Tiefe Illusion

Kapitel 31

"Help you? You're dreaming!" I said, taking a step back.

"Haha~~~ That's not up to you anymore!" Song Tian approached me triumphantly and said, "Do you know how much effort I put into this Ten Thousand Soul Locking Array back then? Unfortunately, before I could even use it, Lin Junxian killed my body, forcing me to gather ten thousand souls by manipulating the ghost of Yang Yi and Lin Junxian's daughter, Lin Yiyi! But I never expected that this damned woman, Lin Yuyan, would interfere again!"

"So!" I suddenly understood something and said, "So you possessed Zhu Zhenhua's body and conspired with Yu Zhongguo and Mao Aijun to rape and murder her! I think you were the one who invited her to Xinhu Lake alone, and the reason must have been to tell her that you knew the real cause of Lin Junxian's death!"

"Did you guess that? Hmph!" Song Tian said viciously, "Since the Myriad Souls Locking Spirit Array is supposed to suppress people with spiritual power, then I'll take advantage of it. I'll imprison her soul in that array, ensuring she'll never have the chance to be reincarnated again. I'll let her soul be tormented by sorrow, loneliness, fear, and resentment! Forever!!!"

Hearing Song Tian's words, a chill ran down my spine. Raped and murdered, then denied reincarnation, imprisoned in a dark, sunless formation, unable to escape, unable to die, day after day, year after year! If such suffering were to befall me, I would have gone mad long ago, perhaps even wishing to disappear from this world altogether. Yet Lin Yuyan, this seemingly fragile woman, was so incredibly strong! Even when she later had the chance to escape the formation, she was still focused on stopping Song Tian's plot, willing to bear the infamy of murdering several women to eliminate the Yin Maiden who could potentially reincarnate Song Tian?

"Then why?" I suddenly thought of Lin Yiyi, that poor little girl, and asked, "Why wouldn't they even spare a child like Lin Yiyi?"

"Lin Yiyi? Ha! Who told her to be Lin Junxian's daughter? Her father killed me. Don't you Chinese have a saying that children pay for their father's debts? Well, I'll make her pay!" Song Tian was getting closer and closer, and I had no way out.

"You even prey on such a young child, you devil!" I reached behind me and grabbed a laboratory bottle, then smashed it at Song Tian without a second thought.

"Ahhhhhh!" Song Tian screamed and took a few steps back. Several shards of glass were embedded in his arm, and a dark red liquid, much thicker than normal, slowly dripped from his cracked skin. The red blood had turned blackish-red, and a stench of death filled the air. However, Song Tian didn't seem to feel any pain. He just glared at me viciously before lunging at me again.

Looking back, I saw there was no way to turn back. Gritting my teeth, I ran towards the door. Just a few steps away, a sudden, sharp pain shot through my back, burning like a wound scalded with chili water. A flash of stars went through my vision, and I collapsed to the ground.

Ouch! Tears welled up in my eyes from the pain. Looking up, I saw that Song Tian's fingers were covered in blood, and his fingernails had grown incredibly long, like the claws of a wild animal. Struggling to get up, I braced my right hand against the ground. Instantly, a piercing pain shot through my palm; I could feel my skin being ripped open, and warm blood was flowing from the wound. Without time to examine the wound closely, I quickly stood up. A quick glance revealed it was caused by shards of glass from earlier.

Song Tian's hands, covered in sharp claws, were already right in front of me. I didn't dare confront those hands, which were as sharp as knives, and quickly took a large step back. Without magic, I was completely helpless against Song Tian. Should I resort to hand-to-hand combat? But the sight of those gleaming nails sent chills down my spine, and my already rusty Taekwondo skills were completely forgotten.

With a loud "thump," I was slammed against the iron gate. The burning pain in my back, upon contact with the cold metal, felt like lying on a bed of a thousand needles. My whole body trembled uncontrollably, a mixture of pain and the fear of death. At that moment, death seemed so close and real that I felt dizzy, and a bright light flashed before my eyes.

"No, you won't kill me?" I had no way out and no strength left to run away. Looking at Song Tian, who had stopped in his tracks, I asked weakly.

