As Haoyun moved backward, he saw Dao Lao and Dream Jia also waking up in the same manner, struggling on the ground to avoid the threats of two other clowns, emitting animal-like cries. Seeing all three of them awake, the clowns ceased their threatening gestures and instead cracked their whips a few times as a warning. Haoyun and the others immediately remembered the pain of being whipped.
"Huh? This doesn't make sense! Why am I—?" Just then, Haoyun, who had finally come to his senses, suddenly remembered. He had been burnt to ashes just now, so how was he—?
Haoyun wanted to say, "How am I alive again?" but then hesitated, unsure if "alive again" was the right term to use. He vividly remembered the pain of being whipped and burnt alive, the terrifying sensation of his body turning to ashes.
But now, how was he alive again? What was going on? Could it be that everything just now was an illusion? Haoyun was feeling confused. However, he knew it wasn't the time for mental fog; he quickly called Dao Lao and Dream Jia through the system, trying to find out what had happened.
"What's going on?" Dream Jia asked with a hint of fear in her voice. This question had almost become a mantra for the three of them since entering the black hole VOID-5173. A series of bizarre events had left them breathless, and all they could do was repeatedly ask the same question—what's going on?
"We should have been burnt to death just now, but for some reason, we're alive again," Dao Lao hesitated, and from his tone, it was clear he was unsure if his speculation was correct.
"The clowns don't seem like they're seeing us for the first time. And their rough actions just now seemed like they were trying to wake us up. Could it be that we weren't really burnt to death just now, but were under the influence of some force that put us in a dream state, creating an illusion?" Though Dao Lao spoke hesitantly, Haoyun agreed with his guess.
"So, we never left this tent? We just passed out? Then where did those iron cages go? Why are we now outside the cages instead of being trapped inside?" Dream Jia said, pointing out that the three large iron cages that had been placed in the tent were now nowhere to be seen.
"Perhaps those clowns just moved us to another tent after we passed out? Or maybe we weren't really locked in the cages, and what we experienced just now was an illusion, and what we're seeing now is the real scene here?" Haoyun speculated, reminding them that the wounds on their backs had disappeared. Moreover, their strange attire looked as new as ever.
"What's going on? Does this mean we really just experienced an illusion?" The three of them were puzzled as they examined each other's healed wounds, leaning towards Haoyun's second guess.
Thinking about it, Haoyun and the others were both shocked and panicked. If Elina was behind the illusion that attacked them, how did she gain such incredible abilities? Suppressing the divine protection given to the priests by the spirits and trapping them in illusions—did these actions prove that Elina had obtained power comparable to that of the spirits?
If that were the case, it wasn't hard to imagine that Elina didn't kill them immediately but trapped them here, subjecting them to a lifelike illusion. Because Elina treated them as guinea pigs, using them to test her own strength or to see if her tricks against the divine realm would work.
Thinking about this, Haoyun couldn't help but ask in horror, "What's next? What are they going to do? What are these clowns planning?" Haoyun asked this because the clowns had been standing still and staring at them ever since they woke up, not making any moves.
As if in response to Haoyun's question, just as he finished speaking, a burly clown pushed aside the tent curtain and walked in. This clown was none other than the ringleader, the one whom Haoyun and the others despised. When this ringleader clown entered the tent, the other clowns, who had been standing still until then, immediately began to move again as if they had regained their souls, trembling and shaking their heads as they moved about.
Ignoring his subordinates, the ringleader clown glared at Haoyun and the others, pointed at each of them separately, and let out two fierce "hmph hmph" sounds from his throat. Then, the other extreme clowns immediately rushed toward Haoyun and the others again, forcibly dragging them out of the tent once more with chains that appeared out of thin air.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
After Haoyun and the others were dragged out of the tent, three spotlights appeared out of nowhere, shining beams of light on them once more. Cheers erupted around the area the size of a football field, and the jubilant circus march played again. Haoyun and the others found themselves standing once more on the T-shaped path leading to the center stage.
The familiar stage, the audience wearing long red-nosed masks, and the seven metal rings slowly appearing out of thin air, ignited by a clown, left Haoyun and the others dumbfounded. Haoyun wiped his eyes and said in a voice filled with frustration, "Damn it! Are these guys going to make us perform the ring of fire again!?"
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Regardless of whether the previous fire ring was an illusion or not, the pain of being burnt alive was so unforgettable. So much so that Haoyun and the others couldn't help but step back in fear when they saw the familiar scene again. However, all they could do now was this. Even if they exerted all their strength, they still couldn't resist the clowns' overwhelming power. So, after taking a few steps back, they were once again dragged back by the clowns, with no resistance whatsoever, and sent back to the center stage.
