Chapter 151

Chapter 151: A Demonic Cultivator Hired to Target Her

Yu Zhi Yi turned to look beside her, but Li Rou had vanished.

At first, Li Rou did not notice anything wrong. She had a simple face and a simple heart, and most of the time she was not very alert. Besides, her miss was right there. Her miss was a powerful master of the mystic arts. What was there to fear?

Only when she felt the road was far too long did she sense something off. She had often walked out with her miss these days and had gone down this street many times. She had secretly counted in her mind that it took about a quarter of an hour to reach the end. But now they had walked almost half an hour and still could not see the end. It was dark too. She did not even know when the sky had turned black.

She finally felt something was wrong and asked: “Miss, why is the road so long today?”

A strange laugh answered her: “Hee hee.”

The sound was like a child’s voice, yet if you listened closely, it was more like a woman pinching her throat on purpose. Such a fake voice might still sound pretty, but this one made cold rise from the soles of the feet.

Li Rou turned her head without thinking. “Miss” also turned her head slowly. Only then did Li Rou see that this was not her miss at all. The clothes looked right, but the face belonged to a stranger.

The woman smiled, and two lines of blood tears slid from her eyes. Li Rou’s heart jumped. Blood also flowed from the woman’s nose, mouth, and ears. At first it seeped out in thin threads, but soon each thread thickened to the width of a thumb. Very quickly, a small pool of blood formed under Li Rou’s feet.

She felt the blood cover her shoes, then her ankles, then her knees. Soon it rose to her waist. She wanted to struggle, but fear froze her. Her whole body turned cold, and it was as if some force had locked her in place.

“Hee hee hee,” the woman giggled again, but Li Rou could no longer look straight at her face. The terrible pale face was now covered in blood, hiding any human features. The blood climbed to Li Rou’s chest. At this speed, it would soon drown her nose and mouth.

Her clothes kept the worst of the touch from her body, and though standing in a blood pool felt awful, she could still bear it. But her hands were uncovered. She felt the sticky, warm slide of blood against her fingers, and goosebumps rose until she wanted to jump out of her skin. The heavy stench of iron made her want to vomit, but she could not.

At last the blood line reached her neck. A little more and it would seal her mouth and nose and drown her. In that extreme terror, Li Rou burst out a shout: “Miss, run!”

The blood rose to the edge of her lips and was about to pour into her mouth when a strong burst of golden light exploded from her body. The light made her eyes squeeze shut. When she opened them again, the blood and the ghostly woman were gone. Everything had been an illusion.

She still stood on the same long street. Her miss was right beside her, watching with clear worry. Li Rou had not cried in front of the ghost, even though she had been terrified, but now that the danger had passed, the feeling of surviving shook her. She forgot all rules, threw herself forward, and hugged Yu Zhi Yi, saying with a sob: “Miss!”

A cold hand pressed against her back, and a low, icy voice curled at her ear: “It is fine, it is fine, I will take you home.”

Li Rou’s body went stiff. She might be simple, but she was not stupid. Her miss’s voice was lovely, crisp, and airy. This voice was thin but did not have that airy note. Her miss’s voice could calm any heart even without saying anything kind, but this voice only made her skin crawl.

The speaker asked in a lower voice: “What is wrong?”

More sure than ever, Li Rou screamed and shoved the person away, then ran forward as fast as she could. The woman did not move. The outline that looked like Yu Zhi Yi faded and turned back into the same ghost with bleeding tears. Its blank white eyes watched coldly as Li Rou ran. The corners of its mouth split on both sides, drawing a twisted smile.

Panicking, Li Rou ran without seeing where she was going. No matter which way she went, the ghost was there ahead of her after only a short time. At last she saw a patch of light different from the street’s gloom and felt a burst of joy. She rushed toward it.

A familiar voice snapped behind her: “Stop. Do not run.”

Li Rou’s face changed. That sounded like her miss. Was it really her? She had doubts, but long habit made her obey Yu Zhi Yi at once. She stopped. Above the street, the darkness tore like a painting. Cracks spread, then the pieces fell away inch by inch, and bright sky showed through.

Before Li Rou could wonder what was happening, she jumped at the sight in front of her. Less than a handspan ahead stood a thick wall. With the speed she had just been running, she would have smashed her head open.

A familiar soft scent reached her. Li Rou turned and saw Yu Zhi Yi looking at her with pity and asking: “Frightened?”

That airy voice, that calming presence-it was her miss. Li Rou broke down, cried out, and hugged Yu Zhi Yi tight, saying between sobs: “Miss, I was scared to death. Wuwu.”

Yu Zhi Yi’s body went stiff. After a long moment, she lifted her hand and patted Li Rou’s back, speaking gently: “All right, all right, it is over.”

She added in a soft voice: “What you saw just now was an illusion. You are wearing the jade pendant I gave you. Usually, that keeps you safe.”

Li Rou sniffed and asked: “Just an illusion?”

Daoist cultivators rarely lied. Yu Zhi Yi hesitated. She did not want to scare the girl, but this danger had come because of her, and Li Rou had the right to know. She said: “It is an illusion, but also a killing move.”

“This is a vicious formation called the Hundred-Dream Slaughter. As the name says, the array holds one hundred illusions, each one so real it can fool the eye. The illusions go from low to high. At the start they are simple horrors. Most people who stumble into the early illusions may die right there.”

“If a person has a firm heart and does not fall for the early tricks, they enter the higher illusions. The higher the level, the more real it feels. It will make you think you are safe and back in the real world. Then, without knowing, you will step into a trap and die in misery.”

She lifted her eyes, and cold light flashed there as she finished: “The one who set this array is a demonic cultivator, and he was invited here for one purpose: to deal with me.”