"Of course I'll kill you, but before that, I need your blood!" Song Tian stretched out his hand, and his already sharp fingernails suddenly grew by several centimeters, transforming into five sharp, gleaming knives. The feeling of having those five knives piercing my body must be unpleasant. I gave a bitter laugh, realizing I could still laugh even at this point.

"Is my blood valuable?" I clenched my injured hand, feeling my blood coming into contact with that strange ring. A wisp of heat flowed into my body from the ring, and the familiar feeling immediately filled my entire body.

"Because you were born on the seventh day of the seventh month, a pure Yin body, but you are a Yang man. The blood flowing from such a body is just right to be my first meal after my rebirth! Haha~~~!" Song Tian laughed triumphantly.

What?! My first meal?! I don't want my blood to become the "breast milk" of a reincarnated demon! That's disgusting. I frowned and said, "That depends on whether you have the ability!" After saying that, I punched Song Tian.

"What?" Song Tian didn't expect me to still have the ability to resist. While he was stunned, my blood-covered fist had already thrown out. The golden light emanating from the ring was so dazzling that it made his body sway. Perhaps the power of the ring had once deeply shocked him by the lakeside of his heart. Fear and despair immediately appeared in his eyes, and his whole body froze there.

The golden light shone on Song Tian like intense radiation, and just like last time, his entire body began to melt again, his long fingernails dissolving like candle wax. His face was particularly horrifying; his entire face was burned away, revealing the dark red muscle layer beneath, his nose was crooked to one side, and his eyeballs drooped into their sockets. Then he let out a violent scream and collapsed to the ground, and the golden light vanished. No matter how much I shook my hand, I couldn't make the ring glow again.

There was no other way but to escape now! Taking advantage of Song Tian being rendered unrecognizable by the golden light of the ring, I quickly turned around and smashed open the door. The cold, damp air from the sewer rushed in, sending a chill down my spine. Ignoring the pain in my back and hands, I dashed out as fast as I could. I hesitated, glancing at the water in the sewer, and decided not to jump in. Since Song Tian had deliberately lured me here tonight, it seemed I couldn't use my water escape technique anymore. I'd better follow the sewers and see if I could find a way out!

Looking back at Song Tian, who was still struggling, and then at the pitch-black tunnel in front of me, I took a deep breath, clenched my fists, and ran into the unknown depths of darkness.

Chapter Sixty-Five: The Lin Family

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In the darkness, only the sound of flowing water could be heard, only time flowed by, and I, stumbling and running, wandered through this underground labyrinth, without direction or end. I stopped to catch my breath; the pain in my back seemed to be getting worse, a numb, stinging pain that threatened to spread throughout my body.

Where's the exit? Where's the entrance from last time? I spun around in circles, the same scenery, the same flowing water—I was practically a mouse going in circles. What to do? I was almost ready to give up, but then I thought I heard footsteps behind me. Was it Song Tian? Thinking of this, I started running again, running down the narrow corridor I hated most.

After running for another ten minutes or so, my strength was almost completely exhausted. My legs felt heavier and heavier, as if they were filled with lead. The air in the sewer was unusually cold, causing my breath to condense into white vapor, forming strange patterns in the darkness. My whole body was shivering uncontrollably, and I felt a chill emanating from my very bones.

Suddenly, I lost my balance and fell hard to the ground with a thud, stars flashing before my eyes. Ouch! I grimaced as I pushed myself up from the ground, slightly raising my head, and a pair of small feet came into view.

"Yiyi?" I exclaimed in surprise. At that moment, Lin Yiyi was quietly standing in front of me, her face pale, her eyes filled with heartbreaking confusion and bewilderment.

"Big brother!" Lin Yiyi threw herself into my arms. Touching her cold, trembling, frail body, I was overcome with sorrow. Such a small child, yet she had to bear such immense hatred and loneliness. How could someone so small and weak bear such a burden?

I sighed, patted Lin Yiyi on the back, and said, "Brother is here, don't be afraid!"

