70: Illusion as truth

"Phew…"

Li Ke slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling the growth of his Divine Soul, he immediately developed a strong interest in that mysterious space.

Just a small handful of soul sand allowed his Divine Soul to achieve such significant growth.

In that mysterious space, there was an boundless desert, entirely composed of this soul sand.

If he could refine and absorb all the soul sand from that entire desert…

His Divine Soul strength would likely reach an unimaginably terrifying level.

For the next few days, Li Ke remained in seclusion, attempting several times.

He used his Devilish Qi as a guide, sending strands of his Divided Soul into the dark fissures scattered throughout the Void Realm.

However, most of the Devilish Qi, after merging with the fissures, merely floated in a profound nothingness.

That dazzling block town seemed to have been a fleeting phenomenon, never appearing again.

After multiple fruitless attempts, Li Ke could only temporarily set the matter aside.

He had now entered the Foundation Establishment Stage, and many of his methods still needed to be perfected.

A major and important part of a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator's strength was various Magical Artifacts.

He now possessed the ability to refine Magical Artifacts, but had been too preoccupied with other matters to start.

Now that the manor, both inside and out, was temporarily peaceful, it was time to complete this step.

For Cultivators refining Magical Artifacts, after the Golden Core Stage, they could use their own Core Fire.

However, at the Foundation Establishment Stage, they still needed to rely on various spiritual fires from heaven and earth.

Among them, the most stable and common was Earth Fire.

Li Ke smiled softly.

When he previously annihilated the Varnes Family and soul-searched Baron Varnes, he learned of several secret resource points of the Varnes Family.

One of them contained Earth Fire.

At that time, he was worried about attracting unnecessary trouble and had never investigated it.

Now, it was just the right time to use it.

......

In the wilderness, a completely black carriage moved silently.

The wheels rolled over dry grass without making any sound.

If anyone looked closely, they would find that the carriage was being driven by a pair of pale-skinned, exquisitely featured, eerie children resembling porcelain dolls.

Inside the carriage, Li Ke held a steaming cup of black tea and took a gentle sip.

Behind him, a graceful, charming woman was shyly massaging his shoulders and back, her movements soft and elegant, with just the right amount of force.

After a while, the carriage slowly stopped in a mountain hollow.

Li Ke calmly stepped out of the carriage.

The beautiful woman behind him also followed him out of the carriage, her movements soft and weak, as if boneless.

However, as soon as she got out of the carriage,

"Clatter!"

The woman's face changed rapidly as if flipping through a book, countless faces flashing by, male or female, old or young.

In an instant, the woman transformed into a middle-aged man in armor, with a look of determination to die, tightly shielding Li Ke in front of him…

Li Ke's gaze swept around, following the memory in his mind, he came to a large rock.

He lightly gestured to the Faceless Paper Figure.

The Faceless Paper Figure understood, walked to the rock, and its face changed "clatter" into that of a muscular strongman.

With a sudden burst of strength in its arms, it easily moved the several thousand pounds heavy rock.

A deep cave appeared before everyone.

A faint red light emanated from inside the cave.

The Spirit boy and girl entered first, followed closely by Li Ke and the Faceless Paper Figure.

Inside the cave, the further they went, the higher the temperature became.

Waves of scorching heat assailed them, as if they were on the edge of a giant furnace.

Li Ke recalled the information from Baron Varnes's memory.

This resource point was a naturally formed underground fire cave.

Near the fire cave, a special spiritual fruit called [Blazing Fruit] grew, which was an invaluable resource for Flame Hoof Bloodline Cultivators.

In addition to this, a Varnes Family Old Ancestor, who had long gone mad, was imprisoned here.

In Baron Varnes's memory, this Old Ancestor had been imprisoned here since his childhood and had never left.

His mind was already muddled and he could not communicate normally with people.

Over time, apart from regularly sending food and water, no one in the Varnes Family cared about this mad Old Ancestor anymore.

......

Li Ke, accompanied by the Faceless Paper Figure and the Spirit boy and girl, ventured deep into the fire cave.

Soon, their vision suddenly opened up.

A huge Cave appeared before them.

In the center of the Cave was a scorching magma pool, emitting a bright red light that illuminated the entire cave in crimson.

Around the magma pool, several clumps of deep purple plants grew, bearing fiery red fruits.

These were precisely the [Blazing Fruits] carefully cultivated by the Varnes Family.

