It doesn't matter what the lord is.

"But don't worry, there is another way. It is almost impossible to destroy this magic system, but it is possible to disguise yourself and pass the inspection mechanism here. I have checked carefully. The complex descriptions here allow creatures other than you to pass smoothly. As long as you become a living machine following me, the recognition logic here should be ineffective for you."

The little ghost nodded with satisfaction:

"Yeah, it seems you didn't lie to me. But can turning into a living machine really save me? Those machine beasts out there die in agony! [゛('◇')?]"

Lid patted his chest and explained:

"Traditional living organs can't save you. This is a new technology I created exclusively. The control device of the organ is engraved directly on my body, so that I can replenish the magic power you need for a long time. Anyway, as long as there is magic power, you will not disappear. However, there are two problems with doing this. First, you probably can't absorb magic power independently, so if I die, you will die too; second, my magic cultivation is only at the ninth level of perfection, and the magic power I can provide you is limited, and your strength will definitely be greatly reduced."

The little ghost walked around and said:

"It's okay with me~ I don't have any desire for power anyway. But... I have a huge demand for magic power, and I will usually drain every last drop of magic power out of your body. You know? Being bound to me means that from now on you will no longer be able to use magic as flexibly as before~[(*??`*)]"

"It's okay. I'll give it to you if you like it. I don't mind."

There is no such thing as a free lunch in the world. Getting the body of the little ghost means that he will be exploited by it. However, magic itself is not Lid's specialty. He has used magic only a few times since he learned it, and most of the time he just raised his fists to fight.

Moreover, after supplying magic power to the little ghost, Reed can still activate the black flame armor through the energy flowing in his meridians, which has no significant impact on him now.

Lid sat cross-legged on the ground, took out many bottles and jars from his arms, found an empty glass bottle and smashed it on the ground, then polished the glass pieces on the ground until they were very sharp. He then lifted up his sleeves and carefully traced on his arm with the glass pieces, and only after he had calculated the specific pattern in his mind did he pierce his flesh and blood and began to carve complex magic patterns on his skin.

Blood was constantly flowing out during the whole process. Although the amount of bleeding was not too heavy, it was quite painful to carve a mark on one's arm, especially in some places where the mark had to be carved very deeply, leaving marks on the meridians.

Lid gritted his teeth and held on, but after only three or four minutes, his clothes were soaked with cold sweat. The little ghost watched him nervously, not daring to breathe, and remained silent throughout the whole process.

What surprised the little ghost was that during the whole process, Reed's arms were very tense. The arm that was pierced by the glass did not tremble, and the hand holding the glass did not shake. If it weren't for the sweat beads from his cheeks to his neck, the little ghost would almost think he was a puppet without emotions.

After finally finishing the carving, Lid breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his scarred left arm. The blood kept flowing, but the wound did not heal immediately. Instead, it began to emit a soft white light. The light was not glaring, but it was very penetrating. Even the blood could not completely cover it, and it soon illuminated a small area around it.

The little ghost couldn't help but float over and gently poked Lid's arm. This time, its small body didn't pass through Lid's body, but actually touched the lines on Lid's hand. At that moment, the little ghost froze for a moment, then closed its eyes. A silver-white circular mark slowly emerged on its ethereal body, looking like silver wax.

The little ghost did not reject the feeling of a foreign object entering his body, and slowly accepted the changes in his body while gasping for breath.

When the engraving was completed, it could clearly feel that earth-shaking changes had taken place in its body, as if there was an invisible bond between it and Lid, and traces of pure magic power were transmitted to it. The fear of death and sense of crisis disappeared in an instant, like a long drought finally coming to an end, and the whole body felt as comfortable as if it had been soaked in a warm hot spring.

For Lid, this was not a good experience. The wound began to heal slowly, but the silver magic mark remained on the skin, and the whole arm looked like a complex full-body tattoo. Most of the magic power in his body was instantly drained away, and this unrestrained demand made his already weak body, which was already suffering from severe blood loss, even worse.

