Chapter 89: The Crescent Moon Illusion Realm Does Not Welcome You

Something was wrong.

Lin Hao stared at the barren stretch before him, his expression growing grave. After a moment of thought, he carefully stepped toward the bridge.

One step. Another...

The instant one foot touched the bridge deck, the daylight abruptly dimmed.

The scene around him changed in an instant. The stone span before him was no longer a stone bridge, but an exquisitely crafted ancient crossing. The pitch-black Crescent Peak in the distance was now lined with endless trees and elegant pavilions, terraces, and towers. The broad river beneath his feet had become utterly calm, with many lanterns drifting quietly upon its surface. Even the mountains and woods behind him seemed to have been remade entirely, transforming into an immense town.

Before long, endless silhouettes appeared around Lin Hao. The moment they emerged, they turned from illusory to solid. From the town, the buildings, the bridge, and the riverbanks, voices gradually rose, quickly swelling into a scene of bustling revelry.

"What... is this place?" Lin Hao looked at everything unfolding around him, feeling the people on the bridge brushing past him over and over. His eyes were full of shock. The desolate mountain wilderness that had been Crescent Peak only moments ago had, in the blink of an eye, become a brilliantly lit city of ten thousand homes.

"Hey, brother, make way!"

Suddenly, a man's voice came from behind him. Lin Hao turned and saw a man pushing a wooden wheelbarrow loaded with several jars of wine, apparently taking them somewhere.

At that moment, the entire world seemed to freeze. Whether it was the pedestrians on the bridge, those admiring lanterns along both banks, or even the people in town, every single gaze turned toward him. It was as if they were waiting for him to make some sort of decision.

Lin Hao looked around at the eerie scene, and a chill of terror suddenly rose along his spine. His lips parted slightly, but no words came out. Just as he was about to lift his foot, a fierce sense of mortal danger exploded in his heart.

And the man before him actually revealed a strange smile.

"Can't you go around? Smiling, smiling at your damn grandmother's house! Do you know who I am? Get lost, now!"

A youth in fine clothing suddenly rushed out, charging straight to the man's side and shouting at him. Under the youth's rebuke, the man seemed to shrink with fear, hurriedly answering in a timid voice before pushing his cart away by another route.

"Hu..."

Lin Hao looked at the person before him, joy flashing in his eyes. It was Wang Hu. Just as he was about to say something, Wang Hu clamped a hand over his mouth. At the same moment, a bone-chilling coldness descended upon the place.

"This..."

Feeling the countless eyes around him fixed upon his own, Lin Hao could not help but feel his scalp go numb. Then Wang Hu leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Come with me."

Come with me...

Those words seemed to possess some power that pierced the soul, echoing again and again in Lin Hao's mind. Wang Hu then seemed about to lead him away from the bridge, but at that very moment, a sudden change occurred.

"You're not Huzi!"

Lin Hao had only just lifted his foot halfway when the fierce sense of life and death peril surged forth once more. Coldness filled his eyes as a spiritual sword instantly took shape in his hand. As extreme frost converged, a flash of white light burst from within him, and the black-clad woman stood there with the Heaven-Execution Sword in hand, exuding a boundless aura of ferocity.

"Haozi, what are you talking about? If I'm not Wang Hu, then who is? Stop wasting time. This place is strange. Come with me quickly!" The person who looked like Wang Hu stared at Lin Hao in confusion, darting his eyes around nervously as he spoke in a low voice.

"This..."

Looking at Wang Hu before him, Lin Hao suddenly became uncertain. His bearing and tone were both identical to Huzi's. Though Huzi usually seemed a bit rough and simple-minded, when it came to serious matters, he was indeed just like this.

"Don't think anymore. Come with me now, or both of us will die here in a moment!" Seeing Lin Hao hesitate, Wang Hu hurriedly pulled at him and whispered urgently, his expression equally anxious.

"Can he be trusted?" Lin Hao ignored Wang Hu and looked at the black-clad woman beside him, asking calmly.

After a slight pause, the black-clad woman replied, "It resembles an illusion, but it is not an illusion. This person is real, and yet not real."

"What do you mean?" Lin Hao was beginning to get a headache. Just as he asked, the black-clad woman's Heaven-Execution Sword suddenly swept out and struck Wang Hu with a single slash.

A flash.

With a crisp muffled sound from within Wang Hu's body, his entire being immediately shattered into faint points of light and dispersed. At the same time, the whole place became even more bizarre.

