บท 95: True-False Illusion Formation
Yaan suddenly sat up, gasping for breath, dripping with sweat from every pore of his skin. He looked at the old man and swallowed painfully. He opened his mouth, but his breathing was still too laboured to speak. Luckily, it was fairly obvious what he wanted to ask.
"Your answer satisfied me, so, I'll help you to dive even deeper into this near-inevitable death that you seem to be seeking. Oh, and those three pills were just stimulants, to help you stay awake. The astral spirits were half a second away from taking over your mind, but with this, you should be able to endure for some time."
Yaan nodded, but he continued gasping, struggling to breath. His heart had never raced this fast in his life!
The old spirit merely gave him a medicine to forcefully keep him awake. This wasn't a solution, but a short term bandage.
Yaan dazedly stood up, still grimacing whilst fighting against his own mind.
"Where…?" This one hoarse word was all he could barely muster.
"The 9th level pagoda."
When Yaan look surprised, the old man ignored him and continued to cast spells on his body, assumedly to help keep him alive.
"The 9th pagoda shields those within from the Spiritual Pressure outside. Also, know that you're here as an exception. Unlike the other 1st through 6th pagodas, certain conditions must be met to enter the 7th through 9th. Especially the 9th, this temple is...well, you'll understand soon enough."
"Hey…" Yaan half growled out as he steadied his breathing, slouching and trudging forwards. The old man glanced back at him expressionlessly.
"Too much for you already?"
"No, it's not enough, not nearly enough! I can't afford to fail this time!"
The old man stared at Yaan in surprise for a moment. His eyes flashed with white light, causing his gaze to brighten substantially.
"How does a kid like you have enough mental fortitude to resist all of this? It just hit me, I'm only helping you stay awake and stay alive, nothing else…so how come your sanity hasn't fallen further than just this?"
The pain alone was enough to affect his sound mind, but Yaan had also consumed the Calamity of Insanity Pill, a neurotoxic poison that led to a deep state of insanity. He used this pill to temper his mind, and truthfully, it really was distorting his mental clarity to a fairly extreme degree right now. However…
"Going through insanity is part of a fiend's upbringing…are you going to help me properly or not?!" Yaan, was acting very aggressive, which was out of character for him. The old man knew this and he didn't seem to care, and he even smiled. He then hit Yaan with the full force of the 'help' that he so desperately wanted.
Whoosh…
"There are three trial halls in the 9th pagoda. In the first hall, there are four formations. Here's the first formation, I'll apply 20% power for you." With a strange smile, the old man waved his hand.
Bang!
Yaan groaned as his body was instantly forced into the ground, leaving him completely unable to stand.
"That's the gravity. Any good? Well, let's add the Spiritual Pressure formation…I think 20% again."
Wam!
Yaan's body actually shrank ever so slightly as the surrounding Spiritual Pressure forced all of his cells inwards. However, despite the agony and his inability to move, Yaan yelled out:
"Not enough!"
"Oh, more you say?" The old man nodded. "Then how about the demonic soul formation?"
Yaan was crushed by an even more obscure force from above. He forcefully turned his head, looking up and glaring back at the demonic soul that was trying to pressure him.
Honestly...what a joke. After his meeting with the 3rd Celestial Demon General and that overwhelmingly powerful woman, how could a mere demon soul trapped in a formation bother him?
Enraged by his obstinance, the demon howled out, letting loose its full Soul Force in a savage attack towards Yaan. Yaan slumped down for a moment, but after this moment passed by, he forced himself to look back up.
And Yaan, whilst clearly impressed by this pagoda, was now feeling annoyed.
There was no longer any path for retreat. If he wanted to survive this ordeal, then the only way on was forwards…and the only way forwards, was to step onto the path of psyche cultivation!
"Old man! You said you'd help, so help! Stop assaulting my soul and body for no reason, I need more mental pressure! Maybe I should just…"
Showing a vicious expression, Yaan groaned painfully as he reached into his spatial ring, then pulled out a 2-Star Astral Crystal. He slammed the crystal onto his forehead, and immediately, a monstrous 2-Star Astral Spirit was released. The demonic looking shadow let out a jarring roar, then stormed directly into Yaan's head.
