Chapter 2841 — The Incomprehensible Scene

"None!" Feng Shihua shook his head. "These peerless martial arts and mental techniques from ancient times have no counter. You can only guard against them—they cannot be broken."

"Then what do we do?" Zhao Qilei cried out in alarm. "If some spirit beast turns up in a moment, won't the leader be in danger?"

"Exactly. That's why I intend to explain the details of this technique to all of you. Many hands make light work—let's all think it over together and see if there's any way to solve this!" Feng Shihua said.

"Then why didn't you say so earlier?" Zhao Qilei asked urgently.

"I was just about to when you cut me off!" Feng Shihua gave a bitter smile. "This technique is actually one that can influence another's mind. Zhang Naipao channels his body's true qi in a special manner and drives it into Brother Lin's head, putting Brother Lin into a state of madness. His soul—what we cultivators call the primordial spirit—is drawn by the true qi into an illusion, and the self is lost. Then, in his mind, beautiful memories of the past resurface—but the resurfaced memories become twisted! For example: suppose the few of us successfully pass the Xuandan Sect's trial. That ought to be a wonderful memory for us, wouldn't you say? Yet within the illusion, that memory warps. It might become us being killed, or killing one another, or being eaten by spirit beasts—in short, the memory is completely transformed, and it feels as though you are really there, driving a person insane..."

"Ah! So bizarre and sinister?" Li Ciba said in astonishment. "As expected of the demon sect—to think they have such a vicious move..."

"That is also why this technique is called the Hellish Yin-Demon Fist. One struck by the Hellish Yin-Demon Fist is as if plunged into hell, in agony beyond all escape," Feng Shihua said with a nod.

"Then... can we capture the leader and forcibly wake him?" Zhao Qilei asked.

"No. From what I know, one struck by the Hellish Yin-Demon Fist generally cannot be awakened by outsiders. There is only a very slim chance of waking him; in most cases it either does nothing at all, or, worse, drives the primordial spirit straight out of the body, scattering the soul to its doom. Theoretically, we can only wait for Brother Lin's primordial spirit to awaken on its own and destroy the illusion! The inner demon—we outsiders have no way at all, unless we are peak late Heaven-rank experts who also know the secret of sending the primordial spirit out of the body and can communicate with Brother Lin through it. Otherwise, a normal awakening is all but impossible..."

"This won't do, that won't do... what on earth are we supposed to do?" Zhao Qilei paced frantically in circles, yet could find no way out at all!

"Not bad—quite learned. My supreme skill, and you've got it about seven or eight parts right." Zhang Naipao suddenly clapped his hands and said in admiration. "You're right. Even I myself have no way to wake Wei Zhao! In fact, if it were possible, I truly wouldn't wish him dead! His life—I'd like to leave it to Brother Liang..."

In truth, there was one more thing Zhang Naipao did not say: that if Wei Zhao lived, it was also a kind of driving force for his own painstaking cultivation, and if Wei Zhao died, he did not know whether that force would remain. The Chrysanthemum Treasure Manual required hatred to cultivate—the more hatred in one's heart, the faster one's cultivation advanced; without it, cultivation did not go so smoothly.

Zhao Qilei glared at Zhang Naipao in fury, but did not believe his words, taking them for sarcasm. If he did not want Wei Zhao dead, why resort to such a lethal move?

Just as everyone stood helpless with no idea what to do, all at once a Earth-rank spirit beast came walking from not far off—and the direction it was heading was precisely the direction Wei Zhao was walking. The sight struck everyone with terror, and even Zhang Naipao felt a chill in his heart, certain that Wei Zhao was now doomed beyond any doubt!

Though that spirit beast was only an early Earth-rank beast, it was the most difficult to deal with of all spirit beasts—the giant ape. This kind of spirit beast resembled a human in appearance and could also cultivate martial arts; its movements were extraordinarily agile. Even a Heaven-rank cultivator who met one would be hard-pressed to save himself—let alone Wei Zhao, a late Earth-rank expert who had lost his mind.

"Leader, watch out!" Zhao Qilei shouted at Wei Zhao, but it had no effect whatsoever. Wei Zhao seemed not to hear, still charging head-on toward the giant ape, running forward!

The two of them were like the two cars approaching each other in a word problem. Zhao Qilei groaned inwardly, calculating in his mind how much time remained before Wei Zhao and the giant ape met. This might well be the last span of Wei Zhao's life in this world.

The scene of Dongfang Bushu being sent flying to his death by a swipe of that crawling spirit beast's tail was still vivid before their eyes! Generally speaking, when human cultivators drew near a spirit beast, it was taken as ill intent on their part, and the beast would launch an attack of its own accord—especially here in the Five Baleful Wildlands. This was the spirit beasts' own territory to begin with; with so many cultivators suddenly intruding, the beasts bore these cultivators deep hostility.

Wei Zhao and the giant ape drew closer and closer. The giant ape seemed to have spotted Wei Zhao running toward it too, for it suddenly halted and looked at him. However, it seemed somewhat puzzled—it reached up a forelimb to scratch its head, then shook its head and continued walking forward...

Though this strange behavior of the giant ape left everyone present bewildered, none of them doubted that it would attack Wei Zhao. So long as it had discovered him, there was no reason it would ever let him off.

Thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters, five meters, one meter... Zhao Qilei squeezed his eyes shut in fright. Feng Shihua, Li Ciba, and Ge Xian also held their breath, scarcely daring to look straight ahead toward Wei Zhao. Zhang Naipao merely shook his head and thought: Wei Zhao, blame only your bad luck and your inferior skill—if you die, then you die.

Yet at this moment there was one—no, it should be said, one spirit beast—that was not worried for Wei Zhao. What it worried about was not whether the giant ape would attack Wei Zhao, but rather how Wei Zhao could possibly recover to normal from this state of madness.

Just when everyone thought the giant ape would strike, Wei Zhao brushed right past it. Though the giant ape looked at Wei Zhao a few more times, it did not raise a hand against him, but continued walking forward, no longer glancing back at Wei Zhao as he ran off into the distance.

"Ah!" Feng Shihua was stunned, staring incredulously at Wei Zhao, who had escaped death. He simply could not fathom why the giant ape had not attacked Wei Zhao. RS