After Wang Hu dissipated into endless motes of light, the crowd vanished all at once. The bustling town of the previous moment became, in the next second, like a dead settlement, instantly shrouded in boundless gloom. The warm glow of the countless lanterns turned entirely a ghostly green, and one soul after another emerged from the town, drifting aimlessly across the wooden bridge. Crescent Peak itself abruptly became a sinister, dark, and ghostly mountain of wandering spirits.

Lin Hao looked coldly at the scene around him, spiritual energy faintly surging around his body as a frost-laden sword of spirit energy took form in his hand. In his heart, he remained on guard.

The black-clad woman, meanwhile, studied the wooden bridge beneath their feet and the distant Crescent Peak with grave attention, thinking rapidly.

"Master, though this place shows illusion, it is not merely illusion. It seems Crescent Peak contains a highly powerful divine sense that wants to force us inside!" The black-clad woman suddenly looked at Lin Hao and said respectfully, "This stone bridge exists to guard the place. If I am not mistaken, the mortal peril you felt came from that powerful divine sense within Crescent Peak, meant to interfere with you.

"And the illusions here are also being projected through this stone bridge for the purpose of stopping anyone from entering and breaking the seal. From what I can sense, the seal here has already been stirred not long ago. If we go in again, I'm afraid..."

When she finished, she stood very respectfully before Lin Hao and said no more.

"Heaven-Execution." Lin Hao glanced thoughtfully at the woman. As his calm voice fell, a silver blade filled with strange patterns appeared in his hand. A vicious aura spread from it. Lin Hao gave a cold laugh and slashed at the black-clad woman beside him.

Under that strike, the black-clad woman exploded into endless points of light, and together with the entire eerie town, vanished instantly. In a blink, the place returned to its original appearance.

"So even the connection between Heaven-Execution and me can be obscured..."

Lin Hao looked at the ancient stone bridge before him, his expression solemn. While he had been on guard earlier, he had failed to notice that the bridge contained an extremely concealed power. The instant his foot stepped onto it, that force had entered his body. Had he not finally tried to summon Heaven-Execution, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

"The strange force in the bridge is obstructing my advance. The hallucination it creates is something my current cultivation cannot distinguish. But if Huzi vanished here, then it must be related to whatever lies inside... It should not be without cause..."

Light flickered in Lin Hao's eyes as he pondered. After some hesitation, he withdrew the foot that had stepped onto the bridge and cupped his hands in a respectful bow toward Crescent Peak.

"If this place does not welcome me, then I shall take my leave. However, there is one thing I ask of you: please deliver it to my old friend Wang Hu. Lin Hao is grateful."

With that, spiritual energy surged around him, and he infused into a jade slip the memory of the day Chen Ping had transformed into his likeness. He placed it gently on the bridge.

A flash of white light appeared on the bridge, and the jade slip he had just set down vanished in an instant. After bowing once more, Lin Hao departed directly.

With his current cultivation, he could not even reach the other party's doorstep. Rather than clinging on like a shameless rogue, it would be better to leave the jade slip and go. When his cultivation grew strong in the future, he could return and investigate further. As for whether Wang Hu had fallen victim to something here, Lin Hao truly had no certainty.

Zhang Tuo's cultivation had only reached the sixth level of Qi Condensation, so the two of them should not have differed by much. But with sixth-level Qi Condensation facing Chen Ping at the ninth level, even if the two were extraordinarily resourceful, they could not possibly have won.

"If I were only stronger right now..."

Lin Hao looked once at Crescent Peak, a trace of unwillingness flashing in his eyes. With a quiet sigh, he rode his sword into the distance.

Not long after Lin Hao left, faint light flickered over the stone bridge, and an aged figure appeared standing there. His eyes seemed to contain endless vicissitudes as he gazed in the direction Lin Hao had gone, let out a long sigh, and vanished once more.

At that moment, somewhere in the forest, a white-robed figure as gentle and refined as jade appeared. Looking in the direction Lin Hao had left, he fell into thought. Then his body flashed, and he flew straight toward the distance.

If Lin Hao had been here, he would have recognized this man without question. He was none other than Chen Ping, the very same person Lin Hao had slain not long ago. Yet at this moment, Chen Ping was still at the realm of complete Qi Condensation, and the density of his spiritual energy seemed even stronger than before.

On the way back, Lin Hao's mood was faintly irritable because of the stone bridge. His face remained dark as he kept thinking about ways to improve his cultivation.

After roughly a day of flight, Heaven-Execution suddenly emerged from within him. It stared gravely toward the horizon ahead. Not long after, a figure in an extremely sorry state appeared in their sight.

