Stranger Danger

He was just an inexperienced scholar at the time, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that he was as timid as a mouse. As a result, his nights were haunted by nightmares of his victims seeking to repay what he did to him and skin alive.

Even now after he had mastered the “Art of Skin Painting” in full, the nightmares still haunted him from time to time. It was practically his heart demon at this point.

Just now, he saw his victims coming back to life and demanding that he repaid his evil karma by surrendering his life and his skin. That was why he was as terrified and panicked as he was.

As for the Limp Celestial, he was a victim of a natural disaster that resulted in tens of thousands of civilians dying of starvation. He had been this close from starving to death himself. That was why he was obsessed with food from a young age, and why delicious food was the love of his life.

In his illusion, he was treated to an endless sea of delicious food of all kinds. They were perfect in every way including appearance, smell, taste and more. Once he ate his first “food”, he was unable to stop no matter what.

What they experienced in the illusions were some of their darkest secrets, fears and desires. Of course they couldn’t tell Xie Taohua about it.

“Please don’t misunderstand. I was just curious. If you don’t wish to talk about it, then so it shall be,” Xie Taohua said a little disappointedly. “I can tell I am not welcomed, so I’ll be taking my leave now. Try not to succumb to the illusions again, okay?”

“You misunderstand, Brother Xie. Rest assured that we have nothing against you,” Skin Painting Gentleman hurriedly explained before asking, “Do you know something about the illusion, brother?”

Xie Taohua shook his head. “Not at all! I only know from observation that it changes depending on the person’s perception, emotion and mental weakness. If you’re not careful, then you may never awake again. I can tell that all three of you have chinks in your mental defenses, so you should leave this mountain while you still can.”

Xie Taohua got ready to leave after saying that.

“Thank you, Brother Xie, but we’ve already come this far. We must catch a glimpse of that treasure if nothing else,” Skin Painting Gentleman replied.

The fact that the phenomenon was so dangerous proved that whatever treasure resided at the peak of the mountain was incredibly potent. Opportunities like this one came only once in a lifetime, so they would be remiss to give up without having given it their all.

“It’s just my advice. It’s not up to me whether you heed it or not,” Xie Taohua said uncaringly as he began to leave.

“Wait, Brother Xie!”

Limp Celestial, Skin Painting Gentleman and Tiger Sovereign exchanged glances with each other before calling out to the feminine man. “It looks like you’re planning to ascend the mountain as well, and we now know just how strange and dangerous this place is. If you don’t mind, can we join you on your journey? Four heads are better than one, right?”

“My companions are right, Brother Xie. We can help each other out if the situation gets dicey,” Skin Painting Gentleman added.

Xie Taohua tilted his head for a moment before nodding. “Well, okay. I was feeling a bit bored anyway.”

He smiled and walked back to the trio. Not a hint of wariness could be spotted from his features.

Skin Painting Gentleman frowned a little. He couldn’t quite figure out the feminine man despite his best efforts. Was he really as innocent and simple as he seemed, or was he so confident in his strength that he thought he could drop their guard around them?

It was most likely the latter.

That was fine though. In fact, it was precisely why he invited Xie Taohua to join them. Xie Taohua possessed the strength to resist the phenomenon’s anomalous illusions. Naturally, their ascent would be that much smoother with his aid.

As for whether Xie Taohua would fight them over the treasure after they reached the top, he wasn’t too worried. There were three of them and only one of Xie Taohua. He refused to believe that he could defeat them all alone.

If Xie Taohua really was so strong that he could defeat them all singlehandedly, then why would he agree to join him? It would be much better and convenient for him to ascend the mountain alone, wouldn’t it?

“What are you waiting for? C’mon!”

Xie Taohua beckoned the trio to follow him before resuming his journey toward the peak.

