(2/5)
Xiao Mo had meddled in others’ affairs again, but this time Chu Jinglan no longer questioned him.
It seemed like Xiao Mo had casually helped Mu Jian, but—Su Baimo’s shadow was present throughout the entire incident.
Strangely enough, whether in Black Forest or this Phantom Moon Secret Realm, they had accidentally encountered Su Baimo. They had been walking in the Phantom Moon Secret Realm for three days, and the place was certainly not small. To meet like this, once might be chance, but twice—was it still coincidence?
Moreover, shortly after encountering Su Baimo last time, they had obtained the Golden Flame Flowing Fire Phoenix in Black Forest.
Chu Jinglan paid a bit more attention: if they encountered another stroke of luck this time, it would be quite unusual.
He hadn’t doubted Xiao Mo’s chosen route, because in a secret realm without a map, everyone relied on their feelings and detection of spiritual energy fluctuations to determine their direction, along with some intuition, and the rest was up to luck.
Although they hadn’t encountered any great opportunities in these three days, the things they had found were quite good. Besides keeping what they could use, many items could be exchanged for money, directly multiplying their wealth dozens of times over.
So wherever Xiao Mo wanted to go, Chu Jinglan had no objections.
Leaving Mu Jian and Su Baimo behind, they passed through the stone wall. The view suddenly opened up before their eyes, with two visible paths. Strangely, the system’s route showed no fork in the road here.
Phantom Moon Core, Phantom Moon Core, capable of creating illusions. Could it be that the Phantom Moon Core was really nearby, that the third time wasn’t a miss, and from this moment on, they had already stepped into the Phantom Moon Core’s domain?
Xiao Mo looked at the two paths, extending his spiritual sense, but could only vaguely perceive a hazy image, as if clouds were obscuring the sun.
Xiao Mo suddenly spoke: “Chu Jinglan, which way do you want to go?”
Chu Jinglan had also been examining the two paths but hadn’t noticed anything special. He casually said: “Right.”
Xiao Mo stepped towards the right path: “Alright, let’s go with that.”
Butterflies gently fluttered their wings along the right path. Chu Jinglan asked: “Why suddenly let me choose?”
“You had the best luck when opening blind boxes earlier. When faced with a choice, let’s test your luck again.”
Luck is a real thing for cultivators, but among the masses, mediocrity is common, with fortunes rising and falling. Only a small portion of people have smooth sailing in all their endeavors, blessed with great fortune. Of course, there’s also a small portion who are particularly unlucky, which is part of the balance in the world’s flow of fate.
In the lower realm, those who practiced divination had limited abilities. When the Chu family had someone divine for Chu Jinglan, they only saw a general outline, all good words, saying this child had limitless prospects, excellent fortune, and so on.
In terms of cultivation, Chu Jinglan indeed showed good fortune, but he felt his entire life could hardly be considered favored by heaven’s way.
Otherwise, why wouldn’t it even allow him to fulfill his wish of protecting Wan Yu?
Add to that his cultivation being crippled now, so the path of cultivation was no longer bright and smooth. Yet Xiao Mo still believed in his luck.
He really wasn’t afraid of being led astray.
Just as he was pondering this, Xiao Mo’s footsteps suddenly halted.
Chu Jinglan snapped back to reality.
The white snow ball in his sea of consciousness rarely showed fluctuation, staring intently at what appeared at the end of the road—
The main gate of the Chu family.
The Chu family gate that absolutely shouldn’t appear in the Middle Realm.
Chu Jinglan’s mind wavered for an instant, just an instant, before he immediately said: “An illusion. Something is probing my consciousness.”
Xiao Mo’s heart stirred: “Mm.”
He increasingly felt that the system must have calculated the location correctly this time. The Phantom Moon Core was likely nearby.
According to the laws of the cultivation world, the better the treasure, the harder it is to obtain. The mechanisms guarding treasures, beast guardians, or defenses created by the treasure itself are all tests. Those who can’t pass might die in the trials, and only the victors can claim the treasure.
