Chapter 128: The Illusion Spell, Shattered!

Boom!

A cyclone created by the clash of battle energies surged through the tunnel. Amid the deafening roar, Lofray suddenly appeared.

Lofray’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Zhang Wen. Then her body “melted” again, turning into muddy water that splattered onto the ground. However, this time, when Lofray reappeared a few steps away, a faint scar had appeared on her face!

Zhang Wen’s right fist had grazed Lofray’s shoulder, and the battle energy wrapped around it had sliced across her face.

“It’s impossible! There’s no way! In this world, aside from my master, how could there be a second martial artist capable of seeing through my illusion technique!” Lofray, struck by Zhang Wen for the second time, stared in disbelief, her eyes wide, as she reached up to touch her wounded right cheek.

“Blood… blood? You actually injured my face!” Seeing the blood on her palm, Lofray lost her composure completely.

“Zhang Wen, I will kill you! I swear I will tear you and that woman into pieces!” Lofray screamed hysterically, her body suddenly surrounded by meteor-like auras.

“Oh? Kill me? Weren’t you already planning that?” Zhang Wen, secretly on guard against any sudden attack from Lofray, smiled casually on the surface.

“That’s right. But before, I was still considering making your death relatively painless. Not anymore!” Lofray suddenly unleashed her full power and vanished.

“You can’t escape.” Zhang Wen smiled confidently.

If the two Kentuckians, Sihuo and Kai, had still been conscious, they would have seen only an empty corridor in front of Zhang Wen. Yet Zhang Wen’s gaze moved rapidly, as if tracking something invisible.

Without warning, Zhang Wen suddenly threw a punch toward his front side. A silver dragon of battle energy surged forward from his fist, but after advancing only a few meters, it exploded violently, as if it had struck an invisible wall.

At the same time, Lofray’s figure gradually emerged from the location where the energy had exploded.

“Damn… you… can you really see me?!” Lofray, clutching her arm that had just been hit by the energy blast, gritted her teeth and managed to speak through clenched jaws.

“I told you already. You just refused to accept the truth.” Zhang Wen smiled, lifting the corner of his lips, and calmly faced the flustered Lofray.

“Damn… damn…” Lofray lowered her head, muttering to herself. A few seconds later, she suddenly lifted her head. “Hehehehe!” Covering her face, she suddenly let out a sinister laugh.

After a brief moment of sinister laughter, Lofray slowly removed her right hand from her face, as if she had seen through Zhang Wen’s trick, and gently lifted her chin.

“No wonder my master pays so much attention to you, even though you’re merely a Strong-level fighter. Indeed, although your power isn’t great, if you were truly allowed to enter the final Southern Boundary Champion Battle, you might become a very troublesome opponent! You’re too cunning! With only the strength of a tenth-tier Strong-level, you’ve actually forced me to this point. If I had continued to lose my composure, I might really have fallen into your trap and been defeated by you.”

As she spoke, Lofray slowly walked toward Kai, who was still unconscious on the ground not far behind her.

“Oh?” Zhang Wen watched expressionlessly as Lofray picked up Kai’s personal crystal energy sword from his body.

“So, I should really feel honored by the praise from the mighty Omega Thunder God? Is that why he sent you to kill me?”

“Haha! Not really. No matter how much my master values you, you’re still just a slightly stronger ant. As long as you don’t interfere with our plans, why would my master bother to care about your life or death? Killing you was entirely my own idea.”

“Hmph! Zhang Wen, you must be, like me, a practitioner of both martial and mind arts. The method you used earlier to detect my movements must have been an ability you gained through your mind arts training.” Lofray sneered coldly, swinging the crystal energy sword she had just obtained, “You saw through the biggest flaw in my illusion technique. You knew that when I activate my illusion, my defenses drop to their lowest. So you tried to use this weakness to throw me off balance. That way, you’d have the chance to defeat me, right? I have to admit, even if I were in your position, I probably wouldn’t have come up with such a creative trick in such a short time… Unfortunately, you underestimated me too much!”

As she spoke, Lofray suddenly pointed the crystal energy sword in her hand directly at Zhang Wen.

“I’ve already seen through your trick! As long as I don’t use my illusion technique, you can’t target my weakness. And with your mere Strong-level strength, you don’t even need any special abilities. I just need to use pure power, and you’ll be nothing more than fish meat on my chopping block!”

