Zhao Changhe had been expecting this move all along.0

From the very beginning, he had treated Kong Shi as a stand-in for Papiyas… and what was Papiyas, exactly? The very being proclaimed as the Heavenly Demon by Buddhism. Papiyas was regarded as the embodiment of temptation, the lurking evil within the human heart. It would have been more surprising if Papiyas did not wield illusions and spiritual snares.0

Back when Yue Hongling had traveled alone to Kunlun, she had already experienced its tricks firsthand, not once but multiple times. First, she had been trapped within an illusionary Mirror of Self-Reflection[1], so vivid and real that it nearly devoured her very soul. Though she ultimately broke free, her thoughts had been exposed, allowing Papiyas to prey upon her vulnerabilities. Illusions plagued her repeatedly throughout the Kunlun Secret Realm, appearing as spectral deceptions, each one forcing her to shatter the falsehoods through sheer will.0

But at the time, Papiyas was still weak. The dragon hunt had not yet begun, and Papiyas’ recovery was far from complete. Kunlun was a chaotic mix of powerful forces, and even it had been wary of acting too brazenly. Thus, aside from casting illusions from afar, Papiyas had refrained from making a direct move.0

In the end, Yue Hongling survived the ordeal unscathed, and the experience laid the foundation for her eventual breakthrough to the Profound Control Realm.0

But Zhao Changhe had never experienced such spiritual attacks firsthand. He had once thought Underworld Guide’s techniques had been an illusion, only to realize, much to his horror, that it was all real. Underworld...0