After Su Qing entered the pavilion, she looked around...
She discovered that the interior decoration was unexpectedly fine, looking quite luxurious and elegant, possessing the air of a wealthy household.
However, even if it truly captured the style of a prominent family, for it to be built in such a place was inherently abnormal.
"Perhaps those creatures are simply very good at deception? After all, mortals are no match for the schemes of demons."
Su Qing shook her head inwardly and stopped dwelling on it.
Since it had already happened...
There was no point in overthinking such things now.
The urgent matter was to rescue the Commandery Princess.
Su Qing walked quickly through the pavilion, a slight sense of confusion rising in her heart.
"Strange, where have those ghosts and monsters hidden themselves?" Su Qing thought, stroking her chin.
Since arriving, she hadn't sensed where the entities were. Even when she had looked through the Bodhisattva pendant earlier, she hadn't seen their location.
Consequently, Su Qing couldn't help but feel curious about where these fellows were hiding.
They couldn't possibly not be here...
This was their hunting ground.
Furthermore, the Commandery Princess and her party were lying right here.
Therefore, they were definitely still present; Su Qing simply hadn't discovered them yet.
After a moment of reflection, Su Qing shook her head again and pushed the thoughts aside.
She had more important things to do—saving people.
At this thought, Su Qing calmed her mind and focused her senses to find the Commandery Princess's exact location within the pavilion.
Soon...
Su Qing pinpointed the spot.
Once the location was confirmed, she wasted no more time and swiftly made her way toward the Princess.
Su Qing moved fast, and in just a few moments, she arrived where the Princess and the others were.
Stepping in front of the Commandery Princess, she carefully examined her condition.
Currently, the Princess was just as she had seen before, lying on the ground 'sleeping soundly'...
However, unlike the previous observation, the Princess had begun to furrow her brows, and her expression had turned slightly pained.
Clearly, the illusion she was experiencing was terrible, and she was on the verge of breaking.
Seeing this, Su Qing's brow rose slightly, and she turned to look at the others.
The rest of the party had even deeper furrows in their brows, and their expressions were even more agonized.
It wasn't just the Commandery Princess who was in a bad state; the condition of everyone else was equally grim—perhaps even a fraction worse than hers.
Su Qing realized she couldn't wait any longer; she had to save them immediately.
As for where those ghosts were hiding, she couldn't be bothered to think about it now.
With that thought...
Su Qing first placed several talismans on their foreheads.
Then, she performed a hand seal and cast the Heart-Clearing Incantation.
She intended to forcibly rouse these people from their dreamscape.
However, after she cast the Heart-Clearing Incantation...
Something unexpected happened.
The usually foolproof Heart-Clearing Incantation failed to wake them from their slumber. Instead, it caused their brows to knit even tighter.
The Heart-Clearing Incantation was the most effective and simplest spell for dealing with illusions and similar arts.
Though its power was considered average, it was generally reliable, at the very least helping to alleviate pain or open a breach in the illusion.
Yet now, instead of pulling them back, it seemed to have dragged them deeper into the illusion.
At this point, even Su Qing couldn't help but frown.
She had encountered a slightly troublesome situation this time.
"What exactly is going on? Could those ghosts be up to something?"
Su Qing stroked her chin, considering the possibility. If those ghosts were unique in some way, then a conventional Heart-Clearing Incantation might indeed be useless.
It would be normal for it to fail to wake the Commandery Princess and her group.
Normal as it might be, it still gave Su Qing a headache.
Looking at the Princess on the ground, Su Qing rapidly calculated a countermeasure.
She needed to find a way to save the Princess. She had come here to rescue someone today; if she couldn't bring them back, the trip would be a waste.
Moreover, the Commandery Princess was very useful to her. If the Princess died, all her early preparations would be completely squandered.
As for finding someone else to be the new emperor...
It wasn't impossible, but it would be far too much trouble. Besides, she might not find someone as satisfactory who also believed in her.
Therefore, the Commandery Princess had to be saved today if at all possible.
Su Qing clicked her tongue, thinking, "What on earth did these ghosts do?"
Her brow furrowed slightly. While she pondered, she released her Primordial Spirit to sense the surroundings.
Although she was currently using a clone, and her Primordial Spirit wasn't as powerful as her main body's, it wasn't weak either. It was barely enough for her needs, at least sufficient to cover this moderately sized pavilion without issue.
After probing with her Primordial Spirit, Su Qing let out a cold laugh... as expected, she found the problem.
Looking at the Commandery Princess, Su Qing muttered to herself:
"So that's how it is... These ghosts aren't like me, using spells to pull people into illusions. Instead, they use direct possession to drag them in."
"But these ghosts are quite interesting... they can actually suppress their aura so effectively after possessing someone."
"Unfortunately for them, they met me."
While muttering, Su Qing performed a hand seal.
She then cast a spell and pointed at the Commandery Princess. A streak of red light struck the Princess's body.
In an instant.
Though the Commandery Princess was in a deep sleep and had not opened her mouth, a terrifyingly horrific scream erupted from her.
The noise was immense; one could only imagine the agony the ghost possessing the Princess was enduring.
Seeing this, Su Qing chuckled, showing not a shred of pity or compassion.
She simply performed another hand seal and struck the Princess with a True Yang Incantation.
After the True Yang Incantation hit, another scream rang out from the Princess, and wisps of white smoke began to rise from her body.
The ghost possessing her struggled frantically, desperate to escape.
It was as if the Princess's body was no longer a safe haven but a vat of boiling oil, and the ghost was the ingredient being deep-fried inside.
