On the 3rd stratoshere, the gravity force multiplied, leaving only 40% of the cultivators that made it all the way to the 4th stratosphere. Of course, Ye Tian and the gang were more than capable, arriving at the 4th stratosphere without excessive effort. As they were informed by Wang Rong, the next few stratospheres would be illusionary battles against the unknow Afraid to go insane or out of control, many cultivators ended up taking some medicines to calm their mind in preparation for this stage, but Ye Tian and the others had none to use.
“Ahhhh.”
However, some were already affected by the illusions, taking their medicine too late, that caused them to start whaling on their own group. Others would run astray far away from the pack as if they went insane. Some of the more rare ones were cultivators who ended up groping and kissing each other in broad daylight. Men and women became attracted to each other, while a few others were interested in their own sex. No one really bothered to care since they had to focus on overcoming their own illusions.
Luckily, Fang Meng taught Ma Qian a spirit formation that would block the illusions from affecting the group, hence, they were able to ascend all the way to the 6th stratosphere quicker than other groups. However, the illusionary effects on this level became exponentially stronger than the previous levels, proving that anyone that wanted to leave the 6th stratosphere required a resilient mind.
As it turned out, the worst situation occured for Ye Tian's group as they had to overcome the strongest illusionary effects. If a person was affected from the 4th or 5th stratosphere, the illusions would be several times weaker than the 6th stratosphere. What turned out to be a good strategy in the beginning became the worst strategy for Ye Tian’s group.
Lin Yang became the first to be affected as he took out his sword in preparation of what he thought to be a battle. What he saw in front of him was a familiar battle scene that he recently experienced, but within his illusions, the people he was fighting against was his family! He ended up fighting for the enemy, where he had to fight his own family members, especially his caring father!
Another scene played out, this time, Ma Qian was at the brothel defending the ladies of the house, including his Aunt, from an army of despicable nobles and corrupted officials. Bloody and tired, he kept fighting back relentlessly with nowhere else to go.
Ye Tian, on the other hand, was in a situation where his younger sisters didn’t recognize him anymore, instead, attacking him viciously as if they were mortal enemied. A Xue family protector joined hands with the sisters a short while later. The worst scenario happened when a group of masked men suddenly came to help the sisters in killing him. Was the Xue family a part of the conspiracy? Did he made a grave mistake by asking the Xue family to adapt his younger sisters?
“Ye Chun, Ye Xue, it’s me, big brother! Stop this. I will never try to hurt any of you. Who are these other people?”
“Who are you? We don’t know you! We only know you are the enemy of the Xue family! Die!”
“No, you’re mistaken! I was the one that brought you to the Xue family, and I know the Xue family are righteous people!”
“The Xue family is definitely righteous, but you are not!”
“You’re right, I’m not righteous, nor have I been a good brother to you. What I’ve done will never be forgiven, but I wanted you all to live a happy life. I never wanted either of you to be dragged into a bloody road that I have taken. But as your big brother, I’m responsible for my own sins, but I also know that I will never allow my own sisters to hurt the innocent by being ignorant and blind to the truth! This is not how our parents taught us!”
Ye Tian was no longer afraid of fighting back, as he burst forward, stabbing one of the masked men’s forehead. The body vaporized into thin air, revealing a tiny devilish creature that tried to escape, but Ye Tian caught it with his hands and squeezed it until it burst into pieces. Another masked man followed the same fate, leaving the youngers sister to continue attacking him. Ye Tian never fought back, afraid of hurting them, which resulted to some wounds. While he struggled to think another way out of this situation, suddenly, he could hear an echoing voice, whispering to him. It was not only Ye Tian who could hear this voice, but the rest of the gang as well.
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“TRUTH, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE PAINFUL, AND HAVE NO REGARD TO ANYONE’S COMFORT. IT CAN SHATTER WORLDS OR BUILD A NEW ONE. GREAT AND EXTRAORDINARY COURAGE IS NEEDED TO HEAR THE TRUTH WHILE LIES REQUIRE NOTHING BIG OR SMALL.”
