“Since you insist, let’s have a contest. If no one makes it to the top in the end, we’ll see who climbed the highest.”
“Fine! It’s a deal!”
Yun Fei rubbed her hands together excitedly and took a large stride onto the steps.
Mu Lingxi followed close behind her, also ascending the stairs.
Meanwhile, on the grand plaza at the summit, a group of Elders each held a Water Mirror, watching the live broadcast of the ascent with great interest.
“Those last two girls to go up… they seem to be that girl from the Evergreen Sect and the daughter of the Demon Sovereign, right? They’ve been getting along quite well these past two days.”
“Getting along? Then you clearly don’t know. Two nights ago, when I was flying by Mount Xuanqing on my sword, I saw with my own eyes the girl from the Demon Race being pinned to the ground and thrashed by the Saintess.”
“Oh, come now—isn’t it normal for young people to bicker and fight? Who didn’t go through that when they were young? Among those of us sitting here, how many haven’t fought each other? Hmm? Speak up!”
“Hey! You old geezer! I think you’re looking for a beating too. Everyone, it just so happens we’re all free today. Why don’t we all band together and give this annoying old man a good thrashing? After all, the one standing here is just a Substitute Doll!”
The woman in fiery red who spoke rubbed her fists, her knuckles letting out a series of sharp cracks.
“Hey! I am the Principal! Hong Niang! Don’t you dare push your luck!”
***
“Ha… ha… this immortal artifact… is quite interesting!”
Yun Fei wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked back at Mu Lingxi, who was trailing a few paces behind her.
“Miss Saintess… can you keep up?”
“Heh… ha… You brat! As I thought, when I was beating you that day, all your wailing and crying was just an act, wasn’t it? Your physical endurance is this strong?”
“What act! It really hurt, okay! I told you, my recovery ability is just high. Miss Saintess, are you the type of person who blames others for being too strong just because you can’t manage? It seems I overestimated you.”
Yun Fei wiped the corner of her mouth and offered Mu Lingxi a look of disdainful provocation.
“Of course not. It’s only because that person is you. You have the right to be held in high regard by me.”
Looking at Mu Lingxi’s sincere face, Yun Fei was momentarily stunned.
“Jeez! Don’t say such mushy things! Seriously… you’re disturbing my mental state! Let’s go, see you at the top!”
Tossing aside the fleeting distraction in her heart, Yun Fei stepped up another level.
By now, the two of them had left the rest of the crowd far behind.
Most people were around the five hundred or six hundred step mark, yet they were already at the 999th step.
When Yun Fei took that next step, she landed exactly on the one-thousandth stair.
Mu Lingxi followed immediately after, also stepping onto the thousandth level.
Is this… an Illusion Realm?
Yun Fei opened her eyes against a bright light, only to see a Peach Blossom Forest.
She was sitting on a swing beneath a peach tree, watching two adorable little girls playing by a nearby lake.
“Who are they? If this is an Illusion Realm… it should be people I’m familiar with. Why don’t I have any impression of them at all?”
Yun Fei stepped off the swing, but upon landing, a sense of discomfort washed over her.
Looking down, she could no longer see her own feet.
All she could see were two massive, soft mounds, and she had also grown slightly taller.
“No! This is definitely not my body!”
How could they be this big?
A flash of panic surged through Yun Fei’s heart.
Ignoring the girls by the lake, she rushed to the water’s edge and looked at the reflection to observe the person inside.
It was a familiar face—if it wasn’t her, then who else could it be?
Currently, she was wearing clothes adorned with pink floral patterns.
Her chest was well-developed, and together with her slender waist and long, jade-white legs, she looked like a portrait of a beautiful hibiscus emerging from the water.
“This is… me?”
Yun Fei looked at the reflection in the water in disbelief, instinctively reaching out to pinch herself.
The sensation was very real, soft and elastic.
Yun Fei turned her head stiffly, focusing her gaze on the two little girls by the lake.
She had to break this Illusion Realm quickly!
However, when she saw the faces of the two little girls, she froze.
“Is it my imagination? Why do they… look so much like me? No… it can’t be!”
A terrifying thought instantly entered Yun Fei’s mind, making her start to tremble.
She slowly walked toward the two little girls.
Her shadow blocked their sunlight, and they looked up with their cute little faces to see who was approaching.
“Ah! It’s Mama! Mama is awake from her nap! Quick! Big sister, go tell Mother!”
One little girl nudged the other, then threw herself into Yun Fei’s arms.
“Xiao Ling! You’re cheating! I want Mama to hold me too!”
As she spoke, the older girl also lunged forward, not caring if there was any room left in Yun Fei’s arms.
Meanwhile, Yun Fei’s brain had completely stalled.
The reason for the stall was simple—it was because of the two words they had shouted: Mama… Mama?!
Finally, Yun Fei snapped back from her collapsing worldview.
Tasting those two mysterious words, she felt very strange inside.
Did they just say they were going to tell the news of her waking up to… Mother?
What is going on! Is this even a normal world!
At that moment, the two little girls suddenly jumped out of her arms and shouted, “Ah! Mother is here!”
Yun Fei immediately turned her head, only to see the person she least wanted to see here—Mu Lingxi!
You’ve got to be kidding me!
It’s confirmed.
This is definitely an Illusion Realm!