During this process, the other clowns on stage had also begun to circle around, performing various acrobatics and magic tricks to liven up the atmosphere. Haoyun and the others were now two hundred percent sure that this group of clowns' energetic performance was exactly the same as before.
"Could it be that we've fallen into a time loop where everything repeats infinitely? Why are these clowns and everything else here exactly the same as before?" Haoyun asked in confusion while futilely resisting the clowns' dragging force.
Dao Lao didn't rush to answer but said after some thought, "Although an infinite time loop exists, but—"
"But what?" Haoyun pressed.
"In an infinite time loop, not only the things around you, but even your own thoughts and consciousness will be in an endless loop. However, after each cycle ends, your thoughts and consciousness will be reset to the very beginning, so you won't even realize that you're in this environment," Dao Lao explained.
"So you mean to say that although it seems like we're in an infinite time loop, this place isn't actually one where everything repeats infinitely. Because our thoughts and consciousness haven't been reset like everything else, but are still in a continuous state?" Dream Jia said.
"Yes," Dao Lao nodded.
"So everything we're experiencing now is just an illusion?" Haoyun speculated again.
"From the current situation, that possibility is highly likely. So if we want to break free, we must find a way to dispel this illusion!" Dao Lao said.
However, after making this conjecture, Dao Lao shook his head helplessly. Due to being shielded by some powerful force, their actual strength besides their titles as holy beings and priests had been greatly reduced, possibly even inferior to creatures in the mortal realm. In this situation, even if they did find a flaw in the illusion, whether they had the ability to dispel it was still unknown. Therefore, perhaps they could only attempt it once their various strengths were fully restored. Before that, all they could do was continue to wait.
Thinking of this, the three fell into silence. Because based on the current situation, they couldn't determine how long it would take for their strengths to return to normal. But the question was, how would they spend the time before then? Did they really have to keep repeating the performance of jumping through the fire ring? Thinking of the unforgettable pain from before, Haoyun and the others couldn't help but feel fearful. They were worried that before their strength recovered, their spirits might have already been destroyed by repeated burnings.
Just when Haoyun and the others were feeling lost and anxious about their current situation, the clowns on stage finished their act and once again lined them up in the order of Dao Lao, Dream Jia, and Haoyun. Then, the leader clown again introduced their performance content with fierce "hmph hmph" sounds while waving a whip, seemingly warning them not to think of escaping again.
Haoyun and the others, after confirming that they would once again perform the fire ring act, each wore a bitter and helpless expression because of the burning they had experienced last time. Although the previous incident seemed like an accident, Haoyun and the others believed that it was likely a deliberate "accident." This made them full of worries about this performance, fearing that another clown might deliberately cause an accident during their performance.
The leader clown seemed to understand the worried expressions of Haoyun and the others. However, this time, instead of urging them to start performing fiercely like last time, he pretended to be extremely concerned about Haoyun and the others, encouraging them with "hmph hmph" sounds and exaggerated yet somewhat funny gestures, indicating that the performance was entirely safe.
At the same time, behind the leader clown, another clown was using exaggerated and similarly funny movements to pretend to be angry, reprimanding the clown who had caused trouble for Haoyun and the others last time. From the things the reprimanding clown was saying, he seemed to be warning the troublemaker clown about the precautions to take when waving the whip and threatening him. If he dared to interfere with Haoyun and the others' performance again, they would immediately hang him up and burn him to death. The reprimanded clown pretended to be pitiful, nodding repeatedly while also looping the whip around his neck, performing a dumb show of being roasted while hanging, causing the audience to burst into what seemed like friendly laughter.
However, Haoyun and the others watching the performance of these two clowns on the side were completely unable to laugh. Seeing the clown who had caused them the pain of burning alive, not only did he show no remorse, but he also acted as if nothing had happened, using funny body movements to entertain the audience. This made them furious. If it weren't for the circumstances, they would have rushed up immediately and torn him to pieces.
Of course, in addition to anger, the three were also very clear that the performance of these two clowns was something that hadn't happened before. And their performance seemed to confirm Dao Lao's previous conjecture that they hadn't fallen into an infinite time loop. Haoyun and the others thus concluded that they were likely imprisoned here because they had fallen under some illusion.
Seeing the three trembling with anger, the three clowns responsible for dragging them also "kindly" stepped forward to pat their shoulders, indicating that the troublemaking clown was just not very bright, asking them not to lower themselves to his level. At the same time, these three clowns also made funny gestures to reassure Haoyun and the others, indicating that they could perform with complete peace of mind.
Since this group of clowns once again expressed that they would do their best to protect them during the performance, and these clowns had started to wave their whips impatiently again due to the delay in Haoyun and the others' performance, Haoyun and the others, to avoid suffering the pain of whipping again, had no choice but to take a deep breath and prepare for the fire ring performance once again.