781 Central Hub

“Previously, I encountered quite a number of illusions that were created bythis realm…they were all people whom I am acquainted with. After which…” LinDong was a little embarrassed as he looked at the beautiful lady before him. Hespread his hands outwards and explained himself.

Ling Qingzhu glanced at Lin Dong. After which, she gently inclined her head.She did not have any intention of making a fuss over this matter.

“You didn’t meet any?” Lin Dong was a little puzzled by her reaction. Heimmediately knitted his brows slightly and inquired. Those illusions earliercaused him to feel extremely irritated. Although they did not cause him anyactual harm, the feeling of being attacked by people he knew with was notpleasant at all.

“You’re overthinking.” Ling Qingzhu’s eyes were a little strange as she staredat Lin Dong. After which, she answered calmly.

“What?” Lin Dong was momentarily stunned. He was unable to make sense of LingQingzhu’s words.

Ling Qingzhu involuntarily lifted her eyebrows when she saw Lin Dong’ssomewhat lost expression. She spoke indifferently, “After so many years, youseem to have lost your intelligence from before?”

“There is clearly a formation within this Burning Sky Ancient Stash and we areall trapped within it. Although I do not know what formation it is… there aremany things here that are not created by it, rather, they are created fromone’s heart… illusion and reality have been mixed together. It is rathermysterious.”

Lin Dong slowly frowned. He was not stupid. He began to come to a realizationafter hearing Ling Qingzhu’s words.

“You are saying that those illusions appeared only because I let myimagination run wild…”

Ling Qingzhu nodded and said, “Calm your heart and focus your mind. Theseillusions will naturally fall apart without any need to attack. The reason youmet those illusions is because you did not control your thoughts.”

Lin Dong was speechless. He did not expect that those troublesome thingsactually originated from himself. Now that he thought about it, that firstillusion seemed to have appeared when he was worried about Qingtan and the rest…

“It is quite a strange formation. I never expected that it was actuallycapable of such feats…” Lin Dong voiced his thoughts. Although Ling Qingzhumade it sound simple, just how many people could truly calm one’s heart untilit became as quiet as still water? Even with Lin Dong’s character, he hadfallen into the trap after entering this place, much less others. After all,not everyone possessed Ling Qingzhu’s icy cold character.

“This formation’s illusions are only a form of hindrance. There is amysterious and scorching energy permeating this realm. Once that energy invadesone’s body, it would affect one’s mind and result in one losing control andturning crazy.” Ling Qingzhu glanced at Lin Dong in a strange manner after shementioned this point. This was because the latter seemed to be unaffected bythe scorching energy.

Lin Dong spread his hands. Since he had the Devouring Ancestral Symbol toguard his body, that so-called scorching energy would be devoured once itentered his body. Hence, he did not face any troubles in this aspect.

“In that case, is the place we are currently at an illusion or reality?” LinDong’s feet lightly prodded the bright red ground, causing some dust to floatupwards as he spoke.

“This is the most peculiar aspect of this formation. It causes one to beunable to distinguish between reality and illusion…” Ling Qingzhu gently shookher head. She had also roamed around this place for some time. However, she hadyet to find a way to escape.

“No matter what kind of formation it is, there must be a central hub. If wecan reach it, we should be able to find a way to break this formation.” LinDong lifted his head. His eyes narrowed as he looked to the front and said.

“The space here is distorted. Can you locate the central hub?” Ling Qingzhuknitted her brows. She was similarly aware of this fact. However, this realmhad been distorted by the formation. If they randomly roamed around, they wouldonly end up being stuck in this formation forever.

“I should be able to. If you trust me, you can follow me. After all, it mustbe fate for us to meet here.”

Lin Dong smiled. After which, he lifted his foot and walked into the distance.Although the bearings of this space had been shielded by this formation, LinDong was still able to rely on the Mysterious Stone Talisman within him tosense an extremely obscure ripple from a certain direction.

Ling Qingzhu gazed at Lin Dong’s back. She hesitated for a moment beforefinally following him. This place was quite strange. Hence, she naturally didnot wish to give up if there was a way to escape. However, following Lin Dongin this manner felt a little unnatural for her.

The two of them journeyed across the bright red land. However, they did nottalk much. From a certain point of view, the relationship between the two was alittle complicated. This complication clearly caused the two of them to beunable to treat the other party as an ordinary friend.

This somewhat silent atmosphere lasted for nearly half an hour. Lin Dong ledthe way at the front. He relied on the stone talisman in his body tocontinuously sense the obscure ripple that was being emitted from this strangespace.

