Eternal Illusion Chapter 1 The Public Trial

The Public Trial

Jiang Qiu, whose bandit name was the Heaven-Plundering Lord, meticulously planned and executed a series of major fraud crimes including the ring-grandfather scheme, the sign-in power-up system, and the haunted-village rule horror game. He fabricated stories to defraud the trust of proud talents from various major sects, causing severe property losses to tens of thousands of people, with the amount involved reaching a staggering 32 billion spirit stones. This had an extremely vile social impact across the entire cultivation world. Yet apart from some scattered stolen goods being recovered, those 32 billion in ill-gotten gains had vanished without a trace. Today, our Heavenly Heart Sect holds a public hearing of this case at our mountain gate, inviting all fellow cultivators under heaven to witness it together.

32 billion? That's comparable to a top-tier sect's treasury! What kind of swindler could cheat so much? Could the Heavenly Heart Sect be pinning their own bad debts on a scammer? Fellow cultivator, you don't know much about the Heaven-Plundering Lord of this era. Though he was a sinister and cunning swindler, he was also a genius of extraordinary talent. At just four hundred years old, he had already reached the Spirit Transformation stage, and was versed in talismans, formations, alchemy, illusion arts, mechanical arts, and everything in between. Over hundreds of years, using his original talisman formations and mechanisms, he swindled who knows how many proud talents of top sects, and even escaped alive multiple times under pursuit from numerous Void Refinement and Dao Fusion experts.

He has such abilities? Then is the one Heavenly Heart Sect caught the real deal? Could it be a scapegoat? Possibly. Though Heavenly Heart Sect is a major sect, most of its disciples are used to comfort and privilege, and their practical combat ability is generally pathetic. How could they possibly catch someone that even Dao Fusion experts couldn't apprehend? Also, I've always felt that many Heavenly Heart Sect disciples have crooked intentions—bullying the weak through their power isn't something they haven't done. Quite possibly that young man has nothing to do with the Heaven-Plundering Lord, just a pitiful person who got used.

Right, everyone knows about the character of Heavenly Heart Sect disciples. Even if Jiang Qiu is the real deal, I don't believe they really only found some scattered stolen goods on him. If it weren't for that huge sum involving many powers, Heavenly Heart Sect couldn't just swallow Jiang Qiu on their own—otherwise, do you think there would be today's public hearing?

Who is spreading rumors and gossiping, slandering my Heavenly Heart Sect's reputation? I personally captured this beast. A Mahayana cultivator catching a Spirit Transformation one—how could I possibly be wrong? Moreover, this boy's appearance, aura, techniques, and every detail match the evidence perfectly. And I have led Heavenly Heart Sect for over three hundred years, my whole life upright and noble, with a clear conscience before heaven and earth, and my disciples uphold the righteous path of heaven and earth. Today's public hearing is to give the world an answer, to give restless cultivation-world fellows an answer, and moreover to tell those rats hiding in the sewers—as long as my Heavenly Heart Sect stands, the bright universe stands.

Old ghost of the Heavenly Heart Palace, do you really think you caught me because your cultivation is superb, your character noble, your conscience clear before heaven and earth? Weren't you the one who started as a human trafficker, abducting women from various regions and selling them as cultivation vessels? Wasn't it also you who, in your early years, colluded with evil cultivators to improve your aptitude, setting up a shell sect and deceiving two thousand disciples, digging out their spirit roots to refine into jade marrow life-swap pills? Don't underestimate my intelligence network, you old bastard. You old ghost are far more capable than me. I only ever cheat bad people—I don't deserve to be called the Heaven-Plundering Lord. You're the one who should be called that.

Although Heavenly Heart Sect activated the Myriad Laws Sealing Formation to block spiritual power circulation, this attendant head is a celestial inheritance I obtained from an immortal's tomb, completely unaffected by the Myriad Laws Seal, and it has already merged with my soul. Those bastards from Heavenly Heart Sect can't detect this thing's existence at all. The attendant head can ignore any binding restriction and forcibly teleport the user to a random location. The drawback is the cooldown period is long enough to be measured in years. But no matter—once I escape the Myriad Laws Seal and my spiritual power recovers, most of my methods will be usable again. As for this Heavenly Heart Sect—the leaders set bad examples and the followers imitate them—a bunch of animals. They capture innocent mortals as live bait to lure and kill demon beasts. Those who survive are killed with a single sword to silence them, and after killing, they deliberately extract the souls and blood essence of those mortals to frame evil cultivators.

And you call yourselves a righteous path? You have no shame. Don't you care about your reputation? Don't you care about your innocence? I'll come play with you. I never activated the attendant head, enduring humiliation until today's public hearing just for this moment. It's time to shake this rotten mountain.

Jiang Qiu, before all fellow cultivators under heaven, honestly confess: where exactly have you hidden those 32 billion spirit stones? I can still give you a quick death. If you remain obstinate, I will make you taste every torture of purgatory—you'll beg to die but won't be allowed to. Fine, then I'll tell you all. I knew you wouldn't loosen your tongue so easily. Disciplinary Hall, step forward.

What did you just say? I said I'll confess. Wait—you were locked in the dungeon for so many days without saying a word, how come you're confessing so easily now? Do you think I'm stupid? Right now, even if I had heaven-defying ability, I couldn't turn the tide. Why would I keep hiding things at this point? I might as well honestly confess and ask for a quick death, to avoid being tortured before I die. Not bad, someone who knows what's good for him.

