“You mean that if I continue, I will die for sure?”

  Sun Mo counter-asked.

  BOOM!

  Spirit qi gushed forth from Sun Mo’s hands, forming into the genie. After that, the genie executed the ancient massage technique on him.

  The furious illusion was extremely powerful. That intense battle earlier had fractured many of Sun Mo’s bones, and some of his muscles were swelling as well.

  Right now, Sun Mo felt like he was tossed inside a meat grinder and was ‘processed’ three times. But as the genie massaged, Sun Mo immediately felt much more comfortable than before.

  “That’s for sure!”

  The gemstone’s consciousness introduced, “I can’t remember how many years it has been since I gained sentience, and I also can’t remember how many invaders there have been. However, I’m sure that not a single one of them left here alive. Just a few months ago, even a 5-star great teacher died here.”

  “That sounds really terrifying!”

  Sun Mo chortled and continued to delay for time. “However, I don’t wish to leave empty-handed.”

  “Then, please continue!”

  The gemstone’s consciousness wasn’t willing to waste time. “I’m anticipating your performance!”

  The recovery effect of the genie’s massage wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t enough. Sun Mo took out a bottle of lover protection medicine. He popped the cork and just when he wanted to pour it into his mouth, he suddenly heard a bang as a cloud of white mist was emitted.

  In the blink of an eye, the mist transformed into a woman with a wonderful figure. She floated in the air and was clad in a pure-white gown. From the looks of things, she seemed about 20+ in age and had the vibe of a sexy and mature woman.

  “.……”

  Sun Mo’s eyes involuntarily turned toward that ‘woman’.

  As the ‘woman’ fully materialized, she suddenly stretched out her fair hands and hugged Sun Mo’s neck. After that, she pulled him before her and didn’t hesitate to lower her head and kiss Sun Mo.

  “My heavens, what’s the meaning of this?”

  Jia Wendong was dumbfounded. He knew he shouldn’t look at the woman, but he completely had no way to shift his vision away. The next thought in his mind was that he should find a wife like this.

  “I hate that woman!”

  Lu Zhiruo’s lips twitched. “She’s not pure!”

  “Is this the effect of the medicine?”

  Li Ziqi was much more rational. She read many books before and was a learned young girl. However, she had never read about medicine with such an effect!

  Where did her teacher obtain this?

  (It couldn’t be something he concocted himself, right?)

  “Kiss, what kiss? Quickly clear the second round!”

  Xuanyuan Po anxiously roared in complaint. How could there be the joy of slaughtering enemies on the blood-soaked battlefield if two lips were to meet like that?

  Sun Mo had a dumbfounded look on his face. The usage method of this lover protection medicine wasn’t oral consumption? How should he use it then?

  Very soon, Sun Mo knew the answer.

  The ‘woman’ passed some of the medicine solutions into Sun Mo’s mouth orally.

  “F***!”

  Sun Mo subconsciously wanted to push this ‘lover’ away. Sadly, the other party was too strong.

  Bzz~

  As he swallowed the medicine, not only did Sun Mo feel a sensation of fragrance and sweetness in his mouth, but his body also glowed with a layer of white light. After that, his injuries recovered at a speed visible to the naked eye.

  “Awesome!”

  Sun Mo exclaimed in admiration. Earlier when he was breathing, he felt some pain in his chest. But now, the sensation of pain had vanished completely. His condition was extremely good.

  The effect was not bad.

  Sun Mo felt that the pharmacist who invented this medicine was definitely a pervert.

  This scene persisted for a minute. When it ended, the ‘lover’ let go of Sun Mo and floated backward. After that, with a clapping sound, it became a cloud of mist and vanished in the air.

  “I can feel your lifeforce becoming more vibrant. So, that is your trump card?”

  The gemstone’s consciousness didn’t interrupt Sun Mo’s healing process. It was still very confident. “However, I can tell you that it’s useless. There’s only a path of death for you if you continue forward!”

  However, before the sound of the gemstone’s consciousness faded, Sun Mo had entered the passageway.

  This time around, even Jia Wendong no longer looked at Ming Xian’s battle. Instead, he was filled with curiosity as he looked at Sun Mo’s light screen.

  After that, he grew disappointed.

  “Why is it another darkness illusion? What the hell?”

  Jia Wendong was extremely unhappy. (Can there be some fresher challenges?)

  The battle started but after Sun Mo clashed a few times with his darkness illusion, he immediately lengthened the distance between them. His gaze was heavy as he stared at it.