What was done was done, accepting the truth and moving forward was the sliver of hope of changing one's path to freedom. Ye Tian no longer hesitated as he opened his eyes filled with new wisdom.
“Burn! You treacherous creatures.”
The sisters screamed in pain from the intense burning, but that was just a disguise, as the small creatures were the ones who controlled the illusions. The small creatures ended up burning to ashes, unable to escape from the flames of death. The protector was the only one left who had considerable strength over Ye Tian, but Ye Tian dashed forward, confronting the protector with a very calm demeanor.
Ye Tian appeared like a burning god surrounded by crimson flames. He took his first step, this was the first step to the heavens skill, unleashing a fist that shattered through the protector’s sword while continuing to plunge forward aiming at the head, but it was blocked by the protector's arms, crushing half of his bones. Without stopping, Ye Tian initiated the second step unleashing another fist where his flames grew brighter and wild, his speed became faster, his attack became stronger than ever that successfully drilled through the protector’s chest area while grabbing the small devilish creature and crushing him into nonexistence.
A few breaths passed until Ye Tian woke up from the illusions, looking at the grass field surrounded by beautiful flowers and a flowing river. He looked around only to see everyone else overcame their illusions much earlier than he did, as he was the last one to regain his senses back. Everyone was seen to be cultivating except for Song Han.
“You’re finally back,” Xiang Jiao said.
“Yeah….how long has it been?” Ye Tian asked.
“Three days. Most have regained their consciousness on the second day.”
“….Thanks.”
Ye Tian spoke those words because the voice he heard during the illusion was actually Xiang Jiao’s voice! This crazy monk, under unexpected curcumstances, could speak out a touch of great wisdom during crucial times. It was also the trigger to overcoming Ye Tian’s second step to the heavens skill – separation.
“Lalalalala…..lalalala…..LALALA!”
Ye Tian looked into the distance towards the nearby river, he could see Song Han taking a shower while singing loudly without a care in the world as if he didn’t care whether there were other people nearby or not. In fact, there were other groups who have rested near the river, and they could only stare at Song Han with disgust because the moment he took off his woman’s outfit, he instantly shattered many of the boys fantasies. Even after knowing that he was being stared at, he tried to make a bigger play out of this opportunity.
“Lalalalalaaaaaaaa……Whooooooooo!”
Song Han was dancing in a circular motion, splashing water made the effect even more dramatic. He pretended to dance like how a woman would dance with gentle hand gestures and a bashful face. To top it off, he spun many times while spreading his arm in a carefree motion that caused his little worm to peek out of the bush due to the spinning momentum.
Some boys threw up, some girls had a bashful smile, others boys and girls hid their drools. Many were angry from Song Han’s childish act.
“You! Dress up right now! Have you no shame?”
“I’m still showering…..lalalala…….this is true freedom!”
Song Han replied without a care, then pecked his chest multiple times to ensure the others could see it. This, however, finally instigated others to jump out and attacked Song Han. There were plenty of people who wanted to beat him previously, but who would want to beat a naked man? Now, they really had no choice but to teach Song Han a lesson.
“Ahhh, you piece of shit!”
Boom!
“Bitch”
“Aarrgh”
Bam!
“No, not there, Aooooooo…..”
Lin Yang wanted to help Song Han, but Ye Tian stopped him from doing so. And so, the beating went on for a bit until everyone stopped and returned to their own base camp.
Song Han was seeing lying down, bruised up and bloodied all over his face and body. There were even teeth marks on his nipple area and near the thighs. But he was not the only one bruised up, there were dozens of others who attacked him that were as injured as he was. This unexpected result caused others to think twice of attacking him from now on, some even feared his ferocity and unwillingness to back down.
Song Han got up in anger walking towards Ye Tian.
“You bastard! You lied to me! You broke our agreement!”
“We never broke our agreement. We said we will help you if someone else tried to instigate something, but in this case, you were the one asking for trouble,” Ye Tian replied while playing with some rocks that he was about to throw at Song Han when he was dancing around.
“Screw you bitches! The meaning of our agreement is too broad. I hate you guys….you played me!”