Of course, even after obtaining it, one isn’t completely safe, as there’s still the risk of others trying to steal it directly.
Xiao Mo hadn’t expected the Phantom Moon Core to be able to probe people’s hearts and create illusions even without an owner. This was more sophisticated than directly conjuring worldly temptations like wine, lust, wealth, or power that many ordinary people easily fall for.
He just didn’t know if the illusion of the Chu family was targeting hatred or something else.
Xiao Mo and Chu Jinglan cautiously entered the Chu family compound, only to find that from the main gate onwards, there wasn’t a single person in sight. The plants and flowers in the courtyard were thriving, but it was empty, devoid of human presence.
If it was probing the deep-seated hatred in Chu Jinglan’s heart, the compound should be filled with Chu family members now. Since there were no enemies, there was only one possibility left for this illusion.
Xiao Mo looked up, gazing towards a certain direction in the Chu family compound. There was a residence there that once held Wan Yu.
Xiao Mo moved his lips: “If you don’t want to see, you can close your eyes and block your ears.”
Cut off hearing and sight, don’t listen, don’t look.
Chu Jinglan followed his gaze and said softly: “No need.”
To attack one’s mental defenses, the illusion wouldn’t be aimless. They walked through the silent Chu family courtyards and corridors, along familiar paths, arriving at a courtyard filled with the fragrance of osmanthus.
Last time, Chu Jinglan had come here in a wheelchair, stumbling and broken-hearted.
Xiao Mo slowly pushed open the courtyard gate.
Golden osmanthus flowers dotted the yard, drifting like snow. A woman in pink was gathering flowers under a tree. Seeing “Chu Jinglan,” her beautiful eyes curved into crescents: “Jinglan, you’ve come at the right time!”
She stepped through the fragrant ground, offering them the osmanthus flowers: “The osmanthus is perfect. Mother will make you osmanthus cakes.”
Xiao Mo looked at her pink skirt and the flower in her hair, unstained by blood. He couldn’t help but clench his fists and shut his eyes tightly.
It was Wan Yu.
In this illusory Chu family compound, there were no Chu family members, only a Wan Yu without madness.
At eighteen, Chu Jinglan was already much taller than Wan Yu. She had to look up to see him.
Xiao Mo didn’t speak, and Chu Jinglan’s consciousness in the inner sea was also quiet. They didn’t respond, but Wan Yu didn’t mind. She freed one hand, reaching out as if to hold hands. Xiao Mo instinctively withdrew, avoiding her touch.
Wan Yu paused, looking at him in confusion: “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing…” Xiao Mo took a deep breath, lowering his hand. “Where did you want to take me?”
Wan Yu: “To the small kitchen, to make osmanthus cakes.”
She smiled: “My child has grown up, too shy to hold hands with me now. Alright, alright, mother won’t pull you. Come, follow me.”
She turned, carrying a basket of osmanthus flowers. In the inner sea, Chu Jinglan’s consciousness stirred: “Let me have control for now.”
They were now very skilled at switching body control. Xiao Mo complied, ready to take over immediately if any danger arose, ensuring their safety.
Chu Jinglan regained control of the body and followed Wan Yu.
This was his illusion.
Though unsure what or who was behind this, the entity behind the scenes had likely only probed Chu Jinglan’s heart. Xiao Mo was unaffected, which meant Chu Jinglan would need to break this illusion.
In the small kitchen, Wan Yu began making osmanthus cakes. Chu Jinglan tried to help, but he didn’t know how to cook. As soon as he started, both Xiao Mo and Wan Yu laughed.
Wan Yu: “Haha, never mind, go wait in the room to eat. We don’t need you here.”
Xiao Mo: “Pfft, you’re pressing too hard, the osmanthus flowers almost splattered on your head, hahaha!”
Chu Jinglan helplessly cleaned his hands and went to the room. Xiao Mo didn’t urge him to quickly find a way to break the illusion. He knew Chu Jinglan was aware.
As long as he was aware, Chu Jinglan wouldn’t be lost in the illusion.
