Chapter 81 - Casual Conversation

After Yaan spoke mentioned some of his experiences ever since they parted ways, he hoped that Rui could perhaps clear some matters up for him. In particular, he wanted to better understand this illusion trial, though he was unsure how much help she could be in this respect.

"So you're certain that in reality, you were taken to the Heavenly Path Sect on the same day that you split away from your path in this illusion?" Rui asked.

Yaan nodded.

"When and where did you find the stone ring, and what happened?"

Yaan wasn't sure exactly, but he believed that it was around 2 months into his life in Zong Village. He described his experiences there, how he ate the demonic fish and was saved by the Fiend Transformation…and how he had killed all those children, in a crazed state of blood frenzy.

He wanted to see how Rui reacted to all this, but reading her expression was still too difficult.

"I see…" Rui murmured. "Despite your perfect divergence, everything was the same…the day of meeting me, how the technique was learned, even the numbers that died on that day…"

"Well, not everything." Yaan laughed. "In this illusion, instead of me, it was Jash who met you. Jash also became a fiend and carried out those atrocities in his madness, right? Only, he lost his mind during the completion of the transformation. But even if Jash was supposed to take my place, he died…many things must have changed since teacher lost his disciple early on."

Rui slowly shook her head.

"The truth is far more fantastical than a perfectly replicated illusory world. This illusion's ability to control the preordained fate of the past, is simply…"

As she trailed off, Yaan had a thousand questions. She still refused to explain this strange matter which she had mentioned twice now, though.

"This is your trial, complete it yourself."

Yaan's eye twitched, again feeling like this was an irritating answer. He was trying to work these things out for himself, by asking her about it!

A lengthy period of time passed by. At this point, Yaan had recovered almost all of his memories, whilst the majority of his sentience and wisdom had been drawn into the illusion also.

Finally, Yaan prepared for his last dive into his own mind. It never became less painful. Each and every time, it felt like he was killing his sanity, and inviting endless torture into his very sentience…

As usual, Yaan found himself within a seemingly endless dark space. However, unlike usual, he took a deep breath, then thrust his head into this space!

This sudden and unexpected action even startled Rui slightly.

Yaan was unaware of this, he was focussed on the remainder of his mind which suddenly rushed towards him in an unexpectedly fast swoop!

Before he could react, a dozen faint white lights rushed into his head. The lights were surrounded by black spatial fabric, shrinking the region and causing a portion of his unconscious mind in the outside world to disintegrate!

Nearly all that remained was dragged towards Yaan and sucked into his illusory mind! He didn't understand why this was happening, but at least he didn't need to exert much effort to drag the final portion of his mind towards him.

Rui watched with narrowed eyes. She knew that this final step was extremely dangerous, if he failed here, he would die, and this illusion would collapse…

3 seconds…5 seconds….7 seconds-

"Ah!" Yaan stumbled backwards, away from the final light of memory as it attempted to storm towards him. It was necessary to leave a single memory fragment within his unconscious mind in the real world, as it would supposedly act as an anchor between illusion and reality.

This remaining fragment wasn't the largest or the smallest memory, but the memory itself was irrelevant, it only needed to act as a connection between his illusory consciousness, and his 'real' unconscious mind.

Of course, Yaan left behind a minuscule portion of his sentience and wisdom in reality, as otherwise, his real mind would collapse.

Rui watched Yaan curious, finally using a trace of her power to examine his rapidly evolving condition. She watched for a few seconds, at which point, she could already foresee the end result.

"Somehow, you'll live. That was so, so lucky."

"Luck…or fate…?" Yaan muttered after recovering his bearings.

"Luck. Definitely luck. Fate is never so kind, it just drags you around like a chained slave."

The pair picked up their pace as Yaan's awful condition began to rapidly and clearly recover.

He was still a mortal child, but he found now that he was able to push his body further, unlocking hidden reserves of strength, speed and stamina.

Rui and Yaan were now closing in on Heavenly Path Mountain. They didn't say it, but they shared the distinct feeling that everything would reach its finale upon their arrival at that mountain. Whether for better or for worse, this show would soon end.

So, realising that their journey was coming to an end, the two chatted more openly than before. They asked one another questions, but only answered if they felt comfortable in doing so. This back and forth went on and on, allowing the pair to somewhat gain a better understanding of one another.

More importantly, they were each probing the other, both for their own reasons. Neither of them for a second believed that the other had suddenly undergone a personality change, becoming the friendly and talkative type.

"Wait, you're saying that you also entered a terrifying inheritance that encouraged thousands of people to slaughter one another?" Yaan asked in shock as she mentioned this far too casually.

