Eternal Illusion Chapter 3 The Cabin in the Forest

The Cabin in the Forest

So it's Yue, zodiac An, why are you still warm? Is it done? Let's go. I'll take you to my home. Wait. What's wrong? There's a child crying. Probably from some village near the forest.

Good child, you're safe now. Thank you, mister. What "mister"? I'm just a four-hundred-year-old youth. Mister, your clothes look just like my second brother's. Kid, why are you alone in the forest? I came looking for my second brother. What was your second brother doing in this forest? Looking for the witch to save my eldest brother.

What happened to your eldest brother? My eldest brother is a knight's squire. His health has always been good, but a month ago he was suddenly brought home, and he's been unconscious ever since. He's probably reaching the end of his lifespan. To save eldest brother, second brother decided to go into the forest to find the terrifying Border Witch. Legend says the witch commands countless powerful magics, and maybe she has a way to extend eldest brother's life. But second brother has been in the forest for a long time and hasn't come back.

Wait—your brother is reaching the end of his lifespan? How old is your eldest brother? Twenty-seven. About the same age as when our parents died. In a world with primitive medicine and constant heavy physical labor, overworked people having shorter lifespans is normal, but this is too short. Mister, have you seen my second brother? He wears clothes very similar to yours. His name is Elini. He's about your height, with a pea-sized birthmark on his face.

Mister, am I going to have no family left? Sleep for now.

Sorry for the wait, Fellow Daoist Yvur. Let's take him out of the forest first. Why save him? Isn't this a waste of time? What do you mean, a waste of time? With the time we'd spend saving him, we could get home faster and start exchanging immortal dao arts and magic sooner. Don't you want to get back to your homeland? Always wasting time on such trivial matters—life will be over in the blink of an eye. Saving people is a waste of time?

Humans are like ants—if one dies, there will always be plenty more. And since they've already trespassed into the forest, it means they've mentally prepared themselves to die in the mouths of demon beasts. So if these humans die, they die—what does it have to do with you and me? What are you even saying? Aren't you and I both human? Isn't helping our own kind the normal thing to do?

Is it? Maybe that's normal for you. Witches long ago left the category of humanity. And no witch likes humans. They're always noisy, weak and useless, greedy and ugly. They're cunning, mercenary, crude, rude, stupid yet suspicious, seemingly honest but actually vicious. They kill each other over gold and women. They start conflicts over land and resources that never belonged to any human.

They will always crave things beyond their station. Since we walk the path of seeking truth and immortality, there's no need to pay attention to such ugly creatures. Humans can live and die on their own—I have no need and no obligation to interact with them. Actually, the same applies to you. If you didn't have those strange powers, your life or death would have nothing to do with me.

All right, then—this person. Fellow Daoist Yvur, you want to learn my cultivation lineage, right? Then I'll first tell you a key point. Our immortals and your gods are broadly similar. In terms you can understand: as long as one's talent is high enough, humans can potentially gain power rivaling the gods. Do you agree? Of course.

Then why do those gifted individuals fail to achieve immortality? Gaining power is easy. What's truly difficult is possessing divinity. Power without divinity—you're destined to never become a god, never achieve immortality. If even humanity is abandoned, how can one speak of divinity? Of the great dao of eternal life? Then what am I supposed to do? Think about it yourself first. For now, lead me out of the forest. I need to take him home.

This is the nearest village. Want to come in with me? Brother, look—such a beautiful lady! I've never seen anyone so beautiful. That outfit—isn't that a mage? Could it be the Border Witch? Avert your eyes, don't look at her. Is that the Border Witch who eats twenty children per meal? The Border Witch with eight heads and sixteen arms? The Border Witch who keeps seventy-two demon kings?

How did your reputation end up like this? To prevent humans from accidentally finding my cabin, I set up illusions in the forest that reflect each person's deepest fear. Probably they or their ancestors triggered the illusions and thought what they saw was me. Wonder if that kid lives around here. That shorty, five chi minus half an inch—that's you, come out.

What is it, Witch-sama? And me, Witch-sama—did you need something? Do you know this brat? Yes, he's Norn. Does his family live in this village? Tell me the exact location. I'll tell you, but don't point at me. This is the place. Looks just like Norn—this must be his eldest brother.

He really is at the end of his lifespan. Internal organs are all healthy, no lesions at all. Bone age clearly in his twenties, physical strength at its lifetime peak, yet somehow in a state near death from old age. How strange. Fellow Daoist Yvur, take a look and see if you can identify the problem. Are you okay? I'm fine—just hungry, a bit dizzy.

