With three supreme masters, they were invincible upon descending the mountain.

Ye Yaocheng stared at the bottomless dark abyss beneath his feet and took a deep breath.

He didn't jump down immediately, but turned around and went back to the ground.

Wang Shiyu remained standing still, motionless, like a statue.

As Ye Yaocheng approached, his heart sank.

At this moment, Wang Shiyu's eyes were empty and blank, as if her soul had been hollowed out.

His whole body exuded an aura of death, and even his breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.

"Sister Poetry".

Ye Yaocheng grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently: "Look at me, Sister Shiyu, I'm your bratty little brother!"

Wang Shiyu's eyes slowly moved, landing on his face, a glint of light flashing across them.

"You... are Ye Yaocheng?"

Her voice was ethereal, as if it came from a very distant place.

Unfortunately, that glimmer of light didn't last long and vanished immediately.

She murmured to herself, her eyes becoming vacant again: "Who am I? Where am I?"

"I'm so tired, I think I should rest."

Ye Yaocheng's hands were trembling.

It wasn't fear, it was anger, extreme rage.

He had known Wang Shiyu for so long, and he had seen her as cold as ice, as charming and beautiful, as strong and independent, but he had never seen her like this before.

Like a lump of mud, he had lost even the will to live.

Ye Yaocheng raised his head and looked at the bright world.

The sun still shines brightly, and the birds still sing sweetly.

But at this moment, in his eyes, all of this was fake.

It's a trap, it's a grave.

He thought of the people who had entered the secret realm with him.

Are they like this now?

Like the walking dead, souls without bodies, waiting to be devoured by this world?

Ye Yaocheng's fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

He couldn't care about the lives or deaths of other people.

But he couldn't ignore Wang Shiyu and Ji Mingyue.

Ye Yaocheng stared at the sky, his eyes filled with rage and fury: "No matter who you are, no matter what you are, if you touch someone I care about, you will die."

An unprecedented killing intent erupted in his eyes. After speaking, he turned and walked towards the abyss without any hesitation.

One step forward, and you plunge straight into darkness.

The instant he jumped.

No one noticed that a faint golden light was emanating from his chest.

It's small, but very bright.

At the same time, throughout the secret realm, countless people were on the verge of collapse.

On a grassy field overgrown with twisted plants, Lin Yan sat cross-legged, his face contorted in a ferocious expression, veins bulging on his forehead.

In the world he sees, he has died hundreds of times.

Each time, he was killed by the same person.

That was Ye Yaocheng.

No matter what level he breaks through to, no matter what martial arts skills he masters.

Ye Yaocheng could always defeat him in one move, as easily as crushing an ant.

"Why..." Lin Yan roared, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse with resentment, "Why do you always win?!"

"I am the chosen one! I am the future emperor!"

"Why can't I beat you? What makes me think I can?"

In the hallucination, Ye Yaocheng's voice rang out, full of mockery: "The chosen one?"

"If it weren't for that old thing in your ring helping you, you'd be nothing! At the end of the day, you're just a piece of trash!"

"waste!"

"waste!"

"waste!"

The sound echoed in my mind, growing louder and louder.

Lin Yan spat out a mouthful of blood, his aura instantly weakened, and deathly energy began to emanate from his body.

The surrounding twisted plants trembled excitedly, like hyenas smelling blood, waiting to pounce and devour their prey after it died.

A wisp of black smoke drifted out from above Lin Yan's head and flew into the sky.

From within the ring, Elder Yun's voice was filled with anxiety: "Lin Yan, wake up! This is an illusion! Wake up!"

But it was no use; Lin Yan couldn't hear it at all at that moment.

He's already trapped in it, and may never be able to get out.

the other side.

Ji Mingyue slumped to the ground, her eyes glazed over.

In her hallucination, two voices were pulling at each other.

A gentle yet resentful voice asked, "Mingyue, I know you like me, so why won't you accept me?"

In his hallucination, Ye Yaocheng turned and walked away, his voice filled with disappointment: "Maybe... I'm really not suitable."

"No, that's not how it is, let me explain." Ji Mingyue tried to chase after her.

But another aged voice rang out: "Ji Mingyue."

"What promises did you make to your master when you joined the Xuan Yin Sect?"

"Is this what you mean by staying away from romantic love?"

"I am very disappointed in you."

Ji Mingyue stopped in her tracks, unsure of what to do. She squatted down, clutching her disheveled hair, filled with helpless despair.

"No, that's not how it is."

Two voices were tearing at her mind, almost driving her to the brink of collapse.

"ah!!!"

Ji Mingyue screamed incoherently, like a lost child, helpless and desperate.

In reality, she suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and her aura plummeted from the high-level Foundation Establishment stage!