As Lofray finished speaking, the crystal energy sword suddenly erupted with dazzling blue light.

“Yaa!” Lofray roared furiously, not hiding her form this time, but instead using the most basic thrusting technique from the Imperial Martial Arts, charging straight at Zhang Wen.

However, even though it was the most basic technique in the Imperial Martial Arts, in the hands of Lofray, a martial-mind dual cultivator who had simultaneously broken through to the Saint level in both disciplines, the power unleashed was absolutely beyond the reach of ordinary people!

Just the dazzling brilliance from the crystal energy sword in Lofray’s hand, and the meteor-like battle auras almost completely enveloping her, were enough to make most opponents facing her dare not stand their ground!

Yet, facing Lofray’s attack at its peak, Zhang Wen’s face showed not a trace of panic. On the contrary, Zhang Wen’s lips curled upward into a confident smile.

“You’re wrong.” Zhang Wen said softly. Facing the crystal energy sword nearly at his chest, Zhang Wen suddenly erupted with meteor-like battle auras of his own. Then, his most commonly used Chinese-style longsword suddenly appeared in his hand.

“Actually, this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for!” Zhang Wen gave Lofray an eerie smile, and his sword slashed diagonally upward.

Ding!

Zhang Wen’s longsword collided with Lofray’s thrusting crystal energy sword, but strangely, there was no explosion of battle energy.

The unusual situation startled Lofray, but in the split second of lightning-fast action, she had no time to react. She could only continue to push forward with all her might, trying to pierce Zhang Wen’s body directly.

However, a sudden surge of tremendous force from her wrist made Lofray horrified to discover that she had instantly lost control of her own body!

“Your biggest mistake was thinking I was just a ‘mere Strong-level.'” Zhang Wen said politely, grasping Lofray’s sword, and then… the Spring Water Sword Technique was fully unleashed!

In the next moment, Lofray was already like a puppet whose strings Zhang Wen had taken hold of, completely dancing to Zhang Wen’s will. She spun rapidly in circles, her body frequently twisted into angles that caused Lofray unbearable pain.

“How can this happen? Damn you, what did you do?!” Lofray screamed in terror and disbelief, desperately trying to regain control of her body. But soon, Lofray discovered that the more she resisted, the stronger the force controlling her body became.

Under the guidance of Zhang Wen’s longsword, Lofray’s body danced like a Tango dancer, spinning and displaying astonishing flexibility.

“Oh! Very nice! Your body’s flexibility is truly impressive!” When Zhang Wen made Lofray perform a backbend, twisting her waist nearly 180 degrees backward during her spin, he couldn’t help but laugh and praise.

Of course, just how much teasing was hidden in that praise was something only Zhang Wen himself could know.

“Stop! Let me stop!” Lofray shouted loudly, her voice inevitably tinged with panic.

Lofray could clearly feel her strength rapidly draining away as she danced, like floodwaters rushing through an opened sluice. Her waist bent repeatedly to its limit. Lofray even nervously suspected that the next time she performed one of those “high-difficulty” moves, her waist might snap completely!

And even more distressing to Lofray, making her almost want to cry, was that she could also feel that the very strength she was losing was the very culprit forcing her to perform those nearly impossible moves!

Lofray desperately wanted to let go of the crystal energy sword in her hand, but every time she slightly relaxed her grip, she found Zhang Wen’s sword dragging her own sword toward her neck. Terrified, Lofray could only tightly grasp the hilt again, continuing to be a “dancing puppet” under Zhang Wen’s control.

Lofray no longer had the luxury to consider how Zhang Wen had achieved this. All she could think of now was stopping. Stopping before she broke her own waist!

“Please… please stop!” After Zhang Wen made Lofray perform another heart-stopping, high-difficulty move, Lofray finally cried out in panic.

“Heh! Miss Lofray, use your head. You were the one trying to kill me! How could I possibly let you go so easily? Besides, you picked such a great place for this fight, where no one will ever know what happens here. If I don’t take this opportunity to eliminate you, wouldn’t I be a complete fool?”

“You… if you kill me, you’ll be trapped here forever!” Lofray shouted, biting her teeth in a final desperate struggle.

“Heh! Lofray, do I look like an idiot to you? This is the Infinite Arena! Did you really think I’d believe you could permanently seal off this section of the passage? Even if I can’t find a way out myself, in a day or two, some passing bounty fighters will definitely come through here. And even if that doesn’t happen, dragging two beautiful ladies down with me as I die… well, I’d say that’s a pretty good way to go out.” Zhang Wen laughed heartily, easily snatching away Lofray’s last straw of hope.