Moments later, Wan Yu came out with steaming osmanthus cakes. The sweet fragrance immediately filled the room, warming hearts. Through the misty steam, Chu Jinglan looked at Wan Yu’s face.
He knew everything was fake. He just wanted to look a little longer.
He thought… perhaps he could take this opportunity to properly say goodbye to Wan Yu.
Wan Yu handed him a pair of chopsticks: “Try it quickly.”
Chu Jinglan took them with both hands but didn’t rush to use them.
Wan Yu picked up a piece and placed it on his plate.
The items in this illusion seemed not entirely fabricated. In an illusion blending reality and fantasy, some objects might be mere tricks. For instance, the seemingly soft and fragrant osmanthus cake might actually be poisonous insects. Chu Jinglan didn’t touch it, looking instead at the third plate on the table.
There were only two people, so why were three places set?
Chu Jinglan asked: “Who is this empty seat for?”
Wan Yu gave him a strange look: “Who else could it be for, if not—”
“Chu Jinglan!” Speak of the devil, a young man strode across the threshold, bursting in impetuously, “Don’t you dare hog Aunt Wan’s osmanthus cakes!”
The newcomer had a face neither Chu Jinglan nor Xiao Mo recognized, but his voice stunned them both.
Especially Xiao Mo.
The black mist ball jumped up in surprise within the inner sea: My voice!?
Chu Jinglan: …?
The young man wore elaborate, luxurious clothes that, upon closer inspection, very much resembled Xiao Mo’s usual style. His features were delicate, unlike anyone else’s. Noticing Chu Jinglan staring at him blankly, he curiously waved a hand in front of his eyes: “Gone stupid? You don’t have a fever today, your brain hasn’t been fried, has it?”
His actions and tone were very much like Xiao Mo’s.
Eliminating all impossibilities, even Chu Jinglan could only lean towards the remaining hypothesis. His fingers tightened on the chopsticks as he struggled to speak through his astonishment: “…Xiao Mo?”
“Xiao Mo”: “Mm, what is it?”
The genuine black mist ball Xiao Mo couldn’t hold back: “How did I get involved in this? Is this how you imagine me!?”
Chu Jinglan immediately denied: “It’s not.”
Although he had briefly imagined Xiao Mo’s appearance before, he didn’t have a specific face in mind. He only thought Xiao Mo should be very handsome, with the vigor of youth, as graceful as rosy clouds and the moon, naturally jade-like in quality. While the young man before him was delicate, Chu Jinglan didn’t feel this person was Xiao Mo.
Chu Jinglan wasn’t lying.
The illusion here was created by the Phantom Moon Core that Xiao Mo was seeking. It probed Chu Jinglan’s heart, manifesting Wan Yu’s form, and seeing a vague young figure in his mind, it simply conjured one up.
“Fine,” the Xiao Mo ball floated leisurely in the inner sea, humming, “I don’t look like that.”
Chu Jinglan said softly: “Mm.”
Xiao Mo: “Back to the previous question, how did I get involved in this Chu family illusion?”
Chu Jinglan: “…I don’t know either.”
Did the illusion think that Xiao Mo could influence him too?
Even Chu Jinglan himself couldn’t be sure.
The young man in the illusion happily picked up a piece of osmanthus cake, gently blew on it, and took a bite, his eyes immersed in the full fragrance: “Delicious!”
Chu Jinglan’s hand moved, and before he realized it, he had already picked up another piece for “Xiao Mo”.
Chu Jinglan: “…”
He felt his hand had betrayed his brain, but this was inexplicable.
Xiao Mo mist ball: “You’re being too polite.”
Chu Jinglan remained silent.
Wan Yu just smiled at the two of them. Such good days, such a relaxed atmosphere, only beauty existed here, making one reluctant to break it.
In this gentle room, Chu Jinglan’s gaze lingered on Wan Yu’s face with a hint of attachment as he slowly put down his chopsticks.
“Mother, and… Xiao Mo,” Chu Jinglan said slowly, “let’s leave this place.”
