Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1232 - 1232 711 Formidable Enemy_2

Chapter 1232: Chapter 711: Formidable Enemy_2 Chapter 1232: Chapter 711: Formidable Enemy_2 Qi Tian couldn’t possibly let the chief culprit escape smoothly. He aimed at the Emperor’s back and threw the Yonghe Stick in his hand.

The Emperor hurriedly dodged, but he was slightly slow and couldn’t avoid it completely. The stick struck his shoulder hard, and the Emperor fell to the ground, tumbling over like a rolling gourd. After several rolls, he got up from the ground and started fleeing like a frightened rabbit.

At that moment, the illusion that had been surrounding Qi Tian suddenly vanished, and Qi Tian found himself standing back in the Inner Underground Palace. His eyes caught a black glimmer speeding towards a wall.

This scene made Qi Tian realize something had gone wrong.

To prevent any accidents, Qi Tian had ordered the Transporting Whirlwind to release a dense fog when he planned to excavate all the secrets of the walls. The fog not only obstructed people’s sight but also their Divine Sense. With the presence of the fog, even the visibility for Qi Tian’s eyes was greatly affected, and he couldn’t clearly see his surroundings. However, now he could see everything around him, indicating that something must have happened to the Transporting Whirlwind.

Qi Tian quickly scanned the surroundings and realized that not only had something happened to the Transporting Whirlwind, but also to everyone else, including Emperor Jianwu, Gao Jinmei, and others without exception; they were all afflicted.

The dense fog that had filled every corner of the Inner Underground Palace was, unbeknownst to them, mostly dissipated. Now, the Transporting Whirlwind shrank into a corner of the palace, surrounded by some remaining fog that had become quite thin. It seemed to be struggling against something from the external world.

The situation of the Transporting Whirlwind was still relatively good. At least on the surface, it had not fallen into the illusion and still kept some degree of clarity. In contrast, the others were in a much worse state.

Emperor Jianwu, Gao Jinmei, and other Gold Core Realm cultivators were the ones most deeply affected by the illusion. When Qi Tian saw them, they were deeply trapped in the illusion, each with their eyes closed and varying expressions of sadness or joy on their faces. If it was just that, the impact wouldn’t be too great; they might be addicted to the illusion and have a hard time breaking free, possibly suffering some mental trauma later on. However, the situation for Emperor Jianwu and the others was much graver than that. They weren’t just addicted to the illusion; their aura was extremely unstable, their Spirit Force fluctuations were erratic, and even their exposed skin was constantly changing color.

If this continued, and the time stretched a bit longer, Emperor Jianwu and the others would be almost done for. At best, some might be left alive, but with a stroke of bad luck, they would be lost to the Netherworld, never to see the sun outside the Saint’s Tomb again.

The ghostly faces were also affected by the illusion. However, they were much stronger, and as such, they were affected less. Still, they stood in place, staring blankly, their eyes hollow and without focus, their expressions incredibly vacant. It didn’t look easy for them to break free from the illusion on their own. Perhaps they hadn’t even realized they were trapped in the illusion.

Qi Tian didn’t rashly interfere with those trapped in the illusion. He had never had this experience before, but having read related books, he knew how severe the consequences of rash interference could be; there are seldom good outcomes. Instead, such interference could make it more difficult for the individual to escape the illusion or even turn his intervention into a new point of injury within the illusion, inflicting even greater harm.

In general, to break free from an illusion, one must rely on oneself; if an outsider wants to offer assistance, they must possess an extremely advanced level of cultivation, great mental strength, and a profound understanding of the illusion, being able to see through appearances to the essence. Qi Tian lacks all of these external conditions; his current strength is relatively strong within the Gold Core Realm, but it’s not powerful enough to interfere with matters at the Nascent Soul Stage, and it’s evident without guessing that the entity casting such a powerful illusion must be at the Nascent Soul Stage.

Although Qi Tian cannot interfere directly, it doesn’t mean he has no way to act. He has already used the Heavenly Dao Engine to sense Spirit Qi and achieve full coverage of the Inner Underground Palace; the Heavenly Dao Engine continually feeds Qi Tian with various pieces of information from within the Inner Underground Palace. Through this, Qi Tian has noticed something: the entity casting the illusions on Ghost Face, Liuli Sand, and Emperor Jianwu is extremely skilled. It doesn’t rely on an array or any other tool, but rather, it constantly shoots out invisible threads of energy.

These threads of energy land on Ghost Face, Liuli Sand, and Emperor Jianwu, continuously constructing an illusion for them, or rather, continually supplying the illusion with energy and providing material through these threads, keeping those trapped within forever unable to break free and sink deeper instead.

Qi Tian has discovered the other end of these energy threads lurking within the walls. The entity inside the walls is like a spider, casting these threads out, and Ghost Face, Liuli Sand, and Emperor Jianwu are its prey. Qi Tian was once among this prey, but he successfully rescued himself quickly and escaped.

Qi Tian can’t interfere with the illusion, but he can tackle the issue from another angle. He can totally sever these energy threads, cutting off the illusion’s external energy supply. Thus, without the support of external energy and without an array to rely on, the illusion will weaken over time, and the binds on those trapped within will certainly lessen, making it easier to break free.

Qi Tian did not rashly attempt to rescue everyone at the same time. Right now, all his means of assistance had become useless—neither Liuli Sand nor Ghost Face could offer him the necessary protection. At this moment, he had to first ensure his own safety before considering the rescue of others; he couldn’t afford to fall into the trap himself while trying to save others.

Qi Tian set his first rescue target as Liuli Sand, partly because Liuli Sand was the only one not completely controlled by the illusion, and also because Liuli Sand’s individual strength was considerable, making rescuing it as valuable as rescuing several others.

Qi Tian moved swiftly to Liuli Sand’s side. In just this brief moment, the dense fog enveloping Liuli Sand had been compressed further, becoming even thinner—an observable change. Invisibly, sensed by the Heavenly Dao Engine, dozens of energy threads surrounded Liuli Sand, coiling around like serpents, compressing the fog and leaving Liuli Sand with less and less time and space to endure. Without a rescue, Liuli Sand would inevitably be affected by the illusion, and the consequences would be severe.

Qi Tian rapidly opened the black hole in his palm, and all the Transporting Whirlwinds burst out, sweeping toward the energy threads encircling Liuli Sand like a sweeping storm.

These energy threads were very tough, and even flying swords might not be able to cut them, but they were no match for the Transporting Whirlwinds. Their toughness was worthless before the Whirlwinds, which only needed to tug lightly to break the threads into fragments, unable to endure even a moment longer.

With many of the energy threads torn apart, Liuli Sand was rescued. The fog it released expanded rapidly and covered an ever-growing area, but it still couldn’t refill the entire Inner Underground Palace. Upon encountering other energy threads, the fog remained timid, not daring to face them head-on, behaving as if it had met its natural enemy, resorting to only avoidance and detour, lacking even the courage for direct confrontation.