When in doubt, trust science.

"I'm full. I'm going for a stroll outside, and while I'm at it, I'll do some post-meal exercise to help with digestion. You all continue chatting."

After finishing the longest meal of his life while walking on thin ice, Qi Yuan finally found a chance to escape from his misery and hurriedly slipped away.

Returning to his bedchamber, Qi Yuan let out a long sigh of relief. Looking up at the azure sky, clear as if washed, he suddenly felt as though he were in a different world.

He really couldn't stay in this damn illusion any longer!

To break the deadlock, he had to escape from the illusion before this pair of master and disciple regained their senses.

As long as he could leave the scene of the crime beforehand, he was absolutely confident he could muddle through.

Even if asked about it later, he could use the excuse of being eager to "prove his innocence" to explain his previous act of crushing the illusion star fruit.

After all, even Shao Xuanji of the Hedao Realm had been affected herself; who would dare say he had intentionally harbored ulterior motives toward the Linglong Saintess this time?

In any case, all abnormal behavior at that time could be blamed on the illusion star fruit.

Without evidence, even the Sect Master of the Holy Land could not easily convict the Dao Child of Tai Xuan, unless Shao Xuanji wanted to bear the risk of a war between the two great Holy Lands.

Of course, the prerequisite for all this was being able to dodge the first wave of the storm after the two women woke up.

Just now, in order to maintain his persona as a lecherous, muddled emperor, he had taken every advantage of them during the banquet.

Especially the Linglong Saintess Xiao Yueni; basically, aside from the final step, he had done everything he should and shouldn't have. Plus, with that girl's mysterious Awakening of palace intrigue attributes, she would probably go crazy once she regained consciousness...

Additionally, there was Shao Xuanji, who had been reduced to the "Empress." Just thinking about it made Qi Yuan feel like he was going to fall apart.

When women go crazy, there is absolutely no logic to speak of. If he dared to stay where he was, his survival rate would likely be negligible.

The only strategy now was to flee far away first and wait until the two women's emotions stabilized before dealing with it.

Thinking of this, Qi Yuan's heart relaxed slightly, and his gaze landed on the surrounding environment.

Everywhere he looked, there were carved railings and painted beams, surrounded by gold and jade. Every detail was flawless, without the slightest flaw to speak of; clearly, the illusion was of an extremely high grade.

However, the memories provided by the illusion were truly unwatchable. This muddled emperor played too wildly in his daily life; even Qi Yuan, a self-proclaimed experienced veteran, felt like his eyes had been opened.

Although he didn't know the specific plot, the Little Grass Spirit had long been led astray, reading the Spring and Autumn Annals every day. It seemed the original work wasn't any proper book either.

Generally, there were three ways to break free from an illusion:

First, actively lie flat and wait for the illusion to stop running, at which point it would automatically end, just like what happened last time when he was Ximen Qing.

Second, find the flaws in the illusion array. As long as he found enough flaws, his subconscious could completely negate the illusion, thereby shaking off its influence.

As for the third, it was simple: break ten thousand laws with one force. Use brute force to forcibly shatter the illusion array, and it would naturally vanish into thin air.

For Qi Yuan, the second method was more realistic. Fortunately, his memory had recovered, and he at least knew that everything before him was illusory.

Including that meal just now; although it looked, smelled, and tasted perfect on the surface, in reality, he had just eaten nothing but emptiness...

As he was thinking this, Qi Yuan saw the middle-aged eunuch standing to the side acting like air, and suddenly had an idea:

"Eunuch Dai, come here for a moment."

Hearing the call, the middle-aged eunuch immediately trotted over. "Your Majesty, what instructions do you have for this servant?"

"Stretch your face over here."

Qi Yuan beckoned to him with his finger. The middle-aged eunuch didn't understand why, but still obediently leaned his face forward.

Slap!

A crisp slapping sound rang out. Eunuch Dai was struck dizzy, a burning pain spreading across his face. He didn't even dare to cover it, instead prostrating on the ground in extreme panic, kowtowing until his head made loud thumping sounds:

"This old servant deserves to die ten thousand times. Please, Your Majesty, calm your anger. Please, Your Majesty, calm your anger..."

Qi Yuan ignored him and carefully analyzed the sensation from just now. His palm had indeed paused slightly when it hit the other person's face, but it felt more like a strong form of self-suggestion.

