The battle for the throne concluded amid the confusion of the majority. First Prince Ling Yue’s enthronement was closely followed by the national burial for the former Great Emperor, both taking an entire week in total. During this period, the new emperor, alongside all the royal members, kept guard around the casket.

  After all that, everyone still questioned: What actually happened that night?!

  They only saw the result, which was that the five princes reached an agreement and the four great clans came together for the first time. The supposedly bloody night ended with only a few people getting bruised.

  This baffled everyone, including many of those involved. Even the princes and the members of the four great clans only knew one thing: They had been trapped in an illusion. As for who did it and how they did it, no one had a clue.

  However, many people had a guess…


  “It’s not easy to find you,” muttered Ling Yue, interrupting Bai Xiaofei’s cozy time as he sat on a mountain overlooking the Imperial City in the company of Ni Xue and Tan Xin.

  “Shouldn’t you be very busy? Why come all the way here?” Tan Xin turned around with a resentful glare.

  It wasn’t just Ling Yue, she’d show this expression to anyone who disturbed them.

  “Don’t talk nonsense, he came as a friend, not an emperor.” Bai Xiaofei slightly smacked Tan Xin on the head.

  Ni Xue stood up and said, “Lil’ Sis Xin’er, let’s go shopping. The shops will be closing soon.”


  Compared with Tan Xin, Ni Xue was more rational. Tan Xin didn’t make any further fuss and followed Ni Xue after giving Ling Yue a cold snort.

  “Thank you for regarding me as a friend.” Ling Yue sat down next to Bai Xiaofei and looked into the distance. He stretched his body and sighed with melancholy. “After all my time in Ethereal, I’ve never known there’s such a beautiful place.”


  “That’s why Xin’er said you are a busy man. But now that Ethereal is no longer so troublesome, you will have many opportunities to enjoy such scenery in the future.” Bai Xiaofei smiled and lay back on the grass.

  Seeing this, Ling Yue also lay down. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn’t know where to start.

  “Just say what you want to say. We are friends, and I’m a person who loves to explain things to people.” Bai Xiaofei didn’t need to look at Ling Yue to imagine his troubled expression.

  “What happened that night?” Ling Yue cut right to the chase. There were more than just one or two people who wanted to know the answer to this question. He was just a representative.

  “It’s a long story!” Bai Xiaofei let out a long sigh, making Ling Yue nervous.

  “Why? Is something hard to say?”


  “Not really, I’m just thinking about where to start.”


  Hearing this, Ling Yue’s expression relaxed into a smile. “Just tell me from the start. I’m here to listen, and I have plenty of time today.”


  “In that case, it starts with the human puppet matter.” Bai Xiaofei took a deep breath and continued, “When I was investigating the source of the human puppets, by chance I got to talk with their creator, who revealed that someone wanted to use human puppets to intervene in the throne competition. Soon after that, I was called into the palace by the Great Emperor. He told me many things before asking me to solve the conflict among the four clans, find a suitable heir among you, and thoroughly deal with the human puppet matter.”


  As Ling Yue listened, he repeatedly gulped. No one else in the whole Ethereal would dare to accept all these three requests, every single one of them required putting one’s life at risk!

  “So I became the overseer of the Imperial Guard. Only after fixing it did I start investigating the human puppet matter.”


  “After getting to know you, I concluded that none of you were the kind of people who would take advantage of such taboo things as human puppets. At the same time, I learned that the relationship between the four great clans was not as rigid as I thought. However, both of those weren’t solid enough for me to start from.”


  “So, I spent a long time looking into the history of Ethereal and found a very interesting matter, a huge turning point that was neither you pacifying civil strife, nor the stabilizing of the Holy Puppetsmith Mountain and the Ethereal Merchant Group, but that a person went missing - Second Prince Ling Huang.”


  “My intuition told me that I had found a breakthrough. Unfortunately, no matter what method I used, I couldn’t dig out any information on him. What disappeared with this man was his life story, as if someone had erased everyone’s memories of him. However, that just made me more firmly believe in my gut that he was the mastermind behind the human puppet matter.”


  “After that, I began to use my ability to monitor the imperial city and watched everything that happened within every corner of it with my own eyes. And I saw someone I had never seen before.”


