Evil Venerable of the Sword Dao

Chapter 1636 - 145: Zhou Yan’s Helplessness

At this moment, the Void trembled slightly, then a flash of white light flared, and Endless Soul Energy and Heavenly Mechanism Power spilled out.

In such an environment, Zhou Yan, dressed in white, directly condensed his figure into existence.

"Looks like the effect of Instantaneous Movement isn’t bad."

Zhou Yan muttered to himself, then immediately restrained all his Soul Energy and Heavenly Mechanism Power.

Right then, he saw Zhuge Xiye, and at a glance he noticed something was off about her.

"Little Xiye, what’s wrong?"

Zhou Yan asked on the spot.

"Senior Brother, why are you here?"

Zhuge Xiye was slightly stunned, then spoke.

"I came to see how your Training is going."

"If you’ve got any insights, you might as well talk about them."

Zhou Yan pondered for a moment and said.

Zhuge Xiye nodded lightly and said, "As for the specifics of the Training situation..."

Zhuge Xiye began to speak.

Except she had just uttered a few words when an extremely terrifying killing intent suddenly condensed in her hands, then turned into a Heavenly Mechanism Sword and ruthlessly slashed toward Zhou Yan.

"Damn it, still trying to kill me? You think just because I like you I wouldn’t dare kill you? You actually keep making a fool of me again and again in the Illusion!"

Zhuge Xiye shouted in fury.

Then that terrifying killing move abruptly stabbed toward the space between Zhou Yan’s brows.

This change happened so fast that even Zhou Yan hadn’t noticed beforehand.

By the time he sensed it, it seemed a bit too late to guard against it.

However, Zhou Yan’s figure suddenly Instantaneously Moved about two meters to the side, then he raised his hand casually, and two fingers effortlessly clamped down on that Sword Derived from Heavenly Mechanism Power.

After that, Zhou Yan blew a casual breath, and that Sword instantly vanished without a trace.

That vicious, rage-filled killing move was directly neutralized by Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan looked at Zhuge Xiye speechlessly and said, "You’re this immersed? You’re back in reality and still don’t know it?"

Zhuge Xiye froze for a moment, then inexplicably started sensing her own state, and also looked around. She was somewhat suspicious and uncertain, and also a bit dazed.

Zhou Yan was completely speechless.

After a while, as she gradually adapted to the real environment of the Heavenly Mechanism Hall, Zhuge Xiye finally asked in a small voice, "Senior Brother, th-this is really reality? Not an Illusion on the Path of Heavenly Mechanism?"

Zhou Yan: "..."

Zhuge Xiye said, "But then, why aren’t the Sect Master and the others here?"

Zhou Yan said, "None of them got through the first level. They were all killed by the Illusion. Only you held out a bit longer."

"Because they all got killed by the Illusion and didn’t even pass the first level, while you were still hanging on, obviously they felt staying any longer would be embarrassing, so they all left first."

"I was sensing that things were about at that stage, so I flew over to take a look. Of course, I was also testing a movement technique that Derives into Heavenly Mechanism Soul Qi."

"If not for this movement technique, you’d almost have made me suffer a big loss today."

Zhou Yan said, rather annoyed.

Zhuge Xiye let out an "Ah," clearly dazed and a bit cute for a moment.

Obviously, only after Zhou Yan took the pressure off her did her true nature gradually start to show.

Of course, this side of her only appeared in front of Zhou Yan.

In fact, when a man is overbearing enough, then no matter how overbearing and cold a woman is, she’ll feel incomparably safe putting down her cold facade and calmly showing bits of her true self.

"B-but on the Path of Heavenly Mechanism, I met you right on the first level, and while I was talking to you, you killed me with a single Sword. But in my heart, I immediately realized I was dead and yet alive again. Shouldn’t the transition between Illusion and real environment have a noticeable impact for sensing? But I didn’t feel anything at all..."

Zhuge Xiye explained very helplessly.

Then she pondered for a moment and added, "The Illusion was so real it had tremendous impact, even more real than reality. Coming back to reality wasn’t abrupt at all; it felt extremely natural. The transition was just as authentic. Everything felt real, so of course I thought I was still in the Illusion. What kind of Heavenly Road is this, so perverse, so terrifying!"

"And if it’s like you say, that the Sect Master and the nine elders all failed the first level, then I’m afraid..."

Zhuge Xiye didn’t finish the sentence.

But Zhou Yan understood.

The Sect Master can’t even get through the first level—this is just screwing people over.

With it this hard, who has that kind of masochistic kink?

Isn’t this just marching straight to your death?

And it’s a death with no clarity at all—stifling, aggrieved, and utterly innocent.

The key thing is, after dying and returning to reality, you still don’t know whether reality is real or fake.

Isn’t that just way too tragic!

Zhou Yan quietly looked at Zhuge Xiye, and Zhuge Xiye didn’t dodge his gaze.

By now, Zhuge Xiye was completely awake and knew this was reality, but even so, she couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat inside.

She worried that after this Training, the disciples wouldn’t be able to tell real from Illusion, which would lead to unimaginable consequences.

"This is actually just a very low-level True Illusion Realm technique, but who would’ve thought... you lot would be this fragile. Still, you don’t need to worry. After you adapt for a while, it’ll be fine. By then, ordinary Illusions won’t be able to confuse you."

Zhou Yan thought for a bit and said.

Then Zhou Yan added, "Little Xiye, tell me the specific situation in detail so I can Derive it again. After all, changing the structure with blessing Runes is something I’m still experimenting with."

Zhou Yan once again outlined the situation.

Zhuge Xiye nodded slightly and described everything that had happened in detail.

She even included the part where she saw Zhou Yan, and the specifics of her conversation with him.

Hearing this, Zhou Yan immediately raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, expressing his helplessness.

"They say once a woman falls for someone, her IQ drops. You—can’t even judge something this simple."

Zhou Yan said, utterly speechless.

At this moment, Zhuge Xiye couldn’t help blushing from ear to ear, her pretty face completely red.

Because when she thought back to that whole sequence of events, plus that embarrassing line she blurted out afterward, she really felt a strong urge to crawl into a hole.

"First of all, the fact that I showed up on the Heavenly Road at all, and even met you there, is already a huge flaw."

"Besides, I told you, the experience on the Heavenly Road is individual. You entered together with the Sect Master and the others and still didn’t run into each other, so..."

"Also, the moment a thread of doubt naturally appeared in your heart, you should have questioned it. Human instinct is ultimately the best information feedback, and you... actually ignored it!"

"More importantly, when you usually talk to me, your gaze is pretty sharp, but in front of this fake existence, you were actually talking with your head down..."

"And the most important point is, the moves I used against you were clearly ones you’ve engraved deeply in your heart, that you can’t get out of your mind. It’s obvious that because of your obsession, my projection appeared there. Most likely, you wanted my concern, so I appeared, then started caring about you—"

Zhou Yan spoke, then didn’t quite know how to continue.

He had actually wanted to scold Zhuge Xiye a few times. After all, not seeing through such a simple Illusion was indeed a bit disappointing.

But in the end he didn’t say anything harsh, because the reason Zhuge Xiye ended up like this was, in essence, all because of him, Zhou Yan.

"I’m sorry, I won’t do it again next time."

"Forget it, your situation is already considered decent. The Sect Master’s performance was even worse—he died and popped out in under half a minute inside. I really don’t know what he was doing."

Zhou Yan was fairly helpless too.

With resistance to Illusions this bad?

He was honestly at a loss for words.