Chapter 1377: Yankong Heavenly Book Third Level

"Brother Yuan and Brother Luo are both injured; please take care of them while I go inside to check."

Realizing that further discussion would expose him, Zhang Xuan quickly changed the subject.

"Let me go instead!" Bi Hongyin stepped forward. "I specialize in illusions and primordial spirit attacks, and my soul defense is relatively strong, so I should be able to last for a while."

"Alright then!" After a slight hesitation, Zhang Xuan nodded. "Be cautious of illusions, and under no circumstances should you use your power!"

The space that had just injured Yuan Xiao and Luo Xuanqing was not a single, cohesive entity. Even with the aid of the Library of Heaven's Path, what he perceived on two different occasions was completely distinct. Otherwise, he would have known about the illusion earlier and issued a warning. Since she was entering, it would provide him with more observations and a better point of reference.

"Understood," Bi Hongyin replied, nodding and likewise sealing her cultivation. Her sealing technique was not as refined as Luo Xuanqing's, a fact clearly discernible with the Eye of Insight. However, since no true qi was being released, ordinary arrays would not be sensitive enough to detect her presence.

The girl walked forward, taking a few steps to the exact spot where Luo Xuanqing and Yuan Xiao had been attacked. She seemed to see something as well, stopping dead in her tracks.

"Be careful..." Yun Lianhai couldn't help but exclaim.

"There's no need to shout; it's useless," Luo Xuanqing said, shaking his head. "In that area, not only does sound fail to transmit, but even divine sense cannot be projected."

"Divine sense can't be projected?" Frowning, Zhang Xuan extended his divine sense. Indeed, not far ahead, it felt as though it had entered another dimension, unable to perceive anything at all. Though it was clearly visible to the naked eye, it felt as if they were separated by two distinct worlds.

As everyone watched with worried eyes, Bi Hongyin took another step forward. However, she still couldn't resist; her true qi circulated, and just like the previous two, she was sent flying backward.

"What happened?" they asked when she reached them.

"When I entered, I seemed to be teleported to a different space," Bi Hongyin explained, her face slightly flushed. "I saw a sacred beast slaughtering and devouring people everywhere, and I couldn't help but intervene..." She originally believed she could resist, but witnessing a child's head being bitten off by the sacred beast was something she simply couldn't tolerate.

"Teleported? But you didn't move from where you were standing!" Yun Lianhai pointed out. They had clearly seen Bi Hongyin standing nearby, not moving at all. How could she have possibly seen sacred beasts and children?

"Divine sense can't even penetrate that area, yet we can see it. Don't you find that strange?" Luo Xuanqing interjected, cutting him off.

"This..." Yun Lianhai was momentarily stunned. Sometimes, what the eyes perceive is not necessarily real. Like a mirage, where countless tall buildings appear clearly nearby, but are, in fact, an illusion. Cultivators place greater trust in their divine sense, as it is an extension of their spirit and is believed to be infallible. In the current situation, if their divine sense perceived nothing while their physical eyes saw it clearly, could they truly be certain it was real?

"Brother Yun, can you sense if that Hollow Gourd is real?" Zhang Xuan suddenly asked.

"Alright!" Yun Lianhai nodded. If the images of Bi Hongyin and Luo Xuanqing they had just seen could be false, then the Hollow Gourd suspended in the air might also be illusory. Blood flew from his fingers, and an eye seemed to open on his forehead as he gazed intently at the air. A moment later, he shook his head. "I can't sense any aura of a treasure..."

"You can't sense it?" Luo Xuanqing's face turned pale. They had prepared for this Hollow Gourd for an unknown period; if it turned out to be merely an illusion, they would be utterly devastated.

"I'll go and take a look myself!" Frowning, Zhang Xuan couldn't determine what was truly happening, so he spoke up. The scene before him defied his imagination; even he felt utterly bewildered. He realized he would likely only find answers by investigating personally.