  Hearing up to this point, Ling Yue grew emotional. “You mean Ling Huang really returned?!”


  Bai Xiaofei laughed. “Do you want me to finish first?”


  This calmed Ling Yue down. He weakly replied, “Yes…”


  “Fortunately, after nearly a week of observation, a special stranger came into my sights, obviously having a clear purpose as he arranged matters in the city. He thought he was being flawless, but he’d never have thought that I was always monitoring the entire city.”


  “On the day of the competition, in order to prevent you guys from making any irreparable mistakes, I did something I never dared to think of.”


  Saying this, Bai Xiaofei’s eyes shone brightly and his expression was proud. It was certainly an epic masterpiece!

  “I cast illusions on all of you, and they synchronized into one big illusion! From the moment you started moving, you were already in five identical illusions, where everything else was the product of my illusions except for you five!”


  Ling Yue was completely dumbstruck.

  They had all realized that they were in an illusion, but no one dared to even think that it was five independent illusions.

  “Wait! But in the battles, many people used puppet masters’ skills! Your illusions…”


  “As long as it’s something I’ve seen, I can recreate. When I let the enemy approach you, you’d naturally use your skills. I would recreate those skills and release them through your fake bodies in the other illusions, easily fooling the real people in there,” Bai Xiaofei explained.

  Ling Yue’s eyes bulged in astonishment. It wasn’t about how hard it was to understand, but about how Bai Xiaofei was able to control the battle within five illusions and the twenty armies in them all at once!

  Is this… really something a human can do?!!

  “Wait!” Ling Yue suddenly remembered something. “You not only pulled the five of us into illusions, but also the four clans!”


  He thought the four clans suddenly became harmonious as a result of the five brothers joining forces, but then he recalled his father’s requests for Bai Xiaofei…


  “Yep. Fortunately, they were divided into two parties, so I only needed to create two additional illusions. After they exhausted themselves fighting with illusions, I gave them a little guidance to wake them up. In fact, they all understood it and only needed an opportunity to reconcile,” explained Bai Xiaofei nonchalantly as if it only took a snap of his fingers.

  “That’s right! What about the human puppets?! If this is all true, then the human puppets in the illusion, and Ling Huang…” Ling Yue urgently asked.

  Bai Xiaofei nodded again.

  “Well, that was actually the hardest part. In fact, he started moving at the same time as you did. The human puppet army almost instantly annihilated your army in the illusion. As a matter of fact, you guys really stood no chance against him if it was real. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see through my illusion. I then created a formation to control the human puppets in order for the Imperial Guard to clean them up later. This was why I had to distance the Imperial Guard from your competition, I needed their help to deal with the human puppets.”


  Bai Xiaofei paused briefly before adding a sentence that Ling Yue wouldn’t believe even if he died.

  “After all, my energy is limited…”


  Like hell! Manipulating eight illusions at the same time and you say your energy is limited?! Who do you think you’re fooling?!

  “In the illusion, Ling Huang showed great strength and determination, but in the end, he was defeated by me. In order not to trouble your guys, I dealt with him. At present, the only person who knows about this aside from the Imperial Guard is you, and I don’t hope for more people to know.” Bai Xiaofei sighed. “What if he has diehard subordinates who would find me to avenge him, right?”


  Ling Yue nearly vomited blood. And there he thought it was for him and his brothers…


  Thinking of this, Ling Yue froze a little, then shook his head with a wry smile.

  “Thank you.”


  “You’re welcome,” replied Bai Xiaofei almost immediately, as if he had prepared for it.

  “The Illusion Stream hasn’t seen… No, it has never had a genius like you!” exclaimed Ling Yue from the bottom of his heart.

  Lying on the ground with a strand of grass in his mouth, Bai Xiaofei said nonchalantly, “Being a genius is not what I seek.”


  Ling Yue smiled, then asked, “About the human puppets, do you have any clues? Is there something I can do for you?”


  Although Ling Yue was reluctant to admit it, he could only offer assistance. Comparing himself to Bai Xiaofei, he felt like an ignorant boy, knowing nothing about this matter.

  “No clues at all, but I have a direction.” Bai Xiaofei chuckled.

  This answer made Ling Yue’s eyes light up.

