Da Wei held back his urge to scream as he once again arrived at the center of a massive street, bustling with people who went about their daily lives as cars and buses rushed along the roads.

  Towering Highrise buildings reached into the sky, as the clean air that he had gotten used to breathing in for so long had been replaced with smog-filled air of the modern city.

  ‘I told you, we will not get out of here by simply wandering around.’

  ‘Then what the hell am I supposed to do? I never expected these damned ruins to be rigged with something like this.’

  After entering the ruins within the secret realm, Da Wei and Yin Lingxi avoided many traps that lay in wait for any unfortunate soul that would stumble upon the ruins.

  And yet, what they had not anticipated was that the ruin had traps that obscured the senses of a cultivator, both physical and Qi-based, worse yet, they were also effective on Soul Cultivators since even Xiang had not noticed when they were trapped.

  At first, things did not change much as they had not realized that they were trapped. One dead end here, one familiar wall there, a trap that they had already crossed.

  It took them a few hours until they realized that they were going in circles.

  By the time Da Wei realized it, it was already too late as he had been separated from Yin Lingxi.

  Ever since then, Da Wei had been wandering this looping maze that kept changing its layout but still had a few landmarks that allowed Da Wei to know that they were either caught in an illusion or were lopping through space itself.

  Then, things became worse when he walked through another hallway, only to appear in the middle of a modern-day street on Earth.

  If he was not wearing his cultivator robes and did not have Xiang in his head still, he would be forced to think that everything that happened in the past years had been nothing more than a dream, such was the realism of the illusion.

  Once again, Da Wei kept wandering, searching for a way out of the illusion, yet, had no luck so far no matter where he moved to.

  Finally deciding to take a break from the endless wandering, Da Wei collapsed on a nearby bench and sighed tiredly.

  “Hopefully, Yin Lingxi is doing better than I.”

  “I don’t know. Given how this place managed to recreate your world from your memories, I think she would be having a much worse time than us.”

  “Why? What’s so bad about reliving your past?”

  “David, you may not think of it much since you managed to remove your heart demon in its entirety without the need to suppress your true nature, but for other cultivators, including myself, looking at our pasts in a perspective like this is no different from torture. Furthermore, I suspect that the creator of this illusion wanted to torture people with their heart demons or their hidden secrets.”

  “…Whoever created this place really did not want others to find the secrets of these ruins, did they?”

  If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

  “Yes. I believe so.”

  “I hope she is alright.”

  “She should be fine. While she holds many secrets, they should not be able to shake her Dao Heart that easily. After all, she was one of the few people that I acknowledged as my equal, at least in intellect, when I was stood at the top of the continent as the Heavenly Demon.”

  “I guess you are right.”

  Da Wei leaned back into the bench and closed his eyes, letting the familiar background noise that he had not heard in a long while lull him to a meditative state.

  Yin Lingxi gritted her teeth and resolutely walked forward, ignoring the footsteps following her as the familiar amused voice rang out behind her.

  “Ignoring me now? How typical of you. You always shut out what you don’t want to see or hear, always living in your dreams.”

  “Shut up!”

  Yin Lingxi’s shout resounded in the massive halls of the Royal Palace before the entity behind her chuckled mirthfully.

  “Ah! Such expressions of hate and rage do not belong on our faces. Don’t forget your lessons as a princess so easily, Yin Lingxi. After all, what would mother say if she saw you like this?”

  Yin Lingxi turned around with a glare as her past, her mirror image, and her inner guilt smiled gleefully at her.

  “What do you want? Just leave me alone!”

  Once again, her shouts rang out across the vast emptiness of the Royal Palace as the being in front of her continued smiling.

  “What do I want? No, my dear, the question is, what do you want?”

  “I want to find a way out of this illusion and find Da Wei.”

  “Ah! Right. You want to find that man that you love, yet keep so many secrets from.”

  Yin Lingxi could not help but flinch at that accusation before turning away and walking out of the palace while the being chuckled and continued following her.

  “How delightfully hypocritical and na?ve. You claim to love him within your heart, and yet, you keep the truth from him. Mother taught you well, a true descendent of Yin Long indeed.”

  “I am nothing like Mother! And I do not hide things from him intentionally.”

  “Truly? Then why do you not tell him the truth about his mother? His heritage?”

  Yin Lingxi fell silent as her steps faltered for a split second before regaining her balance. This time, her walking speed increased a tad bit.

  “No answer? Let me answer my own question then. You do not tell him the truth because you are afraid. Afraid of losing your advantage over your siblings and the powerful backing of the Hidden Heavens Holy Land. You do not wish to lose such a powerful tool in your grand game.”

  “You do not wish to become a ruler that is controlled by your court in any way and to achieve that, you have been using Da Wei, or rather, Huxing Xiang, as the deterrent, using his status as a Formation Master for your own gain.”

  “Like always, you follow Mother’s teachings perfectly, treating people as nothing more than pawns.”

  Yin Lingxi could not withstand hearing those words anymore and started running with her full might, and yet, it was for naught as she passed through the gates of the Royal Palace and arrived at the crowded streets, realizing that something was wrong.

  “Yes, you are always like this. Pushing aside your real feelings to follow the teachings of that monstrous woman who brought us into this world. A coward that only knows how to hide her feelings and run away from the truth.”

  Yin Lingxi felt something was off, yet she did not know what. All she knew was that she must leave this place as soon as possible and find….

  ….Who? Who is she searching so desperately for?

  Terror consumed the girl as she started to run in panic, not realizing that her footfalls were much shorter than before, that the people around her were starting to get taller, or rather, she was starting to shrink.

  Soon enough, what should have been the young empress of the Yin Long empire was no more. In her place was a lost and scared girl, being pursued by a being that took the guise of a woman with a striking resemblance to the girl but with a stern expression and a gleeful grin on her face.

  “Run, little Lingxi, run. Mother will find you soon enough, and we will be able to rest permanently here, away from all the troubles that plague your mind.”

  Read 8 chapters ahead on Patreon: