Chapter 815: Illusions in the Mist
Jian Chen stared blankly at the pile of dust and asked, “What is that?” During the moment just before, Jian Chen did not manage to see what the ball of white light was.
“Those are fishes that inhabit the area close to the Fantasy Star Ocean and are mutated due to the environments. Its speed is especially quick, and this fish has already reached the strength of a Class 6 Magical Beast. However, it doesn’t possess a monster core. If Saint Rulers don’t pay attention, they can be injured by it.” The Heavenly Enchantress spoke indifferently. She clearly had an extremely great understanding of the place.
Hearing this, Jian Chen was secretly shocked. Class 6 Magical Beasts were like Heaven Saint Masters. With their strength, they were like ants before Saint Rulers, and could be crushed with a twitch of a finger. They posed no threat to Saint Rulers at all. However, Saint Rulers would be suppressed within the mist of the Fantasy Star Ocean; not only would they lose their ability to control Spatial Force and have their senses decreased, their vision would also be limited to three meters, greatly decreasing their strength. With that, it would be a great opportunity for Class 6 Magical Beasts to slay a Saint Ruler.
The two of them continued their way in the mist. However, with the attack from the weird fish earlier, Jian Chen became even more vigilant. The soybean-sized chaotic neidan in his dantian spat out large amounts of Chaotic Force without holding back at all, filling Jian Chen’s entire body. He had pushed the power of the Chaotic Force to the extent that even if he suffered a blow from a Third Heavenly Layer Saint Ruler, he would not be harmed at all.
As they advanced deeper and deeper, the weird mist also became thicker and thicker. Jian Chen’s range of vision had already shrunken to two meters instead of three, with only a misty-white screen to see. In here, Jian Chen’s senses were suppressed; he even lost the simplest feelings of direction. He only followed the Heaven Enchantress and advanced slowly, and the distance between them had already shrunken to half a meter. Jian Chen could even smell the faint, alluring fragrance of the Heavenly Enchantress.
“Senior, just how large is this area? How much longer do we need to travel to pass through this region?” Jian Chen turned towards the Heavenly Enchantress and asked. Although the two of them were only separated by half a meter, the Heavenly Enchantress still unable to be made out clearly, seeming like a blurry, purple figure to Jian Chen.
“We need to travel a hundred kilometres to get out of this mist. With our current speed, it should take six hours.” The Heavenly Enchantress spoke indifferently while her bewitching phoenix eyes flickered, vigilantly observing the surroundings.
At that very moment, another few streaks of white light shot from the surroundings with lightning speed. As they approached the two of them, they were only discovered when they were two meters away, and arrived before Jian Chen and the Heavenly Enchantress instantly.
Jian Chen remained calm and attacked the white streak without any hesitation. The white streaks were made up of the mutated fish traveling at great speeds, and were only equivalent to Heaven Saint Masters at most. Such a weak attack could not harm him at all.
Just as the streaks of light were about to strike the two of them, a clear note suddenly rang out. It turned into a visible sound wave that expanded into the surroundings. As the streaks of light came into contact with the sound wave they immediately turned into a pile of dust, shaken apart by the zither note.
With that, Jian Chen narrowed his eyes slightly in a way it could not be detected. His acknowledgements for the enchantress’s strength increased by a level; with just a casual note, she could display such strength. Even if there were more Heaven Saint Masters, they would definitely not be able to withstand the strength of her notes.
Continuing onwards, Jian Chen and Heaven Enchantress both suffered constant attacks from the mutated fish; the number had also increased from the original single fish to thousands at once. However, the fish were only as powerful as Class 6 Magical Beasts; no matter how many came, they could not withstand the Heaven Enchantress’s zither. With just a single note, it was enough to shake hundreds or thousands of Class 6 Magical Beasts to death.
The two of them flew steadily through the fog for two hours, traversing over eighty kilometres. They passed through the region of fog and arrived at the outskirts of the Fantasy Star Ocean.
The deeper they went, the thicker the mist became. After over eight kilometres, the mist had basically corporealized. Currently, Jian Chen was unable to see anything at all; if he extended his hands, he would even lose visibility of his fingers. The Heavenly Enchantress also disappeared completely. Only the faint fragrance at Jian Chen’s nose signified her existence. This had made Jian Chen virtually reliant on his nose to detect where she was, using the fragrance from her body.
Suddenly, Jian Chen felt the mist before him surge violently. Shortly afterwards, a blurry figure suddenly appeared, before quickly becoming clearly visible. It was a white-robed, graceful, middle-aged beauty, and she was currently smiling benevolently at Jian Chen.
Jian Chen stared blankly at the woman before him, while his emotions were overwhelmed by disbelief. Along with it was an odd pain.
“Xiang’er, why have you come here? Have you come to visit your mother?” The graceful woman spoke softly. Her benevolent smile immediately melted Jian Chen’s rock-hard heart.