Fortunately, the little ghost quickly stabilized and stopped asking for more magic power. It swayed left and right and asked:

"Look, look! Do you think my appearance has changed now? [(..>?<..)]"

Reed stared at it for a long time and said expressionlessly:

"not at all."

The little ghost was shocked:

“How! How could it be! Could it be that you like me the most right now? Woohoo~ This is so embarrassing. There are actually ghost lovers in the world~ You’re so lecherous. [(*ノωノ)]”

Reed glanced at the Lingwu Lord. Her breath was much weaker than before.

Lid sighed softly, stood up, and asked the little ghost:

"Let's get back to business. What has the illusion she is in become now?"

32. Are you willing to give up everything you have

The little ghost turned around to look at the fallen Lingwu Lord, and asked Lid to wait for a while, while he slowly got into her body. Not long after, the little ghost slowly poked his head out and said:

"Hmm... how should I describe it? She's living very well in there, and the whole illusion has gradually developed to its peak. The Lingwu Territory has completely unified your Yongtian Kingdom. Although many people have died, the whole country is recovering at a fairly fast speed. This woman is sitting on the throne, and below her are two rows of civil and military officials. The prison is filled with a large number of death row prisoners who are her enemies... including the girl with flat breasts who appeared in your illusion. Someone is kneeling down to report the news to her, all of which are happy events of peace and prosperity. The small number of resistance forces are no match for her at all. My illusion is almost cleared, and although the illusion will definitely end in death due to the collapse of the illusion, congratulations anyway~[?(o?o)っ]"

Reed stared at the Lingwu Lord who was lying on the ground.

In his impression, this woman looked very painful every time she was unconscious, which showed that she was the type who would not give up her obsession even in her dreams. After seeing her illusion, Lid could completely understand her feelings. Although he didn't know how good the relationship between Yu Qingzhao and his retainers was back then, he only needed to imagine that if one day he was deceived by someone, causing Alaiya, Heyue, Fang Shisan, Xiluo, Baihuang, Liushi, Yunye and others to all die in a foreign land without a trace, he would definitely have the same hatred as her.

But now the Lingwu Lord was able to let go of the past and show such a calm expression after a long time. Isn't it a good thing? Although the veil covered half of her face, from the direction of her eyebrows, it can be seen that there is even a faint smile on her face, which is something Lid has never seen before.

As for whether it is real or an illusion... When an illusion is so realistic that people can't tell the difference, what's the point of continuing to explore it? To the person involved, that is her reality.

Lid dusted himself off. People with deep obsessions are immersed in sweet dreams, while people with less obsessions have to continue to move forward with heavy burdens. This sounds a bit ironic, but this is the absolute reality.

Lid left the little ghost with his back, and walked towards the next checkpoint, leaving only one sentence:

"let's go."

The little ghost looked at the Lingwu Lord reluctantly, then slowly floated to Lid's side and asked:

"Just leaving like this? It feels so bad. Why don't you just look at me and imagine what she looks like? [(???)?]"

Lid turned his head and glanced at the little ghost. At that moment, the originally small ghost suddenly turned into a spirit warrior lord floating in the air, and swept away the cold look before. She looked at him affectionately while undressing her clothes, and her breasts as tall as mountains were about to come out. Unfortunately, before the little ghost could throw a few seductive glances, Lid turned his head away, and the graceful little ghost was immediately turned back to its original form.

The poor little ghost didn't know that he had turned back to his original appearance in Lid's eyes. He was still twisting his short little hands, constantly posing in what he thought were seductive postures, and said with a sly smile:

"How about it, I didn't lie to you, did I? I have all the looks you like. [o(*￣3￣)o]"

Lid smiled and said:

"Ah."

The road ahead would be more difficult without the Spiritual Martial Lord. However, Lid felt that whether she was willing to wake up was her own business. Anyway, even without her, the little ghost could provide a lot of useful information about this secret realm, and he would not have to fight her to the death in the future.

Is it good to bring her back to reality? This world is very cruel. Conquering the world means excluding dissidents. The cold-blooded Ji Yingtian may not be the end of Yu Qingzhao. Power is cold, and any emotion is worthless in front of power. When she was young, she could fight against this cold world with her passion, but the Lingwu Lord is no longer as young as she looks.

