Tome of Troubled Times-Chapter 821: Breaking Illusion With Void

At this point, it was clear that his previous assumptions had been dead wrong.

Within the Heavenly Demon Illusion Realm, no matter where one lurked or what schemes were enacted, Papiyas was aware of it all. Every act, every ploy, they had all been for nothing. The only reason Yue Hongling had remained unharmed before was because Papiyas had not yet recovered, and he had lacked both the power and the leisure to deal with her then.

By contrast, Zhao Changhe’s predicament was far worse.

Papiyas was now in peak form, and on top of that, he had a Profound Control Realm assassin in tow, one who could come and go without a trace. Zhao Changhe himself was injured and, worse yet, burdened with someone on his back who could, at any moment, break her restraints and strike him down without warning.

Countless ancient exotic beasts and lingering souls lay hidden in the night, twisted and demonic, and also ready to strike at any moment. And Zhao Changhe had nowhere to hide, no place to lay low. Wherever he went, Papiyas would know.

Swish!

Zhao Changhe cleaved through the neck of a corrupted exotic beast with one slash. Black blood sprayed through the air, splashing across his arm.

A sizzling, corrosive hiss rose at once. Zhao Changhe instantly restructured the muscles in his arm, isolating the corrosive fluid before it could seep in. Without even pausing to take a breath, he pivoted around, intercepting the next wave of attacks headed toward Piaomiao.

He surged forward, blade and body crashing into a corrupted vajra. The beast’s chest caved under the blow. River of Stars swept upward at an angle from below, shattering space itself. Flesh split open, entrails spilled.

These were all Profound Control Realm creatures from the ancient era, each one as formidable as Venerable Duoluo or Xue Wu. Indeed, these figures Zhao Changhe had once considered major bosses barely counted as average mobs today. Still, the Profound Control Realm was the Profound Control Realm, and every one of them possessed some unique strength, making them anything but easy to deal with.

But there was no room to retreat nor any room for hesitation. The slightest trace of doubt or fear, and the inner demons would swiftly take root and bloom.

Why had he “seen” Ye Wuming? Because, deep down, he had hoped the blind woman would appear in his moment of crisis and lend her hand, that she would not stand by and let him fall and become Papiyas’ thrall. That hope had manifested into the vivid illusion conjured by the Heavenly Demon.

The enemy lies within. Lose control, and you’ll spiral into oblivion.

This crisis was unlike any he had ever faced. Zhao Changhe had never fought a battle like this. If one were to call it tempering, then this was no trial of blade and blood but a trial of the heart.

On his back, Piaomiao quietly watched as he charged forward, breaking through again and again. She hadn’t even realized that she’d long since stopped struggling.

Papiyas’s corruption changed one’s temperament, not their memories. She could still recall the sight of him fighting in the Abyss of the Frost Chi, his body covered in wounds. Tempering had always been a pretense; he had always fought for others—for his friends, for his wives. He had repeatedly thrown himself into danger’s way, leaving battered and bloodied, never sparing a thought for his own life.

And now... Was he not once again doing all this for his wife? For Cui Yuanyang?

Cui Yuanyang’s parting words echoed in her mind, “You said he was only protecting me. But he’s protecting you too. Deep down, you know it.”

She did, in fact, know. She knew that every dodge and every maneuver was to shield the person on his back. And for that, he had taken blow after blow that could have been avoided.

Of course, a corrupted temperament might not appreciate such sentiment... But even if she did not, even if her heart was twisted, she could not deny that he was truly protecting her.

Stupid man... He knows I’m going to kill him, and he still does all this pointless shit! Does he really think I’ll spare him when the time comes?

But even while thinking this, she was no longer doing anything that might trip him up.

This is just so I don’t get hurt myself... Besides, his life is mine. What right do these filthy things have to take it? Still, his skills suck. Getting injured by this kind of garbage?

Piaomiao had no idea what she was thinking anymore.

But perhaps the one most vexed of all was Snow Owl, who was hot on their heels.

For reasons unknown, Zhao Changhe always seemed to slip past his attempts to intercept, darting straight for the weakest point. Round and round they went, and Snow Owl had never managed to block him head-on. It was truly maddening.

Who exactly is in whose territory?

Papiyas said, his voice cool and measured, “I suspect Zhao Changhe has been tracking you.”

For a moment, Snow Owl felt as if he were dreaming.

Tracking me? In your territory? Aren’t WE chasing HIM, yet you’re saying he’s been tracking me?!

“Impossible.” Snow Owl laughed in disbelief, though it came out more from frustration than amusement. “If there were any foreign presence inside me, how could I not know?”

