Xuanqing Guard

"Chen Xing, why did you stop walking?" Shen Hao continued to rest with his eyes closed, but still asked a question.

But it was completely silent around him—no response at all.

"Hmm?"

He suddenly opened his eyes. In the next moment, Shen Hao’s body dropped like a thousand-pound weight, crashing straight through the carriage floor. The instant his feet touched the ground, his figure vanished, and two breaths later he was already nearly thirty zhang away from the carriage.

"Something’s wrong!" Shen Hao’s face darkened even further—when he used the Earth Escape, it didn’t have that usual natural flow, but instead felt forced and awkward. Taking another look around, the street that should have been lively with lanterns and people was now deathly still and completely deserted.

Where is everyone? Where did they all go?

Shen Hao’s mind raced. There was no way something like this could happen in Fengri City—the people on the street couldn’t just disappear, and there wasn’t anyone so wildly capable that they could clear the entire street just to rob him.

The only possibility was that he’d been thrown into an Illusion Realm.

"So I actually fell for it!"

Shen Hao wasn’t unfamiliar with Illusion Realms. The moment he’d entered the Sword Emperor’s Tomb before, he’d experienced the overwhelming power of the Cloud Sword Domain; this time, too, he hadn’t sensed anything amiss beforehand. If the carriage hadn’t stopped, he might not even have realized he’d been dragged into an Illusion.

So who wants to deal with me?

Shen Hao’s thoughts spun, but he couldn’t come to a conclusion. There were plenty of people who’d want him dead—Yu Ao Feng from the Celestial Toad Sect was one, all those Evil Cultivators whose companions he’d killed, not to mention people who suffered during the Jingxi Action, and even some from the Military who’d been under his scrutiny lately...

Too many—all of them had both reason and the ability to kill him.

"Weren’t there supposed to be three experts secretly protecting me? How come they’re not doing anything?"

Still, Shen Hao wasn’t panicking. The fact that the enemy hadn’t just jumped him directly meant there were definitely concerns. Either those three "bodyguards" of his were making them hesitate, or they were worried about his identity as a Xuanqing Guard and didn’t dare try anything openly—only assassination.

Shen Hao didn’t know which it was, but either way, it meant he wouldn’t die just yet.

Illusion Realm, huh—he’d broken out of plenty before. Even the Cloud Sword Domain, which was far more dangerous, hadn’t managed to keep him trapped; and he was confident this time, too. Illusion Realms tested the Soul—his Soul Strength was almost double that of other Cultivators at his stage. No way he’d get stuck here for long.

But before Shen Hao could carefully search for the flaw in the Illusion, a heavy set of footsteps suddenly sounded by his ear. Like... like...

Shen Hao looked toward the sound and was stunned! He could never have guessed he’d see the metal tycoon who’d once taken the other world by storm, right here in the Illusion Realm!

Red and gold armor, aerodynamic and full of powerful beauty, with a circular badge-like thing glowing white on its chest, and a mask with a pair of equally glowing, cold eyes. Every step pounded with the slam of heavy metal—it wasn’t hard to imagine just how much it weighed.

"...Iron Man?!"

What the hell?!

This is a world that doesn’t even have electric lights or cars—how the hell did Iron Man show up?! Or did Tony travel across the universe, and now he—Shen Hao—is just a random XP mob on Tony’s way to leveling up?

"No, no, no, this kind of nonsense isn’t supposed to happen in a xianxia novel." Shen Hao shook his head, forcibly suppressing the utterly ridiculous idea.

But before he could dwell on it, he saw Iron Man—who’d been stomping forward step by step—suddenly ignite with a burst of fire beneath his feet, and shoot toward him like a human cannonball!

"What the...!" Shen Hao, completely unprepared, instinctively activated an Escape Skill. In that instant, he felt a blast of wind scream past right beside him, missing him by only a hair’s breadth.

Especially when he saw, just as he exited the Escape Skill, Iron Man’s flight actually triggered a sonic boom. Shen Hao’s scalp tingled. Did that thing just break the sound barrier? Is this for real?!

Can stuff in Illusion Realms actually be real? Shen Hao hurriedly slapped an "imitation" label on everything that seemed overly realistic in front of him, but for the life of him he couldn’t sense a single thing that felt fake.

"Did this Iron Man get created by the Illusion Realm using my own memories and consciousness?" Shen Hao wasn’t too rattled—after the initial shock, he managed to come up with a reasonable explanation.

Just then, he saw Iron Man raise his right hand, striking a stylish pose, then opened up a mechanical compartment on his forearm—a cigar-sized mini-thing popped out...

Shen Hao: "Oh, come the fuck on!"

Whoosh!

The miniature missile blasted out at a speed many times faster than sound. Shen Hao dodged with Earth Escape again, but as he reappeared he saw, with wide eyes, that the missile had locked onto him—and was already less than five meters away!

Five meters. For a missile, that was as good as point-blank range. Shen Hao barely had time to throw up a True Qi Shield around himself before a violent explosion ensued.

"Boom!"

The blast hurled Shen Hao more than ten meters. His ears exploded with pain—then he couldn’t hear a thing. The True Qi Shield was ripped to shreds instantly by the shockwave. Heat and concussive force scorched through his clothes, burning them to ash, while the power bored into his body, penetrating his organs, meridians, even bones...

"Pu... pu..." Fresh blood sprayed from his mouth several times as he struggled to crawl out from a pile of rubble, totally drained of energy.

"How is this happening? This Illusion Realm can really hurt me?!"

He couldn’t tell yet where the Illusion’s flaw was, but Shen Hao could feel the state of his body clearly. The injuries weren’t quite as bad as they looked, but they were definitely nothing minor. Especially his Sea of Consciousness—it felt like it had been hammered by a sledgehammer, left throbbing and in agony.

His meridians, too, were damaged. Why could things in an Illusion Realm actually inflict real injury? Shen Hao hurriedly cast a Soul Suppressing Skill on himself, strengthening his Perception and clearing his mind at the same time.

But Iron Man in front of him still looked just as "real," and as he saw one cigar missile fail to finish off Shen Hao, it actually seemed to get mad. The white light in its eyes blinked, and then both shoulders opened up their own ports, each firing a barrage of even smaller but equally deadly micro-missiles, all trajectory-locked onto Shen Hao and streaking at him.

"Oh, you wanna go again?!" Shen Hao bristled with anger. With a sweep of both hands, lightning burst from his palms—roaring as it gathered, forming into a nest of electrified Thunder Serpents that didn’t dissipate, only growing more solid.

"Bring it on! No way in hell am I letting something from my own memory kill me!" With a low shout, the Thunder Serpents in his hands wove themselves into a tight net—so dense not even a fly could get through.

Both fists grasped, seizing the electric net and flinging it forcefully toward the swarm of micro-missiles.

At the same time, Shen Hao’s body flickered—he charged right behind the electric net, actively launching himself into the fight...