Lid, who didn't care about power, could be at ease anytime and anywhere, but even if the Lingwu Lord woke up, he would probably fall into one vortex after another. Moreover, the relationship between Lid and her was more hostile than cooperative. Even if both of them could get out of here alive, they would meet again on the battlefield sooner or later.

By then, one of the new Yuxi City army and the old Lingwu Iron Cavalry will definitely be completely destroyed. The Lingwu Lord's obsession with winning is deep-rooted. How could Lid sit back and watch Yuxi City perish? Everyone will definitely go all out in the end.

This world is far more cruel than fantasy.

Reed looked at the little ghost tumbling in the air, his mind filled with the scene it had just described.

If the illusion that the Lingwu Lord was in had developed to that extent, would she be willing to give up the world that she had worked so hard to gain and wake up from the illusion? Would she personally pick up the old and new hatreds that she had let go of and put them on her shoulders again, personally split the throne that she had not even sat on for a long time in half, and personally reopen the scars of the past to reveal the bloody truth and reality... Would she do that?

In other words, will someone give up everything he has gained in this world, including his life, because he doubts that the world he lives in is not real? Everyone has a comfort zone. The longer a person lives in pain, the more reluctant he is to leave the comfort zone. Therefore, in ancient times, kings and nobles were born poor, but the poor became kings and nobles with the same face.

Reed relied on the memory of his previous life to propose a more advanced world, and thus defeated the little ghost who was in a state of weakness and could not simulate the real situation smoothly. But the Lingwu Lord was born and raised in this world, and her reincarnation was limited here, so what she saw and heard would naturally not be beyond the control of the little ghost. The little ghost could create a more real world for her that would never be exposed, so how could she distinguish between reality and illusion?

As Reed walked, he shook his head gently, feeling a little regretful and melancholy, but also a little relieved.

At this moment, the little ghost suddenly stopped, blinked in place, and then turned around with a look of shock.

Reed also stopped and looked back in the direction it was looking at with a hint of surprise.

At that moment, he opened his eyes wide.

Under the dim firelight, Lingwu Lord Yu Qingzhao sat there quietly.

Her eyes stayed on the ground in front of her, but her eyes had no focus. Lid walked back quickly and squatted in front of her. At a close distance, she could see that the Spiritual Martial Lord's entire body was shaking because of countless negative emotions. She raised her head and looked at Lid's face, and after a long time, she smiled sadly.

It seemed that he had not yet awakened from that long memory, or that he had an emotional breakdown after experiencing too much. The Lingwu Lord who had just woken up did not have the strong feeling as before.

She opened her mouth but said nothing; her beautiful eyes were red and swollen, and tears fell on her golden red clothes as she cried quietly.

Lid didn't know how she found out that the world she lived in was actually an illusion, and he didn't know how much enlightenment she had to wake up from the ideal world. But he knew that the person in front of him was definitely not cold-blooded and heartless. No matter who personally destroyed the results of his dream and struggle for hundreds of years, he would not remain indifferent.

Lingwu Lord looked at her trembling hands and tried to wipe her tears, but she could only raise her hands to the height of her chest before she ran out of strength. Her body was already extremely weak, and if she had been a few minutes later, she would probably never have woken up.

Lid looked at her, but he couldn't bear it. He leaned forward, stretched out his hand, and hugged the cold body of the Lingwu Lord tightly in his arms.

33. One-night-only Tenderness

Amid the little ghost's extreme shock, Reed quietly hugged the woman in front of him.

He said nothing, never comforted her; she didn't complain to him, just leaned on his shoulder and sobbed silently. It was as if she wanted to vent all the emotions that had been suppressed for hundreds of years. Once the emotions collapsed, they could no longer be stopped. Lid hugged her quietly, but the little ghost's slightly trembling voice sounded in his mind:

"She... committed suicide in my illusion. She committed suicide on the throne, slashing her throat with a sword, with blood flowing everywhere. She must have realized that this was an illusion, but unlike you, she did not seek any proof at all. She just sat on the throne and thought for a while... and then made this decision."

