71: Chapter 71 Bitter Battle

"Roar!"

A roar caught Xu Changsheng's attention.

Not far in front of the trio, a tall monster resembling both a horse and a donkey appeared.

It was grayish-white all over, its form hazy.

"Is this an Illusionary Beast?"

Although he had read many descriptions of this beast in ancient texts, seeing it for the first time was quite a novelty.

A strange pressure, similar to that of a Yao Beast, slowly emanated from it.

It wasn't strong, appearing to have only just reached the first rank.

Crimson Rainbow stepped onto a rainbow and rushed forward, wielding her Universe Ring Magical Artifact.

*Bang!*

Striking ruthlessly, she tore the beast to shreds with a single blow.

Soon after, several more identical Illusionary Beasts appeared.

Crimson Rainbow followed suit, taking down all the Illusionary Beasts.

"Mere Illusionary Beasts, they're nothing special."

The next wave of Illusionary Beasts appeared quickly.

Their aura suddenly surged from just-entered rank to the First Level Middle Stage.

Crimson Rainbow showed no fear, continuing to slaughter them with overwhelming force.

The Secret Realm seemed to judge the current team's strength as very high.

After a few waves of Middle Stage Illusionary Beasts were slain...

...a First Level Late Stage Illusionary Beast appeared: a massive, strange bull with a single horn on its head.

"Moo!"

With a loud cry, it charged straight at Crimson Rainbow, kicking up a gust of wind.

"Come at me!"

Crimson Rainbow sneered; without resorting to other methods, she continued to activate her Universe Ring.

One of them suddenly expanded, meeting the strange bull head-on.

A moment later, it looped around the bull's neck, glowing with a stunning red light.

"Bind!"

Crimson Rainbow exhaled a breath of orchid-scented air.

The Universe Ring shrank, tightly binding the bull's neck, and wisps of blue smoke rose from where they touched.

The strange bull's charging speed slowed down instantly, but it didn't stop.

Crimson Rainbow's elegant brows furrowed.

Her other Universe Ring suddenly activated, smashing fiercely toward the bull's head.

*Clang!*

The sound of clashing metal rang out as she forcefully intercepted the strange bull and bent its horn.

"Die for me."

With an angry shout, the Universe Ring around the bull's neck blazed with light, igniting into a raging fire.

After a burst of brilliant light, the bull's head was severed.

"Hmph."

With a look of joy, she recalled her Universe Rings.

However, in the next moment...

The smile froze on her face.

Because three more identical strange bulls appeared opposite her.

She cursed, "Is there no end to this?"

Just as she was about to use more techniques to deal with them...

...a ghostly blue sword shadow flew in front of her.

Xie Wantang stepped forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with her, and lightly tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "Sister Ni, I'll help you."

"Fine. Sister Tang, just handle one; I'll take care of the other two!"

She hadn't given a single thought to Xu Changsheng, who was behind them, gathering his strength.

The latter's hand, which had been pressed against his Storage Pouch, slowly relaxed.

Forget it; since Crimson Rainbow wanted to do his share of the fighting, he was happy to enjoy the leisure.

Anyway, their team's kill ranking was currently high, trailing only slightly behind Chen Xuan and Chi Yu.

...

*Rumble!*

Accompanied by an earth-shaking boom, the head of the last strange bull was also smashed to pieces by the Universe Ring.

She hurriedly looked up.

When she saw everyone's rankings...

...her furrowed brows suddenly relaxed, and her bitter expression turned into one of pleasant surprise.

Because their ranking hadn't fallen behind.

On the Heavenly Stele, the scores of the top-ranked teams were all stuck at seven!

"There's still a chance."

She didn't understand why her sister, who was fighting alone, had the same score as her, but the rekindled hope of taking the top spot filled her with soaring motivation.

At this moment, a new Illusionary Beast appeared.

A large moth, several meters in size, appeared, fluttering its wings.

As its wings flapped, countless scales and dust took flight.

"First Level Great Perfection. Finally, something interesting. Are you the one who trapped my sister?"

