Chapter 5004

The Gadfly barely managed to block two spears, but a third pierced his shoulder, staining his armor red with blood.

“Kai!” Hu Mazi shouted, “This formation—”

“A mere trifle,” Kai sneered, and the Dragon Slaying Sword let out a clear, echoing dragon’s roar.

He raised the sword toward the sky, and nine golden sword shadows appeared around him. “Break the formation!”

The nine sword lights shot toward a specific node in the triangular light array like falling meteors.

All three gray-robed old men groaned simultaneously, and a small crack formed in the array.

Kai’s eyes lit up, and he unleashed a second strike. “Cut!”

The Dragon Slaying Sword transformed into a massive blade, nearly a hundred feet long, and came crashing down. The entire formation trembled violently.

The lead elder spat out blood and cried out in disbelief, “How did he find the core of the formation?”

“Because you’re too stupid,” Kai replied coldly, suddenly appearing above their heads.

“Brother, catch!” the Gadfly shouted, throwing a bronze mirror to Kai.

It was the same bronze mirror from his mansion, once used to observe the scenes in purgatory.

Kai caught the mirror and directed it toward the three elders.

The surface reflected their panicked expressions as he whispered, “Now, it’s my turn.”

“Illusion of the Universe!”

The bronze mirror erupted in a brilliant white light, forcing the three old men to instinctively shut their eyes.

When they opened them again, the battlefield had vanished, replaced by a thick, endless fog.

“An illusion?” the elder on the left sneered. “Just a simple illusion—” But before he could finish, countless pale arms emerged from the mist, dragging him into the abyss. His screams echoed as the remaining two watched in horror.

In reality, the three gray-robed elders suddenly froze, their faces contorting with expressions of terror, bliss, and agony all at once.

Their staffs slipped from their hands, and the light screen of the formation shattered like broken glass.
“No… don’t come any closer!”

One of the old men suddenly dropped to his knees, clutching his head and flailing at the air. “I didn’t kill Senior Brother! Master forced me!”

Another stroked the empty space in front of him lovingly, muttering, “Junior Sister… you finally agreed to see me…” Then his face twisted in agony. “What? You’re pregnant with Senior Brother’s child?”

The oldest of them was the most disturbing. He tore open his robe, revealing a chest covered in dense curse runes, then knelt and kowtowed repeatedly. “Master, spare me! I’ll never dare to study forbidden techniques again!”

The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

The soldiers of Feihu City looked on in horror as the formation masters they had depended on babbled madly, some even turning to self-harm.

Jie Zhong’s face turned pale, and his legs trembled uncontrollably.

“You… what did you do to them?”

His voice quivered.

Kai calmly put away the bronze mirror and replied, “I simply made them face the truths they fear most.” He turned to Hu Mazi. “Can you move now?”

Hu Mazi flexed his wrists, yellow talismans forming at his fingertips again. “These old bones can still fight.” He glanced at the three elders trapped in illusion and murmured, “This is crueler than death.”

It was true.

Time flowed differently within the illusion. The three elders were trapped in a cycle of their most painful, unbearable memories.

The elder brother’s dying curse, the betrayal of a beloved junior sister with their sworn enemy, the moment they were caught secretly studying forbidden arts—every dark secret they had buried deep was now unearthed, relived, and exposed before the crowd.

“Ah!!!” one old man suddenly let out a shrill scream, blood pouring from all seven orifices as he smashed his head with his own palm.

The other two followed—one bit off his tongue, the other gouged out his own eyes.

Jie Zhong finally collapsed. “Retreat! Retreat!”

But it was too late.

The revived Rhino City soldiers charged like beasts unleashed, Mad Immortal’s long sword sweeping up a bloody storm, while Bai Yi’s arrows claimed lives with every shot. Despite his injuries, the Gadfly led the charge. “For Rhino City!”

Kai didn’t pursue the fleeing troops. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the distant Eight Palaces. The Dragon Slaying Sword, sensing its master’s intent to fight, hummed with a low, vibrating resonance.