"Big brother, I want to go home, please take me home, okay?" Lin Yiyi longed to return to her home, but did she still have a home? Could she still go home? Her home was gone, but her heart remained stubbornly set on returning.

"Going home?" I gave a wry smile. I wanted to go home too!

"Yes! I want to go home, to go home with my older brothers and sisters!" A rare smile appeared on Lin Yiyi's pale face when she mentioned going home.

"Big sister?" I asked curiously, "Who is that?"

“Big sister is really big sister!” Lin Yiyi replied.

Could it be her? Wasn't she imprisoned in the formation? How could Lin Yiyi possibly see her? Or is it that her elder sister is someone else?

"Then Yiyi, can you take me to find Big Sister? If Big Sister and I work together, we can find our way home!" I coaxed Lin Yiyi, hoping she could lead me out of this damn sewer maze!

"Okay!" Lin Yiyi replied happily, breaking free from my embrace and hurriedly grabbing my hand to walk forward. Holding Lin Yiyi's cold and stiff little hand, my heart was filled with strange emotions, a mixture of fear and pity.

"Big brother, follow me and don't look back!" Lin Yiyi said, holding my hand in front of her.

"Why not look back?" My curious nature was entirely influenced by Li Yang.

"Don't look back, that's all!" Lin Yiyi's words were icy cold, her tone stiff and mechanical, completely devoid of her previous pitiful demeanor. I shrank back, remaining silent. At that very moment, the sound of flowing water around us suddenly vanished, replaced by faint weeping and mournful howls, chilling to the bone. The darkness seemed to shift as well, a faint red light emanating from behind me. A pungent, bloody stench filled the air.

It smells like a pool of blood! I was a little worried and wanted to turn around and look, but Lin Yiyi, who was clearly facing forward, suddenly said to me, "Don't turn around!"

I was startled; my neck, which was about to turn, froze in mid-air. Silently following behind Lin Yiyi, my heart pounded with dread. The piercing cries grew ever more real, as if they were right behind me, in my ears, and finally echoing in my mind. Perhaps it was just my nervousness, but I felt something touching my feet, like hands, countless hands. Trembling, I looked down at my feet, but there was nothing there.

Should I turn around and look? Why won't Lin Yiyi let me look? What's she up to? The more you think about it, the more worried you become. All these questions finally made my curiosity overcome my fear. Without saying a word, I suddenly stopped and quickly turned around.

A scene even more horrific than the pool of blood unfolded before my eyes. Countless red figures crowded together in the once clear sewers, their faces obscured, only blurry outlines, gaping black eyes, and equally gaping black mouths. Red hands emerged from the sewers, swarming upwards, and the hands that touched my heels were those of nameless ghosts!

"What is this?" I exclaimed in surprise, as one of my feet was firmly grabbed by a hand that reached out from the sewer!

"I told you not to turn around!" A chilling voice rang in my ears. I whirled around to look at Lin Yiyi. Her face suddenly turned terrifying—a bluish-black complexion, her eyes bloodshot. Her once-normal hands were now withered and emaciated, her nails black. Her hair was disheveled, and her mournful eyes peered at me through her black hair.

"Who are you? You're not Yiyi!" I asked the "Lin Yiyi" in front of me while trying to shake off the hand on my foot. Although her appearance hadn't changed much, her voice had completely changed. This was no longer the pitiful little girl who had been clamoring to go home just a moment ago.

"Have you forgotten me?" she said softly, but her voice sounded like the sound of fingernails scratching glass in the middle of the night. I felt a sudden dizziness and a chill run down my spine. Wasn't this Lin Yuyan?

"Lin Yuyan?" I asked tentatively. How did Lin Yiyi become Lin Yuyan?

“It’s me!” Lin Yuyan nodded.

Having finally broken free from those hands, I quickly stepped back and leaned against the wall, asking, "What did you do to Yiyi?"

"It's nothing, I'm just temporarily borrowing her soul," Lin Yuyan replied coldly.

Why do ghosts always like to borrow other people's things? I stared blankly at Lin Yuyan in front of me, feeling so awkward, not knowing whether to call her Lin Yiyi or Lin Yuyan?