Papiyas replied coldly, “Your sword intent is chaotic and jumbled, filled with all manner of strange intents. Are you sure you can distinguish them all clearly?”

“There are only two intents I haven’t fully mastered, one from the ancient White Tiger and the other from the Sword Emperor,” Snow Owl replied flatly. “But neither has anything to do with Zhao Changhe. How could he possibly use either to track me?”

“Did Zhao Changhe not once venture into the Sword Emperor’s tomb? And let’s not forget that the title of White Tiger in this era belongs to his wife, Xia Chichi. On what grounds are you so confident these two are unrelated to him?”

“The ancient White Tiger and today’s Xia Chichi are entirely different beings. She never received the true legacy of the White Tiger. The intent I carry came from Han Wubing! As for the Sword Emperor, Zhao Changhe only brushed against the tomb’s outer layers back when he was still at the Profound Gate Realm. The intent there is worlds apart from the essence of the Profound Control Realm. Are you honestly telling me he could not only comprehend it but use it to track me? Do you even believe that?”

Even Papiyas wavered for a moment. It did make sense. Zhao Changhe should not have been able to track Snow Owl—at least not in this manner and not with these odds. It simply made no sense.

Papiyas was certain that within this illusion realm, Zhao Changhe’s perception could not possibly stretch far. To keep his mind focused and defend against Papiyas, he had to retract his divine sense and guard his immediate surroundings tightly. He would not dare to spread it thin. So how had he consistently managed to avoid Snow Owl?

If Zhao Changhe had overheard this conversation, he might have gleaned a critical piece of information: Snow Owl was not Papiyas’ subordinate. Instead, they were partners. Whether that “partnership” was truly mutual, of course, was another matter entirely.

Eventually, Papiyas said, “Regardless of how he’s doing it, the fact remains that he is avoiding you completely. That, in itself, can be used against him.”

“How?”

“Simple. You and I split up. If he keeps avoiding you, he’ll have no choice but to run headlong into me. And without you nearby, he’ll relax, thinking I haven’t acted either.”

“...And you’re sure you can handle him? All your previous illusions failed to faze him.”

Papiyas chuckled. “It’s only because he cheated every time. He hasn’t truly overcome them. I’ll change my approach. This time, he won’t be able to leave alive.”

“What approach? Keep in mind, Zhao Changhe isn’t like the fools you’ve toyed with before. His will is one of the strongest I’ve ever seen. He knows full well those women you mimic won’t appear here. Illusions of them are meaningless.”

“But he is carrying Cui Yuanyang... and Piaomiao,” Papiyas said calmly. “And his feelings for her are rather complicated. He still holds hope for the corrupted Piaomiao, irrational as it is. That hope will be his death knell.” freёwebnoѵel.com

Zhao Changhe carved his way forward, breaking through the chaos, steadily closing in on the spatial node he had marked. At the same time, he noticed that Snow Owl’s presence was growing more distant by the second. He let out a long breath of relief.

It seemed Papiyas had run out of tricks and had decided to simply let him go.

Even the creatures once chasing and surrounding him had been withdrawn. It was apparent that they did not want to take any more losses.

Space rippled faintly around him. He had arrived at the secret realm behind the temple in Xiangyang, just as he had once glimpsed. The ancient temple was familiar. This was the place where the colossal Vajra Buddha had once been nurtured. Whether it had fully awakened by now was anyone’s guess.

Zhao Changhe swiftly entered the temple. Inside, numerous monks bustled about, all pausing in surprise when they saw him. “Greetings, King Zhao... How come you’ve appeared so suddenly?”

“No time to explain. Please inform Master Yuan Cheng at once and relay my request that ancient vajra grant me an audience.”

“At once. Please, King Zhao, rest in the guest courtyard for now.”

Zhao Changhe exhaled again and entered the courtyard, gently setting Piaomiao down on a chair. With a quiet sigh, he muttered, “I’ll release your acupoints for now... but I don’t dare undo the Soul-Shackling Chain. We’ll wait for the Buddhist masters to arrive; perhaps together, we can find a solution.”

Piaomiao gave him a sidelong glance, a sneer tugging at her lips. She wanted so badly to say, “How are you this clueless? This space is an illusion. The temple is an illusion. The monks are illusions. None of this is real. You never reached Xiangyang at all.”

Because even the desire to reach Xiangyang had become a kind of inner demon, it was easily exploited by Papiyas. And the cruelest illusion of all occurred in the precise moment when Zhao Changhe set the person on his back down.

At that instant, reality and illusion slipped out of alignment.