Even after reaching the Qi Refining stage, it didn't stop; it continued to decline.

A wisp of black smoke drifted out from between her brows and flew into the sky.

Similar things happen in every corner of the secret realm.

In the illusion, Gu Yaoguang watched Wang Shiyu fall into Ye Yaocheng's arms again and again.

He hated it so much he wanted to grind his teeth to dust.

His eyes were filled with murderous intent and anger: "That Ye Yaocheng is nothing but a piece of trash from the backwaters. What do I lack compared to him? Tell me!"

In the illusion, Wang Rui saw the family elder announce that the family heir he had been longing for was actually Wang Shiyu.

His unwilling roar was filled with murderous intent.

And then there are the ordinary martial artists.

Some people saw their enemies escaping justice in their hallucinations.

Some people see their loved ones die tragically before their eyes in a hallucination.

Some people see themselves in a dream world as a failure, a life of mediocrity.

Despair, hatred, resentment, anger.

All negative emotions spread like a plague.

Then it turned into black mist, drifting out from above everyone's heads and flying into the sky.

The once bright sky began to darken.

Countless black wisps converged, forming a massive dark cloud.

The dark clouds churned and twisted.

Finally, it coalesced into a giant face.

A face composed entirely of negative emotions.

The eyes are two black holes.

Its mouth was open, as if it were laughing, or as if it were crying.

"Yes, that's it."

The giant face emitted a deep, pleasure-filled voice: "Release what you are most unwilling to accept, what you desire most, and what you fear most."

It opened its mouth and took a deep breath.

boom!

All the black energy, as if finding its home, surged wildly into its mouth.

The giant face displayed an expression of ecstasy.

"This tastes absolutely wonderful."

It absorbed greedily, its body becoming increasingly solid: "Not enough, a little more."

"Just a little more and I can break the seal!"

"This time, without that guy stopping me, let's see who can stop me, hehehe."

As it devoured everything in its path, it failed to notice that a faint golden light was also being absorbed into its body.

The golden light was so small that it could be ignored.

The giant face continued chewing, its expression one of pure enjoyment.

But suddenly, its expression froze.

Like when you're eating and a splinter gets stuck in your throat or you accidentally swallow a fly.

I feel extremely uncomfortable and nauseous.

It struggled a few times, then suddenly vomited.

"puff!"

That glimmer of golden light was exhaled.

Floating in the air, like a stubborn star.

The giant face froze.

"A ray of hope?"

It stared at the point of golden light, its eyes flashing with shock: "How is this possible?"

"In my illusion, no one can maintain hope!"

It was enraged; black energy surged and coalesced into a giant hand, which slammed down on the golden light.

"Destroy it!"

The giant hands closed together and squeezed hard.

boom!

"This time, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

The giant hand was outstretched, radiating confidence.

To his disappointment, the golden light still floated there, stubbornly shining.

The golden light not only didn't shatter, but it shone even brighter, as if mocking them.

The giant face's expression changed from anger to shock, and then to fear.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible."

"Who could be so determined?!"

It stared intently at the golden light, its eyes blazing with murderous intent: "This kind of person must die."

Last time, it was this kind of person who sealed it here.

This time, it absolutely cannot happen again!

"Let me see where this guy is!"

The giant face closed its eyes, and its senses expanded.

A few seconds later, it opened its eyes and grinned madly.

"Found it. I must say, your courage is commendable, but unfortunately, you chose the wrong path."

It looked towards the abyss: "Since you're going to your death yourself, it saves me the trouble."

At the bottom of the abyss, Ye Yaocheng opened his eyes.

It was pitch black all around, with only a faint light that could barely make out the scene within ten meters.

He floated in the air, and could only see a huge figure blocking his way, like a mountain.

Ye Yaocheng flew around it once, his pupils suddenly shrinking.

This is not a mountain at all.

It was a plant of unimaginable size!

The trunk is over 100 meters in diameter, towering into the darkness, its top invisible.

Countless thick vines stretched out from the main trunk, like tentacles, slowly wriggling in the darkness.

Some of the vines still had traces of blood on them.

Ye Yaocheng finally understood.

Those roots that sprouted from the ground and devoured corpses before, that's what this thing is!

Ye Yaocheng stared at the giant plant, his voice icy:

"No matter who you are, no matter what you want to do, if you touch someone I care about, you'll die!"

His body erupted with dazzling golden light, and the Nine-Patterned Golden Core spun wildly!

Within the golden light, a faint but resolute glimmer could be seen—the light of hope.

The giant plant seemed to sense something, and all its vines turned at the same time, aiming at Ye Yaocheng.

Like countless eyes, gazing into the darkness.