"Be careful..." Knowing the young man before him possessed numerous methods, Luo Xuanqing cautioned him.

"Understood," he replied, taking a deep breath and suppressing his cultivation before stepping forward into the area. While his method of sealing cultivation wasn't as profound as Luo Xuanqing's, he cultivated Heavenly Dao True Qi. If he truly wished to remain hidden, even a Saint Realm Ninth-level expert would be unable to detect him, let alone others.

Upon entering, he immediately saw a vast expanse of white before him. His divine sense spread out, extending to extremely distant reaches as before, yet he perceived nothing. It was as if he had arrived in a desolate wilderness, where only he existed between heaven and earth. Luo Xuanqing and the others, from whom he had just separated, had completely vanished, as if they had never been there at all.

"How utterly strange..." Frowning, Zhang Xuan continued onward. Soon, a mountain range appeared before his eyes. Waterfalls cascaded into pools, with the gentle sound of flowing water.

"This is..." After a glance, his heart began to pound violently. He had been here before—it was the very place where he first met Luo Ruoxi. The Phantom Feather Mountain Range! It was here that he saw countless spiritual beasts rushing towards her, and thinking she was in danger, he had directly charged forward. It was through this encounter that the two had first met and come to know each other.

He hastily looked towards the waterfall and indeed saw a beautiful figure standing quietly, like a delicate ink wash painting. The girl resembled an unblemished lotus, tranquil and aloof, as if nothing in the world could touch her.

"Ruoxi..." His heart leaped, and Zhang Xuan was overcome with excitement. He had initially believed he could meet her upon arriving at the Saint Son Hall, but the more he learned, the more he understood the immense pressure on him, making him hesitant to see her. Even so, the longing in his heart had not diminished in the slightest; it had only grown more intense.

"No, this is an illusion..." His fists clenched, he forcibly suppressed the urge to charge forward, and his breathing gradually steadied. He was currently searching for the Hollow Gourd, so it was impossible for him to suddenly find himself in the Phantom Feather Mountain Range, let alone meet Luo Ruoxi again. This indicated that it was fake; even if it wasn't an illusion array, it might be related to spatial folding, projecting his past experiences.

With his mind calm again, just as he was about to continue forward, a sharp beam of light suddenly appeared. In the blink of an eye, it reached Luo Ruoxi and instantly pierced through her. Immediately afterward, a young man with a sinister expression appeared behind the girl. "My family arranged for you to marry me, yet you dared to fall for someone else. In that case... die!" With madness in his eyes, the young man's appearance somewhat resembled Zhang Chun, yet for some inexplicable reason, he also bore a slight resemblance to Zhang Xuan himself.

"The Zhang clan's young genius..." His pupils contracted, and Zhang Xuan gritted his teeth. This individual must be that detestable Zhang clan genius. To dare lay a hand on Ruoxi is simply courting death...

His true qi vibrated within him, and just as he was about to unseal it, the Library of Heaven's Path in his mind suddenly swayed. A sound like a great bell resonated in his ears, and his body turned cold as he snapped back to reality. "It's an illusion..." His mental state quickly stabilized, restoring him to a tranquil state of mind. Looking forward again, the young genius was gone, Luo Ruoxi was gone, and even the entire mountain range had vanished. It was still a vast expanse of featureless white.

"That was close..." His forehead was covered in cold sweat. Despite knowing it was an illusion, seeing Luo Ruoxi injured still triggered an overwhelming urge to act. The creator of this relic not only possessed extraordinary mastery over space but also an extremely profound understanding of human nature.

"Thanks to the Library of Heaven's Path, otherwise, I might have been directly expelled like Luo Xuanqing and the others..." With a sigh of relief, Zhang Xuan continued to look ahead. Just as he prepared to move forward, a sudden, violent sensation of weightlessness engulfed him, as if he were plummeting from the sky, with the air around him whistling mournfully. Looking down, he saw himself suspended in mid-air, with the ground below rapidly approaching, threatening to smash him at any moment. He had suppressed his cultivation to the level of an ordinary person. Falling from such a height would undoubtedly result in instant death. The sealed true qi within him stirred restlessly, ready to erupt at any moment to sustain flight.