This was not the right way to subdue astral spirits. He was giving these parasitic things free access to his mind! However, Yaan grit his teeth and forcefully resisted their attempts to take over his mind.
After a few seconds…
"Still not enough! Old man, attack my mind! Use your most mentally torturous move possible!"
He needed more. He needed something strong enough that he could break past that threshold and develop a slither of psyche power!
It seemed that finally, the old spirit had grown tired of Yaan's aggressive attitude. He decided that he would fulfil this kid's wishes…
A blue light appeared, illuminated the ceiling, ground and walls. Yaan could immediately feel a pressing sensation within his head, as if his very ability to think was being crushed.
But this was only just beginning.
As the formations continued to build up, Yaan painfully forced himself to sit up, then crawled towards the centre of the hall, gasping every time he moved one of his four limbs.
"Good, good!" Yaan laughed crazily through the pain, which became exponentially more excruciating as he closer approached the central rune. He knew that previously, the old spirit was merely testing his ability to endure those other formations. Only this mental targeting formation could truly help him right now.
The old man removed the other three pressuring formations, leaving only the formation which targeted his mind. Even so, just this one formation was multiple times more difficult to resist compared to the other three combined!
Not only was the old man steadily ramping up the intensity of the True-False Illusion Formation, which caused the pressure on Yaan's mind to grow beyond his pain tolerance, but this pain only grew worse and worse as Yaan approached the central rune.
"Stop. Enter that rune, and you will enter the actual True-False Illusion. Right now, the formation is only at 15% activation, but you're hardly able to resist…once the intensity surpasses 25%, you will be forced to rely entirely on your mind to resist the pressure."
Yaan stared at the old man for a moment, before turning away as continued to crawl into the circle. He paused just before reaching the edge, making the old man believe that he'd finally come to his senses.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. Yaan reached into his spatial bag and swallowed multiple medicines. He wouldn't be able to focus on anything else once he entered the rune, so his body needed to be in a state where it could heal itself without external assistance.
After swallowing those medicines, Yaan glanced at the old man and asked a final question.
"Can this formation trigger the initiation into the psyche path of cultivation? If it can, then does it need supplements, or a certain intensity?"
"Sigh…" The old man slowly shook his head, as if reminiscing on the difficulty of the challenge that Yaan had embarked upon. He recalled how so many had failed before him, giving him very little hope for Yaan's success.
"For you, this illusion formation is your greatest hope…but entering when you're under the influence of the Calamity of Insanity Pill, as well as those astral spirits…"
"What intensity will I need to ensure success?" Yaan asked as he took the final step into the rune, causing his consciousness to blur heavily as illusions bore down upon him. The old man remained silent for a long while, before finally looking at Yaan deeply.
"25% activation will provide reasonable odds, 50% activation will give you good odds."
"Define good…" Yaan stared at the old man, trying to ignore his distorting surroundings as the room rapidly faded away from his vision.
"Perhaps a 10% chance of success? That's assuming that you survive, keep your sanity and pass the trial though."
"What about 100%? That should be the full illusion, the proper trial, right?" Yaan asked. It seemed that for a brief moment, he had calmed down, and was able to think about what he was about to do clearly.
"Indeed, the full activation is difficult, but maybe that is truly what you need…fine then. But just so you know, the full activation of the formation will trigger the complete True-False Illusion World trial. If you truly wish to do this properly, then you should aim to complete the trial perfectly. There are different gradings for your completion of the trial, but there's no point explaining this, since you'll forget everything as soon as you enter. If you are able to remember any of these details, then you are already walking along the path towards perfection."
Seeing that Yaan was remaining silent now, the old man continued.
"But remember this…all things in this inheritance were placed by master, who was obsessed with physical strength and his own internal ability. It was only a casual musing that I overheard by chance, but master once pondered over the possibility that all paths can eventually converge back into body tempering…"
The old man sighed, shook his head, then said:
"So in the end, the True-False Illusion will be properly activated once again…I hope that you will emerge neither insane nor dead."
With that, everything finally went dark for Yaan. He forced himself to remain standing on his feet as he looked around. However, the longer he looked around for, the more he forgot about his current situation…
Within a few seconds, everything around Yaan had vanished, and he could no longer remember his life since stepping onto the path of cultivation.
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