Ling Qingzhu quietly followed behind Lin Dong. Occasionally, her eyes woulddrift towards the back of the skinny figure in front of her. These five yearshad caused the latter to undergo quite a dramatic change…

“How is Lin Langtian currently doing?” Ling Qingzhu suddenly spoke after along silence.

Lin Dong’s footsteps paused. He turned his head and asked with a faint smile,“Why do you suddenly ask about him?”

Ling Qingzhu did not reply. She merely stared at Lin Dong with her clear eyes.She had remembered the high, mighty and indifferent attitude that Lin Langtianhad when facing Lin Dong in the ancient tomb at Great Yan Empire five yearsago. At that time, it was likely that Lin Langtian would have never imaginedthat the weak young man whom he looked down on, would have reached this levelfive years later.

“He joined the Hundred Empire War together with me. However, he was killed byme at atop the Hundred Empire Mountain.” Lin Dong said with a flat voice.

“I guess you can say that he was someone that you wanted to surpass in thepast, right… you are truly persistent. Once you have set a target, you willdefinitely surpass him. Perhaps I have also become your target after ourseparation at the mountain top back then? I truly do not know if I should feelhonoured or uneasy.” Ling Qingzhu spoke in a soft and slow voice.

“Lin Langtian seriously wounded my father back then and there was a deepenmity between us. You and him are different.” Lin Dong frowned and said.

“Those words that I said to you back then had hurt your pride. Don’t you hateme for it?” Ling Qingzhu smiled faintly and said.

“It was the truth… without sufficient strength, emphasising too much on one’spride will only cause others to mock you. Moreover, at that time, I must haveseemed like a toad1<http://www.wuxiaworld.com/wdqk-index/wdqk-chapter-779/#fn-148625-1> in youreyes…” Lin Dong shrugged and replied.

“You do not truly mean what you say. There is quite a great deal of resentmentin your words…”

Ling Qingzhu laughed for a moment. After which, she said, “I do not carewhether you hate me or not. I will still repeat those words even if I was givenanother chance. However, I do admire you for reaching this stage within a shortfive years…”

The lips under Ling Qingzhu’s veil were lifted when she spoke these words.This was because she was clearly aware of the starting point of this young manin front of her. This was the reason why she felt surprised at the latter’scurrent achievements. Otherwise, in her eyes, Lin Dong’s rather formidablestrength would still be insufficient to command her sincere respect. Of course,even if he really reached such a stage, she would merely smile at him. A womanwith her character was just like an impregnable city. Regardless of how muchone coveted her and tried, they would only end up defeated.

Such a woman was perhaps the most difficult creature in the world to conquer.

“How rare. You actually know how to admire others.”

Lin Dong lifted his brows slightly. He watched Ling Qingzhu’s pretty face,which was covered by a veil. His mouth teased while a rare joy surged withinhis heart. Even someone like him was moved by the fact that he was able to makethe cool Ling Qingzhu utter such words.

Ling Qingzhu laughed faintly. It was likely that someone with her intelligencewas naturally aware that the young man in front of her would likely possesssome alpha male feelings within his heart when he heard her words. Therefore,she did not give Lin Dong the chance to continue as she faced him withindifference.

Lin Dong smiled and withdrew his gaze when he saw this. After which, henarrowed both of his eyes and looked at the distorted space in front. Hefocused his eyes slightly and said, “It seems like we are about to arrive atour destination.”

“Oh?”

A shocked expression flashed across Ling Qingzhu’s face when she heard thesewords. She lifted her eyes and looked over. She appeared to see some vaguefigures standing in the distant distorted space.

The two increased their pace. After a couple of minutes, those black standingfigures finally appeared in front of them. It was a rather large stone altar.The altar gave off an ancient feeling. It was likely that it had existed forquite a long time.

“This place is the central hub of the entire realm…” Lin Dong stared at thehuge stone altar and softly said.

Ling Qingzhu’s eyes also looked towards the large stone altar in front of her.Her eyes suddenly shrunk as she said, “There’s someone there.”

Her eyes immediately looked towards the other side of the huge stone altarafter her voice sounded. Some faint sounds of footsteps were transmitted overfrom that spot. Soon after, three figures slowly appeared. Finally, theyappeared in both her and Lin Dong’s sight.

“It seems like enemies frequently crossing paths…”

Lin Dong’s eyes gradually turned gloomy when he saw the three familiarfigures. That was because those three figures were the three little kings ofYuan Gate.

The Yuan Cang trio had clearly seen Lin Dong when the latter discovered them.Immediately, a stunned expression flashed across their faces. Soon after, asinisterly cold expression and mockery slowly surfaced.

In their eyes, Lin Dong had undoubtedly delivered himself to their doorstep…