He's simply at the end of his natural lifespan. He'll die tonight at the earliest, three days at the most. I've been researching how to postpone lifespan limits without any progress—do you think I can save him? Uncle—Norn, let me tell you some good news. I'm actually a student at a magic school. My teacher just sent a message: they found a young man named Elini. Because he defied convention, they decided to make an exception and take him as a disciple, so they shattered the void and took him away.

What does that mean? Is my second brother alive? Of course. But you won't see him for a while. He'll be staying at the University of Uhracleden, studying magic with my teachers. Then how can I see him? First take care of your eldest brother. I'll visit your village again in a few days, and I'll teach you some magic on behalf of my teacher. When you're capable of crossing the mountains alone, you can go to Cledon University and see your second brother.

You're going to teach him magic? The contract only says you need to teach me magic. It doesn't say I can't teach it to others. This child is all alone—he at least needs some ability to protect himself. Always playing tricks. I can't stop you from teaching him, but I have a question: since you've decided to help him, why deceive him? Even a well-intentioned lie—when it shatters, he may still resent you.

I'm a swindler to begin with. Why would I care who I offend or who resents me? Fellow Daoist Yvur, kindness doesn't always yield good results. Accept this fact, understand it, get used to it, and on the basis of accepting it, continue doing good. Those who seek the dao value dao-heart most. Don't you think only this counts as having a firm dao-heart? Is that so?

So this is the witch's forest cabin—looks pretty cozy. What the hell? Boom. Your room is ready. What do you mean, "ready"? Right, Yvur, can you treat illnesses? Why? This is my mother. For as long as I can remember, she's been in this unconscious state. Though she is indeed nearing the end of her lifespan, normally one only falls unconscious in the final moments before death—not remaining in a perpetual coma like this.

I've examined her with various methods and could only detect abnormally weak spiritual essence, but couldn't find the specific cause. She really is near the end of her lifespan—this body is nearly five thousand years old. Five thousand years—even a Mahayana cultivator would meet their end. But your mother's coma indeed isn't due to lifespan. The real reason is that what lies here is essentially just an empty shell.

Empty shell? We cultivators believe humans contain three hun souls and seven po souls. Only with all souls present can one live normally and healthily. But your mother's three hun and seven po have mostly gone astray—the Tai Guang and Shuang Ling are both gone. In this condition, her still being alive is already a miracle, let alone waking up. Then what do we do?

Her lost souls haven't disappeared—they've just gone somewhere unknown. In principle, I can use soul-summoning arts to pull her souls back, combined with my Nine-Revolution Soul-Returning Pill to stitch her souls back into her body. But the ingredients for the Nine-Revolution Soul-Returning Pill—this world might not have a single one of them. So at minimum, I first need to understand this world's various medicinal materials, understand their properties, and try to adapt the cultivation world's pill formula into a version suitable for this world based on local herbs.

Are you serious? There are many books on potion-making in my study—you can read them freely. I'll use magic to help you understand the text. If you can wake my mother, everything in this cabin is yours to use. I can't guarantee it, but if I can successfully make the Nine-Revolution Soul-Returning Pill, I'd say about seventy percent chance of waking her. Thank you—truly, thank you. We agreed to transmit my cultivation lineage to you, but your mother's matter is more urgent, so take me to your study first.

I've roughly browsed through the *National Herbal Illustrated Reference*. The Nine-Revolution Soul-Returning Pill requires seventy-eight ingredients. Since some herbs have similar properties, it's hard to judge which are suitable substitutes right now. If accounting for all trial-and-error ingredients, we'll need about two hundred and thirty. Let me ask her which of these are easy to obtain.

What's that smell? You have clothes, sure—are you brewing a potion? No, this is tonight's dinner. What did you cook? Raven frog eggs, demon blood clams, corpse-fragrance grass, poison stink blood fruit—both meat and vegetables, very balanced nutrition. Fellow Daoist, as a Spirit Transformation cultivator I've long since practiced inedia—I can sustain myself on wind and dew, so no need to eat.

I worked hard to make this soup, and I can't finish it alone. Won't it be wasted if you don't eat? I think sometimes waste isn't necessarily a bad thing. Must I drink this soup? Of course! I'm very confident in my cooking. Is it like stinky tofu—smells bad but tastes good? Bottoms up, brothers. Did I just die? How is it? Isn't it delicious?

