Ding Ding: “Congratulations on unlocking the hidden event ‘Illusions and Reality Are Not True,’ you have been awarded ‘Divine Pill: No Illusions’ and ‘Reader’s Brainstorm’ fragments ×5.”

Divine Pill: No Illusions?

Bai Fanlu was disturbed by the system’s voice, his head feeling groggy, but he still caught that term.

Ding Ding: “‘Divine Pill: No Illusions’—nothing false can hide; it will erase illusions and reveal the true form.”

This explanation made Bai Fanlu’s head spin even more. In his daze, he tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt unbearably heavy, and there was a dull ache at the back of his head. He couldn’t immediately recall what had happened.

Instinctively, he reached back with his hand, but instead of touching his own hair, he felt someone’s hand.

The back of the hand was dry, the skin warm. He gave it a light squeeze—the flesh felt real and had a good texture.

“…Immortal brother?”

Huh? Bai Fanlu’s eyes shot open. The bright sunlight blurred his vision for a moment, and after blinking several times, he finally focused on a face full of concern.

Bai Fanlu was stunned for a moment and tried to pinch the back of the hand he was holding. He saw that the two strong, handsome eyebrows on that face furrowed slightly, and the expression changed from worry to a pained and aggrieved look.

“Hiss! Be gentle, that hurts.”

So it wasn’t a dream. Bai Fanlu was fully awake now and looked around, realizing that he was currently being held by Xiao Liu on a long stone bench.

Bai Fanlu reflexively wanted to sit up, but what seemed easy in theory turned out to be difficult in practice.

The main problem was that he had nowhere to brace his hands, as Xiao Liu was currently holding the back of his head with one hand, massaging it, while his other arm was wrapped around Bai Fanlu’s waist, keeping him fixed on his lap. If Bai Fanlu wanted to sit up on his own, he’d have to either push off Xiao Liu’s arm or his leg.

Better to push off his arm, Bai Fanlu thought, grabbing Xiao Liu’s arm, ready to do a quick sit-up.

“Wait! Don’t move!” Xiao Liu exclaimed.

Before Bai Fanlu could figure out what was happening, he felt his forehead bump against Xiao Liu’s chin with a thud, and then, due to gravity, he uncontrollably leaned backward.

Since he was holding onto Xiao Liu’s arm, Xiao Liu naturally got pulled down as well, the whole person directly pressing down on Bai Fanlu.

Bai Fanlu expected the back of his head to hit the ground with a loud thud, but the imagined impact never came. Instead, Xiao Liu’s hand stubbornly stayed on the back of his head, providing the most reliable protection.

The last sound he heard was an unexpected “thud”—a gentle thud.

Bai Fanlu found himself face-to-face with Xiao Liu, their noses almost touching, and their lips separated by only a hair’s breadth—maybe… not even that much.

Before Bai Fanlu could react, the young man above him stared at him in a daze, a blush quickly spreading across his cheeks.

But strangely, despite the fleeting hesitation in his eyes, Xiao Liu made no move to pull away.

Now it was Bai Fanlu’s turn to blush, but he couldn’t move casually, afraid that any careless movement would eliminate the remaining gap between them.

“Xiao Liu…” He dared not open his mouth wide, so he spoke softly, “Get… get up…”

Xiao Liu’s face turned even redder, and after a long moment, he stammered out a few words.

Bai Fanlu had to combine his sense of hearing, sight, and touch to finally understand what Xiao Liu was trying to say. Xiao Liu meant, “My legs are numb, I can’t move.”

“…”

Bai Fanlu didn’t know how long Xiao Liu had been sitting there without moving, but his legs had gone numb. Since Xiao Liu had done it to take care of him, Bai Fanlu patiently waited for him to recover.

But their proximity was so awkward that Bai Fanlu’s eyes couldn’t find a place to rest. He ended up lowering his gaze toward his own nose.

He didn’t realize that in this position, closing his eyes or lowering them gave the impression of surrender, almost as if he were inviting Xiao Liu to come closer.

As a result, the young man’s gaze darkened, his eyes focusing on Bai Fanlu’s slightly parted lips. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and for a moment, the hand supporting Bai Fanlu’s head seemed to tighten, an intense tension building.