  “Eh? What’s going on?”

  Jia Wendong didn’t understand. This darkness illusion was clearly weaker compared to the furious illusion from the first round. However, why did Sun Mo seemingly become so cautious and solemn?

  The illusion didn’t chase him, allowing Sun Mo to rest.

  After observing closely, Sun Mo attacked again. But one minute later, he backed off once more.

  “What’s going on exactly?”

  Jia Wendong scratched his scalp. He couldn’t understand.

  “My teacher’s attacks are reflected back on him.”

  Xuanyuan Po explained.

  “Ah?”

  Jia Wendong was a little bewildered.

  “It also means that by attacking the illusion, it’s equal to self-mutilation.”

  Li Ziqi explained.

  Her teacher was using a wooden blade and not a sharp sword. Basically, the flesh wouldn’t be sliced and there wasn’t blood flying around. Hence, it wasn’t that easy for the spectators to realize what was going on.

  However, upon closer observation, one could see that whenever Sun Mo’s wooden blade struck the illusion, on the corresponding parts of his body, there would be traces of being hit.

  Sun Mo rushed out for the third time. This time, the duration of combat was longer. Clearly, he was trying to probe more information from the illusion. As for Jia Wendong, he finally understood what he was watching.

  “What do you guys think about this? Will it work if Teacher Sun doesn’t do so many attacks and chooses to insta-kill the illusion?”

  Jia Wendong thought of a solution. But after he said it, two gazes of contempt shot over.

  “Leaving aside that it’s basically impossible to insta-kill such a strong enemy, even if one could do so, who knows if their true body would survive the ‘reflected damage’?”

  Li Ziqi felt that Jia Wendong was too dumb. There was no way to ‘restart’ this round. If a mistake was made, the price paid might very well be one’s life.

  Sun Mo continued hitting the illusion and stopping. Also, the illusion wouldn’t take the initiative to attack him.

  “Teacher Ming has just entered this round!”

  Lu Zhiruo reported in a small voice.

  An instant later, Gu Xiuxun also passed the first round. As for Tantai Yutang, he had long since poisoned his furious illusion to death via medical substances. But because he was treating his injuries, he was delayed for a while and finally entered the second round now.

  After that, all of them discovered that the second round was very hard to deal with.

  “Wrong, this is just the second round. That gemstone’s consciousness wouldn’t give us a hopeless situation!”

  Sun Mo contemplated.

  He did think before whether the ‘reflected damage’ was fake? But after he checked, he realized the damage was real. Hence, he didn’t dare to attempt to kill the illusion. What if he killed himself? ……

  Tantai Yutang’s poisonous mist drifted toward the illusion. After that, the ‘reflection’ started. The sickly invalid immediately started coughing and his face was flushed red.

  Right now, he was absolutely exhibiting the signs of being poisoned.

  Hence, he hurriedly consumed the antidote.

  Li Ziqi and Lu Zhiruo stared at the light screen. All of a sudden, Jia Wendong’s excited shout rang out from beside them.

  “Teacher Ming passed the second round!”

  Jia Wendong had a complacent look on his face as he stared at Li Ziqi and the other two. “Do you see it? This is the strength of our Teacher Ming. I already knew that the second round tests one’s guts. If one doesn’t have the guts to use their life as the bet, they will never be able to pass this.”

  “What do you think?”

  Li Ziqi ignored Jia Wendong and glanced at the papaya girl instead.

  “I don’t know, but I feel what he said is wrong.”

  The papaya girl shook her head. If it was her, she would choose to become friends with the illusion and ask it to let her pass. ……

  “As expected, my guess was right!”

  Ming Xian felt a lingering fear. If it wasn’t for his clan mistress being a rare illusionist and if he hadn’t been guided personally by her, he would have taken a very long time for this round.

  “The first round most probably wouldn’t stump Sun Mo. But the second round must be challenging to him.”

  Ming Xian felt that when he exited this place later, Sun Mo would have become a corpse.

  For this round, the test wasn’t about courage. If one thought this way and killed the illusion, they themselves would definitely die.

  Sun Mo used the ancient massaging technique again and summoned the muscular genie to heal his injuries. However, after the genie was summoned, it didn’t move.

  “Mn?”

  Sun Mo frowned. He was suddenly struck by a burst of sudden inspiration.

  The gemstone’s consciousness wasn’t idle enough to keep playing with its ‘toys’. For the second round, the time limit was half an hour. If the participant wasn’t able to find a way to pass the round, the illusion would start to attack.

