to be me?!"

Yaan's words formed a ripple, which spread out across the room and caused the confusion in the eyes of the copies to deepen.

At this moment, Yaan snapped back to reality. The desolate feeling in the room transformed into a cold ruthlessness. On its own, this ruthlessness was only akin to a person's killing intent, but when combined with the transformation from the previous desolate aura, it would make anyone who experienced it feel a sense of terror from the depths of their heart.

This feeling was emanating from Yaan freely, as if screaming, 'this is my resolve!'

Bang Bang Bang…!

The eight copies were slaughtered in rapid succession, all dying to increasingly savage attacks before they were able to return to reality. Yaan did not hold back in the least, nor did he care for the grievous injuries that accumulated on his own body as he lashed out without a care for the consequences.

By the time he had finished killing rampantly, Yaan's entire body was soaked in blood. The blood seeped into his robe, soon becoming hidden within its natural red colour.

"Hah…hah…hah…so…tired…"

Once the eight copies dropped lifelessly to the floor, the illusory emotion that permeated the air quickly vanished. In this moment, Yaan became acutely aware of the intense exhaustion that seemed to stem from somewhere deep within his soul – this exhaustion was so deep that it was simply impossible to resist. Even though his body was injured and his energy was extremely low, he should not have been depleted enough to feel this way…

And yet, this exhaustion was all encompassing. Yaan managed to resist for a brief moment, but this instant of resistance burned away the last vestiges of his reserves. In the next second, his body collapsed and he fell to the ground, unconscious.