Wan Yu and the young man both looked up simultaneously.
“Why do you want to leave?” Wan Yu asked.
The young man stared at him unblinkingly: “Isn’t it good here?”
“There’s no sorrow, no enemies, only the people you care about most.” Wan Yu raised her hand, grasping Chu Jinglan’s wrist. “Isn’t it good to stay here?”
Her originally gentle expression turned sad, her eyes on the verge of tears – a heartbreaking sight Chu Jinglan never wanted to see.
“Xiao Mo” also grabbed his other hand: “What strange things are you saying? Aren’t the three of us supposed to be together forever, right here?”
Chu Jinglan didn’t shake off their hands, but suddenly stood up, grabbing both their wrists in return and forcefully pulling them up.
Wan Yu and “Xiao Mo” were startled.
“This place is a cage, a shackle. Mother, you once said the world is vast, and we can go anywhere. You shouldn’t be trapped here.”
After saying this, Chu Jinglan looked at “Xiao Mo”, his lips moving, but ultimately unable to say anything to him.
He lowered his gaze to look at the hands he was holding and only said: “I’ll take you away.”
Take you away from the Chu family.
Chu Jinglan resolutely took their hands and led them out of the house.
“Chu Jinglan! Do you really want to leave?”
“Jinglan, Jinglan, won’t you look back at your mother?”
The two were pulled along by him, first struggling and confused, anxiously questioning. Chu Jinglan showed no reaction, so they became frightened, their voices even taking on a crying tone. But Chu Jinglan remained deaf to it all.
Only his hands remained firmly grasping theirs, never letting go.
Gradually, Wan Yu and the young man fell silent, their expressions slowly becoming calm.
As they approached the Chu family’s main gate, Wan Yu finally said: “Do you really not want to stay and keep me company, Jinglan?”
Chu Jinglan, holding their hands, looked at the world outside the gate without turning back.
“You’ve always been in my heart, Mother.”
After saying this, Chu Jinglan resolutely stepped across the Chu family’s main gate, leading the two behind him towards a vast world.
As the Chu family slowly collapsed behind them, the enormous structure crumbled in an instant. From the ashes, new life extended. Chu Jinglan walked on his own path, feeling the weight in his hands gradually lighten.
The forms of Wan Yu and the young man gradually dissipated, bit by bit, from their hems to their faces, finally to the wrists Chu Jinglan held.
They scattered into sparks of light in Chu Jinglan’s palms.
Chu Jinglan lowered his empty hands and stopped walking.
For a moment, everything around him seemed blank. Nothing entered his vision, nothing remained anywhere, neither scenery nor people. He had held onto nothing. The vast world was just him walking alone, his shadow his only companion.
Until a voice reached his ears.
“Chu Jinglan,” Xiao Mo asked, “Are you crying?”
Chu Jinglan’s fingers twitched. The cold, empty void was suddenly filled with color again. Trees were lush, flowers fragrant, all things reappeared. Vitality once again filled the world and flowed into his body.
Chu Jinglan’s eyes were dry, without a single tear. His expression was even calm, showing no sadness.
But he knew why Xiao Mo asked this.
The black mist ball in his sea of consciousness quietly accompanied him.
Chu Jinglan lowered his hand and said, “No.”
“Xiao Mo,” Chu Jinglan called his name, “The illusion is broken.”
Xiao Mo was still by his side.
The illusion hadn’t made Chu Jinglan indulge; he hadn’t lost again, but had experienced a one-sided farewell.
In the inner sea, the white snow ball’s aura became more transparent, its spirit clear, having undergone another baptism.
The black mist ball moved, seemingly wanting to pat the white snow ball, but immediately remembered the sensation of spiritual sense contact and stopped abruptly.
That was close… thankfully.
Xiao Mo pretended nothing had happened and followed Chu Jinglan’s words: “Mm, seems like something has appeared. Let’s go take a look.”
1 Kofi = 1 Extra Chapter
Ohhhh I want them to cuddle as a ballllllll. They seem tk progress more on that state lol
thanks for the chapter!