Chapter 98 The Deadly Illusion

Chapter 98: Chapter 98 The Deadly Illusion

Chapter 98 — The Deadly Illusion

The courtyard remained silent.

The moment the lights went out, the cultivators immediately became alert. They released their spiritual senses, trying to determine what had happened.

"Everyone, stay together!" one of them shouted.

A moment later, the lights returned.

The courtyard looked exactly as it had before.

The stone pillars stood in their original positions, the archway remained behind them, and the surrounding walls showed no signs of change.

However, the figure they had seen earlier was now standing several steps closer.

It wore the same clothes as one of the cultivators in the group. Its face, height, and even the spiritual aura surrounding its body appeared identical.

"What the hell is that?" a young cultivator exclaimed.

The real person whose appearance had been copied immediately stepped forward.

"Don’t come any closer!" he shouted at the figure.

The figure tilted its head.

Then it smiled.

"I told you all to follow me," it said in a voice identical to the young cultivator’s. "Why are you still standing there?"

The real cultivator frowned.

"I never said that!"

"You’re lying!" another cultivator shouted, pointing at him. "You were the one who led us through the archway. Now you’re pretending you don’t remember?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Several people began arguing at once.

They had been walking together for some time, and the confusing changes inside the maze had already put them on edge. None of them knew whether the person standing before them was a genuine cultivator or an illusion.

The figure said nothing more.

It merely watched them with that strange smile.

"Enough!" a middle-aged cultivator barked. "We can’t afford to waste time here. If one of you is an illusion, we’ll find out soon enough!"

He raised his weapon and pointed it at the real cultivator.

"Wait! I’m the real one!" the young man shouted.

But the middle-aged cultivator had already attacked.

A flash of spiritual energy crossed the courtyard.

The young man barely had time to widen his eyes before the attack struck him.

Blood splashed across the stone floor.

He collapsed.

For a moment, everyone froze.

Then a bright golden light suddenly enveloped his body.

"What?!"

The golden light rose from the fallen cultivator and vanished into the air, leaving his body behind.

Only then did the others understand.

They had killed a real person.

The young man who had been standing among them moments earlier was dead, and the golden light had confirmed his elimination from the trial.

The middle-aged cultivator stared at his own weapon in disbelief.

"I... I thought he was the illusion!"

Nobody answered him.

Their attention had shifted to the figure standing several steps away.

It slowly raised its head.

The strange smile on its face widened.

"Since you’ve already started," it said softly, "why don’t we continue?"

A terrifying aura erupted from its body.

BOOM!

The entire courtyard trembled.

The cultivators’ expressions changed drastically as an overwhelming pressure descended upon them. Their spiritual senses screamed with danger, and several people stumbled backward.

"Run!"

One of them turned toward the archway.

Before he could take more than 2 steps, a powerful attack struck the ground in front of him, sending stone fragments flying through the air.

He was forced backward.

The illusion figure moved.

Its speed was far beyond anything they could follow with their eyes.

A cultivator raised his sword to defend himself, but the weapon shattered the instant the figure struck it. The force sent him crashing into a stone pillar.

He fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

Another cultivator launched a desperate attack from the side.

The figure didn’t even turn to look at him.

It casually waved its hand.

A wave of energy swept across the courtyard, throwing the attacker through the air. He crashed onto the stone floor and struggled to rise, only to collapse again.

"What kind of monster is this?!"

"Everyone, attack together!"

The remaining cultivators desperately unleashed their strongest techniques.

Blades of spiritual energy, flaming attacks, and powerful palm strikes filled the courtyard.

For a brief moment, the entire area was engulfed in brilliant light.

Then the light disappeared.

The figure remained standing in the same place, completely unharmed.

Its smile never faded.

The cultivators stared at it in horror.

Their combined attacks hadn’t even scratched it.

"This... this is a deadly illusion!"

The realization struck them like a bolt of lightning.

They had assumed the maze’s illusions were merely meant to confuse them, perhaps leading them into traps or causing them to lose their way.

They had never imagined that an illusion could possess such terrifying strength.

Worse still, the figure before them wasn’t simply creating false images.

