The Badan Family Mansion cast a long shadow under the afternoon sun.
Dongfang Jiang stood outside the Council Chamber door, watching Yisela’s figure disappear behind it.
He looked down at the outfit he was wearing—matching Yisela’s—and the corner of his mouth curled up unconsciously.
“Blockhead… huh?”
He softly repeated Yisela’s last words before she closed the door, but before he could think further, a strange light flashed from the window at the end of the corridor.
That light was not a reflection of the sun.
It seemed alive, twisting in the air for a moment, then silently exploded.
Dongfang Jiang instinctively tried to channel the energy within his body, but his movements were a beat too slow—a transparent mist had already enveloped his entire body.
His consciousness felt as if someone had violently dragged him into deep water.
Everything around him began to twist and warp.
“This is… Illusion Magic?!”
He heard his own voice echoing in his ears, but that voice grew farther and farther away, more and more blurred.
In his vision, the corridor began to spin.
The paintings on the walls twisted into ghostly faces.
The carpet under his feet turned into a surging quagmire.
“Both directly attack the five senses, but the killing power is so different?”
Compared to the Illusion Magic that Yisela used earlier, this opponent’s Illusion Magic was more vicious.
The damage from the sensory imbalance made Dongfang Jiang feel like he couldn’t breathe.
Dongfang Jiang’s body stood rigidly in place, his eyes losing focus.
His consciousness was trapped in an endless white space.
No matter which direction he walked, he could not see an end.
And at the other end of the corridor, a figure draped in a black cloak slowly emerged.
It was a middle-aged man with a sinister face, wearing a ring that flickered with purple-white light on the ring finger of his right hand.
The ring’s iridescence seemed alive, constantly changing colors, refracting dizzying light.
Illusionist Moriya, holder of an S-rank ring, and also one of the few Illusionists by Kaxiu’s side.
“This guy who caused our little Kaxiu so much trouble is nothing much… I thought I’d need a bit more effort to take you down.”
Moriya walked up to Dongfang Jiang, raised a hand and waved it in front of his eyes.
After confirming that Dongfang Jiang had no reaction, he had just let out a sigh of relief and was about to continue taunting when he felt a suffocating pressure emanating from Dongfang Jiang’s surroundings.
“Not good.”
Moriya sensed something was wrong and immediately retreated several meters.
He saw that within a radius of several meters around Dongfang Jiang, the ground was sinking.
The closer to Dongfang Jiang, the more severe the sinkhole.
Moriya condensed his energy into a poisonous thorn to quickly finish off Dongfang Jiang, but before the thorn could even approach Dongfang Jiang, it fell to the ground due to Dongfang Jiang’s control.
Dongfang Jiang’s monstrous combat prowess made Moriya swallow hard.
He knew that if Dongfang Jiang had not been ambushed by him, he would have been turned into mincemeat before the Illusion Magic could take effect.
“Lord Kaxiu was right. Once we take care of this most troublesome guy, the rest will be like catching turtles in a jar.”
Moriya sneered, turned around, and walked toward the Council Chamber.
He didn’t notice that the Earth Ring on Dongfang Jiang’s right index finger was emitting an extremely faint glow.
Since Dongfang Jiang was taken care of, the next step was naturally to strike the Badan Family.
Moriya kicked open the door to the Council Chamber.
Duke Yigenaxiu stood up abruptly, his hand already on the sword at his waist.
But when he saw the newcomer, his expression shifted from alert to solemn.
“Moriya…”
“Long time no see, Lord Yigenaxiu. I’ve missed you terribly.”
Moriya strode slowly into the Council Chamber.
Behind him followed three assassins wearing A-rank rings, their rings flashing with crimson, emerald, and deep purple light respectively.
“Where is your daughter? Hand her over, and I’ll let you die with some dignity.”
“Looking for me, Mr. Moriya?”
Yisela’s voice came from behind Moriya.
Moriya spun around sharply and saw Yisela leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, her golden hair gleaming in the afternoon sun.
On the ring finger of her right hand, the yellow Desert Ring was emitting a gentle glow.
“Heh, as expected of the Badan Family’s genius Illusionist. When did you get behind me?”
Moriya licked his lips, a glint of excitement flashing in his eyes.
“Too bad, your opponent is me—holder of the S-rank Aurora Ring. Among all Illusion Rings, if mine ranks second, no ring dares to claim first.”