  For Sun Mo, the duration was up. Hence, the illusion lunged over.

  Pak!

  Sun Mo’s wooden blade smacked the illusion’s arm, and the illusion didn’t even blink. Sun Mo was the one who felt the pain instead.

  “Teacher Sun is very impressive, but this is his final stop.”

  Jia Wendong sighed.

  “Shut your damn crow mouth!”

  Li Ziqi roared.

  Lu Zhiruo’s actions were more decisive. She directly pulled out a dagger and was prepared to stab this idiot with a crow mouth to death.

  “Don’t misunderstand, I have no intention of insulting Teacher Sun, but the truth is as such!”

  Jia Wendong jumped in fright.

  “You are still talking?”

  The papaya girl was prepared to act.

  “Don’t quarrel anymore. Even if you want to kill him, let’s wait until Teacher wins against the illusion. That will knock some sense into this idiot’s brain.”

  Li Ziqi’s tone was ice-cold.

  The illusion started to attack. Its speed was extremely fast and it kept chasing after Sun Mo. There was basically no way for Sun Mo to evade.

  Its attacking prowess wasn’t strong, but the ‘damage reflection’ was truly annoying.

  Sun Mo finally couldn’t bear it anymore. He blasted the illusion’s head with a blade.

  Bang!

  The head of the illusion exploded. As for Sun Mo himself, he also fell straight onto the ground.

  “Ah, teacher!”

  Lu Zhiruo was badly shocked. She wanted to look for her teacher, but there was no path to take.

  “Don’t panic!”

  Li Ziqi held on to the papaya girl.

  “What’s going on?”

  Jia Wendong didn’t understand. Why did Sun Mo fall down with a look of extreme agony on his face when the illusion died?

  “Boohoohoo, t……teacher will surely be fine.”

  The papaya girl was very worried, but she also felt that her teacher would be able to pass this round. Hence, the conflicting feelings caused her to feel very miserable.

  “I understand!”

  Li Ziqi was suddenly enlightened.

  “What do you understand?”

  Lu Zhiruo sobbed and frantically clutched Li Ziqi’s arm.

  Xuanyuan Po was in deep contemplation.

  Chapter 397: Although I Don’t Really Understand, I Feel It’s Very Impressive!

  “This round is a test of one’s mental prowess!”

  Li Ziqi explained.

  “The reflected damage should be an illusion. If you feel that it exists, it will really exist and vice versa.”

  “Ah?”

  The papaya girl had a perplexed look on her face. She didn’t really understand.

  “I only read a few books before about this. After all, books about mental energy and powers are simply too rare.”

  Li Ziqi spoke.

  “Teacher Sun didn’t die!”

  Xuanyuan Po suddenly shouted.

  The two girls immediately looked over. As expected, they saw Sun Mo sitting up. He had a look of agony on his face and his countenance was pale. There was also a hint of joy from living through the calamity.

  “That Ming Xian should have experienced a similar scene before. Hence, this round isn’t difficult for him at all. However, I’m very curious as to how you succeeded.”

  The gemstone’s consciousness was curious because from Sun Mo’s expression, he seemed to have depended on his own intellect and judgment to see past the crux of this round.

  “You are the darkness illusion gemstone, right? Your main attacking method should be mental attacks.”

  During his time in the No. 2 High School, in order to understand students and teach them better, Sun Mo had bought many books about psychology and read about many psychology experiments before.

  “When humans are in states of extreme fear or anxiousness, their bodies will generate corresponding stress. For example, if their bodies secrete too much adrenaline, their blood flow would increase, and the burden on their organs would become greater, causing people to die.

  “From ancient times until now, many people have been scared to death.”

  At the start, Sun Mo also felt that those reflected damages were real. This lasted until he summoned the muscular genie to treat him.

  The muscular genie didn’t move at all. Why was this so?

  Because Sun Mo wasn’t injured at all. Hence, he soon discovered that these injuries originated from the mental plane. It was a type of illusion.

  If you believed that you weren’t injured, it wouldn’t be painful.

  However, at that instant where he killed the illusion, Sun Mo experienced extreme pain like his brain had been poked through.

  The feeling was like when you were watching horror films. Although you knew that it was something fake, you would still be scared.

  Luckily, Sun Mo’s will was strong enough. From the start to the end, he didn’t doubt his judgment. Hence, although it felt very painful, he managed to survive.

  Back then, if he had had the slightest bit of suspicion, he would have died immediately.