"Why do we need to borrow it?" I asked, a little dumbfounded.

"Because that formation has trapped most of my soul, I can only move my consciousness now. And the only one I can use as a vessel is Yiyi!" Lin Yuyan replied helplessly.

It seems that Lin Yuyan didn't do this intentionally, which makes me feel a little better. Most importantly, it seems that Lin Yuyan didn't have any ill intentions towards Lin Yiyi.

"Where did you think I was going? And what's going on here?" I pointed to the hellish scene before me and questioned her.

"I originally intended to use Lin Yiyi's soul to take you to the place where my soul was trapped, but I didn't expect things to go wrong!" Lin Yuyan replied helplessly. "This is the entrance to purgatory in the Netherworld. Every Netherworld has a spatial rift connected to the purgatory blood pool. I can only take you to the center of the formation by passing through this place. Originally, as long as you didn't turn back, everything would have been fine, but you..."

"So what do we do now?" I interrupted her grumbling. Now is not the time to blame each other; finding a way out is the most important thing.

"There's no way." Lin Yuyan's unusually calm answer almost made me faint on the spot. What was this? Was she just waiting to die?

"You must have a way, right? I don't want to be dragged to hell by these things!" I almost shouted. The red figure in front of me was gradually approaching me and showed signs of climbing up.

Lin Yuyan looked at me in silence for a while before saying, "Do you know? We're actually family!"

"Yes, yes! We were one family five hundred years ago!" I replied perfunctorily. What kind of time is this to try and claim kinship with me?!

"Listen to me!" Lin Yuyan said seriously, "I don't know exactly how many hundreds of years ago we were from the same family, but I can sense that you should be a branch of our Lin family."

"So what?" I looked worriedly at the blood pool in front of me, while Lin Yuyan wanted to list my family tree!

"Don't be impatient, listen carefully, this is very important!" Lin Yuyan clearly noticed my agitation and said, "Our Lin family is actually a lineage of soul refiners!"

"Soul Refiner?" I stared blankly at Lin Yuyan; I had never heard of this term before.

"That's right, it's the lost art of soul refining! For some reason, this secret technique was suddenly lost in our Lin family over a hundred years ago. I only vaguely heard my grandfather mention it to me. Unfortunately, this legend was regarded as an amusing story by later members of the Lin family. I also used to think it was just a story my grandfather told me to lull me to sleep, until I met a woman who gave me a book, a book about soul refining, and I learned that my grandfather's story was real. And that's why every generation in our Lin family has someone born on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month!" Lin Yuyan said in one breath.

I looked at her blankly, but her earnest tone didn't seem like she was lying, so I asked, "So, have you learned it? Where's that book?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't learn it!" Lin Yuyan shook her head and said, "I hid that book somewhere in a temple in my hometown. It's very safe!"

"Then who was the woman who gave you the book?" I asked hastily.

"I don't know! I couldn't even see her face clearly, I only judged that she was a woman from her figure and voice!" Lin Yuyan replied helplessly.

“So…” I leaned harder against the wall, the red ghostly figures in the blood pool almost climbing up me, “Does telling me this have anything to do with leaving here?”

“Of course. You’re from the Lin family, and you were born on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, so you should know the Soul Refining Technique! It can help us leave this place.” Lin Yuyan looked ahead and slowly said, “Of course, there’s also him!”

"Him?" I quickly turned my head to look to the side. A swaying figure was running towards me. Could it be Song Tian? He hasn't disappeared yet?! He's as tenacious as a cockroach! Touching my aching temples and twitching eyelids, and looking at the red ghostly figure in front of me and the approaching Song Tian, I couldn't help but wonder if it would be more satisfying to just smash my head against a wall and die now than to face the unknown situation later?

"Then tell me quickly how to use the Soul Refining Technique!" I asked Lin Yuyan helplessly. Anyway, I was being forced into this situation and had to cram at the last minute!

"I don't know either!" Lin Yuyan's answer left me frozen in place. What? You don't know? Then you read that book for nothing?

