Chapter 63: Unpredictable and Ever-Changing

Hua Sheng looked again at Mieying’s chair, which had somehow landed firmly on the floor.

The person sitting on it...

No! The one sitting on the chair was not Mieying Xiaoqi! Who could it be?

Though Hua Sheng could not see clearly, he could sense that the figure in the chair did not resemble a person, but rather some sort of... thing?

The scene unfolding before his eyes showed a human shadow indeed bound to the chair, but it could only loosely be called a "shadow."

It bore no resemblance to any of the Mieying sisters he had seen before!

Though the silhouette possessed the general outline of a girl’s body, it remained completely obscured.

The girl’s form was enveloped in a strange, shimmering moiré pattern, as if no one actually occupied that space, and the humanoid volume was merely filled with undulating ripples.

"Mieying! Mieying! Where are you!"

Hua Sheng could not confirm how loudly he was shouting, as his ears had lost their hearing. Yet, unable to mind such details, he simply kept calling out.

Amidst the ringing in his ears, the moiré patterns and overlapping shadows of the female silhouette converged slightly, though it was still impossible to tell who she was.

"Hehehehe..."

A strange laughter echoed from within the girl's silhouette.

Normally, Hua Sheng should not have been able to hear it, but this laughter pierced through everything, penetrating his skull and entering his mind without even needing the aid of his senses.

At that moment, the white-robed man was swinging his soul-cleansing wand wildly, and Jane was shaking her head desperately in an attempt to shake off the tinnitus.

Yet all the candles in the room remained frozen, without the slightest flicker. The burning flames looked like glowing pictures pasted in place.

The motionless candle flames made it seem as though time had stopped. However, neither the white-robed man nor Jane had stopped; time was clearly still flowing.

It was just that the surrounding world had ceased to function for everything except them.

The seated figure with the girl's silhouette muttered to herself.

Hua Sheng could hear the words she uttered:

"The path of spells severed by a single thought, the nine heavens mute and wandering in the void."

Hua Sheng did not understand the meaning. He looked at the silhouette, wanting to speak, when the figure spoke again:

"Absurd, utterly absurd! The path of spells... these grand and nonsensical words, what are they in the end but scattered gibberish upon the ground? Deluding oneself into such dreams, only to fall into a millet dream, ultimately leaving not even half a grain of dust behind."

Regardless of her surroundings, she simply recited to herself.

"In this world, clarity and turbidity cannot be seen through, right and wrong cannot be distinguished. You would do well to stop while you still can."

The figure's words were disjointed and made no sense.

Though he could not see clearly, Hua Sheng could sense that the strange figure—possessing only a blurred outline—had raised her head, glared directly at him, and said:

"My name is not Mieying!!"

Strange moiré patterns coiled around the woman, and her voice became bizarre, making it impossible to tell whether it came from a man or a woman. A voice that shifted between male and female emanated from the silhouette.

"My name is: Illusion."

Hua Sheng was stunned.

Illusion?

What kind of name was that?

Why would "Illusion" appear in this room in place of Mieying?

Hua Sheng discovered that the magical ropes that had previously bound him behind his back had somehow grown slack. Impatiently, he broke free and quickly tore away the blood-stained ropes tied around his ankles.

Looking closer at the iron-inlaid gold-hoop chain, he saw that the orange-red flame at the center of the pendant had recovered its light.

Overjoyed, he shouted: "Swiftly as the law commands! As-you-will Golden-Hoop Staff!"

The iron-inlaid gold-hoop chain flashed brilliantly as the Ruyi Jingu Bang flew forth from the pendant!

Hua Sheng stretched out his palm to catch it, but unexpectedly, the staff was exceptionally heavy—impossible to catch with one hand! With a snap, it slipped from his grasp and plummeted, nearly breaking his wrist.

Immediately afterward, the golden-hoop staff fell with thunderous momentum. Hua Sheng heard a loud crash as the staff struck the floor, leaving a deep indentation in the wooden boards.

Hua Sheng immediately leaned down to snatch up the golden-hoop staff, but the moment he touched it, it felt like grabbing a handle firmly anchored into the floor, and he was violently thrown backward onto the ground.

He hurriedly mustered all his strength to pull it, but no matter what he did, he could not lift the golden-hoop staff.

Not only could he not wield it, but the staff seemed like an ornament embedded in the floor, immovable by even a fraction of an inch no matter how he pushed or pulled.