  “What is adrenaline?”

  Jia Wendong had a dumbfounded look on his face. After that, he grew impressed.

  Teacher Sun was truly widely-learned!

  After that, he contributed a lot of favorable impression points.

  “Although I don’t really understand, I feel my teacher is very impressive!”

  Little stars, denoting a feeling of worship, could be seen in the papaya girl’s eyes when she looked at Sun Mo.

  Li Ziqi was very calm because she knew that her teacher would surely impart all this knowledge to her.

  Speaking of which, those who were able to take Sun Mo as their personal teacher were truly fortunate. They would be able to see a broader heaven and earth and understand more secrets of their world.

  “I see. So this is the reason why people were frightened to death before.”

  The gemstone’s consciousness revealed a contemplative look.

  “Can I continue to the next round?”

  From the words of the gemstone’s consciousness, Sun Mo knew that Ming Xian was a step faster than him.

  “Sure. But because you passed the second round, in addition to me learning about something new, I will give you a reward. You can have one chance to leave half-way.”

  The gemstone’s consciousness smiled. “Please cherish this chance. I’ve never been so generous before!”

  “Can I give this chance to another person?”

  Sun Mo definitely wanted to continue ahead.

  “You mean, you want me to spare that woman?”

  The gemstone’s consciousness felt that it had guessed correctly. It was said that men were animals controlled by the lower part of their body. For the sake of women, their brains would heat up and their blood gushing. They would be capable of giving up everything.

  “If it’s possible, I want to give it to that boy!”

  Sun Mo wanted to give Tantai Yutang an additional level of insurance. Although the sickly invalid always acted brave in the face of death, he was the most fearful of it in his heart.

  As for Gu Xiuxun. She was very impressive. Sun Mo felt that there was an 80% chance she would be able to pass.

  “Alright!”

  The gemstone’s consciousness didn’t mind it. “Please continue then!”

  A passageway then appeared above the wall.

  Sun Mo frowned as he thought of something new.

  After he walked through the passageway, Sun Mo appeared on a circular platform. After that, his expressions changed slightly.

  At the northern end of the platform, a young child of 12 years old stood there. This child was clearly Sun Mo when he was younger. The child looked clean, pure, and untainted by the world.

  However, at this moment, the child’s face was filled with killing intent.

  “Although the round is still about fighting illusions, things are more novel now.”

  Sun Mo defended against the attack.

  Although the illusion was only 12 years old, its combat strength was similar to the current Sun Mo. Besides, its movements were extremely nimble

  Naturally, this wasn’t enough to stump Sun Mo.

  Two minutes later, the illusion’s head exploded. It transformed into light, but these motes of light didn’t fade away. They converged together and materialized a new figure again. This new illusion was Sun Mo when he was 18.

  “Kill!”

  The illusion roared. ……

  For the second round, when the time limit passed, the illusion started to attack. Tantai Yutang immediately fell into a disadvantaged state. He wasn’t able to flee or fight, causing him to feel so depressed that he coughed up blood.

  When death moved closer and closer, it was like he could feel a noose gradually tightening around his neck. His body began to tremble involuntarily.

  “I don’t want to die, I cannot die!”

  This was the only thought in his mind. He knew he should calm down and think of a strategy, but his mind was in chaos now.

  “Tantai is suffering from a mental breakdown!”

  Lu Zhiruo grabbed Li Ziqi’s arm.

  “Yup.”

  Li Ziqi’s lips twitched. She actually loathed this type of behavior from Tantai Yutang the most – oh I’m going to die so I don’t care about my life.

  Because of this type of thinking, he did many things against the rules. For example, he had provoked and challenged Sun Mo’s prestige several times and often treated others as toys for his own amusement.

  However, when death was truly coming, Tantai Yutang discovered that he had no way to calmly accept such a fate. He wanted to live on.

  Tantai Yutang gave up on attacking the illusion. He started to survey the surroundings, wanting to find an exit. In fact, he even attacked the wall that closed up after he had entered earlier. He hoped that by breaking that wall, he would be able to see a passageway leading to the exit.

  “I have not obtained my revenge yet. I have not made those disgusting fellows pay the price. I cannot die!”

  Tantai Yutang mumbled, finding an excuse for his cowardice.

  Bang!

  The illusion’s fist whistled past the sickly invalid’s ears and blasted into the wall, causing spiderweb-like cracks to appear.

  The shattered stone fragments of the wall hit Tantai Yutang on his face, leaving behind bloody scratches.