Where's that music coming from? Wealth, fame, power—I am the man who once deceived the entire cultivation world. Want my treasure? Go to the Myriad Demon Valley. I left everything there. Myriad Demon Valley? That place has a minor demon every five steps and a major demon every ten steps—where would there be a place to store spirit stones? Old man, have you ever been to the depths of Myriad Demon Valley? The depths of Myriad Demon Valley have terrifying demon beasts that even Mahayana cultivators fear, let alone me. Very few people in this world have ever gone there.

Trash. Just because a good-for-nothing like you couldn't go doesn't mean I couldn't, and doesn't mean the heroes of the world couldn't. How can someone keep showing off even when facing death? Actually, those 32 billion spirit stones don't belong to me. I'm just working for someone else. If you want that money, you'll not only have to deal with the demon beasts of Myriad Demon Valley, but also deal with that great lord.

Which great lord? There's someone even higher? Did you think I could repeatedly escape from Void Refinement and Dao Fusion experts with my own ability? That lord is a Mahayana expert, and one of the best spear dao masters. After entering Mahayana and finding it impossible to advance further, he conspired with me to set up schemes, defrauding huge amounts of money and heavenly treasures. But ninety-nine point nine percent of it belongs to him. Even the scraps I got, I had to depend on his mood. Those bits and pieces you recovered are my entire fortune.

But I'm quite curious—how did you manage to get around him to catch me? When I was captured, he was nearby. There's no reason this old ghost of Heavenly Heart Sect could rush to me without him having any reaction. If this old ghost had encountered that lord, a battle between two Mahayana experts would surely be earth-shaking. I would have heard the commotion and fled long ago. Yet until this old ghost caught me, I didn't hear a single sound. How strange. It can't be that the lord sold me out, right? What benefit would that give him? Could handing me over to Heavenly Heart Sect benefit that lord?

So the Heaven-Plundering Lord actually had someone even higher behind him? No, that actually makes sense. After all, for a Spirit Transformation cultivator to survive unharmed under the pursuit of many experts, there must be top-tier protection behind him. An ordinary Dao Fusion wouldn't be enough—at minimum it'd be Dao Fusion peak or even Mahayana. Given the financial resources and foundations of rogue cultivators and small-to-medium sects, it's not impossible to produce such experts, so that lord probably comes from a major sect.

That makes sense. But why would that lord sell Jiang Qiu out to Heavenly Heart Sect? What benefit does it give him? Wait—isn't the vice sect master of Heavenly Heart Sect also Mahayana, and a powerful cultivator, one of the recently emerged? When the birds are gone, the bow is put away; when the hares are dead, the hunting dogs are cooked. This whole thing is Heavenly Heart Sect's plot. Jiang Qiu was just a pawn to be discarded after use—used him to earn money, then used him to earn fame.

That makes sense. Hey man, don't talk nonsense—you ARE the vice sect master of Heavenly Heart Sect. Height and build, dao techniques—identical to that lord. Could their speculation be true? You are that lord. You've been using me all along. Once you'd earned enough money, you sold me out. Nonsense! How dare you slander my innocence, you brat! You're pointing a spear at me. You're pointing a spear at me. Righteously killing your own kin—murder to silence me. You're the one who conspired with me to deceive all our fellow cultivators under heaven. You poisoned me—when? Heavenly Heart Sect, you animals, you'll all die terrible deaths!

Sorry, the reason I could repeatedly escape from so many experts with my life intact is entirely due to my own skill. This is my original escape secret art—the Shattered Defilement Soul-Separation Art. As a special soul-type secret technique requiring no spiritual power, even the Myriad Laws Seal cannot block it. This technique allows me to destroy my internal organs, sever my life force to create a perfect fake death, and detach my soul from my body. During the corpse-qi period, it conceals heavenly secrets—even Mahayana experts cannot detect anything unusual during this time.

However, because Heavenly Heart Sect was worried about someone breaking into the execution ground, they activated several layers of formations. During the corpse-qi period, my soul cannot escape. No matter—I'll just use the attendant head directly. As long as it doesn't... Anyway, first reshape my body. Sorry to disturb you, friend. I need to borrow some clothes. Forgive me!

One thought unextinguished, radiance returns to truth; fallen jade and scattered clouds, receiving the mandate of the nation. Your mother—too small! Come out and fight me one-on-one. One intention flows like clouds and water; the seventy-two stratagems rank first; flowing clouds without fixation—oh, there's a "big" character too.

Spiritual power is hard to circulate. The spiritual power in my body is frozen solid—basically only at Qi Refining stage level. Physical strength has also become unusually weak. That soft, powerless punch just now nearly drained all my spiritual power. What the hell is going on? There's no spiritual energy in the air. This place is clearly not the cultivation world. In other words, the attendant head teleported me to another world. This world might not have spiritual energy at all—no immortal cultivation path. My cultivation is incompatible with this world's laws, so my power is suppressed by this world's principles.

This attendant head really does random teleportation—it sent me straight to another world. But without spiritual energy, can this attendant head still recharge? Can it be activated again? Won't I be unable to go back? No—although there's no spiritual energy, I can vaguely sense that a very similar power to spiritual energy exists here. The attendant head is a celestial inheritance, after all—it can't be judged by ordinary rules. Perhaps it doesn't necessarily need spiritual energy to be used. Maybe as long as there's sufficient energy, other forms of power can activate it too. I must run some experiments.