Chapter 288: Reality? Illusion?
Translator: Stardu5t Editor: Kurisu
Facing the overwhelming shower of incoming rocks, Song Shuhang’s only option was to bring the ❮Virtuous Man’s Ten Thousand Mile Walk❯ to its peak and retreat as fast as he could, dodging the rain of rocks.
‘I can’t drag it any longer.’ Song Shuhang looked at Gao Moumou, Tubo, and Yayi who were being tied up.
I need to quickly deal with this troop of gorillas. If I drag it any longer, I cannot guarantee the safety of my roommates anymore in the event the situation worsens.
When he thought of that, he clenched his teeth and swiftly drew the character 雷 on his right palm.
At this time, the gorilla that charged right in front roared and pounced at Song Shuhang; what it was holding in its hand was actually a long saber. It was a mystery where these gorillas had been hiding all the weapons—they simply suddenly brought them out one by one.
‘It’s a saber.’ Song Shuhang grabbed the right opportunity, then his figure flashed and slammed into the gorilla.
Thereafter, he used one hand to grab the gorilla’s wrist, seizing the long saber in its hand. Then, he shouted lightly, "Lightning Palm!"
The 雷 rune on his palm activated.
In the midst of the crackling lightning sounds, a ball of lightning appeared on his right palm, which Song Shuhang used to slap the gorilla’s chest as hard as he could!
"Urghhhhhh!" the gorilla let out a cry out of extreme pain—there was a huge hole in its chest, and fresh blood splattered out of its mouth as it flew upon impact.
After it landed on the ground, the gorilla frantically twitched before dying.
Upon seeing this, the rest of the gorillas started bellowing and pouncing violently towards Song Shuhang.
"Flaming Saber!" Song Shuhang flipped the wrist holding the saber, activating the ancient bronze ring’s ‘Flaming Saber’ skill.
"Bang!"
Flames burned violently on the long saber; Song Shuhang dragged the flaming saber and executed the footwork for the ❮Virtuous Man’s Ten Thousand Mile Walk❯, charging towards the troop of gorillas.
His speed was so fast it looked as though he flickered and went right up to the nine gorillas who were right in front.
The Flaming Saber’s light left behind a Z-shaped afterimage.
When the flames on the saber went out, the second of the nine gorillas that had charged toward him fell to the ground; it followed in the footsteps of the first one, earning a one-way ticket to the underworld.
The remaining gorillas immediately stopped moving and stared at Song Shuhang in fear.
Song Shuhang took this opportunity to unleash a small trick related to mental energy, the ‘spiritual pressure’. He coldly stared at the troop of gorillas, trying to intimidate them.
The surviving gorillas immediately cried in a strange manner, fleeing in all directions.
Song Shuhang secretly heaved a sigh of relief. He did not pursue and attack the fleeing gorillas. He wasn’t bent on killing them all, so it was a good thing that they decided to run.
He grabbed the saber the other way round and walked towards his roommates—he was going to cut the ropes tied around their bodies and wake them up.
But after taking two steps, the long saber in his hand suddenly burst into flames.
Thereafter, the long saber suddenly turned into particles of light, akin to sand, before scattering all over the floor.
Song Shuhang stared blankly and immediately thought of what Gao Moumou said to him in the plane.
The missing passengers on the plane also burst into flames, transformed into particles of light and then disappeared! Just like the saber.
Song Shuhang immediately turned his head around and looked at those gorillas he killed.
Indeed… after their death, the gorilla that took his Lightning Palm, as well as the gorilla that was slashed by his Flaming Saber, burst into flames before transforming into particles of light and vanishing.
‘What’s happening?’ Song Shuhang furrowed his brows.
These gorillas felt extremely real, but the scene after their death gave people a sense that it could be illusory.
It was extremely illusory, yet extremely real!
‘Illusory reality?’ Song Shuhang recalled Venerable White’s ‘desert’.
Could it be that the mysterious island I’m currently at is actually a place created by an ‘illusory reality’?
Don’t tell me that people who die within the ‘illusory reality’ transform into dots of light and disappear?
Song Shuhang did not see ‘himself’ getting repeatedly killed by the assassin within Venerable White’s ‘new illusory reality’. Hence, he did not know what the characters who died in an illusory reality would become.
Or else, he definitely would not have associated the scene before his eyes with an ‘illusory reality’.
It doesn’t seem right, the mysterious island is not as simple as just an ‘illusory reality’. True Monarch Ancient Lake Temple and Senior Northern River did bring back some treasures with them. Even though they were some low-level treasures, the mysterious island is definitely not as simple as an ‘illusion’ , Song Shuhang thought to himself.
Besides, regardless of whether or not it was an ‘illusory reality’, it could not be taken lightly—because if one were to die in the illusory reality, they would really end up dead.
Because it was an illusion, but also a reality!
After thinking this much, Song Shuhang walked ahead, took out his backpack and used the treasured saber Broken Tyrant to cut the ropes around Gao Moumou, Tubo, and Yayi.
Gao Moumou and the company were injured, but luckily, those injuries did not pose any threat to their lives.
Song Shuhang touched the ancient ring and used his mental energy to activate the healing spell on it.
Of the functions the ancient bronze ring boasted, the Second Stage Flaming Saber technique could be activated three times a day, and the healing spell eight times a day—though it could only be used on a single person at a time, and would only display effects of the Second Stage. As for the spirit gathering formation, its functions were passive, and thus constantly in effect.
