“Shatter!!”

Instead of looking pained or anything, Bai Yunfei was instead bursting with radiance as he let out a loud roar!

A wave of soulforce exploded from his body, but it didn’t interact much with the energy around him. The only difference was that a mirage-like light was now beginning to rise from his left wrist!

The Charm Bracelet!

Bai Yunfei had activated its effects at once and without hesitation. Like the shining light of a new day, the intensity of the light coming from the bracelet seemed to contain an endless amount of energy. Its light covered everything around Bai Yunfei and began to make the air tremble!

Another flash of light erupted from the Charm Bracelet before its effects were made clear. Like snow under the intense sun, the scenery around Bai Yunfei began to disappear!

The first to change was the ‘Gu Lianhun’ in front of Bai Yunfei. Once touched by the light from the Charm Bracelet, Gu Lianhun disappeared from the world as if erased!

The light continued beyond Gu Lianhun into the surrounding world, shattering it into thousands of pieces like glass. Watching as everything fell apart around him, Bai Yunfei noticed several people appear in his vision.

Shen Pojun, the Frostfeather Saint, Li Chengfeng, and Jing Mingfeng!

They were standing all around Bai Yunfei: Li Chengfeng stood twenty steps to his left with the Meteoric Edge in his hand. His soulforce was blazing around him as he took up a defensive stance.

Shen Pojun was a little farther away on the right side, each of his three soul armaments floating protectively around him. He looked contemplative, as if he was deep in thought about something.

The Frostfeather Saint stood even farther right then Shen Pojun and had both his arms spread outward to spread an icy aura everywhere. Like Shen Pojun, the Frostfeather Saint was also deep in thought.

Jing Mingfeng stood the farthest away from Bai Yunfei, but he was the one that looked the most ‘serious’. His soulforce was out in full blaze and his right hand held a gray dagger that danced and flitted through the air swiftly. Even more strange was how his face and eyes looked extraordinarily hateful as he attacked at the air in front of him.

“Eh?!”

Everything changed when Bai Yunfei looked at them. Both Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint turned their heads around at the same time while Li Chengfeng looked confused and Jing Mingfeng paused his attack to stare at the void in front of him.

“I knew it!!”

Bai Yunfei’s eyes narrowed with happy clarity as he realized what was going on.

They were standing in a long corridor, but Gu Lianhun was nowhere in sight. Bai Yunfei looked down at his chest but found nothing strange, not even a wound. His left shoulder was just as spotless, though Bai Yunfei noted that there was still some remaining blood from his lips. The pain he felt from his soul was nowhere to be felt either, though he still felt the exertion of being in Berserk Mode. And both the +10 additional effects of the Returner Armor and the Core Stone were still on cooldown.

Bai Yunfei raised his left hand to inspect the Charm bracelet on it. The light was gone from it now, leaving the soul armament inert. He also noted that the +12 additional effect was on cooldown now too.

Unique Equipment

Equipment Grade: High Earth

Elemental Affinity: Illusion, Fire

Upgrade Level: +12

Attribute: +800 Spirit

Additional Attribute: +50 Charm

Soul Compatibility: 50%

Equipment Effect: Reduce damage taken by illusions by 40%.

+10 Additional Effect: Consume soulforce to establish a mental link with anyone within a kilometer.

+12 Additional Effect: Become immune to any illusion upon activation. If already afflicted by one, immediately break free from it.

Cooldown of 1 hour.

Upgrade Requirement: 110 Soulpoints

—What Bai Yunfei used just now was the +12 additional effect!

The ability to shatter illusions!

……

Exactly! Everything that happened just now, including Gu Lianhun’s appearance and the battle to the death…was all an illusion!

An illusion matrix!

This was what caused the Wind Saint to be injured and forced him to turn back!

It was activated when Bai Yunfei and the group made it past the rain of swords earlier. When they stepped into the hall, the illusion matrix activated and plunged them all into it!

The matrix wasn’t separate from the rain of swords, the two were connected to one another by their exit and entrance!

No one would’ve expected the palace to have such a thing in place.