The higher they climbed, the more frequent the phenomenon became. Sometimes, a cool breeze would suddenly pick up and blow strongly. Sometimes, flowers of all shapes, colors and sizes would rain from the sky. Sometimes, the sky would roar with lightning and thunder. Sometimes, it would rain cats and dogs. Sometimes, divine music would play beside their ears. Sometimes, beautiful women would appear out of nowhere and flirt with them. So on and so forth.

These were the general illusions everyone saw from time to time. The personal ones were far more insidious and indefensible. From time to time, they would fall into bizarre and illogical dreams that were tailored to pry at their biggest weaknesses.

Skin Painting Gentleman had a fondness for power, so he dreamed of becoming the emperor of all, wielding great power and bedding beautiful women all day and night.

Limp Celestial loved wealth, so he dreamed of owning infinite wealth and enjoying all the luxuries the world had to offer.

Tiger Sovereign worshiped strength, so he saw himself becoming invincible under heaven and immortal like the very sky above his head. The world would remember him for tens of thousands of years.

Xie Taohua feared old age, so he dreamed of becoming so old that his youthful beauty was forever gone, his pearly white teeth were completely absent, and all that was left of him was a fleshy pile of ugliness.

The illusions weren’t even the only dangers they had to face. The phenomenon occasionally magnified their personality weaknesses without them noticing as well. Greed, bloodthirst, anger, sorrow, joy, loss of control, suspicion, doubt, fear, panic, worry and more; the phenomenon amplified all of them.

Sometimes, they could not tell if the scenery in front of them was real or not. Sometimes, they could not tell if their companions were well-intentioned or malicious. Sometimes, they couldn’t even tell if the emotions they were currently feeling were real or fake.

More than once, they had nearly lost themselves in a terrible illusion, never to wake again. More than once, they had suspected and even fought each other over the stupidest things.

If it wasn’t for Xie Taohua and the Strange Artifact named the Wood Fish Girl, they would probably be dead a long, long time ago.

As if that wasn’t enough, the phenomenon’s power kept growing as they got closer and closer to the peak. It eventually got to the point where they were assaulted by illusions even when the phenomenon wasn’t happening.

The number of dead people kept growing as well, and a fair number of them were famous warriors of Bei You. There was the Night Cat they were discussing earlier, the Fat Fiend and the Thin Ghoul, Mo Bei Dhutanga [1], Six-fingered Evil Monk and more. Their manners of death were also extremely varied.

Previously, they would have wondered how these powerful warriors had suffered such tragic deaths. But now, everyone knew that it was because of the anomalous power at the mountain peak. They had either killed each other because their personality weaknesses were magnified, or they had succumbed to an illusion and died, or they had suffered a mental breakdown and committed suicide, and more.

“Phew… We’re finally here.”

Thankfully, no one in their group was a weakling. Despite the scares, they ultimately managed to reach the peak without any casualties.

“Huh? What’s that?”

As soon as they reached the peak, a gigantic black lotus appeared before their eyes. It had nine petals overflowing with mysterious air of dao, and profound energy seemed to ripple through the air with every sway. At the same time, all kinds of beautiful and phantasmal illusions came to life.

Skin Painting Gentleman, Limp Celestial, Tiger Sovereign and Xie Taohua all succumbed to fantastical light show in an instant. While wearing a dumb expression on their faces, they began to step toward the black lotus.

When the girl floating next to Xie Taohua saw that her master was in danger, she hurriedly raised her massive wooden hammer and brought it down on the wooden fish, hard.

Tok!

Xie Taohua trembled, and a hint of struggle flashed across his face. However, he quickly succumbed to the phenomenon and stepped toward the black lotus once more.

Tok! Tok! Tok! Tok…

Seeing this, the girl pouted and hit the wooden fish again and again. Over time, tiny cracks began to spread across the surface of the wooden fish.

The girl looked like she might burst into tears. It was as if she could feel the growing cracks on the wooden fish. However, her efforts seemed futile as Xie Taohua and the others continued to move toward the black lotus.

1. Dhutanga is a group of austerities or ascetic practices taught in Buddhism. ☜