What's happening? A strange power suddenly appeared inside my body. That's mana. Why do I have mana? Don't underestimate a witch's wisdom. Even such an ordinary meal, as long as it's made by me, has effects comparable to top-tier potions. What a curious sensation. And this mana doesn't repel spiritual power—on the contrary, the two actually merged together. This is a yin-yang symbol! The previously blocked spiritual power circulation actually became much more fluid with the infusion of mana. In other words, as long as I can continue absorbing mana, I can gradually recover my original power. This is unbelievable—spiritual power and mana are actually complementary forces. That said, Yvur might genuinely be able to cultivate immortality. If I inject some spiritual power into her body, she can nourish the spiritual power with her own mana—no spirit roots needed to enter Qi Refining. A witch from a fantasy world can actually cultivate immortality—is that even right?

I've confirmed it—most of the ingredients are easy to find. Twenty of them are extremely rare, and I don't have them in my stock either. We may need to ask around in human towns. However, though Blood Soul Flower is rare, some kind-hearted fellow has already collected it for us—right over there. Dragons have the habit of collecting treasure, but that female dragon has a problem in the head: she has no interest in shiny gold things. She likes collecting spiritual exotic herbs and using magic to tie them into little grass dolls. She gives each grass doll a name, writes biographies for them, designs thirty-two different countries for them, eight different currencies, and over a hundred local customs. She even uses those grass dolls to arrange battle formations and simulate international wars.

See the little red flower at the very top of the herb mountain? That's Blood Soul Flower. How do we get it? Challenge the dragon to a duel? She helps me collect many rare materials. Killing her over one Blood Soul Flower would be a waste. I said duel, not kill her. So we don't need to fight her—we can just take the Blood Soul Flower directly. What do you mean, "take"? Do you expect her to kindly give it to us for free? Not exactly. But I often take things from her—I have experience. The next magic, I'll teach you later—for now, watch the effect.

Time Stop! Well, man, I figured you as the Border Witch might be strong, but I didn't expect you'd be this ferocious. Got it. I can only pause for ten seconds—time's almost up, let's withdraw. Some people stop time for nine seconds and try to conquer the world; you stop time for ten seconds and only steal one flower. Time-manipulation magic can only achieve localized time stops. Even so, it requires enormous mana to cast. A normal mage couldn't use it even if they learned it, because one use would drain their life force—and might not even be enough.

I have enormous mana. Other mages can barely cast thirteenth-order magic even at the cost of their lives; I can chain-cast it freely. But even I can only pause time for ten seconds within a five-kilometer radius once every eight hours. May I ask—where would Fellow Daoist Yvur rank in this world in terms of strength? Considering only destructive power and number of magics mastered—top ten. There are few creatures in this world with greater destructive power than me, and hard to find anyone who has mastered more magic than me. I just crossed over and immediately met this world's top-tier power—isn't that great?

Of course, I also have a fatal weakness. What is it? Who would honestly reveal their own weaknesses? Next, let's go to a bigger human town. The nearest large city should be Silver Creek City. The journey is quite long, and we'll need to make a round trip—make sure not to forget anything essential. Nothing to bring. But wouldn't a master like you be able to tear through the void? I can. You actually can! But the mana density in the void's narrow gaps is extremely high and highly destructive. With your current strength, you couldn't withstand that level of pressure.

Besides, even if your strength matched mine, we don't need to tear the void. Why? Do you have money? No. Me neither. So we'll fly there—and kill some bandit groups and powerful demon beasts along the way to collect bounties when we reach Silver Creek City. Most of the ingredients are in hand, but seven of the most critical ones still have no leads. We went to the adventurer's guild in Silver Creek City and posted a commission to find the herbs, and also asked Father Leon of the church to keep an eye out for news. Though that priest doesn't look like a good person, for now we can only wait patiently.

Jiang Qiu, Jiang Qiu—look, am I doing the Sword Control Formula correctly? Don't focus too much on the sword. Sword control is different from your telekinesis—you don't need to concentrate on the object being controlled. It's about intent: the heart moves, intent follows; the sword moves with the dao. Can you be clearer? You're too vague—who can understand that? Western immortality cultivation isn't as complex and detailed as magic. It's mainly about the non-duality of great and small. Great dao principles are often very simple, without complexity. What's truly difficult is realizing them yourself.

If I explain too much, you'll memorize it as knowledge, and you won't have the process of independent awakening and insight. Immortal cultivation is so hard—magic is simpler. In my view, it's the opposite. This magic is weird as hell—casting feels like solving math problems. Right, Yvur, we're almost at Norn's village, aren't we? Yes. Why? Let's check on him—I promised to teach him some magic.