But… is the Mu Lingxi in front of her the real Mu Lingxi?
Since they both entered the Illusion Realm at nearly the same time, there was a high probability they would be pulled into the same one.
In Yun Fei’s eyes, Mu Lingxi was dressed in a moon-white gown, holding a floral umbrella as she stood under a peach tree while scattered petals drifted down around her.
“Lingxi…”
Wait! Why did she call her “Lingxi”?
Shouldn’t she have included the surname too!
Mu Lingxi walked slowly toward Yun Fei with the floral umbrella, her face wearing a… gentle smile that felt incredibly foreign to Yun Fei.
For some reason, seeing this expression on Mu Lingxi’s face made Yun Fei feel stranger than ever before…
It was undoubtedly an Illusion Realm!
“Fei…”
Mu Lingxi stopped in front of Yun Fei, her fingers lightly brushing against Yun Fei’s cheek.
“Did I hurt you last night? I’m sorry…”
As she spoke, a deep look of self-reproach flashed across her face.
Yun Fei wanted to break away, but her body wouldn’t listen to her at all.
She realized that she could only think right now; she couldn’t do anything else, and even her words seemed to be pre-programmed.
“It didn’t hurt, Lingxi… If you like, we can continue tonight.”
Yun Fei’s brain thundered.
What kind of words are these!
What kind of talk is that!
Was she the type of person who looked for ways to torment herself?
Furthermore, as she listened to the tone of her own voice… how could it be so flirtatious?
And continuing at night… continuing what, exactly!
“That’s good. As long as Fei isn’t angry with me.”
Calling her ‘Fei’ over and over—is such intimacy necessary?
It’s so mushy…
To be honest, Yun Fei didn’t have much experience in breaking Illusion Realms.
With the Magic Mirror on her person, Illusion Realms usually wouldn’t affect her.
Now, the Magic Mirror must have been blocked by the immortal artifact, the Five Thousand Steps of Ever-bright, and Yun Fei was the one suffering for it.
She had never found Illusion Realms to be so troublesome.
Theoretically, finding a point of instability in the Illusion Realm and breaking it would allow one to shatter the illusion.
The problem was that the control of her body wasn’t even in her hands!
She couldn’t find an instability point either!
If she didn’t get out soon, Mu Lingxi would overtake her!
“How about this, Fei? Didn’t you keep mentioning when we would go to the Mortal Realm again? Now that our business is finished, why don’t we go down now? We’ll bring Rui’er and Xiao Ling. We’ll go as a family, like a vacation. What do you think?”
A family… Yun Fei’s brain suffered another heavy blow.
She had held a small glimmer of hope before, but now that hope had vanished.
This Illusion Realm is too ridiculous, isn’t it?
Of all things to construct, why build something like this to disgust her?
Fine, fine, fine!
The Five Thousand Steps of Ever-bright, right?
An immortal artifact, right?
Daring to prank the future Demon Sovereign… you’ve narrowed your path, kid!
Within a hundred years, this Young Master will definitely tear you off this mountaintop and throw you into the Tianyan Volcano until not a single trace of you is left!
Despite her thoughts, her body moved involuntarily.
“Alright, let’s go down. We haven’t been back in a few years. I wonder how Mother is doing down there… It’s a good chance for her to see our daughters, too.”
“Don’t worry, Sister Bai is staying with her. You know how Sister Bai’s business in the Mortal Realm is. She won’t be suffering.”
“Mm, true. Rui’er, Xiao Ling, come here. How about accompanying Mama and Mother to the Mortal Realm to play?”
“Go to the Mortal Realm? Yay! That’s great!”
Yun Fei’s consciousness sat quietly within this shell, seemingly becoming numb.
Suddenly, her consciousness plummeted for a moment.
When she came to again, the scene before her left her dumbfounded.
Metal skyscrapers stood tall, people came and went on the streets, and their clothing was vastly different from that of the Profane Realm or even the Demon Realm.
There were also strange-looking vehicles moving along a wide road.
Yun Fei forgot for a moment that she was still in an Illusion Realm.
Even with her vast experience, she could hardly have imagined such a sight.
Is this… the Mortal Realm?
Yun Fei suddenly realized she could control her body.
She looked left and right and found that Mu Lingxi and her two daughters were not by her side.
“So… as long as I’m not looking at Mu Lingxi, my body isn’t controlled by the script?”
Yun Fei speculated.
But suddenly, a wave of coldness hit her lower body.
She looked down and found that her attire had also changed.
She was wearing a short white shirt, and her lower half consisted of black leather shorts that barely covered her knees.
Her exposed waist and calves were shamelessly tasting the cool breeze.
The sensation made Yun Fei a bit uncomfortable, even panicked.
She instinctively pulled her legs inward.
“This, this, this… what is this!”
Yun Fei roared in her mind.
On the surface, she pretended to be unperturbed, but the panic in the depths of her eyes was real.
As she looked around, a small hand suddenly pulled at her.
She instinctively looked down; it was Xiao Ling.
“Mama, Mother is calling you inside.”
As she spoke, her little finger pointed toward a grand metal building on the right—the Demon Capital Commerce Association.
Demon Capital Commerce Association?
Right, the previous part of the illusion mentioned that Sister Bai was doing business in the Mortal Realm…
Good grief, do Illusion Realms have to consider narrative consistency too?