Chapter 42

Chapter 42: Scenes in Illusion

The nameless valley wasn’t huge, but it wasn’t small either.

Fang Xu Cheng tore through it with his henchmen for more than an hour and found nothing.

They triggered wards in the dark and lost men—one screaming as the ground swallowed him, another collapsing with a hole through his chest where a hidden spike had erupted. Every death tightened the fear in the remaining faces.

Fang Xu Cheng kicked a pile of stones in rage. “How many wards did that old hag set up? Am I supposed to comb this place grain by grain?”

A guard beside him twitched, thinking what none of them dared say: She’s Divine Transformation. This is her hideout. Of course it’s a killing field.

But the Family Head’s temper was venomous tonight, so the guard swallowed his thoughts and bowed. “Yes, Family Head.”

“Search,” Fang Xu Cheng snapped. “Keep searching! What are you standing around for?”

The men answered timidly and pushed deeper into the woods, terror making them careful and slow.

Fang Xu Cheng snorted and sat down on a boulder, forcing himself to breathe.

Don’t panic.

Don’t panic.

Second Lady Hu had prepared this place for kidnapping. No one outside knew where the valley was. The Limitless Sect and the Cinnabar Cloud Palace weren’t going to stumble on it by accident in the next hour.

He had time.

A half-dead Divine Transformation cultivator whose cultivation had been sealed and poisoned, a cripple with power he couldn’t use, and a Cinnabar Cloud Palace disciple who couldn’t be above Golden Core Stage—what tricks could they possibly pull?

If he searched steadily and turned the entire valley upside down, they would die here.

The thought steadied him. He stood up again, ready to hunt alongside his men—

When several screams tore through the woods.

Fang Xu Cheng’s heart clenched.

Another ward?

Then the screams cut off abruptly.

Silence fell so hard it felt like pressure on the ears.

No one shouted for help. No one retreated. No footsteps ran back toward him.

Fang Xu Cheng summoned the Thunderclap Whip. Lightning licked along its length with a hungry hiss.

He walked into the woods alone.

Night deepened. Fog crept up between the trees in thick layers, swallowing the trunks one by one.

By the time Fang Xu Cheng realized how dense it had become, he was surrounded.

He turned in a slow circle.

He couldn’t see the path back. The henchmen were gone. Even the sound of insects had vanished, as if the world itself had held its breath.

What was going on?

Had this maze Formation always been here?

Fang Xu Cheng couldn’t remember.

Back when he came with Mo Chou, they’d wandered through the valley together. Later, when he came alone to pay respects, he’d stayed on the main path and never triggered anything.

Second Lady Hu was Divine Transformation. A maze Formation in her secret valley was normal.

He steadied his breathing and decided to retreat first. No one was actively controlling the wards now—he could break them slowly with time. And the Limitless Sect wouldn’t reach this place quickly.

He had time.

Fang Xu Cheng followed what he thought was his own route back.

The fog thinned.

The instant it cleared, he froze.

Red lanterns floated everywhere, glowing like coals in the predawn dark. Bare branches were hung with bright ribbons. Puppet figures moved through the valley with stiff smiles, carrying trays, laughing soundlessly. Faint music drifted across the air, warped and distant.

The nameless valley—bleak and empty in daylight—had become a wedding celebration.

A cold shiver crawled up Fang Xu Cheng’s spine.

It was too familiar.

When he’d married Mo Chou, she had brought him here and held their wedding in this valley.

“Son-in-law,” two household guards said, stepping toward him. Their voices were warm. Their faces were wooden. “You’re finally here.”

They grabbed him as if he belonged to them.

Fang Xu Cheng stared at their stiff eyes and felt his skin crawl.

Puppet people.

Second Lady Hu despised servants. Even at the wedding, the servant women and guests had been puppets made to look alive.

What had he triggered?

Had he stepped into an illusion from that year?

The two guards didn’t give him room to argue. They hauled him toward the center of the valley.

The grave mound was gone. In its place stood a grass hall. The thatched hut looked newly built—exactly as it had on the day of the wedding.

Puppet figures bustled as if the celebration were real.

Back then, Fang Xu Cheng had only envied a Divine Transformation cultivator’s ability to shape puppets with a flick of the wrist. Now, seeing them again, he felt only dread.

“The groom is here! The groom is here!”

Puppet children cheered and flung confetti.

Fang Xu Cheng blinked—hard.

He was wearing wedding robes.

“This way, son-in-law.” The guards ushered him into the hall.

A puppet officiant stood at the front, hairpins trembling as its stiff mouth opened wide. “Groom and bride, bow to Heaven and Earth!”

Before the hall, a bride stood under a veil.

The guards shoved Fang Xu Cheng forward until he stumbled into place.

Mo Chou?

Impossible.

Mo Chou had fallen into the Ming River. Even her soul should have been washed away. She couldn’t be here.

It was an illusion Formation. It had to be.

That damned old woman had lost her power. She was trying to trap him with memories and grief and guilt.

Fine.

He’d tear it apart.

A cruel light flashed in Fang Xu Cheng’s eyes. He yanked the veil off—

Expecting puppet wood beneath.

The bride lifted her head, eyes wide with surprise. “Xu Cheng? What’s wrong?”

Fang Xu Cheng’s blood turned to ice.

That face.

That voice.

Mo Chou.

He let go without thinking, as if he’d grabbed a snake. He stumbled back.

“A Chou…” The name fell out of him before he could stop it.

Mo Chou’s smile brightened. She reached for his sleeve with the familiar, gentle affection that had once hooked him like a blade. “It’s me. We’re getting married, Xu Cheng. Are you happy?”

A cold snort came from above.

Fang Xu Cheng jerked his gaze upward.

Second Lady Hu sat on the high seat in wedding clothes, her expression stripped of warmth. She looked at him like she’d always wanted to—like she’d never trusted him at all.

“Mother-in-law… My Lord…” he blurted, panic slipping into his voice.

Second Lady Hu’s tone was impatient. “Are you done? If you don’t want to marry, then forget it.”

No—he wanted it. Of course he wanted it.

This marriage had been the ladder to everything he’d become. Divine Transformation mother-in-law. Nascent Soul wife. A future written in gold.

Fang Xu Cheng opened his mouth—

And snapped awake.

No.

This was fake.

Mo Chou was dead. Second Lady Hu was crippled. What did he have to fear?

If there were any living people here, it had to be those two women. That meant the problem was them.

Fang Xu Cheng’s eyes sharpened. He poured power into his arm and lashed out with the Thunderclap Whip.

Lightning cracked.

The wedding hall tore apart like paper.

The valley vanished.

Dark clouds swallowed the sky, and a roaring river surged beneath his feet, black and violent.

Fang Xu Cheng’s breath caught.

The Devil-Sealing Barrier.

This was the Devil-Sealing Barrier.

Hadn’t Second Lady Hu already lost her power?

How could she create an illusion like this?

“Xu Cheng!”

Mo Chou’s voice rang out again—close, urgent.

Fang Xu Cheng turned.

Mo Chou stood on a jagged rock, locked in combat with a Devil Creature. Her hair was loose, her sleeves torn, blood staining her wrist. She shouted over the roar of the river, “Come help me!”

Help her?

With his strength then, charging in would have been suicide.

No.

Whatever this trick was, the key was the women. Mo Chou was dead. If this Mo Chou was an illusion, he only had to kill her again.

Fang Xu Cheng gathered his power and whipped down hard.