Worst of all, no matter how much it wanted to flee, it couldn't move an inch.
The entire ghost was trapped inside, forced to endure the pain passively.
Su Qing watched the changes in the Princess's body, then nodded slightly and struck the other survivors with several True Yang Incantations.
For a moment, shrill screams echoed through the space, enough to make anyone's blood run cold.
However, despite the apparent power of the True Yang Incantation, it would not harm mortals.
This spell was created specifically for such situations, with this consideration in mind during its inception.
Therefore, the damage to mortals was virtually zero.
Especially after so many years of refinements, there was naturally no need to worry about the spell hurting the Princess. She could use it with total confidence.
As for worrying that the ghost might kill the Princess in a final act of desperation...
Su Qing wasn't worried at all.
The ghost was too busy trying to escape to have the courage for a counterattack.
And even if it did...
With Su Qing watching, it wouldn't have the chance to succeed.
Because the True Yang Incantation was designed to minimize harm to mortals, it wasn't a burst of instantaneous damage that gave the ghost a quick death; rather, it was a continuous burning.
Killing a ghost this way still took a bit of time.
During this interval, Su Qing simply stood by and watched, waiting for the ghosts to be incinerated.
At the same time, she monitored them to prevent any of them from attempting a final, desperate strike.
Time passed quickly.
The screams in the pavilion gradually faded to silence.
Clearly, those ghosts had been burned to ash by the True Yang Incantation.
Seeing this, Su Qing nodded in satisfaction and breathed a sigh of relief.
"However, although the ghosts are dead, the Commandery Princess has likely suffered a blow to her vitality... It will probably take quite some time to recover. Well, I'll give her some pills later so she can recover sooner."
Su Qing stroked her chin, lost in thought.
Actually, she had intended to take out the pills and feed them to the Princess directly, but after a moment's consideration, she abandoned the idea.
While there was nothing wrong with doing that, it wouldn't maximize the benefits—nor would it deepen the Princess's faith in 'One-Leaf Bodhisattva.'
Therefore, Su Qing would give her the pills, but not so simply. She had to give the Princess a sense of participation in the process.
"But before that, I should weave another dream for her!"
"While I'm at it, I'll deepen the impression of One-Leaf Bodhisattva in her dream."
"Come to think of it, although the Princess barely escaped with her life this time, it's not exactly a bad thing for me."
"Through this opportunity, I can probably make the Princess believe wholeheartedly in the existence of 'One-Leaf Bodhisattva.'"
"At the same time, her faith in me will likely become even stronger."
"In the future, when she becomes the emperor and promotes the faith of One-Leaf Bodhisattva, it will naturally fall into place."
With these thoughts, Su Qing performed a hand seal.
She began to weave a special dream for the Commandery Princess.
The dream Su Qing wove was actually just an adaptation of what had just happened.
Of course, the person who intervened was changed from herself to 'One-Leaf Bodhisattva.'
And the process of saving her naturally underwent many changes. The event was still the same, but the content had become unrecognizable.
In short, the dream Su Qing wove was entirely designed to serve her own purposes.
Before long, the dream was complete.
For the next period of time, the Commandery Princess would have a very good sleep with this dream.
After finishing all this...
Su Qing took a bottle of pills from her sleeve and hid it somewhere in the pavilion, intending for the Princess to find it herself when she woke up.
However, while Su Qing said she 'hid' it, it was actually placed in a spot that seemed concealed but was actually very easy to find. Furthermore, she conveyed the exact location to the Princess in detail through the dream.
This was to ensure the Princess could accurately find the medicine.
After all, Su Qing was only doing this to give the Princess a sense of participation and to make the manifestation of One-Leaf Bodhisattva seem more real.
Therefore, she couldn't truly hide the items; at most, she was just delivering them to the Princess in a different way.
No sooner said than done.
Su Qing moved quickly.
In a short while, she had everything prepared.
However, although everything seemed settled, Su Qing didn't return immediately.
Instead, she turned and began to wander through the pavilion.
Of course, Su Qing wasn't doing this to see what the rest of the building looked like; she was simply handling the remaining ghosts here.
If there were any...
After all, Su Qing had gone to some effort to save these people.
She naturally didn't want new ghosts to pop up the moment she left, dragging them into a new illusion and forcing her to save them again—or simply killing them outright.
Therefore, a sweep like this was quite necessary.
And so, Su Qing slowly strolled through the pavilion.
It was worth mentioning that after wandering for only a short while, she truly discovered a ghost hiding in the shadows...
"I knew it. How could there be only a few ghosts in such a large demon pavilion?"
Su Qing looked at the ghost she had immobilized, a smile curling on her lips.
At the same time, she felt a slight sense of relief.
Fortunately, she had been clever enough to take an extra turn.
Otherwise, the Commandery Princess and her group would have truly suffered a repeat of their ordeal.
"Don't worry, you won't die that painfully."
As Su Qing spoke, she performed a hand seal and obliterated the ghost's soul.
This time, she didn't use the True Yang Incantation.
The True Yang Incantation was far too slow at killing ghosts.
Not only was the ghost in pain, but Su Qing also found the sound of the ghost's screams quite unpleasant to the ear.
Since she could resolve the matter more quickly, Su Qing naturally had no interest in torturing others.
"This definitely isn't the only one; there are likely other ghosts here... I'll have to look more carefully."
Su Qing brushed off non-existent dust from her hands and continued searching for the remaining ghosts.
She circled the area again... and in a short while, she had killed another five or six hidden ghosts.
And even so... Su Qing still felt that there might be something else here that she simply hadn't detected yet.
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