  After the battle of the imperial city, the existence of human puppets could no longer be hidden. Therefore, Ling Yue wanted to thoroughly resolve it before the whole continent condemned Ethereal. Otherwise, he’d be in a difficult place when the other empires took the opportunity to attack Ethereal.

  “Then, are we moving now?!” Ling Yue was too excited to control his thoughts and Bai Xiaofei saw right through it.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not going to blow up so fast. I didn’t let everyone come into contact with the human puppets in my illusions, so only a small scope of people know about it. I will resolve it before the news spreads.”


  Not just figuring it out, but completely resolving it!

  Ling Yue had a troubled look on his face. He asked, “So… the direction you said?”


  “I had doubts about what that puppetsmith said, but after that night, he was proved to be telling the truth. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that he didn’t really want to stand with Shadow Death or Ling Huang, but that some kind of special situation forced his hand.”


  “Moreover, I’ve also found out that Ethereal is really a very interesting country. Despite being a huge empire, what I’ve seen after arriving is not infighting under the development and progress, but more a variety of human touch.”


  When saying this, Bai Xiaofei couldn’t help but recall a group of sleazy uncles and aunts. Once upon a time, he thought of them as a nightmare, but only now did he realize that they were the most precious group of people…


  “Human touch?” Ling Yue frowned in confusion about this ‘direction.’


  “Let me tell you this, if there is another country going through this same experience as Ethereal and I use the same method to help them, I’d have a 90% chance of getting a completely different result, and an extremely undesirable one at that.”


  “Although it seems that I’m the cause for such a result, it’s not. I’m a facilitator at best. It is you, your heart, and your unique culture that made it happen. This is an empire built on human feelings, brotherhood, family love,… It’s no coincidence that Ethereal can grow to this state. All that I did was give you a chance to choose again,” Bai Xiaofei concluded.

  Ling Yue nodded, as if he carefully listened, before asking, “So, what does this have to do with the human puppet matter?”


  Bai Xiaofei nearly cried. I see it’s impossible to explain like this. Let’s just give it to him directly!

  “I want the resumes of all the senior puppetsmiths in the Holy Puppetsmith Mountain after they became a member!”


  Hearing this, Ling Yue was struck with realization. “You should have said so earlier! My brother, this is a walk in the park. I’m going to find Fourth Brother!”


  Ling Yue leaped up, wanting to leave.

  “Wait, do not let anyone else know!” Bai Xiaofei said solemnly, but he didn’t know if Ling Yue was listening.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll tell Fourth Brother to use my enthronement as an excuse. I’ll make sure that he doesn’t miss any clues!” agreed Ling Yue happily.

  Bai Xiaofei heaved a sigh of relief. Well, although he’s a little foolish, he’s still reliable when it comes to business… He thought, but would never voice it. After all, the other party was now the emperor of Ethereal. An order from the guy and his body would be cold before he knew it.

  “Wait! There’s one more thing!” Bai Xiaofei stopped Ling Yue again.

  A puzzled Ling Yue turned around to see an evil face that he’d never forget for the rest of his life.

  “About that illusion thing… I used up some high-grade goods to supplement my origin energy, so you see, my brother… Maybe you can subsidize some…” Bai Fei chortled, no longer looking so mighty like just now.

  “How is that even a problem? Brother Bai, just tell me how much you used, I’ll give it back to you tenfold… no… a hundred folds!” Ling Yue generously beat his chest.

  Bai Xiaofei jumped in excitement. “Not much, not much, only one hundred and eighty 100000-year-old fire-attribute spiritual plants!”


  “…My bro, I have work to do. We’ll talk again next time!” Ling Yue had vanished before Bai Xiaofei finished his words, leaving only his voice…


  “Dammit! You’re already the emperor, why still so stingy?!! You want this lord to lose my pants?!!” Bai Xiaofei growled.

  Meanwhile, Ling Yue was relishing everything Bai Xiaofei had just said. As he did, he froze, realizing that there was one thing that Bai Xiaofei did not mention.

  On that night, although everyone had been within his illusions, the real people had used their puppet master’s abilities. Yet, there had been no reaction from the citizens… Therefore, he must have used another illusion that isolated the fights from the rest of the city!

  Ling Yue was stunned for three whole minutes.

  A nine-layer illusion! He is not a genius, he is a god!

  A God of Illusions!