Delusion

[Thunder Snake, Mysterious Frog, Nether Tortoise]

Xu Xian recited them quietly in his heart.

Little Book continued to explain, "Xuanwu Emperor has three great divine abilities. Thunder Snake learned his lightning techniques, Mysterious Frog mastered Profound Yin Cold Qi, and Nether Tortoise controlled the Nine Void Nether Fire, which is as famous as Zhuque's Nirvana Divine Fire and is the coldest flame in the world."

"He is considered the most favored disciple among the three."

Xu Xian took a small sip of wine and responded via divine sense, "In that case, this old tortoise has quite a background."

Coming from above the heavens and having lived through the era of the Sword Tower's previous master.

How long had it been? One hundred thousand years was nowhere near enough; it must have been millions of years, or perhaps even longer.

"This Nether Tortoise happens to possess a divine ability called [Delusion]. It is a type of illusion technique that can deceive the eyes of living beings."

As it spoke, Little Book looked up and surveyed the surroundings, confirming, "This world is real. All of this is real and not an illusion; it is a genuine small world."

Changing the subject, Little Book's gaze became sharper. "However... those chains and the giant tortoise we saw earlier were not real. It must have activated its [Delusion] ability. Everything is delusion, born from nothingness and dissipating into nothingness."

Xu Xian murmured, "[Delusion]?"

Little Book touched its chin and said with some confusion, "But how could it be imprisoned here? Not to mention its master, Xuanwu, who is a titan of the star sea, it is an expert at the immortal king stage itself. Who could have locked it up here?"

Even if Little Book's memories were not fragmented and could one day be fully pieced together, its memory ended when its previous master fell.

After that.

It had fallen into a deep sleep, waiting for the arrival of a new master.

It had not witnessed what happened during that long period of waiting, so it naturally had no memory of it.

At the very least, it could be certain of one thing: in its original memories, it had no knowledge of Fanzhou's existence.

Its understanding of Fanzhou was based on the memories accumulated and imprinted by the sword stele and Sword Mound over the years at the Wendao Sword Sect after it woke up, which then fed back into it.

The knowledge base Xu Xian inherited also came from this source.

This was also one of the primary reasons why its memory of Fanzhou was complete while its memory of things above the heavens was fragmented.

After listening, Xu Xian's focus was not on how the Nether Tortoise was locked here from beginning to end.

He only confirmed, "In other words, he really tricked us?"

Little Book gave its master a deep look. A disciple of a former Immortal Emperor and a powerhouse of the immortal king stage was imprisoned.

Is such a massive secret not interesting to you?

All you care about is whether it lied to you?

Ridiculous!

However, Little Book did not dwell on it. Its new master had always done things and behaved in ways that defied common logic.

He was even less inclined to ask about things that did not concern him, truly personifying the concept of living in the moment.

His eyes were always fixed on immediate benefits, and he rarely felt anxious about long-term matters.

To put it nicely, he was big-hearted; to put it bluntly, he was a bit of a simpleton. It was neither good nor bad.

It responded, "Yes, likely so. Moreover, its true body has indeed been affected. Even [Delusion] can only change the environment. If it were at its peak, this move could influence not only the eyes but also the mind, trapping people in dreams forever or even controlling the souls of those within the dream."

Xu Xian's eyes lit up, and he clicked his tongue inwardly. "This move is quite useful. Tell me, if I learned it, could I do whatever I wanted?"

The Pupil of Insight to see through delusions.

The art of [Delusion] to fool the hearts of men.

Adding a Sword Tower to suppress the scene, would he not be able to sweep across the human realm?

Xu Xian felt that since he was already here, he certainly could not leave empty-handed.

Even if he could not get the Shadow Soul Stones, he had to take something back. Otherwise, would he not be losing out after tossing and turning for half a year?

Little Book knew its master all too well. From the flash in Xu Xian's eyes just now and the words he spoke, it could guess what its master wanted to do even with its toes.

He was setting his sights on the Nether Tortoise's [Delusion] divine ability.

Rolling its eyes, it complained, "Master, you cannot be serious. That is an immortal king. You dare to rob an immortal king? You are far too bold."

Xu Xian laughed. "An immortal king? What immortal king? Is that not in the past? Have you not heard the old saying: a tiger in the plains is bullied by dogs? Not to mention it is just a turtle."

Little Book choked for a moment. "Uh..." It said with some disdain, "Master, you are truly a dog."

As the spirit of the Sword Tower, it personally preferred the upright and honorable style of a gentleman, like Xu Xian's senior brother, Yun Zheng.

That was the kind of person people liked, admired, and respected.

"Why are you insulting me?"

Little Book argued, "I am not. Master said it himself: a tiger in the plains is bullied by dogs. Are dogs not dogs?"

"That was a metaphor." Xu Xian laughed out of frustration and stopped arguing, returning to the main topic. "Stop talking nonsense. Just tell me, can you find its true body?"

Little Book surveyed the surroundings and peeked at the sky, analyzing, "Based on my experience, its true body should be within this small world. Furthermore, it is in a restricted state and cannot run. It is either hidden above the clouds or in some corner of the water. If we search carefully and spend some time, it should be no problem."

Hearing this, Xu Xian immediately stood up, finished the wine in the jar in one gulp, and threw the empty jar onto the water with a lack of decorum, saying enthusiastically, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to work."

Little Book did not want to dampen Xu Xian's enthusiasm but could not help asking one more time, "Are you for real?"

Xu Xian smiled arrogantly. "I, Xu Xian, always play for keeps."

Little Book snorted softly. "It is good to be young."

Because young people do not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth.

Little Book compromised, "Fine, then let's search. We are already here anyway."

Xu Xian narrowed his eyes and smiled, praising, "Yes, you are looking more and more like a person."

Thus, Little Book began to lead the way while Xu Xian was responsible for providing it with energy.

It pushed the operation of the Pupil of Insight to its limit, carefully searching this area.

Previously.

The two only had eyes for Shadow Soul Stones, and their exploration of this world had been rather perfunctory. In many places, they had simply flown past and taken a casual look.

That was why they had not found any trace of the tortoise.

But now, to find the Nether Tortoise, they had to use some real methods.

Actually, Little Book also wanted to find that tortoise, and not just to get Shadow Soul Stones or the [Delusion] ability.

More than that, it wanted to uncover the stories hidden within this old tortoise and solve the secrets of this world.

This concerned whether its master would one day be forced into senseless conflicts or encounter unexplained reckonings.

Of course.

Xu Xian also had these considerations in mind, but he simply did not voice them.

Furthermore, he admitted that compared to these ethereal things, he valued immediate benefits more.

No matter what the old tortoise's story was, or what secrets Fanzhou held, or if there truly would be a catastrophe in the future.

Xu Xian knew that knowing or not knowing would change nothing.

The only thing to do was to become stronger. As long as he was powerful enough, he would fear nothing.

He always believed in one sentence: absolute martial power could solve ninety-nine point nine percent of the problems in this world.

At the same time.

Somewhere in this world, a pair of eyes was watching Xu Xian's every move through a dark mirror.

The figure whispered to itself, "As expected, he won't give up. Hehe, interesting..."