As usual, Crimson Rainbow stepped forward and charged in, brandishing her Universe Rings.

"Wait!"

Xu Changsheng's warning came from behind, but she didn't seem to hear it and dove headlong into the mist of scales.

Crimson Rainbow felt a sudden wave of dizziness.

She found herself surrounded by a drifting, hazy gray mist.

She looked back.

The figures of Xu Changsheng and Xie Wantang behind the mist distorted and were eventually swallowed by the fog.

At the same time...

...a bright moon appeared overhead.

The mist transformed into countless moths, silently fluttering their wings as they swarmed toward her.

"Mere parlor tricks."

Crimson Rainbow raised her rings and brought them down, annihilating them all.

However, the shattered moths didn't die; instead, they split into even more tiny moths, their numbers growing rapidly.

"Splitting, are we? Let's see how many times you can split!"

She launched several more blasts of fire.

In just a few dozen breaths, she had already wiped out several waves.

Now, moths covered the sky and the ground all around her.

Her chest heaved as she panted, her spiritual power depleting rapidly: "Damn it, how can they keep replicating indefinitely?"

"A first-rank creature shouldn't have such a Heaven-Defying ability."

"Sigh, Fairy Ni, you've fallen into a trap."

A sudden, gentle voice brought her back to her senses.

"Fellow Daoist Xu? I think I hear you speaking?"

"It is indeed I."

At this moment...

...Xu Changsheng sighed softly as he watched the two women aimlessly swinging their Magical Artifacts amidst the scales.

He chanted internally: "Shattering Delusion."

A golden light flickered between his brows.

In the next moment...

...a strange ripple spread out.

The moths around Crimson Rainbow vanished one after another, and the space around her distorted.

The gray mist receded.

She saw the large moth hanging upside down from the ceiling not far away.

She turned back in surprise. "Fellow Daoist Xu, what did you just do?"

He smiled slightly. "I merely helped you two Fairies break the illusion."

Crimson Rainbow finally realized what had happened: "Right, so it was an illusion. No wonder I couldn't kill them all."

She looked at Xu Changsheng with a strange glint in her crimson eyes.

"To think Fellow Daoist Xu was hiding his strength like this."

Xie Wantang stepped forward and gave a polite bow: "Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Xu."

Seeing this...

...Xu Changsheng's eyelid twitched, knowing Xie Wantang was unhappy with his slow response. "It was just a rudimentary Spell, nothing that would impress you two Fairies."

Crimson Rainbow wanted to say something more.

"Not good!"

Seeing its illusion broken, the large moth flapped its wings in rage, and more gray mist began to spread.

This attack was even more intense.

Almost instantly, Xu Changsheng vanished from Crimson Rainbow's sight.

Knowing it was an illusion...

...she took out several Illusion-Breaking Talismans and activated them with all her might.

The Talismans rose without any wind, flying into the air and emitting a dazzling white light that struck out in all directions.

She watched with anticipation.

But the result left her deeply disappointed.

The surrounding gray mist didn't change at all, once again transforming into countless tiny moths.

"How can this be? They didn't have any effect at all."

"It doesn't make sense. That Xu Changsheng broke it in the time it took to speak; this illusion shouldn't be this powerful!"

By now, the swarm of moths was already attacking her.

Out of necessity, she had to wipe out a wave first.

As before...

...more moths appeared.

Taking advantage of a gap, she steeled her resolve and ran in one direction.

"If I can't break it, can't I at least run away?"

She soon realized something was wrong; no matter how long she ran, everything before her remained a blur of mist.

She was merely running in circles!

Looking at the dense swarm of gray moths above and below, Crimson Rainbow's expression turned bitter.

She finally understood why her sister's score had stopped increasing.

Although her life wasn't in danger, she was completely helpless against this illusion.

She let out a faint sigh.

And just then...

...a golden light, like sunlight piercing through clouds, shone onto her face.

"Fairy Ni, are you all right?"

Xu Changsheng's warm voice reached her once more.