Li Mazi told me that they had decided to take the stairs, but later found thatthey could neverreach the end. He was flustered, so he pulledRu Xue to return to us. Although they saw the corridor right in front of them, the top of the stairs seemed to be even higher thantheHimalayas. They triedbut couldn’tleave the place.

Fortunately, the phone callstill wentthrough. Ru Xuewasso scared that shealmost cried.

“All right, calm down. I’m coming!”

I hung up the call andsaid toChuyi, “Theyprobablyencountereda road-blocking ghost. We should hurry—”

Before I could finish talking, Chuyi, who wassitting next to me, suddenlymoved backwards. I turned around to look. Yin Xinyue and Xiao Gaoalso movedfar from me.The same thing happenedto the tables, chairs, the bar counter, and the other customers. The place was empty. It lookedlike the space around mehad beenstretchedendlessly in justtheblink of an eye.

Whilemoving away,Chuyi screamed, “It’s illusion magic!Bite your ton—”

However, his voice fadeduntil I could no longer hear it.At the same time, his body began to shrink until he was as big as a sesame seed. He disappeared shortlyafter that.

Itried to bitethe tip of my tongue. However, my tongue was like stone. I couldn’t bite it. I tried to talkbut couldn’t make a sound, either.

Not good. It must be the drinkI justhad!

If itwasjust anillusion, everything was fake. I turned and rushed in thedirection Chuyiwent. However, the floor tiles underneath me moved backward. I had run for a long timebut still didn’t see anyone.

I was flusteredandtook out aKsitigarbhaTalisman, palming iton my forehead. Unfortunately,thisdidn’t work, either.

I gave up runningand saton the ground, waiting to berescued. Time movedveryslowly, andI wasn’t sure ifI had been here for a few hoursor afew minutes. Anyway,besidesfeeling bored, I wasn’t tired.

I had drunk a few glasses of wine, so it would make senseif Ifelttipsy. However,I didn’t.

I suddenlyrealized something. This illusion stretched both space and time endlessly,affectingpeople’sbrains. I’dheard thatastrong magiciancouldtrap people for a few seconds, butthosefew seconds would feellike aneternity. People’sbrainscouldn’t endure this kind ofstress. In the end, the brain would be overloaded, which would make thevictimenterastate of suspended animation.

I didn’t know how long I had waited; perhaps six or seven hourshad passed. Anyway,I started to panic when I thoughtthat only a few seconds might have passed in the real world. I might have to waitten yearsto seeYin Xinyue, Chuyi, or Li Mazi again. I felt so downthat I started to cry.

At thismoment, a blue light flashed inthe distance. A sword was flying toward me. I was scaredand preparedto run. However,the sword was like a missile that had locked me as its target. I couldn’t dodge it.Fortunately, I recognized it was Chuyi’s eight-facedHan sword. I stoppedand pulledmyself together.

The sword zoomed through the long spaceandpreciselystabbedmy glabella. After that short pain, the endless space created bytheillusion shrank. The bar’s interiorreturnedto my side.

I saw Chuyi holding the sword. It was touchingmy glabella. The effect of theillusion hadn’t ended yetas timewasstillpassingslowly. In my eyes,the whole scenewas like a slow-motion video. Moreover, all I heard wasabuzzing sound. Nothing was distinctive enough tomake sense.

When the tip of the sword left my face, timereturnednormal.Afterward, Chuyi swiftly used his sword tostabYin Xinyue’s glabella, while his other hand smashed a glass on the counter.He pickedup a shardandscratched Xiao Gao’s glabella. Xiao Gao shrieked then felltothe ground.

Yin Xinyue’s eyesreturned to normal. She criedand huggedme. “Brother Zhang, I thought I would never see you again! Itwasso scary! So scary!”

Xiao Gao woke upand rolledon the ground. He criedandcalledfor his mother,scaringthe other customers in the bar.

“Chuyi, how longwere wetrapped in the illusion?”

“Not even one second.”

“What? I thought I was there for at least ten hours!” cried Yin Xinyue.

I turned to the bar counter. The bartender that had just served us was gone. I guessed hemight bethe fox spirit.

He must have put something in our drinks. Except for Chuyi, who had drunk orange juice, the three of uswere affected bythe magic!

The moment we were trappedin theillusion, Chuyi used his fastest speed todeal withthe magiccaston us. If he had been a few seconds slower, we would have been trapped there for a few days or even a few years. It was terrifying!

However, I knewthat there was no time to waste. We left the bar quickly.

Wethen saw Li Mazi and Ru Xue hugging each other. They werecrying on the stairs.

Chuyi wipedthesword tip with his sleeves and rushed to them. Hisstrengthand skills were that of a real master. The touch of his swordwaslike adragonflysurfing on thewater. The tip touched their glabellasand left immediately. Theduo was savedfrom the illusion.

Li Mazi criedand blamedus.“What took you so long?! Do you know how long weweretrapped here? I almostbecame crazy!”I caughttheglimpse of a figure wearing white clothesinthe corner of the corridor. The figure flashed for a moment then disappeared.I didn’t have time to listen to Li Mazi. I took out the Sirius Whipand chasedafter thefigure.

As soon as Imoved, Chuyi quickly followed me. When we reached the corner, the white-clothed figure dashed fasterand enteredthe elevatoron theother end of the corridor. Then,the figureturned to see us.

It was a fox spirit in the shape of a teenager.The figurehad a pair of triangularears and a red, fluffy tailthat waggedbehindit.

This teenager looked prettysimilar to the fox spirit wesawyesterday. But this onewasa little girl!

Therearetwo fox spirits?

The white-clothedteenagegirl gave us a mocking smile.Rightbefore the elevator closed, Chuyi took out a Ghost Sealing Pouch. He held one end of the rope and threw the pouch away.

The Ghost Sealing Pouch released a black mist in midair,which enteredthe elevator. The mist then turned into a bloodyandburly figure with white eyes.

The little girlfeltthreatened. Her mouthbecamelong and pointy, and she showed her sharp fangs.Then, sheroared and started to fightwiththat muscular figure.

When we reached the elevator, it had alreadystarted to move down. Theelevator next to uswason thefirst floor.As we didn’t have time to waste,wetookthe stairs.

This hotel had twenty floors. As we rushed downstairs, Iwas almost out ofbreath. When we reached the lobbyon thefirst floor, my clothes were damp with sweat. I had to plant my hand on the wall to support my bodyas I gaspedfor breath.magic

“It’s not too late!” Chuyi sprinted past me. I was surprised that his facedidn’t change color. Hewasn’t sweating, either.This man looked slender anddelicate, but his physique was unexpectedly tough.

I thought to myself,Ihave towork out more.

The elevatorwas still on thethird floor. We hadsurpasseditby running. It turned out that thosechasingscenesin moviesweren’tthatexaggerated.

We carefully watched the elevator. When the doors opened, the walls inside were dyedredwith ghost blood.I guessed themuscular figure had been torn into pieces. No matter what, he was just a soul. His power wasn’t as strong as a monster with a profound cultivation base.

However,the little girl was gone. I then noticed that the vent on the elevator ceilinghad beenpushed aside.

Did she escape from there?

AsI was thinking, a piece of paper stained with bloodblewout of the elevator. It flew pastus.

It was a closed elevator, so where did the wind come from? It was unnatural.I raised my foot and stamped on it.

“Ouch!”

The sheet of paper transformed into a little girl. I had stepped on her fluffy, big tail.