Reed could feel that in addition to surprise and confusion, there was also a hint of awe in the little ghost's tone. Perhaps it had never seen such a decisive human being who would choose to take his own life to verify it without hesitation because of just a little doubt.

The Lingwu Lord opened his mouth slightly and whispered incoherently like a baby who was just learning to speak:

"Water...give me water..."

How could he get fresh water now? Lid could only let go of her arms, hold his hands in front of his chest, and use magic related to the water element. However, 99% of the magic power in his body had been drained by the old monster who had been thirsty for thousands of years. The little magic power left only produced a small amount of fresh water, and the pain caused by the excessive consumption of magic power instantly made his muscles all over his body spasm continuously.

The water continued to flow down through Lid's fingers. In a hurry, there was no time to find a container, so Lid simply held it in front of the Lingwu Lord. The Lingwu Lord, who had not yet recovered from his shock, gently lifted the veil on his face, leaned in front of Lid's palm, and gently licked the crystal clear water. Sometimes the tip of his tongue touched Lid's skin, which was tingling.

Reed originally wanted to keep her distance, but it would take at least a few hours for the Lingwu Lord's body to return to normal. She was not much better off than suffering from sleep paralysis. Her consciousness was hazy and her body was out of control. Although she managed to sit up, she couldn't maintain basic balance. She staggered forward and fell onto Reed's chest again.

Reed hugged her instinctively, but felt something was wrong, so he held her with one hand and gently patted her back with the other, trying his best to help her regulate the meridians that had fallen dormant, hoping that she would get better soon.

The little ghost floated to a place that was out of the sight of the Lingwu Lord, and came face to face with Lid behind her.

The little ghost looked at the Lingwu Lord and then at Lid, wondering what the relationship between the two was.

If they had a good relationship, the woman had just fallen into an illusion and Lid was about to leave without caring. If they had a bad relationship, they were hugging each other again. The little ghost racked his brains but couldn't figure it out, but vaguely recalled the new term "love and hate" that he found when searching Lid's memory. He immediately crossed his arms and nodded continuously, thinking that he had discovered the truth of the matter, and then floated to a nearby place to watch the wind.

Lingwu Lord's body felt like it was falling into an icy cave. Even though Lid held her tightly, her body temperature was very slow to recover. When she woke up, her vital signs were too weak. It could be said that she was only hanging on with one breath. It would take a while for her to recover to normal.

Lid held her in front of him and let her sit on his lap, so that he could maximize the contact area and carefully protect her weak life fire. At this time, Lid began to feel that there were also disadvantages to the spiritual warrior lord being so tall, such as the long legs that had nowhere to put and could only shiver in the cold, and because she was about the same height as Lid, even though her fierce momentum had not yet recovered, she did not have any feeling of being a little bird.

Lid remembered that when the two of them fell into the secret realm, the spiritual warrior lord's meridians were damaged and she was weak for a period of time. But at that time, her eyes were still very scary, and her tone was still that of a lord. She would never take the initiative to wrap her arms around him like she did now, looking for the last sense of security.

It would be a lie to say that I am not moved when I hold such a beautiful girl in my arms.

But it was just a hint of interest, and Reid did not take any further action.

He knew very well that the knot in Lingwu Lord's heart was not so easy to untie. Only by razing the capital and ruling the world could she be completely freed. This was not only her obsession to complete after years of hard work and hardships, but also included mourning for the dead. He could hug her like this when she was most vulnerable physically and mentally, but when she was awake, the two of them were still strangers after all.

The so-called redemption is never a matter of a moment, but a long process. Whether it is Alaya, Felita, He Yue and Fang Shisan, they all take Yuxi City as their home, and slowly forget the pain of the past in the long-term fulfilling and busy life. But Lingwu Lord is not like this. She has seen everything clearly and has been working hard for the future she wants.

Her current fragility is only temporary. She is the queen of Lingwu, and there is no reason for the king to bow to her.