"Mm. It appeared soon after my birth, I wandered in as a mortal child…this was also around 1,800 years ago…" She murmured, having long felt confused by all of this. If she was confused though, then Yaan was simply stunned into silence right now!

"The North Ghu Inheritance Site was also found around 1,800 years ago! They…are they the same-"

"It was definitely not the same inheritance as you described, but they are far too similar." Rui shook her head. "In this inheritance, demonic cultivation techniques were also handed out…including the Fiend Transformation. Unlike your inheritance, the place I explored encouraged the cultivation of Yuan Qi, not the body."

Rui almost seemed to be reminiscing as she spoke. It reminded Yaan of how old this young looking woman truly was, at the very least, she had lived for 1,800 years…

As Yaan was in a daze, they walked past a fairly large travelling caravan of mortal merchants. Yaan was lost in thought, but Rui's eyes were kept trained to the left. After walking past everyone for a full minute and not receiving so much as a greeting or acknowledgement, she sighed, turning to Yaan with a complex look that she hid away from his view.

"Why me…?" She muttered.

"Huh, what was that?" Yaan blinked and looked up, snapping back to reality finally. Learning that Rui had encountered something so similar to him early in life left him feeling dazed…and wondering if she was actually telling the truth. After all, it sounded a bit too coincidental, right?

"Nothing important. I was just wandering how you were going to complete this trial, and how you would be graded." She spoke randomly, distracting Yaan from the oddity of the last few months, ever since the pair of them met up.

"Complete the trial?" Yaan blinked, shaking his head. "I never cared about the trial itself, I just wanted to use it to become a psyche power cultivator."

Rui again fell into thought. To break the silence, Yaan felt the need to satisfy his curiosity.

"What's this 'grading' you mentioned? How do you know I'll be graded if you haven't explored this inheritance?"

"Because 'grading' is a universal system, the same system is used everywhere worth mentioning throughout the world. An inheritance like that definitely grades everything, I'm sure you've noticed it…from lowest to highest, the grades of quality are, entry, low, mid, high, top, peak, pinnacle, perfect, apex."

"Ah, I have seen pills labelled like that! Most of my pills were assessed as top and a fair few as peak." Yaan nodded.

"As expected, it's an impressive place…" Rui murmured, then turned back towards Yaan and went on.

"These same grades are used for countless things, including ranking your performance in a trial. 'Entry Grade' is the lowest, bordering on failing. For most people taking a trial suitable for their level of strength, they'll score 'Low Grade', 'Mid Grade' or 'High Grade'."

"I see…Yaan nodded slowly. "Then I guess they'll judge my performance based on how I escape the illusion? Ah, or maybe it's judged according to how quickly I manage to leave?! If that's the case, I've definitely failed."

"It will be a combination of factors for all grades from Entry through to Top. A for Peak, Pinnacle, Perfect and Apex…these are basically unattainable unless the participant achieves success with the most crazy, absurd, and impressive method available. Especially in a trial like this. If you're aiming for peak, the time won't matter one bit."

"Peak?" Yaan shook his head seriously. "If I'm going to do this, I want Apex Grade! I remember the old trial spirit mentioning that I need to 'complete the trial perfectly' for the best chance of successfully stepping onto the psyche path. I guess he was referring to this 'Perfect Grade' but since 'Apex' is above this, then my chances should become even better."

"Whilst that's true, just think about the naming sense rationally…" Rui shook her head. "Apex is a grade beyond perfect. Essentially, it is 'practically unattainable'. You would need to do something beyond that which is considered a perfect completion of the trial. Do you really believe that you're so amazing? Don't forget that you were dragged up to this 9th level abode by force, you didn't reach it yourself…you're participating in a trial intended for people much stronger than you."

"Haha." Yaan chuckled. "But this is a trial relating to the mind, and I seem to have brought almost my entire mind into the illusion, that should give me an advantage, right? Ah, what was this trial called again…right, the 'true-false illusion formation trial'." Yaan nodded as he recalled the term that was only mentioned once whilst he was half dead at the time.

Rui suddenly stopped walking. It was only after Yaan looked back questioningly, that she elegantly drifted her soul body, landing by his side without saying a word.

She remained silent, so did Yaan.

'True-false illusion formation…' Rui had never heard of this formation before, but she was able to estimate, very roughly, it's immense power.

The name of this trial made her finally join together some connections in her head, letting her gain a deeper understanding of this illusory world.

'Since it's like this, I have enough confidence that this should be possible. I just need to keep directing him towards that solution…'

Rui glanced down at Yaan, remaining silent as they walked close together, side by side, towards Heavenly Path Mountain.