"It's an illusion..." Suppressing his breath, Zhang Xuan slowly closed his eyes. Had he not just experienced the previous illusion, he would surely have succumbed. But now, with his mental state significantly elevated, he no longer felt the same panic as before. If he were to activate his true qi, the speed of his fall would only accelerate. At that point, no matter how strong his defenses, he would still be jolted violently, bleeding from all seven orifices, and losing half his life even if he survived.

Neither sorrowful nor joyful, his heart as calm as still water, he no longer felt the whistling wind or the sensation of falling. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself still standing in the same spot, perfectly motionless.

"Space can create the effects of an illusion array; this is something I'd never considered..." With a sigh of relief, Zhang Xuan, feeling perplexed, looked around him. His understanding of array formations had reached the peak of the eight-star level, and his study of the Heavenly Book of Derivations had likewise reached an extremely profound realm. Under normal circumstances, ordinary folded spaces could no longer trap him. Yet, this place could cause him to lose his mental composure, preventing him from detecting any abnormality, which revealed an astonishing mastery of space.

Under the illumination of the Eye of Insight, the surrounding space resembled a honeycomb, a collection of small, interconnected cells. It also seemed like slowly flowing water, and entering it would inevitably lead to being influenced, with even one's primordial spirit unable to escape.

"Space is a form of wave and frequency; once understood, it can be utilized..." The concepts from the Heavenly Book of Derivations flowed through his mind.

"So that's how it is!" After an indeterminate period, his eyes suddenly lit up. The previously incomprehensible sections of the Heavenly Book merged with the grid-like structures before him, leading to a sudden enlightenment. Previously, when he studied the Heavenly Book of Derivations, it was due to his integration of knowledge from the ancient Talyan book, combined with his limited cultivation, which prevented him from comprehending its deeper aspects. Now, with his strength at the peak of the Out-of-Body realm and the context of the current scene, his understanding of space advanced significantly.

"No wonder it can create illusions. Space itself can be arranged using array formations; it's a type of array, and thus, it can naturally influence one's thoughts..." He finally understood. Arrays can configure space, and space can, in turn, be configured as an array to influence thoughts, easily presenting what one desires most but cannot attain.

"With this understanding, I've likely achieved 'mastery' over space!" He exhaled a breath of stale air, and Zhang Xuan's eyes gleamed.

The Heavenly Book of Derivations categorized the comprehension of space into five realms: Ground Shrinking, Shuttle, Mastery, Creation, and Destruction. Ground Shrinking, which seemingly compresses space, allows one to accelerate their movement. Shuttle, by the same principle, indicates a familiarity with spatial mastery, making attack speeds akin to instantaneous teleportation, covering hundreds of meters in an instant. To fully master this realm means that even when encountering a Void-Entering realm expert, attacks can penetrate their spatial domain and reach them directly, no longer affected by spatial barriers. Mastery, however, implies a certain degree of control over space itself. Folded spaces can no longer trap one, and one can even wield the inherent power within to suppress opponents. As for the subsequent realms of Creation and Destruction, he had yet to fully grasp them and knew little about them, other than that the creator of this relic must have achieved them. He couldn't articulate what 'Creation' specifically entailed.

"Having reached the third realm, this place should no longer be able to trap me..." He chuckled softly.

With his understanding of space having reached the "mastery" realm, Zhang Xuan looked again at the honeycomb-like space before him, which now held no secrets. The elements that had previously trapped him in illusions, akin to array formations, were now clearly discernible, and he could dismantle them at will.

"It's time to leave!" True qi surged within him, and he lightly gestured forward. Taking a step forward, the next moment, he reappeared before the river they had just left. The emerald green gourd now floated directly before him, emanating a powerful aura.