Hua Sheng could not even insert his fingertips into the gap between the wooden floor and the golden-hoop staff.

What was going on!

"Swiftly as the law commands!" Chanting the Herculean spell, Hua Sheng reached out his other hand to help.

He grabbed it with both hands, yet the golden-hoop staff remained utterly motionless, as though fused with the ground.

Hua Sheng found it hard to believe. Ever since Sun Wukong had agreed to lend him the golden-hoop staff, there had never been a time he failed to lift it.

The golden-hoop staff weighed only thirteen thousand five hundred catties.

Even at a hundred thousand catties, or even with the weight of this entire room, Hua Sheng's magic should have made it easy to lift. Why couldn't he budge it by the slightest fraction today?

The ringing in his ears subsided slightly, allowing him to gradually hear the sounds inside the room.

Hua Sheng looked up and saw that the white-robed man had also regained his senses. The man drew his soul-cleansing wand, aimed it at the "silhouette," and chanted a spell.

Seeing that he was about to use the soul-cleansing technique again, Hua Sheng prepared to step forward to stop him, only to find that the soul-cleansing wand showed no reaction whatsoever.

The spell failed! The man hurriedly chanted it once more.

Yet the wand now behaved like an ordinary tree branch, unresponsive to the spells the man uttered.

The one called "Illusion" began to giggle again, murmuring: "Look! This is hell!"

Seeing that the white-robed man was caught off guard and realizing an opportunity, Hua Sheng formed a celestial hand-seal with his right hand, pointed two fingers at the white-robed man, and shouted: "Swiftly as the law commands! Ice Spell!"

Nothing happened at all! It was identical to the failure of the white-robed man's spell.

He chanted again: "Swiftly as the law commands! Fire Control Spell!"

Yet, acting like a mortal utterly devoid of celestial arts, every single incantation he recited lost its effect.

Looking back at the Ruyi Jingu Bang on the ground, the golden-hoop staff had vanished once more. The hoop chain lay there on the floor, devoid of light just as before.

Hua Sheng suddenly realized: the "path of spells" had vanished!

All these bizarre phenomena were undoubtedly connected to the "Illusion" before them; she seemed capable of ascending to a higher tier to control the very rules of this world!

Though this was merely a guess, how on earth could she accomplish such a feat? Celestial arts and magic operated on entirely different principles.

What method had "Illusion" used? Or, as her name suggested, was all of this merely an illusion cast by her? What kind of formation had she deployed to instantly render all powers invalid?

Jane had also broken free from her bindings and drawn her wand from within her robes. She shouted toward the white-robed man: "Lightning Spell!"

Yet, just as expected, none of the magic produced any reaction.

A panicked expression crossed Jane's face as she blurted out to Hua Sheng: "What is going on!"

Hua Sheng answered with a solemn expression: "All the spells have failed!"

Before he could say another word, the white-robed man snatched up a decorative dagger resting on the mantelpiece.

He pulled the dagger from its sheath; the blade had clearly been sharpened, reflecting a chilling, lethal gleam.

He lunged straight at Hua Sheng!

Too slow to dodge in time, Hua Sheng instinctively raised his hand to block. The dagger slashed across his palm, instantly opening a deep gash.

Accompanied by a piercing, agonizing pain, Hua Sheng's blood sprayed from his palm and splattered onto the floor.

"We can't rely on magic anymore!" Hua Sheng shouted.

Seeing that Hua Sheng was injured, the white-robed man turned and lunged at Jane with the dagger.

Jane had no choice but to temporarily use her wand to parry. At that moment, the wand was nothing more than a wooden stick, and a strike from the dagger sent it flying.

The useless wand struck the wall with a sharp crack.

Left empty-handed, Jane panicked.

Noticing the white-robed man's attention shift to Jane, Hua Sheng immediately lunged forward and grabbed the white-robed man's dagger-wielding wrist with both hands.

Only then did he realize that his opponent possessed a sturdy build and brute strength in his arms.

Hua Sheng had to muster every ounce of his strength just to barely restrain the man's wrist.

The white robe of the man was instantly stained red by Hua Sheng's blood, making Hua Sheng's blood-soaked hands slippery and difficult to hold on to. Realizing he could not wrest the dagger away, in his desperation, he slammed his forehead directly into the bridge of the man's nose!