“Mother!” Jian Chen unconsciously called out. His voice was filled with sorrow, and even his eyes became rather bloodshot.
Although the illusion affected Jian Chen’s vision, it did not confuse Jian Chen. He knew that his mother was dead, and that her body was currently stored in Mercenary City, awaiting to be revived after he had become a Class 7 Radiant Saint Master. But even though it was like that, Bi Yuntian’s appearance still affected Jian Chen psychologically. He was unable to ignore it completely.
“All you see are illusions. Don’t fall for it, or your consciousness will be submerged by it and you’ll be trapped within it.” The Heavenly Enchantress’s voice appeared in Jian Chen’s ears. Her nature-like voice carried a bewitching charm, possessing the ability of calming people. It was as if it could awaken people from illusions.
Jian Chen’s heart beat heavily. A while later, he sucked in a deep breath and slowly calmed down, forcing himself to not look at his mother. He continued to fly forwards, following the Heavenly Enchantress.
“Xiang’er, what’s happened to you? I’m your mother. Do you no longer recognise your mother? Xiang’er, you can’t forget your mother. You’re mother’s only son, I can’t go on without you.” Bi Yuntian suddenly became sorrowful, crying out her heart. She was in anguish.
Jian Chen’s heart began to tremble violently, and he tightly clenched his hands. He knew that it was an illusion from the mist, so he was unable to do anything about it. All he could do was remain clear-headed and not fall into it.
At that very moment, Jian Chen’s body jerked violently. To his side, he suddenly saw his father, Changyang Ba, fleeing whilst covered in blood, with some sneering Earth Saint Masters pursuing him.
“Xiang’er, save me, please save me. I’m your father!” Suddenly, Changyang Ba, with his bloody face, saw Jian Chen and cried out for help. His voice was extremely miserable.
Jian Chen’s body began to tremble violently while a monstrous killing intent had already appeared in his heart. He could not help but connect Changyang Ba’s current appearance to the deaths of his parents, as if it were the five old men killing his parents one again.
“This is all an illusion. My parents are already dead, and I’ve left them at Mercenary City.” Jian Chen constantly mumbled to himself, forcing himself to calm down. Although he knew this was all just an illusion, what was happening was actually Jian Chen’s greatest anguish.
“Xiang’er, save me. I’m your father.” Changyang Ba called out for help once again. His despaired voice was heard by Jian Chen, painfully piercing Jian Chen’s heart.
“Argh!” A miserable cry came from Changyang Ba. The people pursuing him had already blocked him, while one of them had stabbed through Changyang Ba’s chest with his Saint Weapon. He was currently speaking to Changyang Ba with a sneer.
Changyang Ba collapsed in a pool of blood. His clothes were dyed red by the blood, and even the ground had become red.
“Xiang- Xiang’er… Xiang’er… save- save- save your father…” Changyang Ba looked towards Jian Chen lifelessly, and spoke weakly. The light in his eyes was quickly disappearing, soon becoming dull. In the end, he laid on the ground, unmoving.
Jian Chen’s heart trembled greatly, while deep pangs of pain filled his heart. Two streaks of sorrowful tears flowed from his eyes without any control. Although he was a Saint Ruler, he viewed his parents too importantly. It was an unimaginable mental blow to Jian Chen for his parents to die in front of him. He was no longer able to keep calm.
This was because Jian Chen’s greatest source of grief was what happened to his parents. The illusion conjured by the mist had already deeply affected Jian Chen.
“Argh!” Jian Chen roared powerfully at the sky. The sound was earth-shaking, resounding in the entire region. With the roar, a great aura, along with extremely dense killing intent, began to radiate from his body, and the Dragon Slaying Sword immediately appeared in his hands. The Chaotic Force in his body poured steadily into the sword, causing it to glow brightly with its dark light. Afterwards, Jian Chen swung it towards the Earth Saint Masters who killed Changyang Ba with a devastating aura.
Thrum!
Suddenly, a loud and clear zither sound, like a huge bell, appeared. A powerful sound wave with visible ripples collided with the Dragon Slaying Sword, and the powerful strike directly forced the sword to bounce backwards.
Not only did the bell-like sound block Jian Chen’s attack, the remaining sound waves entered Jian Chen’s mind. It collided with his spirit like a boulder, causing Jian Chen to feel like his head was exploding. He could not help but cry out painfully.
“Hmph, to think you’re a Saint Ruler. Just a mere, substandard illusion’s got you good. This is only the very outskirts of the Fantasy Star Ocean; there’s even more powerful illusion further on in. I really wonder how you’re going to handle those.” The Heavenly Enchantress’s cold voice suddenly appeared in Jian Chen’s mind.
Jian Chen immediately snapped back to reality. Before, when he had swung his sword at the enemies that killed his parents, he had actually swung towards the Heavenly Enchantress.