There was no pain in his hand either; it wasn't completely real, as if he were hitting a mass of air.

The reason he didn't slap himself was that he knew that for someone trapped in an illusion, all actions within the illusion would be synchronized to reality.

If he did that, he would also slap himself in reality. Aside from his face definitely swelling up, he wouldn't be able to test anything at all...

However, this level of flaw didn't seem sufficient to pull him out of the illusion.

Thinking of this, he looked again at the kowtowing Eunuch Dai on the ground and said in a gentle tone:

"I slapped you for no reason, so you should slap me back for it to be fair. Come on, hurry up and slap me back!"

"Huh?"

Eunuch Dai was stunned at first, and then his face instantly drained of color, as if he foresaw his nine generations of kin being wiped out...

In an instant, he shook his head like a rattle-drum, trembling as he begged for mercy:

"This old servant dares not, this old servant dares not! Your Majesty, please spare this old servant this one time."

"Even if you killed my entire family, I wouldn't dare touch you even a little bit!"

Seeing that the other party was about to faint from fear and was putting on a posture of committing suicide if he continued, Qi Yuan had no choice but to curl his lips helplessly:

"Tsk, coward. You don't even dare to hit the Emperor; what use are you?"

As he spoke, his gaze landed on a high tower outside the palace, and his eyes suddenly lit up. He immediately ordered:

"Eunuch Dai, go find me two solid iron balls, one big and one small. I want to go over there and conduct an experiment."

"Your Majesty, what iron balls... what is sol... Yes, this old servant accepts the decree!"

Because his Emperor's train of thought was too erratic, Eunuch Dai couldn't keep up for a moment. However, he quickly realized what was happening, nodded as if granted amnesty, and then hurriedly scrambled out of the bedchamber.

Soon, Eunuch Dai's shouts rang out from outside:

"Quick, quick! Find two iron balls for me! His Majesty wants to conduct an experiment!"

Not long after.

"Your Majesty, it's too high up there. Can you please come down first?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is too dangerous!"

"Your Majesty, your body is worth a thousand gold; if you fall, it would be terrible!"

...

Qi Yuan stood calmly at the top of the high tower. Below him, a multitude of palace maids and eunuchs surrounded the base, along with a large group of beauties from the harem, including the Empress and the Imperial Concubine.

He ignored the surrounding noise and said loudly:

"I tell you all, here I have one large iron ball and one small iron ball. If I release them at the same time, these two iron balls will hit the ground at the same time. Do you believe it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone around was shocked.

"Your Majesty, stop joking. These two are not the same weight, how could they hit the ground at the same time?"

"This is the fixed law of the Heavenly Dao; please watch your words, Your Majesty!"

"How is that possible? The big one will definitely hit the ground first..."

...

Although not a single person believed Qi Yuan's words, there was not much surprise in their expressions.

This muddled emperor often did similar unreliable things; he had done even more outrageous things in the past, and everyone was already used to it.

Qi Yuan couldn't be bothered with nonsense and simply let go.

Whoosh!

Both iron balls fell straight down, but the large iron ball was clearly much faster, and soon it slammed into the ground with a thud.

After a while, the small iron ball finally landed.

That was reasonable!

Everyone nodded in unison, then looked at the figure on the high tower with a gaze of caring for the mentally challenged, thinking to themselves that the Emperor had gone crazy again...

However.

Just at the moment the large iron ball hit the ground, Qi Yuan felt the world spinning, and immediately after, he broke free from the illusion array.

Seeing the familiar spirit pool before him, he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Sure enough, when in doubt, trust science.

Even in the Cultivation World, gravity exists; otherwise, everything in the world would have floated into the sky long ago.

Although the illusion created by the Little Grass Spirit was realistic enough, it hadn't studied modern physics, so it naturally couldn't make everything conform to reality.

The moment the two iron balls didn't land at the same time, the illusion was completely exposed to him. It didn't even follow the most basic laws of nature—this flaw was ridiculously huge!

One still needs to read more books.

Looking at the two women in the distance who were still trapped in the illusion, Qi Yuan couldn't help but smile slightly...

It was time to go settle the score with that Innate Divine Beast.

He had paid such a huge price this time; if he returned empty-handed again, wouldn't that be a huge loss!