  Pak!

  Tantai Yutang’s illusion turned into motes of light and vanished.

  Putong!

  Tantai Yutang fell onto the ground and panted heavily.

  “Why did you spare me?”

  Tantai Yutang didn’t understand.

  “Because your teacher gave up his chance of leaving the game to you.”

  The gemstone’s consciousness explained.

  Tantai Yutang started. After that, his fists clenched and his nails dug into the flesh of his palms.

  “In that case, do you want to leave or continue with the challenge?”

  The gemstone’s consciousness asked.

  Tantai Yutang wanted to continue challenging. However, the words got stuck in his throat. He wasn’t able to say anything.

  “Ant, you should be happy that you have such a good teacher. It’s really a pity that he’s about to die.”

  After the gemstone’s consciousness spoke, it threw Tantai Yutang out of the darkness spire.

  Tantai Yutang was as insignificant as an ant to it. Whether to trample him or not depended on its mood.

  In the blink of an eye, Tantai Yutang discovered that he was on the street outside the spire. He glanced at the surroundings and howled in vexation.

  “I’m truly trash!”

  Tantai Yutang had once sworn a vow beside his mother’s sickbed that he wouldn’t owe anyone anything. But now, he owed his life to Sun Mo.

  Ding!

  Favorable impression points from Tantai Yutang +10,000. Reverence (11,200/100,000). ……

  Gu Xiuxun stood beside the illusion’s corpse, feeling a lingering fear in her heart. Her sweat made her hair damp and in clumps, sticking to her face.

  “A very fascinating performance!”

  The gemstone’s consciousness praised.

  “Since my performance is fascinating, can I make a small request?”

  Gu Xiuxun’s tone was gentle and sweet.

  “Please speak!”

  The gemstone’s consciousness was very gentlemanly.

  “Can you let that student leave? Naturally, if you don’t mind it, how about letting Sun Mo leave as well?”

  Gu Xiuxun suggested.

  “Both of you are really good teachers!”

  The gemstone’s consciousness sighed emotionally. “However, you are thinking too much. Sun Mo has already passed the second round, and he already passed his reward to that sickly child. Now, you have the option to choose. Do you want to continue to the next round or leave?”

  “It can’t be, right?”

  Gu Xiuxun revealed a bitter smile. (Can’t you let me win once and make yourself owe me a favor?)

  Ding!

  Favorable impression points from Gu Xiuxun +1,000. Respect (7,500/10,000).

  “I’ll continue!”

  Gu Xiuxun didn’t give up. She wanted to catch up to Sun Mo and joined forces with him against Ming Xian.

  This experience would surely be extremely wonderful when she recalled it in the future after she grew old. ……

  Sun Mo fell in a daze when he suddenly heard the huge number of favorable impression points contributed by the sickly invalid. It was actually 10,000? After that, due to his carelessness, his head almost got struck by the ‘old Sun Mo’ he was currently fighting against.

  Swish~ Swish~

  Sun Mo consecutively somersaulted backward, reorganizing his plans. He decided to start focusing on defense.

  The ‘old Sun Mo’ with its stooped back might be slower in terms of agility, however, it was very experienced and was fighting equally against Sun Mo.

  Sun Mo’s brows were so tightly furrowed that they could squeeze two crabs to death.

  He went all out. If he could kill the old Sun Mo, what about the next one? Did he have to fight against another illusion?

  This ‘old Sun Mo’ was already the fifth illusion and from the looks of things, it seemed that it was very possible for there to be even more illusions!

  If this type of battle continued, even if Sun Mo was a man made from steel, he would surely be exhausted to death.

  (The crux of this round shouldn’t lie in continuing the fight or killing the illusions of various ages.)

  Sun Mo racked his brains.

  “If I continue fighting like that, when would the end be?”

  Jia Wendong had a worried look on his face. Ming Xian was on his eighth illusion. This type of battle where one wasn’t able to see the end of it, making him feel very frustrated.

  “I feel that this is a very good chance instead!”

  Xuanyuan Po felt very envious. He also wanted to fight against so many versions of himself.

  Ming Xian wasn’t like Sun Mo. He didn’t keep defending. Rather, he was killing the illusions with his fastest speed. From his point of view, the more illusions he saw and the more combat he experienced, the easier it would be to see the flaws of the illusions.

  After that, when he fought to the tenth illusion, Ming Xian was suddenly enlightened. He stopped moving the sword in his hand.