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After Gao Moumou and the company had the healing spell used on them, the three of them woke up very quickly.
"Eh? Shuhang? Where is this place?" Gao Moumou forcefully rubbed his temples; he felt as though his mind was like sticky paste.
"We’re at the floating island that we saw from the plane," answered Song Shuhang.
At the same time, he couldn’t help but think, If this is the mysterious island, then, when we leave, I’ll probably lose my memories right?
Eh, wait a minute!
The seniors who left the mysterious island mentioned before... that the cultivators that left the island sealed their memories on own initiative.
In that case… for ordinary human beings, they do not have qi and blood, true qi, and spiritual energy—how would they seal their own memories, then?
Song Shuhang rubbed his temples.
Forget it, let’s talk about this later... right now, the most important thing is to think of a way to leave the mysterious island.
As for how they were gonna leave the mysterious island, he immediately thought of the bird’s-eye view of the mysterious island he saw in his dream.
A grassland, a forest, a crescent moon-like lake, as well as that enormous ancient city.
We should go to the ‘ancient city’ first, perhaps we can get a clue with regards to how we can leave the mysterious island there.
We can’t stay in the wilderness for too long—on this island, there are high-level monster beasts that could even pursue and kill a Fifth Stage Golden Core Spiritual Emperor.
"The floating island…?" Gao Moumou forced a laugh. "Am I dreaming?"
Song Shuhang said, "I wish I was dreaming too."
"What about the rest of the people?" Tubo looked around and realized there were only the four of them here.
"My guess is that we probably got separated. At that time, we were in the control cabin and the rest of them were behind. Hence, that is why we stayed together," answered Song Shuhang.
Yayi, who was in Gao Moumou’s arms, asked, "What should we do next?"
"Let’s look for the other passengers first, like our classmate Lu Fei and her sister, not forgetting Zhuge Yue and Zhuge Zhongyang as well as Joseph—they were all in the passenger compartment of the plane. Perhaps they are currently together with the rest of the passengers," said Song Shuhang after pondering.
On this mysterious island that was full of various dangers, Song Shuhang’s strength alone seemed very small. He hoped that he could safely bring his friends to the ancient city…
The other passengers too—as long as nobody harbored any ill intentions or sought to stir trouble, Song Shuhang naturally would also take them along to the ancient city.
"That’s true, we gotta find our classmate Lu Fei and the rest first." Gao Moumou wanted to push up his glasses out of habit, but his glasses had already been lost during the whole plane accident.
Gao Moumou could only rub his nose. "Can the plane wreckage be seen? If it crashed, we should be able to see thick smoke or something, right?"
"Let’s look for a highly elevated place and look down from above. Hopefully, we can successfully find them without a hitch," said Song Shuhang.
He was rather worried—danger lurked in every corner of the mysterious island. Apart from that, in times of extreme despair, some people who were psychologically twisted could also become a significant source of crisis.
Hopefully, none of them would turn out to be one of those psychologically twisted people and give birth to 18+ rated scenes!
Song Shuhang’s worries were definitely unnecessary... because the passengers who were alive were united as one in order to deal with a troop of gorillas who knew how to do calisthenics...
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Meanwhile, in the Nine Provinces Number One Group.
‘True Monarch Ancient Lake Temple’, who reduced his frequency of going online recently due to the memory loss, appeared. "Fellow Daoist Northern River, is the company that manufactures gym equipment under you still in operation? The equipment used by the disciples in my daoist temple to train is so worn out, it needs to be replaced soon…"
Changing with times, as well as science and technology advancements, cultivators were also introduced to the invention of gym equipment, especially for disciples in First Stage Realm to train their body—the results were pretty decent.
Northern River’s Loose Cultivator answered, "I did not invest in any gym equipment manufacturing company… One of my subordinates had a collaboration with a gym equipment manufacturing company, and then placed an order with them for custom-made high-intensity gym equipment. But three to four years later, that manufacturing company decided to venture into another industry and invested in real estate; their luck was bad and they had already gone bankrupt after making a lot of losses."
True Monarch Ancient Lake Temple: "…"
"Wait for True Monarch Yellow Mountain to go online, I remember he has a lot of manufacturing assets for equipment-related products under him," answered Northern River’s Loose Cultivator.
"Alright then, guess I have no other choice. If it’s really not possible, I will buy a gym equipment manufacturing company then 😊." True Monarch Ancient Lake Temple smiled.
Just as both seniors were chatting, Venerable White went online.
"Fellow Daoist Ancient Lake Temple, Fellow Daoist Northern River, it's good that both of you are online. I have a favor to ask from you guys 😊."
Northern River’s Loose Cultivator said, "What’s up, Senior White? Feel free to tell us."
Venerable White: "I need the both of you to help me consolidate all the information pertaining to the ‘mysterious island’, and also include your personal conjectures and theories!"
True Monarch Ancient Lake Temple asked out of curiosity, "Venerable White, you’re interested in the mysterious island?"
"Yeah, I have always been interested in it," Venerable White replied. "Besides, Song Shuhang took a plane earlier, and went straight into the mysterious island… I must find out and process the information with regards to the mysterious island. I need to see if I’m able to get him out safely."
Little friend Shuhang had entered the mysterious island?!
He is still as adventurous as before! Quite a number of seniors in the chat group immediately thought.