This was the first time Bai Yunfei had ever come across such a thing. The Charm Bracelet did its job by reducing the matrix’s effects by nearly in half, so Bai Yunfei was astounded that he was barely able to hold out even after all that!

Spotting an illusion is an easy task, normally speaking. The Charm Bracelet would’ve weakened any illusion Bai Yunfei didn’t manage to spot and make him realize he was in one.

But this illusion was far too strong for Bai Yunfei to realize he was stuck in an illusion even after it was weakened. Just seeing ‘Gu Lianhun’ made him panic far too much to notice the Charm Bracelet’s activation, and experiencing those attacks further tossed him into the effects of the illusion…

Everything in the illusion matrix was fake, of that, but Bai Yunfei was absolutely confident that death was definitely possible if he didn’t catch on fast enough…

The pain in chest and shoulder were fake, but the pain in his soul was definitely real!

So it was truly fortunate that Bai Yunfei managed to catch onto the fact that he was in an illusion and used the +12 additional effect of the Charm Bracelet to shatter it!

Without that ability to do so, Bai Yunfei was sure breaking free would be impossible. He wasn’t confident that just knowing he was in an illusion would ensure his safety. It was possible the illusion would still be capable of rendering harm for as long as it was active, since the Wind Saint was clearly injured by it even after he left the place.

Not even Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint were able to escape the illusion’s effects. They didn’t do anything as drastic as Bai Yunfei such as when he activated Berserk Mode or made use of his soul armaments, but they were definitely concentrating hard to ward off the most of the illusions’s effects. As hard as they might, the illusion was still far too strong for them to break free from. Li Chengfeng and Jing Mingfeng were both in the same boat as Bai Yunfei, but Jing Mingfeng was definitely feeling its effects even harder than the others.

Were the illusion to continue, Bai Yunfei, Li Chengfeng, and Jing Mingfeng would most likely fall prey to the illusions.

Fortunately for them, the +12 additional effect of the Charm Bracelet was an extremely powerful weapon against illusions! Thanks to Bai Yunfei’s insight on upgrading things to +12, he now had a powerful anti-illusion item!

……

“Yunfei…were you the one to dispel that illusion?”

It was a surprised Shen Pojun that asked once he and the Frostfeather Saint returned to Bai Yunfei’s side.

Bai Yunfei nodded. “It was really close. It’d been over for me if I didn’t realize in time.”

“Ah…” Shen Pojun let out a long sigh of relief after Bai Yunfei confirmed his question. “Is this the ‘illusion-breaker’ you’ve mentioned before?” He nodded at the Charm Bracelet on his left arm, “How magical that it’s capable of shattering an illusion so quickly…”

“Yunfei.”

“Ol’Bai…what was all that just now?!”

Li Chengfeng and Jing Mingfeng both called out to Bai Yunfei at the same time.

“Are you alright, Mingfeng?”

Gone was the hatred on Jing Mingfeng’s face. His soulforce was considerably weaker than before, leaving him to look more fatigued than before. “Were we stuck in an illusion just now?!” He asked, a hand to his chest in concern. “Dear heavens…that was strong…I was just about to self-destruct against my enemy!! The Wind Saint left behind information on this illusion matrix, but I didn’t think it’d happen the way it did!”

It frightened Bai Yunfei to hear that Jing Mingfeng had nearly self-destructed, but he was happy that that was prevented.

……

The illusion was gone, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t return. No one wanted to be there for such a case, so the group immediately traveled onward.

They traveled for a little longer before finally coming across their very first ‘corner’.

At the very end of the pathway was the entrance to another hall. But right before that entrance was yet another pathway that extended to the right.

“What’s going on?”

Everyone was confused. Neither the Wind Saint nor the Saint of Fate recorded such a thing in their records.

In other words, this was a place neither Saints managed to come across.

No one in the group was willing to abandon such a ‘special’ area just because it was an unknown thing. After a moment of silence, Shen Pojun and the Frostfeather Saint nodded to one another.

“You three follow behind us. Be careful.”

Shen Pojun warned them before cautiously advancing to the new area…

They all expected to see a new barrier of some kind once they entered the hall. But instead of that, they were all stunned at the sight in front of them…

“This is…”