After a moment of silence, the system said, "Rest assured, no matter which way the host chooses to die, there will be no pain!"
Qin Jiujiu asked with a hint of doubt, "Really?"
The system could only repeat sincerely, "Of course it's true!"
Qin Jiujiu finally felt at ease. As the wind blew, her tears quickly dried. She pushed Xie Jing, and he then let her go.
Her eyes and nose were a little red, making her look like a rabbit. Xie Jing was somewhat at a loss. Looking at her face, he slowly released his hand that was on her.
"Xie Jing, shall we play a game?" Qin Jiujiu asked with feigned solemnity.
The person who had been crying so sadly just moments ago suddenly changed her mood. The drastic shift surprised Xie Jing, but seeing that it was Qin Jiujiu, it seemed plausible.
"What game?"
Qin Jiujiu continued, "I'll jump off this city wall... perhaps this illusion can be broken."
Upon hearing this, Xie Jing suddenly grabbed her hand. "What if jumping down doesn't break it either?"
Qin Jiujiu smiled and said, "If I say it can be broken, it can be broken!"
Xie Jing didn't let go of her hand. Looking at her face stained with blood, he said, "But you'll feel pain!"
Qin Jiujiu's heart suddenly trembled. She saw the man in front of her looking at her intently, his eyes even conveying his sincerity.
She avoided his gaze, merely removed his hand from hers, and then with all her might, she ran to the top of the city wall.
"System, I'm going to jump now!"
This was clearly a reminder to the system that what it said had better be true. If she jumped and the illusion wasn't broken, her mission would truly be over.
The system could only respond, "Host, jump!"
Without any trace of pity, Qin Jiujiu said angrily, "You must not have a girlfriend..."
Before the system could answer her, Qin Jiujiu had already jumped. Xie Jing, clutching his wound, rushed to the edge of the wall but couldn't grab her sleeve.
Looking down from above, he could still see her body falling.
His eyes turned scarlet, and dark mist gradually coiled above his head. Frames of pictures flashed through his mind, and the memories belonging to Xie Jing returned.
But all he saw was Qin Jiujiu's increasingly blurry face.
"A Jiu!"
No one answered, only the sound of the wind blurred his vision and chilled his heart.
Blood stained his eyes red.
Gradually, the snow melted into the blood, forming a pool of bloody water that seemed to seep into Xie Jing's eyes. The bloody water gradually disappeared, and in its place, his eyes saw a vast expanse of yellow sand.
He was in the middle of a desert.
Who else could the person lying not far away be but Qin Jiujiu?
Xie Jing hurried towards Qin Jiujiu. She was leaning against a large tree, which was tied with red ribbons, making it extremely eerie.
Bai Qianluo and Xie Yun were lying not far away. In front of them was a pile of extinguished firewood, which looked like it had only recently gone out, still emitting smoke.
So the illusion had only lasted for one night.
The strange rainforest was only a part of the illusion. They had been in this desert the entire time and had not moved. This strange tree was the key to entering the illusion.
"A Jiu!"
Xie Jing gently patted Qin Jiujiu's shoulder. She was still wearing her fox fur coat. A blazing sun had already risen over the desert.
As Qin Jiujiu slowly woke up, Xie Yun and Bai Qianluo also clearly heard the movement and looked towards the two of them.
"Xie Jing?" Qin Jiujiu opened her eyes and saw Xie Jing. For a moment, she couldn't distinguish between the illusion and reality. She tentatively spoke and heard the person in front of her say in a cold voice, "The illusion is broken."
Qin Jiujiu breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the system hadn't lied to her. Not only was the illusion broken, but she hadn't felt any pain when she fell from the city wall.
Bai Qianluo and Xie Yun were confused about what was happening, only feeling that their memories were very chaotic. Qin Jiujiu straightened up and looked at the two of them.
They looked around at everything with puzzled expressions. It seemed that the memories of Su Mu and Yue Nansang had not disappeared. At this moment, they still hadn't figured out the truth.
Qin Jiujiu wanted to stand up but found her legs had gone numb. She almost sat down on the ground, but someone grabbed her arm. Xie Jing held her hand, and she didn't fall.
He whispered in her ear, "Be careful!"
Qin Jiujiu's face turned slightly red. She gently pushed Xie Jing away. Xie Jing didn't insist and naturally moved a little further away from her. After she stood steadily, he watched her walk towards Xie Yun and Bai Qianluo.
"Sister Bai, Brother Xie, have you had a strange memory?"
Bai Qianluo and Xie Yun were both startled. Bai Qianluo then asked, "Could Jiujiu have one too?"
In the illusion, apart from their names and identities, everyone had their own appearance. So Bai Qianluo tentatively asked, "I just had a very long dream, and I dreamt of a place called Anzhou..."
Just then, sandstorms suddenly swept in, and everyone became vigilant.
However, this time was clearly different. The sandstorm quickly subsided, and a woman in black appeared within it.
The woman's face was pale, her eye sockets were dark circles, her clothes and hair were black, and even her lips were black. She looked like a vengeful ghost from hell, coming to claim their lives.
"Hahahaha..."
Her laughter was extremely eerie, making people's scalps tingle. Qin Jiujiu tentatively asked, "Yue Nansang?"
Bai Qianluo was startled. She was all too familiar with this name. In that dream, she was Yue Nansang, the little princess of Anzhou.
Upon hearing this name, the woman's laughter turned into a scream. Her form instantly changed. The woman in front of them was clearly an exotic woman dressed in red, bright and beautiful, with none of the eerie horror from before.
With the screams, the woman in front of them continuously transformed between black and red clothing. Finally, all the red ribbons on the tree disappeared and turned into wisps of red light that pounced towards the woman. Eventually, all the red light converged into a single streak of red light and merged into the woman's body.
"This body is yours that you sold to me! It's mine... mine... Ah..."
The eerie, ethereal voice grew fainter, and the woman in front of them had completely turned red.
"You are Yue Nansang," Qin Jiujiu stated with certainty.
The red-clothed woman smiled with Qin Jiujiu. Her smile was bright and unrestrained, making Qin Jiujiu's heart flutter. This little princess of Anzhou was indeed as famous as she was rumored to be, even more beautiful than Bai Qianluo and Liu Jin.
"Little girl, thank you!" Yue Nansang's eyes were sincere, but Qin Jiujiu clearly saw her lower body gradually become transparent and then disappear. Her upper body also began to blur.
"You..." Before Qin Jiujiu could finish her sentence, she heard Yue Nansang continue, "Little girl, sometimes don't be too persistent. Remember to follow your heart..."
Just as she was about to disappear, Xie Yun suddenly asked, "Have you heard of the Hua Yang Xie family?"
As the woman was about to completely disappear, she said, "Go to the Imperial City. There you will find the answers you seek!"
Her figure had vanished, but her voice still echoed in their ears, "Su Mu, it's a pity that our fates end here..."
After her death, she used her soul to exchange with the Yaksha ghosts for these illusions. She had waited here for twenty years, unable to wait for Su Mu, but instead trapping everyone who intruded here to their deaths.
The corpses seen in the rainforest had all died in the illusion.
And Yue Nansang, once the bright little princess of Anzhou, would be scattered into dust, with no possibility of reincarnation. Even on the Yellow Springs Road, she and Su Mu would never meet again.
Perhaps that young general was also waiting for her on the Naihe Bridge...