351: Chapter 351 Illusory Realm Revisited, the Past Reappears!

Royal Court guards sprinted through the main hall, the crisp clashing of armor echoing through the stone corridor with dense, hurried footsteps.

One of the guards shouted, "Someone has broken into the forbidden area! Quickly notify the Captain of the Guard!"

Before the shout had even faded, two more squads of armored guards surged from the side corridor, their boot soles striking the stone tiles in a rhythmic beat as they closed in on the same direction.

Lin Xiao's gaze passed over the running guards and landed at the end of the corridor outside the hall.

There, two groups of people were engaged in combat.

One side wore dark cloaks.

Their hoods were blown back by shockwaves, revealing several young, pale faces.

The other side consisted of Royal Court guards, the cloud and water patterns on their armor reflecting a cold, silvery light under the candlelight.

Someone among the cloaked figures threw a crystal stone that shimmered with a fiery red luster; it trailed orange-red flames and appeared quite powerful.

However, its aim was slightly off; the crystal stone arced through the air, flying straight toward Lin Xiao's position.

Lin Xiao dodged to the side.

The crystal stone grazed his shoulder and smashed into the wall behind him with a sharp, abrupt explosion.

Accompanied by surging flames, a dent was blasted into the surface of the thick stone pillar, and shards of stone scattered in every direction.

He instinctively raised his battle axe to block, the wide blade held horizontally before him.

At the same time, the trait [ Coordinated Combat ] activated.

However, the expected collision of sparking metal did not occur.

The moment the debris touched the axe blade, it transformed into wisps of ethereal light, passing through the metal without resistance, then passing through Lin Xiao's arm and chest.

As if his body were merely air.

After passing through him, those streaks of light re-condensed, restoring the solid form of the debris, which clattered onto the floor of the hall.

"Lin Xiao, what's going on? Why do you... lack a physical form?"

Jiang Wanwan, hiding in the corner, whispered in alarm.

Lin Xiao signaled for The three women not to act rashly.

He held the battle axe with one hand and retrieved the spirit realm lens from his backpack with the other, holding it up to his eyes.

The spirit realm lens had always been able to pierce through appearances, glimpsing the other side attached to the reality of the world.

But this time, gazing through the lens, he saw only a thick, pitch-black void.

There was no light or color to speak of—a complete, absolute blackness that refracted no light.

"Strange."

Lin Xiao lowered the lens and pondered.

The changes occurring around them were unrelated to the material plane; they seemed closer to a mental illusion.

Lin Xiao scanned his surroundings, then made a bold decision.

He canceled his [ Stealth ] state, walked out from his hiding spot, and stepped into the center of the brightly lit hall.

"Do not panic; this is an illusion."

His voice echoed slightly in the hall, mingling with the shouts of the guards from moments ago, making it impossible to distinguish which was more real.

Jiang Wanwan frowned slightly, stepped out from behind the stone pillar, and scanned the surroundings vigilantly.

Tian Xiwei followed closely, the black mist of the seal ring gathering at her side, ready to cast a shield on those around her at any moment.

"Do you remember the situation we encountered in Harbor Town?" Lin Xiao asked, looking at the two women.

"Lin Xiao, do you mean we've returned to the past?" Jiang Wanwan pondered for a moment, then her eyes lit up.

She spotted a candlestick nearby and reached out to touch it.

To her surprise, her fingertips turned intangible upon contact.

"Huh? This seems different from what happened in Harbor Town!" Jiang Wanwan looked at her fingers and said, surprised, "In the Harbor Town paradise, we could touch objects and even converse with the spirits of that time, but here, it seems completely reversed."

"Exactly. This is a mental illusion, and what we are seeing is merely a lingering shadow of history."

As he spoke, Lin Xiao raised his hand.

A squad of fully armed Royal Court guards happened to be rushing in from the side corridor for reinforcements.

The young guards passed directly through Lin Xiao's arm, which was held in mid-air.

Their bodies transformed into streaks of light as they kept running, only to re-condense into human forms a few steps away.

"I don't know what kind of power recorded the events that once occurred in this space, like a video tape."

Lin Xiao observed everything around him coldly. "We are merely bystanders now!"

"This is what the Heze Royal Court looked like back then..."

Yimu, standing a few steps away, spoke suddenly.

She reached out to gently stroke the ornate, carved stone pillar.

The cloud and water relief carvings, which would be covered in bite marks and thick dust a century later, were now pristine beneath her fingertips, every edge of the patterns clear and undamaged.

Yimu frowned slightly, her gaze shifting from the stone pillar to the exquisite bronze ornaments nearby.

Candlesticks, vases, and Boshan censers were all neatly arranged in their original places, their surfaces reflecting a golden halo.

There was neither the thick layer of dust she had seen before, nor any trace of green corrosion.

Seeing this, Yimu let out a long sigh.

Her beautiful face betrayed no nostalgia, only a flicker of unconcealable melancholy.

It was always the Heze royal family she hated, not this kingdom.

As a subject of the Heze Kingdom, she still loved this land deeply.

"But why let us see all this?"

Yimu gathered her thoughts and asked, "If this illusion is being controlled, what does the controller want to tell us?"

"Perhaps the truth... the truth behind the decline of Heze." Lin Xiao turned around and beckoned to The three women. "Follow me closely; let's go outside and see."

Since everything was an illusion, there was nothing to fear.

They passed through the hall doors and onto the corridor, where the fierce combat was taking place.

The figures of the guards and the cloaked individuals flickered in the distance.

As Lin Xiao led The three women to turn out of the corridor, a gasp of surprise from Yimu came from behind.

"That person... is that me?"

Lin Xiao halted and followed her gaze.

Across the corridor bridge, a familiar figure stood with several cloaked companions, guarding the bridge before the entrance to the forbidden area.

Her hands formed seals, releasing beams of bright blue energy that forced back the encroaching guards.

Her hood had slipped during the battle, revealing translucent skin and eyes the color of amber.

That face was much younger than it was now, and her forehead bore no brand.

Her spells also appeared more unrefined, yet they were enough to make the ordinary palace guards wary.

"That was the scene when our secret team broke into the forbidden area."

Yimu's gaze fell upon her younger self, her voice trembling slightly.

"We stole an ancient map of the forbidden area, and by following the secret passages marked on it, we found the Ancient Well at its center.

Then, I tossed the insect eggs I had brought with me into the well...

But I didn't expect that once the Ancient Well was activated, it would erupt with brilliant colors; that commotion drew the nearby guards directly to us."

She paused.

More and more guards surged in from all directions.

The secretly assembled team began to struggle to hold their ground.

The younger Yimu's spells missed several times, and a burly guard grabbed her shoulder from behind, dragging her down onto the stone tiles...

Immediately after, her companions were pinned to the ground one by one.

Seeing this, Yimu instinctively took a step forward, but Lin Xiao grabbed her.

Before he could speak, however, the scene around them began to shift.

Everything around them—the guards, the corridor bridge, the entire Imperial Palace—dissolved into blurred blocks of color at the same moment, then rapidly reassembled into new shapes.

When their vision refocused, the blinding sunlight made them instinctively squint.

They had arrived at the surface.