On the side of the magma pool, Li Ke discovered the Varnes Family Old Ancestor.

He was a disheveled old man, his body filthy and emitting a nauseating stench.

His limbs and neck were each bound by a red copper chain as thick as a child's arm.

However, the chain on his neck had broken at some unknown time.

The other four chains also showed faint signs of melting, clearly having endured prolonged high temperatures.

Perhaps because no one had delivered food for a long time, the old man had already devoured nearly half of the nearby [Blazing Fruits].

Upon hearing footsteps, the old man, who had been curled up in a corner, suddenly raised his head.

When he saw Li Ke and the paper figures behind him, his turbid eyes instantly filled with bloodshot, and his expression became incredibly frenzied.

"Outsiders!"

He let out a roar that was not human-Li Ke.

Before he finished speaking, scorching red flames suddenly erupted from his seven orifices!

He instantly transformed into a burning fire person, charging madly towards Li Ke.

"Clang!"

A deafening crash.

The red copper chains on the old man's body were suddenly pulled taut, holding him firmly, preventing him from advancing even an inch.

Li Ke frowned slightly, quietly observing the mad Varnes Old Ancestor before him.

He could clearly sense the powerful fluctuations of the Flame Hoof Bloodline within the opponent's body.

The scorching, burning flames slightly curled his bangs.

Such powerful Bloodline Power, yet none of the Varnes Family's descendants could manifest it.

The only Old Ancestor with a strong Bloodline also ended up in such a state of madness.

For these Bloodline nobles, the existence of "Bloodline Disease" was indeed too terrifying…

Li Ke gently waved his hand at the paper figures behind him.

The Faceless Paper Figure and the Spirit boy and girl immediately understood and pounced towards the fiery figure.

The Varnes Old Ancestor roared, and the flames around him surged, displaying the astonishing power of the Flame Hoof Bloodline.

It was as swift as wind, as fierce as fire.

Paper figures were inherently somewhat afraid of flames.

Those scorching flames caused them great harm.

Whether it was the Spirit boy and girl, or the more powerful Faceless Paper Figure, their attacks could hardly truly land on the opponent's body, which was engulfed in raging flames.

Instead, they were easily injured by the opponent's counterattacking flames, and their paper bodies were constantly scorched with black marks.

The Faceless Paper Figure consumed several human skin faces in succession, yet only managed to leave a few shallow cuts on the opponent's body.

Those wounds, in the midst of the raging fire, rapidly healed at a visible speed.

Li Ke watched for a moment, secretly shaking his head.

These paper figures indeed couldn't handle this flame-engulfed madman.

Fire, after all, had a natural restraining effect on paper creations.

And the Silver Armor Corpse was still in slumber and had not come along, so he had to act himself.

Li Ke suddenly waved his wide sleeve, and countless dark paper butterflies fluttered out from within.

The Yin-producing Underworld Butterfly emitted countless hazy, illusory fluctuations, slowly expanding outwards Li Ke ripples.

In an instant, the entire underground fire cave's scenery drastically changed.

The originally scorching, dim cave instantly transformed into an boundless, desolate ice plain.

Goose feather-Li Ke heavy snow fell from the lead-gray sky, bringing with it bone-chilling cold.

The Varnes Old Ancestor was in this world of ice and snow, Li Ke a lone boat in the ocean.

He continued to run wildly and roar, his flames burning even more fiercely.

Crimson firelight shot up into the sky, reaching over ten meters high.

Countless falling ice and snow were instantly melted and evaporated upon contact with the flames, rising into large patches of thick white mist.

However, he still couldn't find any trace of an enemy.

The endless snow seemed to fall without end, burying everything.

After an unknown period of time, the flames on the old man's body finally gradually extinguished.

Eventually, he was completely buried by the thick snow.

"Buzz…"

Countless dark paper butterflies disappeared into Li Ke's wide sleeves.

The illusory fluctuations slowly dissipated, and the underground fire cave returned to its original appearance.

The Varnes Old Ancestor still maintained the posture of running with all his might, pulling tightly on the few thick red copper chains, standing in place.

The temperature in the fire cave was clearly extremely high, but his body had an eerie pale-blue color, as if he had been frozen to death, and had long lost all signs of life.

The Fist Intent of the third layer of Phantom Building Fist had already begun to show a hint of turning illusion into reality.

As long as the illusion was realistic enough, the false could also become true…