"No way! What time is it and you're still joking?" I asked, not giving up.

"I'm not kidding! That book only provides some information; it doesn't mention the specific soul refining technique at all!" Lin Yuyan said calmly.

"What should we do then?" I asked anxiously, completely at a loss.

"Fate has already arranged everything!" Lin Yuyan answered me with a profound statement, then closed her mouth tightly, clearly having no intention of continuing the conversation. I could only glance at her silently; she was practically dead, of course she wouldn't worry! But I was still a living, breathing person, what was I to do? If fate truly had already arranged everything, then dear goddess of fate, could you allow me to secretly peek at your face first? Please tell me, what kind of ending awaits me?

Chapter Sixty-Six: The Outcome. Cause and Effect.

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How should a person react when faced with the threat of death? Fear or sorrow? But I am unusually calm now, quietly watching Song Tian's figure get closer and closer, and I have become calmer.

“The Soul Refining Technique is a trial for the soul. The Lin family is born with the ability to purify the soul, and I think you have it too, but it just hasn’t been developed yet,” Lin Yuyan said, looking at me.

“Whether it’s true or not, there’s no time to discuss it now,” I replied, because Song Tian was already in front of us. His entire body had been melted away by the golden light, leaving almost only half of him. His skin had melted away, clearly revealing the rotting muscle and grayish-pink bones beneath. His clothes, pus, blood, and internal organs were all stuck together in clumps of yellowish-red matter, making me feel nauseous. What was even more eerie was his face, almost half of which had been melted away, revealing the bare skull and a thin layer of red muscle tissue on his cheeks. His nostrils were gone, leaving only a dark outline, and both eyeballs were bulging out, one of them drooping out of its socket.

"I won't... let you go!" Song Tian's voice sounded like a rusty mechanical gear. His hand reached out to me, his pinkish bone and flesh stuck together, making him look particularly terrifying.

"Get out of the way!" Lin Yuyan suddenly jumped up, pulled me behind her, and blocked my way.

"Lin Yuyan?" Song Tian looked at him suspiciously and said, "Then I'll send both of you to hell together!"

"You should be the one going to hell!" Lin Yuyan suddenly clasped her hands together, then rotated her palms and made a strange gesture. Instantly, faint blue light particles emanated from her palms and drifted into the air, spinning rapidly in the air.

"Look closely, these are the basic hand gestures for the soul refining technique that I recently learned from that book!" Lin Yuyan shouted at me.

Is this the Soul Refining Technique? So beautiful! Countless blue specks of light, like fireflies, danced in the air, flying towards Song Tian. The light gradually enveloped Song Tian, completely surrounding him. Song Tian's power was not to be underestimated; his entire body emitted a dazzling red light, like sharp daggers piercing the blue specks of light. Upon contact with the red light, the blue specks of light fell to the ground, the red light growing increasingly blinding.

"Ah!" Lin Yuyan suddenly screamed and was thrown towards me, where dozens of red beams struck her solidly.

"Lin Yuyan!" I quickly caught her body. Her body, which was already cold, was now as cold as a block of ice. What worried me even more was that her body felt as light as a feather.

"Haha~~~!" Song Tian laughed heartily, saying, "Your soul refining technique doesn't work!"

"Lin Yuyan, are you alright?" I shook her and asked anxiously. Song Tian was closing in step by step, and the red ghostly figures in the sewers weren't idle either, all climbing upwards. With Song Tian in front, ghostly figures beside us, and a wall behind us, I really couldn't think of a better way to escape. Were we really going to be eaten alive by this evil ghost, Song Tian?

"Lin Xiao! It seems there must be something wrong with the gesture I came up with!" Lin Yuyan said weakly.

"What kind of time is this to still be researching your soul refining technique? I'm truly defeated by her, but it seems like this is the only thing that can help me right now! Thinking of this, I gritted my teeth. Anyway, I might as well die. I'll take this gamble!" With that thought, I put Lin Yuyan's body aside, and relying on my memory, I put my hands together, rotated them, and copied Lin Yuyan's hand gesture exactly!