Looking carefully, it was a woman dressed in black, flying toward Lin Hao in great panic. Her cultivation was actually at the eighth level of Qi Condensation.

And behind the woman, an elderly figure suddenly appeared, his body radiating an aura vast as the sea, clearly pursuing her. Lin Hao paid it no mind and was about to fly to the other side when the woman suddenly shouted, "Senior Brother, save me!"

At her words, Lin Hao raised an eyebrow, gave her a cold glance, and continued flying away. He did not know the details of their conflict and did not want to be drawn into it.

Meeting Lin Hao's icy gaze, the woman felt a chill in her heart and despair in her eyes. Just as she was about to turn and hurl out a spell to block him, the old man had already closed in, smashing a fist heavily into her back and severely wounding her.

"Stop right there!" The old man cast a disdainful glance at the woman, then barked at Lin Hao.

"What is it?" Lin Hao was already in a foul mood, and being shouted at by the old man only made him more displeased. He looked at the elder with a dark face and spoke coldly.

"This woman just called you senior brother. How will you prove that you have nothing to do with her?" The old man stared hard at Lin Hao, a fierce light in his eyes, and said each word slowly and deliberately.

"I don't know this person." Lin Hao raised an eyebrow, and deep in his eyes flashed a trace of impatience. He spoke lightly.

With that, he was about to leave, but the old man's eyes flared with ferocity. He suddenly blocked Lin Hao's path and said coldly, "Did I tell you to leave? You, a mere seventh-level Qi Condensation cultivator, still dare to act presumptuously before this old man!"

"Kneel!"

The old man's aura exploded outward and pressed fiercely down on Lin Hao.

What happened next, however, made the old man's pupils contract. The young man before him, who seemed to be only at the seventh level of Qi Condensation, showed not the slightest discomfort under his complete Qi Condensation cultivation. On the contrary, there was even mockery in his eyes.

"Kneel?"

Just as the old man was about to unleash a spell, Lin Hao suddenly grinned. With a wave of his hand, a long staff of spiritual energy condensed into being. His body flashed, and he swung the staff at the old man.

"Seeking death!"

The old man's eyes filled with shock and rage. With a wave of his hand, an extremely long execution blade appeared and violently collided with Lin Hao's incoming staff of spiritual energy.

A deafening boom rang out.

Both figures were thrown back several dozen steps.

"Brat, you have some skill. What a pity..." Once the old man steadied himself, greed glittered in his eyes, and his expression was full of savage delight. Clearly, he already regarded Lin Hao as fish on the chopping block, free for the taking.

"Heh..."

Lin Hao ignored the old man's words. Vicious light flashed in his eyes as blood qi surged wildly around him. With a faint crimson aura spreading outward, he flicked his staff and charged at the old man once more.

"Die!"

Killing intent flashed in the old man's eyes. The massive execution blade suddenly erupted with blinding radiance and came down in a single slash against the staff Lin Hao had swung.

Another thunderous explosion.

Lin Hao's staff shattered in his hand, forming a storm that instantly separated the two. After taking that blow from Lin Hao, the old man's tiger's mouth split open, and blood streamed out.

"Heaven-Execution!"

Two exchanges, and neither had defeated the other. Lin Hao was already becoming extremely impatient. Ferocity spilled from his eyes as another strange staff appeared in his hand. Taking one step forward, boundless spiritual energy from heaven and earth poured into his body at once. Blood qi roared around him, and he swung the staff directly at the old man.

"What..."

Looking at the fierce aura surrounding Lin Hao, the old man's pupils shrank violently, his face full of terror. He hurriedly raised the execution blade in his hand once more to block.

"Shatter!"

With that single word, Heaven-Execution in Lin Hao's hand crashed down upon the blade. A boom far more violent than before erupted, and the execution blade in the old man's hand shattered instantly.

"Tch..."

Lin Hao flung Heaven-Execution aside and, with a wave of his hand, another staff of spiritual energy condensed again. The physical strength of his eighth-level Qi Condensation body surged as he swung down with overwhelming force.

"Can't stop it!"

The old man's pupils shrank violently. Looking at the staff of heaven-shaking power, he felt a tremendous force strike his chest, and his body was sent flying backward.

"Why did I, perfectly well, go and provoke this madman..."

Feeling his blood and qi churning and his spiritual energy thrown into disarray, the old man's eyes were filled with hatred, and his heart was full of remorse. Yet at that very moment, under Lin Hao's second blow, the old man cried out miserably and was sent flying once more.

With a dull thud, he coughed up a mouthful of blood and was hurled into the distance.