The real Piaomiao was cast aside, unconscious and sealed, while the one Zhao Changhe now spoke to was... Papiyas in disguise. The one whose acupoints he was unsealing was Papiyas. The true Piaomiao remained bound, silenced by the acupoint seal and unable to speak, her divine sense shackled by the Soul-Shackling Chain, left helplessly watching the farce unfold.

This kind of battle was indeed far more treacherous than anything before. Without the ability to pierce illusion and grasp truth, one could be played to death. Zhao Changhe might have acquired the page of illusion and reality, but his time studying it had been too brief. When faced with Papiyas, an incarnation of the human heart’s darkest shadows, they were simply not on the same level. Previously, Zhao Changhe had managed thanks to his cheats. But this time, would he meet his end?

Papiyas, playing the role of Piaomiao, weakly rubbed her wrist, stretching her limbs as if recovering, then coldly said, “You might as well kill me. What good is pretending to be merciful by unsealing my meridians?”

Piaomiao understood that Papiyas was not improvising. Every word and every gesture was based on Zhao Changhe’s own understanding of her. It was a performance tailored precisely to what Zhao Changhe believed Piaomiao to be at this moment. As long as that perception held, the illusion would remain flawless.

Still, Zhao Changhe’s impression of her did not necessarily align with the real Piaomiao. Piaomiao herself was curious about what Papiyas saw when he peered into Zhao Changhe’s heart and how different his version of Piaomiao was from the real one.

Zhao Changhe was saying, “You know I won’t kill you. Whether you’re the Piaomiao I once knew or the one who has been corrupted.”

Papiyas replied, “Do you truly believe corruption can be undone? That I could ever return to what I was before? Let me tell you, it’s impossible. My nature has already changed. Even if you kill Ye Wuming, that change won’t vanish.”

Zhao Changhe asked, “Why are you so insistent that I kill you?”

Papiyas answered coldly, “Because if you don’t kill me, I’ll kill you. Are you stupid? Killing me would benefit you, and it might even bring back your precious Cui Yuanyang. I have no place in your life. Now that I’ve been corrupted, your hesitations should’ve died too.”

Piaomiao frowned. There was not anything technically wrong with the conversation. It was something she might say, but the tone was off. Papiyas was too rational, too calm. The real corrupted Piaomiao would not speak like this. Papiyas’s portrayal was based on Zhao Changhe’s limited understanding of her corruption, which meant... he still held expectations for her; he still held hope.

And that hope was dangerous.

Then, Zhao Changhe said softly, “I won’t kill you... Forget whether the Soul-Shackling Chain can hold you for long, even if it could bind you for a lifetime, I wouldn’t want to keep you bound forever.”

Even Papiyas was momentarily thrown off, his expression slipping. “Why?” No performance was necessary now. He truly did not understand why Zhao Changhe would do such a thing.

Zhao Changhe gently caressed her cheek and murmured, “You’re in Yangyang’s body. Every time I was intimate with Yangyang, it was really with you. I can’t bring myself to kill a woman I’ve been intimate with... even if it was unintentional. Just now, I said I’d discipline you when things were safe again. Maybe I said it in anger, but the fact I said it at all... shows my thoughts aren’t pure. Even now, after you’ve turned, I still think about being with you.”

Piaomiao’s heart skipped violently. She did not even know what emotion she was feeling, but one thing was certain: Zhao Changhe was doomed.

He truly did harbor forbidden hopes and desires. And once Papiyas took advantage of that... he was finished.

These were words Zhao Changhe might not have dared say under normal circumstances. But now, drawn out by Papiyas, stirred by illusion, they spilled out unchecked. One step further, and he would plunge into a sea of lust from which he would never return.

Sure enough, Papiyas picked up on the opportunity and ran with it, drawing out the very response Zhao Changhe secretly yearned for. “Y-you... shameless!”

Her eyes burned with indignation, yet beneath them flickered a trace of hesitation, almost as if she were... inviting him. That kind of expression had a name: resistance laced with desire.

Piaomiao nearly laughed in outrage... So this is what Zhao Changhe imagines my corrupted self would say? What the hell is going on in that brain of his?

As expected, the fire in Zhao Changhe’s eyes began to burn hotter, fanned by temptation. He reached out, tilted Papiyas’s chin, and leaned in until their faces were merely a breath apart. “We’ve done everything already... what’s left to be ashamed of?”

His gaze was no longer clear. It had turned clouded and hungry. It was the unmistakable sign of a man being consumed by desire.

His inner demons were multiplying, and at this rate, he would fall just as Piaomiao had. She had succumbed to hatred and rage; he, it seemed, would fall to lust.

