Chapter Eight: How Are You Still Alive? New Scars

Li Yan was shocked to see the pile of ashes reform into the shape of the Taoist priest. Instinctively, he sensed that something was wrong. How could someone burned to ash still come back to life? Doubting the reality of the situation, Li Yan burned him with firewood once again. After being incinerated, the priest came back to life just as before, without a single burn mark on his body. Li Yan was even more astonished; even if a supernatural entity could resurrect, this was surely too absurd. He suspected he might be trapped in an illusion, but he felt he needed more evidence to be certain.

The Taoist did not give Li Yan much time to react. He launched an attack, transforming into Li Yan’s exact likeness and using Li Yan’s own techniques against him, even manifesting an identical long blade. As he swung the blade, Li Yan dodged quickly and braced himself to block the strike. Although he successfully parried the blow, the impact forced him to stumble back several steps. Li Yan snatched the blade away and threw it to the ground, but the priest remained unperturbed, simply conjuring another identical one. Li Yan found it ridiculous. "Are you trying to put on a blade-juggling show for me?" he thought.

Li Yan attempted to close the distance quickly to snatch the weapon again, but to his surprise, the priest offered no resistance. Li Yan grabbed the blade easily, but the moment he did, he felt a sharp pain in his hand. Looking down, he saw a small cut on his hand that had appeared out of nowhere, coated in an unknown white powder. The wound began to turn purple and fester upon contact with the substance. "This is bad, the powder is poisonous!"

Li Yan was furious, but he wasn't afraid, knowing his regenerative abilities would heal any injury. The Taoist, seeing Li Yan’s anger, provoked him: "You cannot kill me. No matter how many times you slay me, I will be resurrected." Li Yan frowned and tried to bind the priest with his energy, but as he channeled his power, he discovered a much greater problem.

Why had his internal energy weakened so significantly? Li Yan was now increasingly convinced that this was an illusion—a trap specifically designed for him. He felt foolish for only realizing it now. Once he grasped this, he stopped obsessing over defeating the priest; after all, he had tried twice already, and defeating him didn't break the spell.

Li Yan began to observe his surroundings carefully, hoping to find something that shouldn't be there to use as a mental trigger to wake himself up. He noticed that while the courtyard looked exactly like the one where Liu Meng’s incident had occurred—complete with the well, the water vat, and the talismans on the doors—there was one thing that was entirely absent: the black dog in the yard.

The dog was barking furiously at the priest. The Taoist, annoyed, picked up a stick and walked toward the dog. Seeing this, Li Yan rushed over, knocked the stick from the priest's hand, scooped up the dog, and ran. As he held the dog, the illusion began to shatter, and the surrounding scene shifted. It was no longer the courtyard, but a bottomless abyss where one wrong step meant death.

Li Yan moved with extreme caution, eventually making his way out. He found himself back in the courtyard of the Xue family’s old residence, lying on the ground, bleeding from numerous wounds. The Taoist was crouching beside him, holding a small knife dripping with blood. Li Yan quickly sprang up and kicked the priest to the ground. Not satisfied with just that, he took the priest’s own knife and slashed him repeatedly. The priest wailed in pain, but Li Yan felt a dark satisfaction. "You dared to hurt me? I’ll pay you back a hundredfold!"

As he retaliated, Li Yan spoke sternly: "Not so tough now, are you? Fight back! You couldn't beat me, so you pulled me into an illusion to kill me? I’ll finish you off!" Stung by these words, the priest struggled to his feet to retaliate, but to Li Yan’s surprise, the man failed to cast any magic and instead coughed up blood and collapsed, dead. Before he died, he smiled at Li Yan and whispered, "Even if I die, I won't let them go. They all deserve to die."

After the priest expired, the entire Xue family emerged from the house. Their eyes were vacant, their expressions indifferent. As they passed Li Yan, they acted as if he didn't exist, then knelt in unison, kowtowing repeatedly as if welcoming something. Li Yan knew they were being controlled, but he was helpless, forced to wait and see what would appear.

A moment later, a massive eagle appeared in the sky, fully two meters long. Enveloped in black mist, it flew straight toward the Xue family. It dove, attempting to snatch Xue Huaiyuan. Li Yan slashed at the bird with his blade, but the eagle dodged and shifted its target toward him. It swooped down at high speed; Li Yan tried to trap it with his energy, hoping to cage it and extract information, but the eagle broke free instantly.

Once free, it transformed into human form and began chanting a spell against Li Yan. Li Yan tried to guard himself, refusing to listen, but he was struck by the curse nonetheless. He became paralyzed and lost his sight, completely unaware of what was happening. He could only hear his own heartbeat, chaotic footsteps, and screams around him.

He kept repeating to himself, "Wake up, hurry, break the restraint." As he did so, he tried to gather all his remaining energy into one point. He failed many times and began to despair. Was he going to be killed by this entity so easily? He refused to accept it. As time passed, his pain intensified, and he knew he would die if he didn't act. With nothing left to lose, he made one final, desperate effort, focusing all his strength into his hand.

Success. He could move again. His body was covered in new wounds, and the members of the Xue family were suffering from fresh injuries as well...