“I’ll kill you!” In her desperation, Lofray finally unleashed the strength that all desperate people possess.

At the same time, Lofray poured every ounce of her strength into a scream, trying desperately to break free from Zhang Wen’s control.

Lofray’s final burst of strength did indeed surprise Zhang Wen. However, having complete control over Lofray’s movements, how could Zhang Wen possibly let his prey, already exhausted to the point of near collapse, escape from his grasp?

“Oh! Still got some strength left, huh? How about this move then?” Zhang Wen laughed, flicked his wrist, and Lofray’s waist arched again, bending deeply backward. Finally, Lofray’s head even touched her own heels!

The intense, tearing pain in her waist left Lofray’s mind blank with shock and fear.

“You… you’re not even human!”

Although Zhang Wen did admit that the terrifying method of making someone clearly feel like they were tearing their own body apart through their own strength was indeed horrifying, Lofray was, after all, a Saint-level expert. She shouldn’t be this cowardly!

Maybe she was just acting, trying to win sympathy? However, judging from this woman’s earlier behavior, she was clearly the neurotic type. Perhaps she had accidentally touched some sensitive spot, and her emotions had suddenly collapsed.

Thinking this, Zhang Wen showed no mercy as he continued to make Lofray dance in her breathtaking “performance.”

“Mr. Zhang Wen…” Even Yinel, who had somehow arrived behind Zhang Wen at some point, couldn’t bear to watch and turned her gaze away.

“Oh? Someone here to plead for mercy? Yinel, are you planning to beg for her? Even though she mainly wanted my life, she did plan to kill you both as well, you know!” Zhang Wen, still controlling Lofray’s movements with ease while dealing with a completely defeated opponent, even had the leisure to turn his head and speak to Yinel.

“I didn’t…” Yinel looked at Lofray, whose face was now streaked with tears, and mumbled uncomfortably.

After all, as Zhang Wen had just said, Lofray’s primary target was Zhang Wen. Even if Yinel wanted to play the good guy, she had to consider Zhang Wen’s position.

Sensing the arrival of a lifeline, Lofray stopped crying and, like any desperate person, desperately clung to it.

“Yi… Yinel, the wise one, please help me! I swear, I absolutely, absolutely will never attack you again!” Lofray pleaded desperately with Yinel in the most sincere tone possible.

Zhang Wen cast a smiling glance at Yinel and noticed that the Kentucky wise woman was biting her lip hard, her expression clearly conflicted.

“Actually… actually, I have Kentucky blood too! My grandmother was Tias of the Kentucky clan!” Desperate and receiving no response, Lofray shouted recklessly, dropping a bombshell.

“What… what?!” Yinel’s face finally changed again. Her mouth opened in shock, and she looked up at Zhang Wen with increasing inner conflict. Although Yinel didn’t speak, from her gaze, Zhang Wen could still see the pleading in her eyes.

“Oh? So the mighty Kentucky wise lady is even softer-hearted than I imagined! Just a quarter Kentucky bloodline is enough to make you waver? When she was planning to kill you both earlier, she didn’t seem to care much about her own Kentucky blood, did she?” Zhang Wen curled his lips into a smile and teased Yinel with a grin.

“Thias of Kentucky… she is the hero of our Kentucky clan. She sacrificed herself to ensure the survival of our tribe. No matter what it takes, as the wisest of Kentucky, I cannot allow the last descendant of Thias to die before my eyes.” Yinel looked at Zhang Wen firmly.

“Oh? You two have such a connection? What an unexpected reunion indeed! However, have you considered my situation at all? If we let her go here, once we return to the Star Moon, her mentor, the ultra-class powerhouse Omega the Thunder God, will come after me for sure! At that time, how exactly do you plan to plead for me?”

“I… I…” Yinel was at a loss for words under Zhang Wen’s counter-question.

“Or perhaps you think my life or death doesn’t matter anyway, as long as the bloodline of your Kentucky clan’s hero survives?”

“How could I ever be such a person?” The wild and beautiful elf glared at Zhang Wen angrily.

“If that’s not who you are, then what exactly did you mean just now?” Zhang Wen pressed on relentlessly, not giving Yinel any chance to catch her breath.

