The more uncertainty gripped her heart, the more Lara Luo found herself paralyzed by indecision. Right now, her mind was a tangled mess, and it felt like the flames inside that river could devour her at any moment. Beads of sweat broke out on her pure, delicate face.
Lara Luo was an early-stage Immortal Emperor, with experience far beyond most. In moments like these, the only way forward was to stay calm—only a clear mind could handle the kind of crisis she faced.
She forced herself to cool down. A river and flames appearing here? That was unheard of. Staring into the fire, something clicked in her mind, and she couldn’t help but blame herself for being so timid.
A scene like this was impossible—this had to be an illusion, or rather, a mind-realm illusion instead of just an environmental one. This illusion was built from the weakness in her own heart. If she could overcome it, then the so-called obstacle would naturally disappear.
At this point, she had no other choice. The flames ahead looked fierce, but they didn’t exist at all. If she simply ignored them, she could fly straight to the other shore. Once she figured this out, she moved without hesitation, shooting toward the opposite bank.
The river didn’t seem wide—she should’ve crossed it in just a few breaths. Yet she kept flying for half an hour and was still hovering above the water, her whole body still wrapped in fire. But since she believed the flames weren’t real, she didn’t feel any heat at all.
Something wasn’t right. If the flames didn’t exist, why wasn’t she burned? The river didn’t look wide, but she’d been flying for half an hour—normally, she could cross even a massive sea in that time.
"This river’s fake too—it doesn’t exist. The more I try to cross it, the less I can," Lara Luo muttered to herself.
So she stopped flying and simply let herself drop, ready to step into the so-called river. But the moment her feet touched the water, the flames vanished, and the river turned to solid earth and stone beneath her.
At that moment, she shattered the mind-realm illusion. Standing on the rocky ground, Lara Luo felt as if she’d escaped a calamity. The Emerald Immortal Empress’s illusions were terrifying—anyone timid might never break free for a whole lifetime.
Yvonne Xuan faced an illusion too, but she was deeply skilled in both illusions and formations. Her trial was about affection—she saw Evan Chu ahead, but he completely ignored her.
When she tried to speak to him, he answered with cold, mocking words, saying things so heartless that her mind was unsettled. But Yvonne Xuan didn’t let it get to her.
If there was anyone in this world she could truly trust, it was Evan Chu. They’d survived countless life-and-death trials together—their bond was already as solid as iron. Nothing like this could happen between them. She broke the illusion in less than half a stick of incense, and it was almost effortless.
Serena Frost also faced a psychological illusion. She met the person she most wanted to kill—Victor Situ, the Immortal Emperor who’d tried again and again to defile her. At first, she was shocked.
Seeing Victor Situ here was bizarre—she thought it must be a hallucination. But then Victor Situ spoke, making her doubt herself: "Serena Frost, never thought you’d end up here too. Guess we’re fated. I’ve been trapped here a long time, but now you’re here to satisfy my cravings."
"Victor, you filthy pervert! Today I’ll kill you and erase you from this world forever!" Serena Frost shouted, swinging her sword in a fierce slash—her signature technique, Frozen Thousand Miles. Instantly, icy energy swept through the area, freezing everything solid.
But her strike didn’t hit. Victor Situ just laughed even more arrogantly. "An Immortal Lord dares to bark at an Immortal Emperor? Today I’ll teach you what real pleasure is!"
Suddenly, she felt her body locked in place by a space domain—an overwhelming pressure nearly suffocated her. Fury and desperation filled her heart. Of all people, she had to run into this scum. It looked like her chastity was doomed.
The more she panicked, the more helpless she felt. Her clothes started vanishing piece by piece, until only her undergarments remained—then those disappeared too, leaving her body completely exposed. The psychological impact was crushing.
"Big enough—I like it!" Victor Situ sneered, rushing up to Serena Frost. With her last defenses gone, she stood utterly exposed before this disgusting man.
Her most private areas were exposed while Victor Situ drooled, his clothes vanishing to reveal a grotesque rod. The psychological horror was so real it made her skin crawl.
Serena Frost’s anxiety hit its peak. She couldn’t move at all—not even to end her own life. How could she face Evan Chu if she lost her chastity? If only she’d given herself to him earlier, she’d have fewer regrets. But now, it was too late for that.
Tears of humiliation streamed down her face. Victor Situ lunged toward her, and Serena Frost could only close her eyes, waiting for the end of the world.
Just as Victor Situ pounced, Serena remembered something: a space domain should collapse the moment its user makes a big move. Yet she was still trapped. That was seriously abnormal.
Another thing—her clothes hadn’t been physically removed, they’d just vanished. That was bizarre too. Combined with the strange environment, it finally clicked: everything was an illusion. She was trapped in a mind-realm illusion.
The moment she figured it out, Victor Situ disappeared. Her naked body was suddenly clothed again, and the illusion faded, restoring the stone gate’s interior.
"This illusion is way too terrifying—it’s exactly like reality. Good thing it’s just an illusion. If something like this really happened, I’d rather die," Serena Frost muttered.
Meanwhile, outside the Emerald Gate, Evan Chu was still calmly absorbing the Light Spirit Pearl’s energy. He’d finish in at most half a day, then he could finally cultivate the Ninefold Stellar Transformation. He was perfectly safe here, never guessing that his women were nearly tormented to death by illusions…