From everyone else’s perspective, Mo Bai and Gao Siyun were locked in an intense battle.

Gao Siyun’s body nearly filled the entire space. Ding Xun and the other two were protected by Mo Bai’s long hair, allowing them to watch safely from the sidelines.

Dai Qianzhong, on the other hand, had to keep dodging to avoid being caught in the aftermath of their fight.

She tried using her ability to launch sneak attacks at the two of them, but her power had no effect. All Dai Qianzhong could do was lament that both of them were monsters.

Xie Xingchen, with an antimatter weapon and the Manga Blade, observed from within his hidden space while waiting for an opportunity to ambush Mo Bai.

But Mo Bai and Gao Siyun were fighting too fiercely that he could not find a chance to strike.

The illusion created by the red spider lily was extraordinarily realistic. So realistic that everyone could feel the stinging pain when strands of hair brushed across their cheeks. So realistic that they could feel the dust and smoke kicked up when Gao Siyun’s massive body slammed into the ground.

The Legendary Red Spider Lily did not merely deceive the eyes and ears. It entirely bypassed the body and connected directly to the brain, tampering with the brain’s interpretation of the outside world.

If the human body were regarded as a computer, then the body itself was merely an input/output device, while the brain was what truly processed information. The body received sensory data, and the brain used that information to determine what existed in the outside world.

The most important tool humans possessed for analyzing this vast world was a small brain sealed inside the skull. It never directly touched the world itself.

Thus, as long as the brain could be deceived, then a false world could turn into reality.

Back in the Plague Garden, Mo Bai watched a pile of bones transform into Mo Xiangyou. She spoke with him, conversed with him, and even hugged him without realizing that he was actually nothing more than a small heap of bone ash.

That, too, was the work of the Legendary Red Spider Lily.

Guided by fragrance, the red spider lilies showed people a world that was both illusory and real.

It was difficult to imagine just how powerful Mo Xiangyou would become if he ever became an Advanced Player.

Mo Bai glanced at the illusion created by the red spider lilies.

It was about time to make Xie Xingchen reveal himself.

First, she ordered the Black Boots to mark out a territory around Ding Xun and the others, trapping them inside so they could not move beyond it.

That way, they would not ruin Mo Bai’s plan out of concern for her.

Then she connected to the red spider lilies through her consciousness and asked them to create the illusion that 'Mo Bai was defeated by Gao Siyun and exposed her weakness.'

She was going to drag Xie Xingchen out of his turtle shell.

The Legendary Red Spider Lily was highly intelligent, so Mo Bai did not need to give it a specific scene to reproduce. It could create an illusion far more convincing than anything she herself could imagine.

When it came to putting on a show and deceiving people, Mo Bai was no match for Mo Xiangyou.

Professional work should be left to a professional.

Once the instruction was delivered, the tide of the battle changed.

“Gao Siyun” threw her head back and let out a howl, and the “Yang Lingxi” on her back opened her eyes.

The instant “Yang Lingxi” awakened, the heart wrapped in long hair suddenly regained strength. It broke free from “Mo Bai’s” control, tore through countless strands of hair, and shot toward its original body.

The heart returned to its place, and the combined power of “Gao Siyun” and “Yang Lingxi” surged.

The ground behind “Mo Bai” split open. A long arm burst from below and pierced straight through “Mo Bai’s” chest.

“Mo Bai!”

Ding Xun impulsively tried to rush forward, only to realize that she was trapped within a confined space. She could move around inside the boundary, but she could not leave it to help.

Blood trickled from the corner of “Mo Bai’s” lips. Even so, she forced herself to say, “No need. I’m fine.”

Ye Pingjun and Du Heng were extremely worried, but Ding Xun inexplicably felt that something was wrong.

She walked a full circle around the boundary trapping her. There was no visible barrier, yet she simply could not walk outside it.

Moreover, she knew what it felt like to use the Black Boots, and this sensation felt suspiciously similar to the Black Boots’ ability.

Ding Xun twitched her nose and noticed a faint fragrance in the air.

Following the scent, she looked toward “Mo Bai” and “Gao Siyun.”

“Mo Bai” looked miserable. Her whole body was covered in blood.

B-but... why did Mo Bai’s blood carry such an extravagantly luxurious fragrance?

Ding Xun thought for a moment, then she closed her eyes and covered her ears. With her sight and hearing blocked, her sense of smell became even sharper.

Ding Xun’s senses were exceptionally keen. She could tell that every person carried a different scent.