It could attack them.

It could injure them.

And it could kill them.

"Please! We didn’t mean to offend you!"

One cultivator dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.

The figure merely tilted its head.

"Too late."

It raised one hand.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A relentless barrage of attacks descended upon the courtyard.

The cultivators tried to dodge, defend themselves, and flee, but the difference in strength was simply too great. Every attempt to resist ended in failure.

One after another, they fell beneath the overwhelming attacks.

Golden light repeatedly flashed across the courtyard as the fallen cultivators were eliminated from the trial.

The last surviving cultivator desperately crawled toward the archway.

He was only a few steps away when a shadow fell over him.

He slowly looked up.

The smiling figure stood directly in front of him.

"No..."

The figure’s hand descended.

A final explosion shook the courtyard.

When the dust settled, nobody remained standing.

The figure glanced around the empty courtyard, its strange smile unchanged.

Then its body slowly dissolved into countless specks of light.

The courtyard returned to silence.

Only the bloodstained stone floor remained as evidence of what had happened.

Yet the maze showed no sign of acknowledging the tragedy.

The glowing runes continued to illuminate the walls, and somewhere deep within the ancient structure, another formation quietly activated.

The second trial continued.

And the cultivators still trapped inside had no idea that the illusions surrounding them could be far more dangerous than anything they had encountered before.

---

Meanwhile, in another section of the maze, the 10 Lin Clan youngsters stood before a stone wall.

Lin Jue crouched beside it, carefully examining several strange scratches carved into the surface.

"These marks aren’t random," he said after a moment.

Lin Chen stepped closer.

"What did you discover?"

"Look at their arrangement." Lin Jue pointed toward the scratches. "Some lines overlap, while others stop abruptly. They resemble parts of a formation, but I can’t identify the complete pattern."

Lin Yu studied the wall while circulating his spiritual energy.

"There are fluctuations around these marks. They’re faint, but they’re definitely present."

Lin Qing nodded.

"Then we shouldn’t touch anything until we understand what we’re dealing with."

Lin Mo folded his arms.

"Another formation? This place really doesn’t want us to walk in peace."

Lin Zhen glanced at him.

"Would you prefer a formation that attacks us without warning?"

"Of course not. I just want to complain a little."

"Save your complaints for when we’re outside."

Lin Mo clicked his tongue but said nothing more.

Lin Qing turned toward Lin Chen.

"Can you determine anything from the markings?"

Lin Chen carefully examined the scratches from several different angles.

"They might indicate where the formation’s energy gathers or where its influence overlaps with the surrounding space. But I’m not certain yet."

He paused before continuing.

"We shouldn’t assume that understanding the markings will allow us to control the formation. At most, they might help us recognize dangerous areas."

Lin Jue agreed.

"That’s what I think, too. These marks could be clues, but they’re not enough to reveal the entire formation."

Lin Qing considered their words.

"Then we’ll investigate without activating anything. If we encounter an unfamiliar formation, we observe it first and act only when we understand the risks."

The others nodded.

They had already learned that the maze was designed to mislead cultivators. Rushing forward without understanding their surroundings would only invite trouble.

After examining the wall for a little longer, the group continued along the corridor.

Lin Chen paid close attention to the runes carved into the stone, while Lin Yu used his spiritual sense to observe the fluctuations in the surrounding energy. Lin Jue remained alert for any formations concealed beneath the floor or behind the walls.

The remaining youngsters maintained their formation as they advanced.

None of them knew what had happened to the other group.

They also didn’t know that somewhere in the maze, a deadly illusion had already eliminated an entire group of cultivators.

For now, they could only rely on their own judgment and the experience they had gained through training.

---

Deep within the ancient maze, a series of runes suddenly illuminated an otherwise empty corridor.

The light traveled along the walls before disappearing into the darkness.

A faint whisper echoed through the passage.

"Those who mistake illusion for reality shall pay the price."

The corridor trembled.

Stone walls shifted behind the scenes, sealing one passage while opening another. Farther away, formations that had remained dormant for countless years began to awaken.

The maze was changing once again.

And the second trial had only just begun.