An Illusion Formation, as the name suggests, is an array that confuses the mind and plunges a person into hallucinations.
However, that term is actually a general category. Beneath it are dozens of subtypes, each with vastly different functions.
When Gu Fangchen stepped into the courtyard, he immediately recognized the formation set within it, a fifth-grade array known as Dream of Millet.
The name might sound refined and elegant, but its effects were nauseating.
Those caught in its illusion would experience endless years of change, witnessing the shifting of seas into mulberry fields, believing they had truly lived through countless ages.
Unless the array's master took the initiative to dispel it, those trapped within would accept the illusion as real, and when they finally emerged, the time they had "lived" inside would convert into genuine aging, according to the formula:
(Time spent in illusion × 0.16754) – (Spell Resistance × 0.21765) (final result not less than 0).
In the world of Mirror in the Dust, the soul and body are connected; each directly influences the other.
If the time spent within the illusion was too long and one's spell resistance too low, the soul would wither like a candle burning itself out, and death would follow.
For players, this was one of the most disgusting types of debuff.
In this world, there were many ways to shorten one's lifespan, but very few to extend it.
If the controlled character's lifespan ran out, they would die of old age all the same.
Many quests required waiting years for a follow-up. Imagine waiting that long, only to have your character die of old age before the NPC even gave you the next task. Ridiculous.
Now, the one being ridiculed was him.
Gu Fangchen stared blankly at the blazing sun overhead, eyes lifeless.
The tattered body he occupied had no more than five years of life left.
And his spell resistance was likely in the negatives.
If other people were candles, then at best he was just a wick, if he really fell into this formation, he'd burn out instantly.
Of course, to him, the difference between five years and five months wasn't that great.
The real problem was that he had no idea what kind of nonsense his illusion-controlled self might be spouting outside while he was trapped here.
"No, I have to break this array immediately."
He looked around. Endless yellow sands stretched to the horizon, with a faint patch of green visible in the distance.
It looked as though a short walk would take him to an oasis.
But he knew better. It was all a trap.
Inside this Illusion Formation, no matter where one walked, there was no exit.
Everything visible to the naked eye was merely bait meant to lure intruders deeper into delusion. There was only one true solution.
"Alright, let me recall the strategy."
Gu Fangchen sat cross-legged, chin in hand, falling into deep thought.
"First, the requirement to break a fifth-grade Illusion Formation isn't high, it only requires the most basic Divine Path Ninth Rank cultivation..."
Divine Path Ninth Rank, the Meditation Realm.
Compared to a fifth-grade formation, that requirement was indeed low. In essence, anyone who had just begun cultivating on the Divine Path could qualify.
Gu Fangchen: "..."
Damn it. He didn't have that.
His expression went blank.
The very first requirement was unmet, he might as well be dead already.
There were two main cultivation paths: Martial and Divine.
The first cultivated the body, the second cultivated the soul.
Divine Path Ninth Rank was the lowest possible level, as long as a player chose the Divine Path, they started at Ninth Rank automatically.
The problem was, Gu Fangchen wasn't a player anymore.
The player's physique, while unremarkable in-game, was actually the Primordial Saint Body in this world's setting, one of the top cultivation talents.
And Gu Fangchen now? He could probably win the title of "Chief Among the Crippled."
It is known: regardless of path, both the dantian and meridians are essential.
Without a dantian, one cannot store spiritual energy.
Without meridians, one cannot circulate techniques.
Without both, even the gods couldn't save you.
Gu Fangchen's dantian had been shattered with a single palm, and his meridians were clogged and bound by three kinds of deadly poison, especially the Heart-Poison Mark, which sealed his heart meridian completely.
If not for the Flower-Grasping interception performed by the high monks of Garan Temple, he would have died long ago from poison entering his heart.
Under such conditions, cultivating was as difficult as climbing to the heavens.
"No..."
Gu Fangchen froze suddenly, then leapt to his feet, staring at the illusion before him.
"There's still another way."
The dantian and meridians might not be absolutely necessary.
He once saw a little-known post on a game forum, the author had developed an extremely niche cultivation route.
