Chapter 48: Illusion

  I subconsciously retreated backwards, holding up the ancient bronze sword in front of my chest. However, after retreating a few steps, I realized that there was no way to retreat further. Behind me was only a pool of water, and in front of me were all these two-headed golden snakes. It was frustrating, and at this moment, the fast-moving golden snake had already crawled up to my face, lifted its head, and spat out a sticky tongue, making me feel not only terrified but also nauseous.

  Fear is certain, but I couldn't just sit and wait for death. Now there's no one around me, only myself. Thinking of this, I directly took the ancient bronze sword and hacked down at the snake's head.

  "With a 'swish' sound, the ancient bronze sword split down from the middle of the two heads of the golden snake, directly cutting the snake into two segments. The two segments of the snake's corpse on the ground were still wriggling, looking quite eerie, but it could be judged that this snake was done for."

  Before I could even react, that intense "hissing" sound came again, and the next thing I knew, these golden snakes started going berserk. All of them stretched out two heads, spitting venom at me.

  It wasn't until now that I realized how stupid it was to split open this snake earlier, these snakes are rushing towards me in a hurry... three meters... two meters... one meter...

  As it was about to approach me, I seemed to have no choice. However, rather than being bitten to death by these snakes, I would rather drown. But this ancient bronze sword cannot follow me into the pool, this is something Xiao Rou gave me, I want to leave it here. I threw the ancient bronze sword back to its original place and prepared to jump into the pool.

  "Little dragon, don't!"

  At this time, I heard Xiaoyu's voice, and I immediately looked around, seeing Xiaoyu's voice from behind some snakes.

  "Xiao Rou, is it really you?" I exclaimed excitedly.

  "Take the ancient bronze sword in your hand and slash at those few larger ones. There aren't many golden snakes, what you see are mostly illusions." Her voice was a bit stern now, unlike her usual gentle tone.

  I was originally disheartened, but at this time I heard Xiaoyu's voice and immediately regained my confidence. Quickly picked up the ancient bronze sword on the ground, according to what she said, started looking for that big-headed golden snake.

  It's just as Xiaoyao said, among these snakes, there are two with relatively larger heads. I no longer hesitated and directly swung the ancient bronze sword to chop them down, aiming at their protruding heads. "Whoosh..." With one swing, both heads were split in half. They broke into two pieces and immediately coiled together again, looking truly hair-raising. However, what puzzles me is that after being chopped off, not a single drop of blood flowed out from the snakes. Because I had studied biology before, I knew that snakes have blood.

  As I chopped this golden snake into pieces, increasingly loud rustling sounds came out, shaking down the dust on the top of the cave. And more and more snakes were coming from behind!

  "Little dragon, don't be afraid, that's an illusion, it's fake, there's only one snake left in front of you." Xiaoyu continued to shout at me.

  Although I also know these are fake, it's a bit difficult to do, and there is still some fear. Moreover, the other bigger snake can't be found!

  Ke Xiao Rou was wise, at the same time she ran towards me from over there, took out a talisman from her body, directly ignited it and transformed into a paper person, rushing towards this side. As it approached, it quickly burned into flames, Ke Xiao Rou used the fire to cover us up and directly pulled my hand to pull me out.

  "Look, there's nothing there!" Xiaorou pointed at where the pile of golden snakes had been.

  When I looked back, there weren't as many snakes as before. Only one snake was left, the one whose head I had chopped off, and the other snake was being engulfed by the flames of the paper man.

  "Xiao Rou, I've finally seen you! What's going on here? Is it the Heart Demon playing tricks?"

  Xiao Rou shook her head and said, "No, it's not the Heart Demon's doing. He will definitely come in, but I haven't found him yet. The things you encountered earlier were all already inside this sealed cave. It's extremely cold here, and it has been shrouded in darkness for many years, so the creatures living here will be tainted by the evil aura, leading to demonic transformation."

  "What shall we do now?" I asked.

  Xiao Rou blinked her beautiful big eyes at me and said: "We can only find the heart demon quickly, just now I took a look at this cave entrance, there are only two forks in total. The one on your side has already reached the end and didn't find the heart demon, that is to say the heart demon must be in the other fork. Let's go to the other fork now!"

  "Uh-huh!" I nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed as I said, "Sorry, Xiao Rou, I'm too weak and my courage wants to make myself bigger, but that kind of fear is still in my heart and can't be shaken off."

  Xiao Rou smiled slightly at me; "It's not that you're too weak, now you're just an ordinary person. The continuous frights, being able to keep a clear head is already very good. I should be the one saying sorry, if my magic was a bit more powerful, we wouldn't have been so passive."

  I want to find some words to praise Xiao Rou, but I feel that it's not suitable, because I think there are no words that can match her, such a good girl. She is really enchanting!

  Worried that there might be something bad in the pool, before leaving the area, Xiaoyao continued to burn a few talismans, turning them into paper men, crouching and guarding the spot, ensuring that nothing unexpected would happen.

  After finishing, Xiaoyu patted her hands and said to me, "Alright." Then we left the area around the pool. On the way, I said to Xiaoyu, "It's really unbelievable that such a beautiful girl can remain calm in such a terrifying environment."

  Xiao Rou smiled at me and said: "I'm already used to it, even if something scary happens again, I'll just think of it as a normal thing."

  "But Xiao Rou, I have a question for you. You're a girl, how did you end up choosing to practice witchcraft? Constantly battling evil and wicked forces doesn't seem to match your gentle nature at all."

  "What I yearn for is a world without evil, only kindness. But to develop into such a world, it must be willing to sacrifice some people, and I am willing to be that sacrifice."

  When Xiaoyu said these words, I felt my face slightly flushed with a sense of shame. Xiaoyu was really too good, simple words that contained her worldview, before I thought about doing things for myself to survive, others were the same, all so selfish, but Xiaoyu.

  Blinking our eyes, we have come to another fork in the road. At this time, however, I discovered that it was a bit different from before. But where has changed, I suddenly couldn't think of it for a moment.

  I looked at Xiaoyu and asked: "It's really strange, some things here seem to have changed. But how come I can't remember?"

  Xiao Rou nodded and said to me: "It's changed, it has become so transparent."

  When Xiaoyu said that, I was stunned and didn't understand what she meant. But when I inadvertently raised the flashlight, I discovered the problem. The light from the flashlight was gone, and it turned out that the cave had become bright, just like the outside daylight...

  "What's going on here?" I was shocked.

  Xiao Rou furrowed her brow and said to me, "I don't know either, this situation has never happened before, the pitch-black cave suddenly became so bright."

  We both have a question, that is where this light comes from. The reason why it's called a mountain cave is because it's a hole inside the mountain, and this place is isolated from the world. But now the brightness in the mountain cave is like having many lamps shining.

  Xiao Rou took out the Bagua plate and started measuring, only to find that the pointer hadn't moved. She lowered her head, thought for a moment, and said to me: "This is really strange, usually evil things like darkness, but now this cave is so bright. I'm a bit dizzy!"

  "Xiao Rou, could it be the evil spirit playing tricks on us?" I asked.

  "It shouldn't be, it's now a stylish thing, the light is of no benefit to it, only making it appear faster. I guess there must be something even more evil in this cave, something that I have never seen before."

  Xiao Rou said that, and it added another layer of mystery to the suddenly lit up cave. Just then, we suddenly heard a faint noise coming from inside the cave.