The men in blue robes all sharpened their eyes, their magical powers all converging on their pupils. Every single hair on Mo Yi's body, a thousand meters away, could be seen clearly.
"He's not being drawn into the illusion..." the man in blue robes murmured, "This doesn't make sense. The power of this formation is incredibly strong. I dare say that even among those present here, if they were caught in the formation, they would be dragged into the illusion without any resistance."
"This is a Heavenly-level formation, after all, even though it's not activated at full power, it's more than enough to trap these mortals in the illusion... Damn it, could this guy be so talented that he's immune to illusions?" The man in red robes said, his expression growing increasingly strange.
The middle-aged man in black robes watched Mo Yi, who was sitting anxiously on a meditation cushion on the mountainside. He said, "A monster... naturally has its reasons for being a monster. If it were ordinary, it wouldn't be called a monster."
"......" Everyone was speechless.
The man on the pine tree remained silent for a while before speaking, "No, we must see through this guy's mental state. If he's harmful, we'd rather kill the wrong person than let the right one go."
The man in red robes looked at the pine tree in surprise, "That's not your usual way of doing things, Xiaoyao Daoyou. 'Rather kill the wrong person than let the right one go'... what's the difference between that and an evil cultivator? Did you fail your cultivation course in the Immortal Alliance?"
A cold laugh came from the pine tree, "You don't have to worry about it. If I want to kill, there are few here who could stop me."
Everyone looked at the man on the pine tree in a strange way. He was always carefree and unrestrained. They had never seen him so out of character.
"Could it be that Xiaoyao Daoyou had a close friend or elder who died in the previous Bloodthirsty Demon King incident?" The man in blue robes asked, "It's a pity that our Changfeng Gate didn't get there sooner to save your elder."
"Boom!" Snow-white energy exploded, and a ripple spread outward from the pine tree. A surge of power, as vast as the sea, shook everyone!
In an instant, a pure white halo spread across the peak of the Immortal Mountain! All the clouds and wild cranes were blown away by the halo! Cold and murderous intent filled the entire sky! Sunlight shone down, free from the cover of clouds, but it had less heat and more coldness.
"Such killing intent." The man in blue robes said.
The pine needles on the pine tree rained down like a shower, falling from the bare peak. Standing on top of it was a man in a sea-blue robe, his eyes filled with murderous intent. He held a wine gourd tightly in his right hand.
"You want to die!?" He spat out the three words almost through gritted teeth, his imposing aura pressing hard. The man in blue was truly angry.
"Ask my sword first." The man in blue robes remained unmoved.
"Good! Very good!" The man in blue robes laughed angrily. An overwhelming force accumulated at the mouth of the wine gourd in his right hand. Even the air was distorted by the invisible power. At first glance, the spout of the wine gourd looked like a black hole ready to devour everything in sight!
"Let's all save it." The man in red robes saw that the situation was not right and immediately tried to smooth things over, "Why don't we target that boy and activate the formation again. That way, things will be easily resolved. Why get so worked up? The Immortal Alliance has already given instructions that no fighting is allowed during missions."
A shower of pine needles rained down from the sky. The man in blue robes and the man in blue clashed eyes in the rain. As soon as they heard about the Immortal Alliance, they both calmed down. Finally, the man in blue on the pine tree sneered, "Another day, another battle! A Dao Heart oath."
The man in blue robes looked coldly at the man in blue, "As you said, another day, another battle. A Dao Heart oath."
The man in red robes and the middle-aged man in black robes looked at the two men silently. The battle vow had been formally established, and they had even used the most important Dao Heart oath of cultivators. At this point, there was no point in trying to reconcile them. In the future, it would inevitably be a fierce battle.
The man in white watched the two men staring each other down. There was no fluctuation in his eyes, as if nothing had happened. Some pale green pine needles landed on his shoulder. A moment later, the needles rose without wind and drifted to the ground.
"Target the boy again and activate the formation once more." The middle-aged man in black robes waved his sleeve, "With your permission."
The man in blue robes turned his head, no longer looking at the man in blue on the pine tree who was radiating sharpness. He closed his eyes and formed a hand seal, and blue energy surged.
The mystical formation hidden beneath the jade-paved ground started up again. An invisible force moved along the jade, which served as a conductor, and slowly climbed to the bottom of Mo Yi's meditation cushion. Without Mo Yi knowing, the invisible force rushed directly toward his mind!
"Huh——?" Mo Yi felt his eyelids get heavy. He quickly patted his temples to shake off the strange drowsiness. The next moment, he was completely awake.
"Strange, why am I suddenly sleepy." Mo Yi yawned and thought.
The power of the formation was instantly dispelled by Mo Yi's patting his head. The group of people on the peak of Immortal Mountain were dumbfounded.
"This..."
The man in blue on the pine tree was startled. He murmured, "He wasn't not being dragged into the illusion, he broke free the moment the illusion pulled him in."
Everyone was speechless. The man in red robes asked with a blushing face, "What was the fastest time to clear the second level of the Immortal Ascension Ceremony?"
The middle-aged man in black robes was taken aback. After thinking for a moment, he quietly gave an answer, "Ten seconds. That was the record left by Wu Xiang Tianzun."
"This guy, he broke free in less than a second!"
Holy crap!
The two words appeared in everyone's minds at the same time.
The man on the pine tree said softly, "This boy has already passed the second level."
Everyone felt a surge of shock and a sense of "holy crap" all over their bodies. In the face of this unbelievable speed, as if he was cheating, they could only admire him.
"This time at the Immortal Ascension Ceremony, I only bow to this kid." The man in red robes said, dumbfounded. "It's a pity that his master has already decided he's going to be his apprentice. I'll congratulate you in advance, Jingyu Xiong."
The man in white, who had been silent all this time, slightly nodded in return.
"What do we do now? Just let him pass?" The man in red robes asked hesitantly, "Can we consider increasing the power of the formation's illusion?"
"Impossible!" The middle-aged man in black robes flatly refused, "If we increase the strength of the illusion, it could cause this young man to die directly in the illusion. Xiaoran, you're the one controlling the formation. You should know better than anyone what it's like when the power of the illusion is amplified."
"..." The man in blue robes remained silent.
Millions of years ago, there was a group of cultivators in the Immortal Cultivation World who studied illusions. As time went on, these illusionists gradually formed their own school and, after reaching a certain level of skill, they were recognized and accepted by the Immortal Alliance. They became the legitimate "Illusion Cultivators".
The ordinary illusions studied by Illusion Cultivators would cause the affected person to fall asleep. They would only wake up when they regained consciousness on their own or with help from outside forces. During this time, the affected person would not be harmed at all. This is why the illusion in the Immortal Ascension Ceremony is this kind of ordinary and safe environment.
However, certain advanced illusions, within those illusions, any damage sustained would also affect reality! If you are stabbed in an illusion, you will bleed and die in reality! Once trapped in this kind of illusion, it's very difficult to escape!
"This is too risky, no." The middle-aged man in black robes decisively rejected the decision.
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ps: Uh... Siku Shui is busy buying illustrations. I need to get character images for Mo Yi, Mo Luo Xue, Luo Hou Xiao Yan, and others! I don't want to just search online, so I'm planning to spend money to buy them.
ps: One character design costs a few hundred, a thousand or more. It's so damn expensive (supporting wall). Just one update today. I'm going to talk business with the illustrator and then I need to write out the character designs for a lot of characters, which is very taxing on the brain. If it works out, important characters will all have character designs in the future!