Because in Mirror in the Dust, there existed a hidden mechanic—
"When a cultivator lives long enough, there is a minute chance of triggering a direct breakthrough."
Players called this mechanic Mortal Transcendence or Tempering of the Mortal Heart.
Crucially, this breakthrough ignored one's existing cultivation level.
Even an ordinary mortal, as long as they lived long enough, could trigger the mechanic and directly ascend to a higher realm.
Like the woodcutter in the story of the man who watched chess until the game pieces decayed, if blessed with that chance, he could become a cultivator overnight.
The only prerequisites were "live long enough" and "be extremely lucky."
And now, before Gu Fangchen stood an array that distorted time itself.
As mentioned before, time spent within such a formation affected the body in reality, a fact first discovered by the player who made that post.
Because that hidden mechanic was also active inside illusion formations.
And now, Gu Fangchen had the Mandate of Heaven buff active. There was no one under heaven luckier than him, save for the Emperor Yong'an himself.
"My remaining lifespan is about five years. According to the formula, that lets me spend around thirty years inside the illusion."
"With Mandate of Heaven boosting probability, that's more than enough..."
Gu Fangchen murmured what would sound like madness to anyone else.
To willingly enter a time-warping illusion, even great cultivators wouldn't dare attempt it.
Whether one lost their mind or not, a cultivator's lifespan was their most precious possession. They would never gamble with it.
But Gu Fangchen had nothing to lose.
His start was hell itself; he was already at rock bottom. From here, there was nowhere to go but up.
Besides, he wasn't afraid of actually dying.
Because outside, Princess Prajna, no matter what she wanted from him, would never allow him to die at this stage.
With that guarantee, all he needed to do was retain enough sanity to remember his goal: to break the array.
"That shouldn't be a problem either..."
His eyes flickered.
The reason people in this world got lost in illusions was that the illusion and reality were too similar; they had no anchor.
But Gu Fangchen wasn't from this world.
The density of information received in the same span of time between his world and this one was vastly different.
In modern society, scrolling a phone for one night exposed one to more information than an ancient person could see in a lifetime.
He came from a world utterly unlike this one, even if he spent a hundred years here, he would never forget where he came from.
Once he broke through, one single thought would be enough to awaken him.
Gu Fangchen took a deep breath, stood up, and began walking toward the endless sea of yellow sand.
...
In the courtyard.
A young man with a touch of wickedness between his brows sat beside the pool, eyes vacant, staring blankly at his reflection.
A slender jade hand lifted the curtain aside.
Then, from behind it stepped a woman of breathtaking beauty, dressed in soft white robes adorned with gem-like ornaments, her eyes covered with a sheer veil.
"Jingle... jingle..."
Her bare, delicate feet barely touched the air as she walked, each step rippling the water beneath her, lotus blossoms blooming where she passed.
Princess Prajna's expression carried faint amusement as she circled Gu Fangchen. Though her eyes were veiled, it felt as though she were observing every inch of him.
She raised a finger and, from an inch away, slowly traced down his forehead, from his brow, to the bridge of his nose, to his lips.
Finally, she came to a conclusion.
"He really doesn't look like him."
He looked neither like Ning Caiyong nor Gu Yuye.
Nor did he resemble the lowly stable boy they had captured.
Princess Prajna curled her finger slightly and flicked, a thread of blood-red energy emerged from Gu Fangchen's body, vivid as living blood.
She tugged it backward and drew forth an intricate net of interwoven red lines from the void.
Each line was tautly bound to the thread connected to him, the pull so strong that even she could not move it.
Princess Prajna: "..."
She released her hand. The threads faded into the void again, her curiosity only deepening.
The Demonic Sect had severed the bloodline connection of both the true and false heirs using the Art of Causality and Fate, that much was confirmed by those in Huangtian City.
Otherwise, with Gu Yuye's cultivation, he could never have mistaken another for his own blood.
But that was only the surface.
The karmic web surrounding Gu Fangchen wasn't limited to his bloodline.
Everything else, was false too.
And whoever had performed this spell possessed immense power, concealing the true karma completely and flawlessly.