Papiyas twisted his body with sinister allure, whispering, “You... you wouldn’t dare... If you really kiss me, I... I’ll never forgive you...”

Piaomiao was so furious she could’ve vomited. This is how Zhao Changhe imagined my corrupted self would behave? He deserves to die.

The moment he kissed her, it would be over. He would lose himself entirely. He would become a slave to desire, a demon ruled by lust.

In all the world, who would dare kiss Papiyas?

Zhao Changhe leaned in, his lips just a finger’s breadth away from the illusion’s. But as Papiyas uttered his sultry threat, something seemed to spark in Zhao Changhe’s mind. “That’s right... I don’t want to kill you, but you will try to kill me... I need to guard against that.”

As he said that, he suddenly pulled out a chain from who-knows-where and wound it tightly around the fake Piaomiao, strapping her to the chair in a posture so provocative it made one’s blood surge. “Now you have no choice but to be disciplined by me...”

His eyes gleamed with dazed lust, his movements hurried and clumsy. He was like a man both maddened by desire and paralyzed by fear.

Piaomiao rolled her eyes while Papiyas chuckled darkly inside.

With behavior like this, Zhao Changhe clearly was not stopping at a kiss. It was apparent that he wanted everything. If he did not die here, who would?

But the instant the final loop of the chain locked in place, Papiyas felt something was wrong. He tried to tear free in a flash of panic, but it was too late.

Zhao Changhe’s drunken eyes turned razor-sharp in an instant. River of Stars blazed to life in his hand, and with a vicious arc, he slashed straight into Papiyas’ forehead.

A bone-shaking, soul-piercing scream tore through the air. The illusion of Cui Yuanyang disintegrated at once, unraveling into a grotesque, writhing shadow.

It squirmed and twisted, but could not break free from the chain.

The Soul-Shackling Chain!

Piaomiao stared, stunned. At some point, the Soul-Shackling Chain binding her had vanished and had been used instead to bind Papiyas!

Instinctively, her hand lashed out to strike Zhao Changhe. But his quiet sigh halted her. “Really? You’re going to hit me now? Don’t disappoint me.”

Her palm hovered just above his back, qi vibrating menacingly at her fingertips. Yet in the end, she did not release it.

Zhao Changhe turned to her and smiled. “ It seems my expectations weren’t so wrong after all. Even corrupted, you’re still reasonable. You’re not the type to act without cause. No matter how twisted your hatred becomes, it only skews your logic. It doesn’t erase it.”

Piaomiao fought down the swirling storm of emotions within her and asked, “How... How did you cheat this time?”

“I didn’t.” Zhao Changhe rubbed his forehead. “Even a Saint Seiya[1] won’t fall for the same move twice. He pulled this on me three, four times already... I mean, come on, I’ve got the page of illusion and reality. After everything I’ve been through, all the trial and error, if I still can’t pierce illusion with truth, then I’ve really wasted this page of the Heavenly Tome...”

The bound Papiyas was reeling, disbelief written across every flicker of his shadow. “You saw through it yourself? From when?”

“From the very beginning. Didn’t you notice? This time, I never sent my divine sense into the spiritual sea. Because I suspected that was your domain, and sticking my soul in there would be serving myself to you on a platter. That’s why I kept the entire conversation external.” He glanced sideways at Papiyas and sneered. “I’ve been mulling it over for a while. If I ever got another close-range encounter, I’d use the Soul-Shackling Chain to trap you. And then you came prancing in, trying to seduce me? Honestly, how was I supposed to not bind you?”

“But... why were you able to see through it at all?” Papiyas growled. “Even if you have the Heavenly Tome, your cultivation isn’t deep enough yet. You shouldn’t be able to pull this off! Did I reveal a flaw?”

“You have illusion and truth, while I have void and reality,” said Zhao Changhe. “I never believed you could see all my thoughts. If you could, why didn’t you catch me acting in the previous illusions? That proves you can only perceive the surface, specifically the thoughts I allow to show. So, I ran a little test.”

“What kind of test?”

“I deliberately pushed myself to focus on going to Xiangyang, to seek the ancient Vajra Buddha. I made sure the thought was loud and obvious, something you had to see. Even Piaomiao believed I meant it. But in truth, if I’d gone then, it would’ve caused more harm than good. What I really intended was to go later. I used the power of void and reality to project the desire to go but concealed when exactly I wished to go, and you ultimately failed to catch that.” Zhao Changhe smiled faintly. “So the moment I laid eyes on that Xiangyang temple, I knew that it was fake. No matter how perfect your act, it was a puppet show from start to finish.”

1. This is a reference to the Japanese manga Saint Seya. ☜

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