Bai Fanlu also felt the hand pressing against the back of his head. He opened his eyes and asked in confusion, “Is your hand numb too?”

Xiao Liu sighed inwardly, feeling numb all over.

The wolfish look in his eyes quickly switched to that of an innocent puppy, as he pleaded with Bai Fanlu, “Immortal brother, can I lean on you for a while?”

“…Alright.”

Barely had the words left his mouth when the young man relaxed the hand that had been supporting himself and collapsed like a pile of soft clay onto Bai Fanlu.

In the end, though, he chickened out a little, tilting his head slightly to the side as he collapsed, his cheek sliding past Bai Fanlu’s face and resting near his ear, without daring to press too close.

So heavy! Bai Fanlu thought, feeling his face heat up, but when he looked at Xiao Liu’s puppy-like eyes, he felt utterly helpless.

The obedient look in those eyes seemed to say, “Immortal brother, am I heavy? Am I crushing you? Should I get up?”

…Forget it, I’ll get used to it.

Bai Fanlu silently bore the weight he supposedly couldn’t bear.

But staying in such an awkward position wasn’t ideal, and Bai Fanlu wanted to push Xiao Liu away.

However, he noticed that Xiao Liu seemed very tired. Lying on Bai Fanlu like this, he seemed to have finally relaxed.

Relaxed… Bai Fanlu’s heart skipped a beat as he suddenly remembered something important that hadn’t been resolved. How did Xiao Liu get here? Before he fainted, he was ambushed from behind, and He Sang even threatened to cut off his legs.

But now, looking around, they were still in the City Lord’s mansion, and it was broad daylight. The surroundings were empty—no cages, no corpses, not even He Sang was there.

If it weren’t for the lingering pain in his head, Bai Fanlu would have thought he was under some kind of illusion again.

So, they were safe?

“Xiao Liu, how did you get in?”

“Me? I just walked through the front gate.”

Xiao Liu, pleased with himself, whispered in Bai Fanlu’s ear.

Bai Fanlu shrank back, feeling uncomfortable. “There’s a barrier here. How did you get in?”

As Bai Fanlu moved away, Xiao Liu either intentionally or unintentionally leaned closer again, still whispering in his ear.

“A barrier? I didn’t see anything. I was worried about you, so I sneaked in during the night. But oddly, there was no one guarding the gate.”

Could it be that the operation of the Nine-Nine Corpse Array had caused the barrier to change?

Bai Fanlu wasn’t sure, but he subconsciously chose to believe Xiao Liu’s explanation. “So what was I doing when you came in?”

“Don’t get me started, I was so angry!”

Xiao Liu immediately became indignant, his hand tightening around Bai Fanlu’s waist as his emotions surged. Bai Fanlu didn’t notice this; he was fully engrossed in Xiao Liu’s storytelling and his own curiosity.

“When I came in, I saw a red glow in this direction—it was terrifying—so I ran straight over and saw someone hit you on the head with a stick.”

“A stick?”

“Yeah, a big, thick stick! I wanted to grab it, but I couldn’t make it in time. I just saw you fall, and I panicked…”

As Xiao Liu spoke, his voice trembled, and his eyes reddened. Bai Fanlu quickly patted his back, comforting him like he would a large dog that had been scared for its owner, only missing the dog’s tongue licking his face.

Although at this distance, it wouldn’t be hard for him to reach.

Xiao Liu hugged Bai Fanlu a bit tighter, burying his face in Bai Fanlu’s neck as if still frightened. Bai Fanlu was worried Xiao Liu might start crying, so he quickly asked, “And then what happened?”

Xiao Liu mumbled into Bai Fanlu’s neck, “Then… then I killed someone again.”

“…Huh? You killed someone?”

Oh no, did Xiao Liu kill one of the corpses? Bai Fanlu thought for a moment, but that didn’t make sense. If Xiao Liu had only killed one corpse, the current situation wouldn’t look like this.

“Yeah, and it was strange. She didn’t bleed at all; she just turned into a little puppet. Look, it’s still over there. I didn’t dare touch it.”

