Volume 3, Chapter 411 – A Terrifying Surprise

After finishing applying medicine to Chi Xiyan, Chi Muxue hurried away.

As the girl left, she even made a mysterious face at Chi Xiyan, saying she was going to prepare a surprise for her.

Chi Xiyan found it somewhat amusing.

In reality, that little girl Muxue had never shown this side of herself in front of Chi Xiyan.

“The illusion realm… it’s only an illusion after all…” Chi Xiyan muttered.

After Chi Muxue left the room, Chi Xiyan was finally able to calm her mind and reexamine this world.

Time flowed differently inside the formation compared to the outside world.

If she really stayed here too long, the officials maintaining the formation outside would terminate it.

So, as long as the illusory formation still existed, that meant her trial had not yet ended.

‘Muxue also entered the Illusory Heart Formation. I met her here inside my trial… I wonder what she’ll encounter in there…’

Thinking of this, Chi Xiyan gave a bitter smile.

‘That girl is clever, and her talent isn’t bad either. What she lacks is only time… she should be able to pass the trial of the Illusory Heart Formation.’

‘Compared to her, I should be thinking more about how to get out myself…’

Chi Xiyan stood up and moved her injured limbs.

She didn’t know if it was simply because this was an illusion, or if Chi Muxue’s medical skill was truly that good, but Chi Xiyan felt that the wounds on her body had already healed to a great extent.

Still, the injuries on Chi Xiyan’s body had only ever been superficial to begin with.

She tidied up her things and pushed open the door to step outside.

Walking through the courtyard, looking at the people and objects around her that were both familiar and strange, Chi Xiyan’s expression grew somewhat dazed.

The illusion was indeed built using her memories as its foundation, yet it wasn’t quite the same as her memories either.

Take, for instance, the scornful looks surrounding her.

The young people of the Chi family in this world were filled with hostility and hatred toward her.

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“Isn’t that Chi Xiyan? How does she have the nerve to come here?”

“I saw Chi Xian call her away earlier. I didn’t expect she’d still be able to walk.”

Chi Xiyan could hear the whispers of the young people around her.

She smiled mockingly to herself. ‘Even the version of myself in my own dream is thoroughly disliked.’

Of course, she had no interest in arguing with these phantoms in her dream.

Until she found a way to break this illusion, she would simply treat it as revisiting an old place.

In truth, her real nine year old self hadn’t fared much better than this illusion.

As the legitimate young lady of the Chi family, she truly held a noble status on the surface, but behind the scenes she had also endured countless cold looks and jealousy.

It was only the protection of her status as the legitimate daughter that kept anyone from openly doing anything to her.

‘This illusion has given form to the pressure I faced as a child.’

Chi Xiyan thought to herself.

At that moment, she heard the sound of a distant bell.

“It’s almost time for class! We’ll be late!”

The young people who had been lazily lounging a moment ago immediately tensed up. They had no time to keep gossiping about Chi Xiyan in front of her and ran off one after another toward the schoolhouse.

Just as Chi Xiyan hesitated over whether to follow, a young man dressed as a scholar spotted her.

He frowned and demanded, “Chi Xiyan, what are you still dawdling here for?”

“Do you want another beating from the teacher’s cane?”

“…” Chi Xiyan was taken aback.

She nodded toward this unfamiliar scholar and quickly caught up with the crowd.

The Chi family schoolhouse was no different from the one in her memory.

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When she walked in, countless gazes immediately shot toward her.

She swept her eyes across the room. All were faces both familiar and strange.

Familiar, because she had seen these young people before. Strange, because she had no real connection to any of them.

Only a single seat remained in the schoolhouse.

Chi Xiyan knew that it was likely meant to be hers.

Under everyone’s watchful gaze, she walked over in silence.

But the moment she sat down in the chair, she heard a sharp creak.

The chair collapsed instantly.

She fell to the ground.

Laughter erupted all around her.

All sorts of stares shot toward her.

Chi Xiyan’s face darkened.

As the eldest legitimate daughter of the Chi family, she had rarely attended classes alongside her clansmen, and this was indeed the first time she had witnessed such tactics.

She braced one hand against the desk, straining her thin frame, struggling to get up off the floor.

There was a ripping sound. Her skirt tore. It had caught on a nail sticking out of the chair. She counted herself lucky that the rusted nail hadn’t pierced her thigh.

She took a deep breath, nearly unable to keep her expression composed.

She had known this illusion was filled with malice toward her, but she hadn’t expected something like this.

Would the real Chi family schoolhouse actually have something like this happen?

Chi Xiyan didn’t know.

But her humiliation right now was very real.

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She braced herself against the desk and reached down, tearing the hem of her skirt free from the nail with force.

The moment she let go of the hem, she noticed something wrong.

On the pure white hem, where her hand had gripped it, a mottled handprint had appeared.

Chi Xiyan sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.

She raised her hand, her face full of disbelief.

A small paw covered in mud filled her vision, a young girl’s hand.

In that instant, Chi Xiyan felt as though her breathing had stopped.

Where had this mud come from?!

Her gaze slowly shifted toward the desk she had braced herself against.

Then her pupils suddenly contracted.

On the desk was a thin talisman paper.

The moment she pressed her hand against it, the talisman paper shattered, revealing the mud that had been hidden beneath.

An illusion technique!

This was an illusion technique!

Who would use an illusion technique to do something like this!

Damn it!!

Chi Xiyan’s pupils trembled violently, her mind shaking.

The frozen moment began to flow again.

She opened her mouth and let out the most aggrieved, high pitched sound she had made since she was born.

With a crack!

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She shoved the desk in front of her, flipping it straight to the ground.

Chi Xiyan turned and ran without hesitation!

“Hahaha! Look at the state of her!”

“Mud really does suit a country bumpkin!”

Violent laughter erupted from behind her, but Chi Xiyan had no time to care about their mockery now.

The filth on her body clung to her mind like a string of nightmares.

This was terrifying!

She had seen many illusory formations before.

But this was the first time she had ever experienced one this horrifying.

Even though she knew it was an illusory formation, the mental shock brought on by that visual impact was more terrifying than several of the life and death battles she had experienced.

Chi Xiyan ran the whole way, rushing into the bathhouse of the Chi family schoolhouse.

At this hour all the Chi family students were in class, so the bathhouse was empty.

Chi Xiyan quickly stripped off the clothes covering her body.

Every extra second the filth stained garments stayed on her was torment to her spirit.

She threw off the dirty clothes, then hurried to the pool to wash her hands.

But whatever this filth on her hands was, no matter how hard she scrubbed, she couldn’t get it clean.

Just then, Chi Xiyan heard voices outside.

“Hey! She should be in there now, right?”

“Come on, let’s give her the surprise we prepared for her.”