“Is that so?”
Yisela smiled slightly, her body beginning to turn transparent, as if she was about to blend into the air.
“Then try it.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, two invisible forces collided in the Council Chamber.
Yigenaxiu and the three A-rank assassins simultaneously felt dizzy and disoriented.
The floor beneath their feet began to distort.
The tapestries on the walls became living creatures.
The chandelier overhead turned into a giant spider, its eight legs flailing in the air.
This was a duel between Illusionists.
It wasn’t about who had the harder punch, but who had the stronger will.
Moriya raised his right hand, and the Aurora Ring burst with blinding light.
The illusions in the entire Council Chamber instantly became even more chaotic.
The tables and chairs turned into skeletons, the floor turned into a pool of blood, and the air filled with a suffocating stench of decay.
“Your Illusion Magic is too gentle, Yisela. Let me teach you a lesson, hahaha.”
Moriya grinned viciously, walking toward her step by step.
Yisela instinctively wanted to retreat, but hands emerging from the blood pool grabbed her skirt.
“True Illusion Magic is meant to crush the enemy’s will, drive them mad with fear, and make them die in despair!”
Yisela said nothing, but fine beads of sweat had already formed on her forehead.
Moriya’s Illusion Magic was indeed stronger than hers.
Her Illusion Magic was more adept at confusing and misleading, while Moriya’s was a naked mental assault.
But she couldn’t retreat.
Outside the Council Chamber, Dongfang Jiang was still struggling in the Illusion Magic.
Inside, her father was still behind her.
“What are you thinking? Thinking about that kid outside?”
Moriya caught her distraction, and the Aurora Ring’s glow grew even more dazzling.
“Don’t bother thinking. He’s already caught in my Illusion Magic, probably walking in circles in an endless white desert right now. By the time he wakes up, the chives will have gone cold—no, you both will have gone cold.”
Yisela clenched her teeth.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Dongfang Jiang’s face surfaced in her mind.
The youth who, at her most desperate moment, held her hand and said, “Leave the rest to me.”
The blockhead who, when he put on the couple outfit she had prepared, would scratch his head with embarrassment.
The idiot who, when she asked him, “Who’s better, me or Pandana,” would seriously reply, “You each have your own strengths.”
“Thank you, Brother Dongfang.”
Yisela opened her eyes, a resolute glint flashing in them.
“Because of you, I realized… that Illusion Magic has another use.”
Her Desert Ring erupted with unprecedented light—not a blinding light, but a warm, golden light, like a sunset in the desert, like the afterglow of dusk.
Moriya’s pupils contracted sharply.
“This is…”
“It’s not just fear that can bring down an enemy, Mr. Moriya.”
Yisela’s voice became ethereal, as if coming from a very distant place.
“Hope, warmth, trust… these positive emotions can also destroy a person’s will.”
The golden light spread, and wherever it touched, Moriya’s blood pool turned into a garden, skeletons turned into blooming flowers, and the stench of decay turned into a faint floral fragrance.
Moriya felt his consciousness being eroded.
The original illusion had been reversed by Yisela.
He frantically drove his ring, and the multicolored light fiercely clashed with the golden light in the air.
But Moriya found that his Illusion Magic was still being reversed by Yisela.
Not suppressed, but transformed.
Yisela’s Desert Ring was turning his illusion into her own domain.
“How is this possible… My ring is S-rank…”
“The rank of a ring doesn’t mean everything.”
A trace of blood trickled from the corner of Yisela’s mouth.
Her body had already begun to tremble, but she did not stop.
“An S-rank ring, if its user is corrupt at heart, will also become tarnished.”
“And you, Mr. Moriya—your heart has long been filthy.”
The golden light completely swallowed the multicolored light.
Moriya let out a piercing scream, and his body fell straight down like a marionette with its strings cut.
The light on his ring instantly dimmed, becoming an ordinary gray ring.
Yisela stood in the center of the Council Chamber as the golden light slowly dissipated.
She had done it, but the price was enormous.
Yisela’s face was as pale as paper, her lips devoid of any color, and the ring finger of her right hand trembled uncontrollably.
“Yisela!”
Yigenaxiu rushed over to support her.
Yisela shook her head and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“Father… go get Brother Dongfang… his Illusion Magic hasn’t been undone yet…”
As soon as she finished speaking, heavy footsteps came from outside the Council Chamber.