After the secret realm, the two will no longer have any intersection, nor will they have any reason to contact each other. The next time they meet, they will be outright enemies. Not to mention that the good feelings between Li De and Lingwu Lord are nothing, even if there are other feelings, they will be extinguished after they wake up. They are all extremely rational people, and they are very clear about the interests they are facing. Li De will not take He Yue Fang Shisan and others to work for Lingwu Lord, and Lingwu Lord will not give in to Yuxi City.

After a long time, Lid felt that the sobbing of Lingwu Lord gradually improved. Perhaps he was feeling better, or maybe he was just tired of crying. Lingwu Lord murmured hoarsely:

"Ji...Yingtian..."

Lid immediately followed up:

"What a scumbag. Sooner or later, I will go to the capital and dig up his ancestral graves."

Lingwu Lord fell into a brief silence. Her head rested on Lid's shoulder, her wet face pressed against his side, her black hair entangled in his arm. The arms that once gave orders held him weakly, and after a long time, Lingwu Lord whispered again:

"The giants are heading south... Spiritual Warrior Cavalry... Hidden Guards..."

She repeated the words blankly.

Reed patted her on the back and immediately replied:

"The giants are almost all dead, but at least half of the Lingwu Iron Cavalry are still alive and well, and the Hidden Guards are still functioning normally, so don't worry."

Lord Lingwu breathed a sigh of relief and slowly closed his eyes.

Lid knew that she was different from him. The Lingwu Lord had spent too long in the illusion, so when she woke up, she was not only physically weak, but also couldn't tell which memories were real and which were illusions. She needed to sort out her memories, but people were not machines and couldn't decide where to put their memories and when to use them. Maybe she had some ways to sort out her memories, but that obviously took time.

Lid hugged her and suddenly felt sleepy. He realized that he didn't know how long he had been unconscious. His brain was working very fast, but he didn't get enough nutrition and lost a lot of blood. His body couldn't hold on any longer.

As the Lingwu Lord gradually calmed down, Lid relaxed and began to doze off while hugging her. The Lingwu Lord's elastic body was very comfortable to hug, which further increased his sleepiness.

Half asleep and half awake, he could feel the arm that was holding him falling down. It must be the Lingwu Lord who was pulling away.

Reed did not open his eyes, allowing his consciousness to continue to sink into sleep to avoid the embarrassment of meeting each other.

At the moment when the string of rationality in his head completely broke, Reed vaguely felt a fragrant breeze on his face.

There seemed to be a fleeting feeling of softness on my lips, but it seemed to be just an illusion.

Reed fell asleep quietly, his heart as calm as water.

34. Breakfast for you

When he woke up the next day, Lid felt a little dizzy, probably because the side effects of the contract with the little ghost yesterday had not completely disappeared. He just lay there, half-closed his eyes and looked to the side, and saw a pair of jade feet with red nails. Then, following the pair of beautiful legs up, he saw a face half covered by the peak of the chest. The beautiful eyes were looking down at him with a cold look.

Lid sat up instantly and asked:

"What time is it? How long have I slept?"

The Lingwu Lord took two steps back in advance to prevent Lid from bumping into her when he stood up, and then replied expressionlessly:

"About ten hours."

Lid touched his belly:

"No wonder I'm a little hungry."

The Lingwu Lord casually pointed to several large pieces of roasted meat piled on the other side of Lid. Each piece was at least as thick as a thigh and piled up on the ground into a small mountain. These pieces of meat should have been roasted by her golden flames. Although they were a little cold, the color was still very tempting. The only regret was that in addition to the golden and crispy skin, the meat inside still had strange black and purple lines, indicating that it was still zombie meat cut from those living organs. There was nothing to be done about it.

Lid picked up a piece and took a bite. Lingwu Lord didn't have his various spices, so the taste of the barbecue was naturally a little lacking, but the heat was just right, perhaps because she was very good at controlling fire. It seemed that she had studied cooking systematically for hundreds of years. Although there was still a little gap between her skills and his, for Lid, the food that was obtained without any effort was definitely the most delicious.

"Thank you very much...Are we leaving as usual today?"