“Can’t you… don’t you have… a more thorough solution?”

Halfway through her sentence, Yinel herself faltered. She clearly knew her request was unreasonable. Putting herself in Zhang Wen’s position, she couldn’t think of any other way to save her own life besides killing Lofray.

“Hehe! Are you saying I should take the risk of being killed and come up with a way to spare my enemy?” Zhang Wen’s sarcastic tone made Yinel even more embarrassed. The wild beauty’s face flushed with shame, making her even more enchantingly beautiful.

“Hmm.” Helpless, Yinel nodded stiffly.

“Haha! Fine then.” Zhang Wen suddenly grinned mischievously.

“Eh… Huh? What did you say?” Yinel, who had barely dared to hope, was stunned for a while before regaining her senses.

“Well, who can blame me for being soft-hearted?” Zhang Wen said casually, “I don’t mind sparing her. But I’m taking such a huge risk. I can’t expect no reward at all, right? If I just let her go like this, I wouldn’t be soft-hearted—I’d be an idiot!”

“Re… reward?” Yinel’s tongue stumbled again.

For some reason, as soon as Zhang Wen mentioned the word “reward,” Yinel’s mind immediately flashed back to the kiss he had forcefully taken from her earlier. Even now, she could still feel the lingering taste of that kiss on her lips.

That single kiss had already been enough to make Yinel feel mortified to death. Now, she was asking Zhang Wen to spare someone who wanted his life. Just imagining it, Yinel felt that the “reward” Zhang Wen was talking about would surely require much more than just a simple kiss!

Could he possibly want… this and that… that and this…

Once a person starts imagining, it’s hard to stop. Yinel almost couldn’t help herself from continuing down that path. The more she imagined, the more her face flushed and her body burned with heat.

Before long, Yinel had already clenched her teeth tightly, her face as red as a ripe apple.

“Hey hey! Miss Sage, what’s with suddenly blushing all by yourself? If you have an answer, hurry up and say it! She won’t last much longer!” Zhang Wen’s teasing voice rang out again.

“Eh?” Yinel almost wanted to find a hole to bury herself after having her secret thoughts exposed. But in the face of duty, Yinel, the sage of Kentucky, summoned her courage, straightened her back, and said to Zhang Wen, “Spare her. That… that reward, I agree!” Yinel summoned all her courage to say these words. Though she tried to maintain a composed expression on the surface, the deep blush that even reached her neck betrayed the true feelings of this wild beauty.

“Oh! What decisiveness!” Zhang Wen smiled ambiguously, gazed deeply at Yinel who was showing the most enchanting side of a woman, and suddenly swung his right hand powerfully.

Lofray, already drenched in sweat, immediately spun around several times and then collapsed weakly on the ground.

Without even glancing at Lofray, Zhang Wen strode toward Yinel, who was lowering her head in silence.

The gradually approaching footsteps made Yinel’s face grow even redder. Instinctively, she took a step back and raised her hand to push Zhang Wen away. However, at that moment, Zhang Wen extended his hand as well, making Yinel’s movement seem like an invitation. With a gentle pull, he drew her into his arms!

Feeling the heat that seemed to engulf her from the front, Yinel’s entire body stiffened. Zhang Wen’s intense gaze made Yinel, who was already flustered, hurriedly avert her eyes. The various embarrassing and indecent images floating in her mind made her body unbearably hot.

“Mmm…” At the moment her lips were once again claimed by Zhang Wen, Yinel couldn’t help but let out a cute moan from deep in her nose. Immediately afterward, she was so ashamed and furious that she almost burst into tears.

She was the acting sage of the Kentucky clan, the one destined to lead the future of the Kentucky people! How could she make such a… such a shamelessly seductive sound?!

Yet, her increasingly hot body, and the tingling sensation from Zhang Wen’s hand firmly pressed against her waist, made her feel like crying but unable to resist. This was a feeling entirely new to Yinel, making her feel as if she were floating in midair.

Yinel felt as if she were freely flying in a dream, but beyond the exhilaration of flying, she felt an inexplicable sense of panic. This strange sensation made Yinel instinctively cling to Zhang Wen, pressing her scorching body tightly against his.

After a long while, Zhang Wen finally released Yinel’s lips.

The beautiful elf’s face, now as red as an apple, still tightly closed her eyes. Her expression, a mix of nervousness and fear, yet with a hint of pleasure from deep within, made Zhang Wen unable to resist gently pinching her delicate cheek.