Bai Fanlu followed Xiao Liu’s direction and saw a human-shaped puppet lying on the ground not far from them.

“…” Bai Fanlu fell silent.

Xiao Liu had such good luck. He had been searching for the array’s core for so long and hadn’t found it, but Xiao Liu had come in and hit it directly.

No wonder they were still alive, hugging each other here. Bai Fanlu found the outcome somewhat amusing.

With luck like Xiao Liu’s, he was almost on

 par with the typical lucky male protagonist in some novels—like Yun Zhan.

But if the corpse array was broken, where did He Sang go?

“What else did you see? Did you see a very beautiful man? He should have still been there when I fainted.”

“A very beautiful man?” Xiao Liu shook his head, earnestly replying, “I didn’t notice. I only had eyes for you when I came in.”

“…” He spoke so smoothly that Bai Fanlu was left speechless, but the heat that had just subsided on his face quietly crept back up again.

“Oh, right!” Xiao Liu suddenly said, “There were lots of wild animals in the courtyard, all with red eyes. It scared me at first, but then they disappeared, and so did the people. They all vanished in the blink of an eye.”

Bai Fanlu understood. That confirmed that the corpse array had indeed been broken. “And where’s Zizi?”

“Zizi is on my back, sleeping.”

After Xiao Liu finished explaining, Bai Fanlu looked at the puppet on the ground again. He still had doubts. Even if the corpse array was broken and he had fainted, He Sang shouldn’t have missed such a good opportunity to harm him.

Unless… He Sang was afraid of someone?

Bai Fanlu couldn’t help but shift his gaze to Xiao Liu.

A healthy, strong, and clever young man—yes—but unfortunately, just an ordinary person, hardly a threat.

That was rather strange.

“Xiao Liu, are you feeling better? Shall we get up?”

“Oh, okay!”

Having fully enjoyed himself, Xiao Liu obediently helped Bai Fanlu stand up and even gave him a hand, not forgetting to rub the back of Bai Fanlu’s head. “Does your head still hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Bai Fanlu smiled apologetically at Xiao Liu. As the top disciple of the Immortal Realm and the young lord of the Demon Realm, he felt utterly humiliated. Not only had he been ambushed several times, but he had also needed a child to save and care for him. It was embarrassing.

He didn’t understand what was wrong with his cultivation; it seemed inadequate somehow. In the novel, the original body was quite powerful, so why did it feel like his character might be crumbling? It seemed he would need to be more cautious in the future.

Bai Fanlu thought this as he didn’t leave the courtyard immediately but went to check the spot where He Sang had appeared. Xiao Liu followed closely behind, as if afraid something might happen to him.

Suddenly, Bai Fanlu noticed something unusual. On one side of the white jade railing in the garden, a few stalks of canna lily had wilted slightly, their leaves turning black, contrasting with the other upright and vibrant plants.

At first glance, it didn’t seem particularly strange. But Bai Fanlu sensed a familiar aura on them—demonic energy.

It was strong, dark, and completely different from the demonic energy of the flower thief or Wei Lin.

He Sang was not a demon, so this aura couldn’t be his. A name quickly popped into Bai Fanlu’s mind.

Bai Junming.

He had been here! Could it be that he was the one who took He Sang away?

Bai Fanlu considered this possibility. If Bai Junming had suddenly appeared and silently taken He Sang away, it made sense that Xiao Liu hadn’t noticed.

But why would he do it? Was it really to save Bai Fanlu? Did he think this pawn still had some value? That might be the only explanation that made sense for now.

But even if it seemed logical, Bai Fanlu still felt that something wasn’t right, though he couldn’t pinpoint the source of his unease. In the end, he decided not to think about it for now.

After they left, the City Lord’s mansion seemed to have completely fallen into silence, as if it had become an empty house.

In the lakeside pavilion, a small white rabbit, seemingly forgotten, hopped out from behind the gauzy curtains. It jumped under a draping piece of dark purple cloth and then quickly darted through it.

Raising its front paws to groom its whiskers, the rabbit was suddenly picked up by a pair of hands.

The wall of water surrounding the ornate pavilion had disappeared, leaving only the wind brushing the willow trees, the flowers falling silently…