🔥 Illusion 1: Huo Shan – The Desert of Abandonment
He stood alone beneath a boiling sun.
No sky. Just endless desert, dunes like waves stretching to forever. His shirt clung to him in sweat-soaked folds, and his hair was plastered to his neck.
"Where am I?" he muttered, licking his lips. They were cracked and bleeding.
He walked. And walked.
Sand hissed between his toes. No spiritual energy answered his call. His Qi was like a drained pond useless. And his storage pouch was empty.
He began to hallucinate.
First came the mirages: a steaming pot of hot pot with spiritual pork belly. He leapt at it — only for it to vanish into ash.
"Come on, that's just cruel!"
Then came the sweet water pool.
He shoved his face into it and inhaled pure fire.
"AHHH! My tongue!"
But it wasn't the illusions that made his spine cold. It was the shadow.
At first it walked behind him — footsteps in sync.
Then it whispered.
"你被遗弃了.""You were left behind."
He turned.
A twisted creature, draped in rotting prayer flags and with a skull for a face, dragged a rusted blade behind it.
"Stop… I'm not scared of you!" he shouted.
He punched. Nothing happened. His Qi was sealed. His fists were soft as cloth.
It laughed — the sound of knives tapping teeth.
He ran.
"I swear I'll never steal Brother Xuanye's wine again! JUST STOP!"
The thing chased him for miles. Always just behind. Always whispering.
"Alone. Forgotten. Weak."
His heart raced. His eyes watered from heat and fear.
And deep in his chest, the fear wasn't the heat or the demon. It was that no one was coming.
That maybe… this wasn't a dream.
🔥 Illusion 2: Feng Ruo – The Flame of Isolation
Feng Ruo stood in the outer courtyard of Qingling Academy, surrounded by familiar faces.
Except no one came close.
Disciples avoided her. Elders spoke in hushed tones. Even her robes smoldered — barely contained fire licking at her sleeves.
Then she saw him — Xiao Yuan, her former senior brother. Her heart skipped.
She ran to him. "Brother Yuan!"
He turned. Cold eyes.
"You're dangerous."
She stopped. "No, I—I've been practicing my control—!"
He raised his palm, and behind him stood bodies.
Charred, blackened corpses. One of them wore her sect's healer robes.
"I… I didn't mean to—!"
The flame around her rose.
She tried to douse it. But it grew — wild, blue-black, unnatural.
Soul-Scorching Flame — Inner Lotus Collapse.
It devoured the world around her.
Her feet melted into scorched earth. Her hands — fireblades she couldn't release.
She screamed, "SOMEONE HELP ME!"
But no one came.
Then came the voice:
"你注定孤独.""You were born to burn alone."
She saw herself in a mirror — flame consuming her face, her eyes, even her memories.
A thousand disciples stood around her.
No one moved.
She knelt, crying.
Alone.
The red mist pulsed again.
Outside the dream, Feng Ruo's lips trembled. Huo Shan's brow was soaked in sweat.
But the red threads remained—tightening.
Their blood, slowly, still flowed.
And above them…
The golden eye blinked again.
It was amused.
To be continued...