So, did the one in Huangtian City truly fail to notice this anomaly in the false heir, or had they deliberately chosen not to say anything?
Princess Prajna's finger paused, then moved lower, pressing against his chest.
That was where the toxins were gathered. With a single thought, she could detonate all three poisons and turn him into a corpse.
But clearly, she wasn't interested in killing.
Her lips curved into a dangerous smile.
"Your Highness the Heir, let's play a little game. I ask, you answer. Speak only the truth, otherwise, I'll dig out your heart."
"You knew I would come to the White Horse Temple tonight?"
Gu Fangchen lifted his head. His gaze remained blank as he stiffly nodded.
"Yes."
"Pfft."
Her slender jade finger pierced into his chest.
Gu Fangchen remained numb, then shook his head.
"Not exactly. I knew you'd be coming to Huangtian City to retrieve the Tara Sect's lost relic, but I didn't know the exact time."
Princess Prajna froze mid-motion, her smile deepening.
"A relic?"
Gu Fangchen seemed eager to explain.
"Yes, the highest-grade respec artifact, the Lotus Concealed in the Womb."
Her smile stayed, but her voice turned icy cold.
"Where did you hear about the Womb Lotus?"
Her five fingers clenched at once, sinking into his chest cavity, her palm enclosing his heart.
A golden light flickered from the Flower-Grasping seal on his chest, pulsing weakly as if resisting.
But behind Princess Prajna, a vast image appeared, a holy mother seated upon a lotus pedestal.
With a compassionate expression, that divine image extended one hand and touched the glowing mark, instantly calming its struggle.
"From the forum."
Princess Prajna paused. "The forum?"
It sounded like some sort of sect or religion, yet she had never heard of it.
Could there truly be an organization in Great Wei unknown even to her?
Gu Fangchen, however, grew animated, speaking quickly:
"If I recall correctly, you were planning to ask Xu Fu to divine the relic's location. But Xu Fu happened to be ordered by the emperor to assist in investigating the matter of the true and false heirs."
Yes, the very mess he himself had caused.
"So you returned empty-handed, and missed the best opportunity for the relic's reappearance."
He stopped there.
Princess Prajna, listening intently, frowned when he fell silent. She poked his still-beating heart.
"And then?"
Gu Fangchen continued, "Actually, there's no need for all that trouble. The relic is actually..."
Her heart skipped, he knew where it was?!
Her tone turned sharp. "Where?"
Gu Fangchen opened his mouth to answer, then his expression changed abruptly.
Something was wrong.
She looked up just as a point of light flared between his brows.
That point bloomed like a seed, hovering at the center of his forehead.
Every lantern around them went out at once.
Golden runes rippled outward from Gu Fangchen like waves, then shattered all at once with a resounding crack.
The Dream of Millet Illusion Formation, broken!
Gu Fangchen's eyes snapped back into focus, the glow on his forehead fading. His body now emanated a faint trace of cultivation aura.
To Princess Prajna, it was negligible, but it was real.
Divine Path Ninth Rank, Meditation Realm.
"?"
Princess Prajna, the Holy Maiden of the Tara Sect, ruler of ten thousand Buddhist lands and equal in sight to all six realms, could only form a question mark in her mind.
In her years, she had seen people lose themselves in time arrays, go mad, or cling stubbornly to their will.
Those were all common outcomes.
But someone breaking through in cultivation inside one? She had never seen that.
Much less someone who was supposed to be incapable of cultivating at all.
She stood there in genuine confusion, shock, and disbelief, "looking" at the man before her.
Gu Fangchen, upon awakening, immediately sensed something wrong.
Why did his chest hurt so much?
He glanced down, a pair of flawless, snow-white hands were embedded in his chest, right over his heart.
He looked up into a stunning, vaguely familiar face.
"?"
Gu Fangchen mirrored her confusion.
Wait... ma'am, what exactly are you doing to me?
His dazed mind cleared entirely, and through his pain-twisted pale face, he forced a strained smile.
"So, uh... Princess Prajna, could you... take that out, please?"