Chen Guan: I Won't Follow the Procedure

He withdrew his mental power; he had already seen through the flaws of the illusion.

This illusion was truly crude, and its content somewhat boring. An illusion of this level was not yet qualified to interrogate his heart.

He opened his eyes again, raised his hand, and mental power surged from his palm.

Crash!

The wasteland before his eyes instantly shattered, breaking into pieces like glass. The scorching gale vanished, the twisted light and shadows dispersed, and Chen Guan returned to the circular stone chamber.

The light and shadows in the center of the stone chamber had condensed into a humanoid shape, with the faint outline of a carapace visible around its body. It had no face, yet it exuded a daunting sense of oppression. It was hard to tell whether a turtle had become a spirit or a person had turned into a turtle.

[This trash illusion is too weak, right?]

[A normal playthrough would definitely have a ton of blah blah blah, but Brother Guan skipped the process to save us data.]

[The illusion really kicked an iron plate when it ran into Brother Guan.]

The bullet comments were chatting so wildly they forgot where they were. On Chen Guan's side, the humanoid light figure slowly raised its hand, pointing to the other end of the stone chamber.

There, a new stone door emerged out of thin air, similarly carved with incomprehensible runes.

Meanwhile, outside the Xuanwu Tower.

Yin Chen was imprisoned by Wu Xuan's power in a howling ice cave.

Deep within the ice cave, streams of condensed cold wind, sharp as knives, slashed at his body.

He did not resist; he merely kept his eyes closed, sensing the pulsation of the wind.

Wu Xuan's voice echoed in his mind: The true essence of wind originates from heaven and earth, and returns to all things. Comprehend it, and you can master the wind and break all laws. Lose yourself in it, and you will be swallowed by the wind, turning into ice dust.

Yin Chen's silver hair danced wildly in the wind.

He captured the trajectory of every wisp of wind, feeling its gentleness and madness.

Although his family's ability was wind, and it had even mutated in his generation, he had never touched upon such an exquisite realm.

What Wu Xuan bestowed was a truly primal inheritance.

Was it related to his own family?

Or perhaps, this entire Xuanwu Tower was related to his family?

On the other side, Hong Yuan was thrown by Wu Xuan into a room made of countless ice crystals.

In the center, a massive ice crystal behemoth roared and charged at her.

Roar!

The ice behemoth's claws were fierce, but Hong Yuan did not retreat; instead, she advanced. The giant axe flipped in her hands, and excited murmurs escaped her lips.

Good timing!

She swung her giant axe, clashing head-on with the ice crystal behemoth.

Every collision burst with blinding light and a deafening boom.

The ice crystal behemoth possessed the ability of immortality. No matter how Hong Yuan hacked and slashed, it could instantly recover.

However, Hong Yuan was equally fearless of death. Every one of her attacks carried the ruthlessness of mutual destruction.

Wu Xuan's voice echoed in Hong Yuan's mind: The power of the bloodline originates from the Black Tortoise. Fight, and you can temper your physique and merge it into your bloodline. Retreat, and you will be abandoned by the bloodline, turning into a mortal body.

Hong Yuan couldn't understand what Wu Xuan was babbling about; she just felt this old turtle was extremely annoying.

But she could feel that every time she was injured, a peculiar power surged within her bloodline, repairing her body and making her strength increasingly condensed.

Deep within her body, a dormant power was awakening.

Inside, Chen Guan gazed at the newly appeared stone door. The fragment of the Xuanwu Token leaped slightly in his palm once more, guiding him forward.

Chen Guan stepped into the second stone door. Behind the door was a long, narrow passage.

The stone walls on both sides were as smooth as mirrors, reflecting his figure.

He continued deeper.

At the end of the passage, light flowed, red and blue intertwining, dyeing the path ahead in a blurry hue.

He walked into a massive circular space.

The name of this place surged into his mind.

Inner Demon Purgatory.

Light and shadows wandered uncertainly within the space.

One moment it was a warm hometown town, and the next it became a bloody battlefield.

A faint scent of rosemary permeated the air, attempting to paralyze one's will.

[Inner Demon Purgatory? This name sounds like trouble right off the bat.]

[I feel like Brother Guan will have to follow the procedure this time; he probably can't just break out directly.]

[I believe in Brother Guan, the number one unpredictable Thousand-Hand Guan-yin.]

The illusion activated immediately, attempting to outline the deepest fears and desires in Chen Guan's heart.

He saw himself lying in a coffin, sleeping day after day.

Time passed, the world changed, but he could never wake up.

This sense of powerlessness and the loneliness of being forgotten was the fear the illusion tried to impose on him.

However, Chen Guan's expression remained calm.

It wasn't that he lacked emotions, but rather that his emotions mostly served his goals.

His main body sleeping?

This was a fact, and also the driving force behind his continuous efforts.

Being forgotten?

He didn't care at all about how irrelevant outsiders viewed him.

He knew best what he wanted.

An inner demon of this level is too low in quality. It's no different from the last illusion, Chen Guan muttered in his heart.

The illusion wanted to shake him, but it was merely repeating the mission background he was already familiar with.

He tentatively took a step forward while releasing his mental power, exploring the borders of the illusion.

The illusion reacted immediately. A golden avenue appeared under his feet, leading straight to a towering palace.

Inside the palace, rare treasures were piled up like mountains, and legendary divine martial arts manuals shone with tempting light.

The illusion tried to tempt him.

Chen Guan just glanced at it and then withdrew his gaze.

The little thing was quite human-like.

Unfortunately, what he needed was power that could truly elevate his main body, not these illusory temptations.

He continued forward. The golden avenue vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving only a pitch-black abyss before him.

Countless malicious ghosts wailed in the abyss, trying to drag him into the endless darkness.

He stopped at the edge of the abyss and tentatively took out a blank monster core from his storage ring.

He tossed it lightly, and the monster core fell into the abyss.

The malicious ghosts swarmed forward but could not affect the monster core in the slightest.

The monster core bobbed in the abyss for a moment and actually began to absorb the power within, its luster returning.

Chen Guan saw through the trick.

He retrieved the monster core, took out a few low-grade spirit herbs from his ring, and casually tossed them into the abyss.

The spirit herbs quickly withered in the abyss, but their medicinal power was absorbed by the malicious ghosts, whose auras subsequently grew stronger.

Chen Guan looked thoughtful. If that was the case, could he throw all the previously drained monster cores down there and then absorb them again?

The illusion seemed to sense Chen Guan's thoughts. Not giving him a chance to exploit a bug, the light and shadows twisted once more.

This time, it was no longer simple fear or desire, but bluntly unrolled the scene of his main body slumbering.

The coffin was dark, and his main body lay quietly inside, wrapped in countless chains.

Baal's whispers, carrying a bewitching demonic power, echoed in Chen Guan's mind.

Just one step, just offer the soul of this body, and he can awaken early. You will gain power that transcends everything, no longer bound by any rules...

[Baal?! Why did this demon god crash the party?!]

[This is probably fake. The tone is all wrong. No evil laugh, one-star review.]

[Brother Guan, absolutely do not believe it! It's the devil's temptation.]

Chen Guan's heart remained completely unruffled.

Just as the bullet comments said, no evil laugh meant a bad review. At first glance, it was obviously a cheap knockoff. With the end of the year approaching, there were more scammers around.

Although he hadn't downloaded an anti-fraud app, it didn't prevent him from not being scammed.