“Hey! Miss Sage, why are you still hugging me? Are you that reluctant to let go of me?” Zhang Wen teased playfully, deliberately letting his gaze drift downward.

Honestly, the half-length top Yinel wore, though sexy, wasn’t revealing. Her ample bosom had been completely covered, making one’s heart itch with curiosity but revealing nothing.

But now, instinctively hugging Zhang Wen, Yinel used all her strength to press her soft bosom tightly against his chest. Her movement not only let Zhang Wen feel the amazing elasticity of her chest but also broke through the original tight defense of her top! Her full breasts, unable to bear the pressure, actually tore a gap in her top.

Zhang Wen’s gaze drifted downward, catching a glimpse of the secret beneath the beautiful elf’s bra right through the gap!

And most importantly, Zhang Wen was currently holding his hands up like a gentleman. Everything that happened now was entirely due to Yinel throwing herself into his arms!

“Ahh!” Yinel jumped back with a startled cry. She covered the spot on her chest where she had accidentally exposed herself, biting her lip tightly, her expression of extreme shyness and embarrassment was indescribably charming.

“Alright. Now it’s time to deal with your issue.” After thoroughly enjoying the rare enchanting moment of Yinel, Zhang Wen finally turned around to face Lofray, who was still lying on the ground panting.

“You promised me you wouldn’t kill her!” Not minding her embarrassment, Yinel shouted urgently with a red face.

“Of course I will keep my promise! But not killing her is one thing. You don’t think I’m stupid enough to do absolutely nothing and just let her go, waiting for her to come back with someone to kill me, do you?” Zhang Wen looked at Yinel in surprise, his matter-of-fact tone making her speechless again.

“What do you want to do?”

Lofray knew she was now like meat on a chopping board, powerless to resist whatever Zhang Wen wanted to do.

“Hehe! I don’t want to do much. However, to prevent you from going back and immediately sending someone to kill me, I need to prepare a little in advance.” The smile on Zhang Wen’s face made him seem obviously up to no good.

However, since Zhang Wen had already gone this far, even Yinel couldn’t stop his actions now. Thus, Yinel could only watch helplessly as Zhang Wen walked over to Lofray, grabbed her chin, and with a quick movement of his hand, placed something unknown into her mouth.

“Poison. It’s an old trick, but a practical one. What I just made you swallow is a small piece of 60% concentrated sea urchin stone crystal. As a martial artist who has cultivated your physical techniques to the Saint realm, Miss Lofray, you surely understand what this means, right?” Zhang Wen smiled happily at Lofray, whose face had already turned as pale as paper.

Sea urchin stone… the precious mineral that martial artists both love and hate. They love it because weapons made from high-purity sea urchin stone can significantly increase the capacity for battle energy, making their combat techniques incredibly powerful! They hate it because sea urchin stone is a deadly poison for any martial artist.

Sea urchin stone isn’t lethal, but martial artists whose bodies have been invaded by its components will lose all their battle energy within a few days and then experience intense pain throughout their bodies.

In this world, almost everyone believes that the pain caused by sea urchin stone is indescribable. It’s different from pain or itching, but it can make even the toughest man wish for death rather than endure it.

According to the descriptions in the records, Zhang Wen could use a very vivid analogy to describe the pain of someone poisoned by sea urchin stone. It’s like the feeling of a drug addict going through withdrawal. The only difference is that injecting more sea urchin stone into the body won’t relieve the pain at all.

If the infection is from low-concentration sea urchin stone, maybe it could be neutralized by injecting a solution of raw stone. However, once the concentration of sea urchin stone crystals invading the body exceeds 40%, it becomes incurable! Even an ultra-class expert or a world-dominating master can only endure endless pain until death!

“You promised you wouldn’t kill me!” Lofray gritted her teeth and lifted her head.

Yinel was also stunned. After taking the sea urchin stone, Lofray was doomed to be incurable. Zhang Wen indeed hadn’t killed Lofray, but his actions were essentially forcing her to commit suicide!

“What’s the rush? Since I promised not to kill you, of course I won’t let you die.” Zhang Wen’s words, instead, made Lofray tremble even more violently.

Lofray thought Zhang Wen intended to imprison her here, making her constantly endure the pain from the sea urchin stone but never allowing her to die. That would be a punishment a million times crueler than death itself!