Mo Bai carried a faint plum-blossom fragrance which smelled wonderful. That was the reason why Ding Xun liked cuddling up to her.

But this time, from the place where “Mo Bai” and “Gao Siyun” were fighting, Ding Xun could not smell Mo Bai’s familiar faint fragrance at all.

She couldn't even smell blood, and all she could detect was a vast, extravagantly luxurious fragrance. It was strange, bewitching, and also intoxicating.

Ding Xun opened her eyes in confusion. The luxurious fragrance immediately weakened, and she saw “Mo Bai” struggling to evade “Gao Siyun’s” attacks.

At the same time, her nose seemed to catch the smell of blood and Gao Siyun’s nauseating stench.

She closed her eyes again, and those smells vanished. All that remained was the same vast expanse of extravagant fragrance.

“Hm?” Ding Xun, who was originally tense and nervous, suddenly relaxed.

With her eyes closed, she began searching for the scent that truly belonged to Mo Bai.

She completely concentrated. Then, all at once, she caught that faint fragrance.

Ding Xun’s eyes snapped open as she turned toward the source and what she saw was astonishing.

There was no gigantic monster filling the entire space. There were only red, eerie flowers blooming all over the deep pit.

Standing among those flowers was Mo Bai in black, looking all mysterious and powerful.

Around Ding Xun were their companions, who were wearing anxious expressions, while Dai Qianzhong was busy dodging attacks that did not exist.

Ding Xun opened her mouth to say something, but Mo Bai raised one finger and gently pressed it to her lips.

A gesture for silence.

Ding Xun immediately covered her own mouth and saw Mo Bai smile at her.

Then Mo Bai raised one hand and aimed toward an empty spot in the air. A massive repulsive force erupted from her palm.

Environmental Rejection!

As long as Mo Bai knew Xie Xingchen’s exact location, she did not need him to fully appear.

She could strip away his Higher-Dimensional Space directly.

No matter how high-dimensional Xie Xingchen’s space was, within Mo Bai’s domain it was still merely an anomaly.

Just moments earlier, the red spider lilies intensified the illusion. They made “Mo Bai” lose an arm, then made “Gao Siyun” devour it.

Du Heng panicked and tried to swing the Scythe of Death, only to discover that he could not raise his arm.

Unseen by him, the Black Boots stood on his arm, preventing him from overdrawing his life force to activate the ability.

Xie Xingchen also saw an opening, and his Higher-Dimensional Space opened by the tiniest amount.

Just a narrow slit.

It would not expose his body, but it was enough for him to throw the Manga Blade and strike Mo Bai, yet he did not attack.

Because within the illusion created by the red spider lilies, “Mo Bai” was still desperately resisting. She even used the arm “Gao Siyun” swallowed to destroy part of Gao Siyun’s body.

Seeing that, Xie Xingchen held back. What he did not realize was that the tiny opening exposed the location of his Higher-Dimensional Space.

That was enough for Mo Bai to pinpoint him precisely.

He was still comfortably hidden inside his space when the environment around him suddenly shifted, and the space protecting him vanished without warning.

Moreover, the fighting figures of “Mo Bai” and “Gao Siyun” disappeared as well.

The battered ground smoothed out, the blood and severed limbs vanished, and Gao Siyun’s enormous body, which sprawled throughout the giant pit, was gone.

Only a field of eerie crimson flowers remained. They swayed despite the absence of wind, their forms alluring and sinuous.

And among those eerie red flowers stood Mo Bai, who was dressed in black.

Dai Qianzhong was bending backward to dodge a strand of hair when the world abruptly changed, causing him to collapse onto her backside.

A nearby red spider lily released a wave of decadent fragrance toward her, making her dizzy.

Xie Xingchen, stripped of his spatial protection, looked around blankly. His bewildered expression made him look almost like a clown.

“What? What? What?” Du Heng whipped his head left and right and asked like an idiot, “When did Mo Bai win? How did she win?”

Du Heng was confused too, but he quickly accepted the explanation that Mo Bai must have used some unknown method to win, which was perfectly normal for Mo Bai.

“Mo Bai...” Ye Pingjun stared worriedly at the black-clad Mo Bai.

She looked exactly like the figure they saw in the mirror.

Mo Bai smiled at her companions. “Don’t worry. As long as I’m inside this domain, I’m still me.”

She looked mysterious and powerful, like the night itself. And yet, she still possessed the same approachable warmth she always showed.

Dai Qianzhong saw Mo Bai catching up with her teammates while completely ignoring Xie Xingchen.

She hurriedly shouted, “What are you waiting for?! Attack!”

Xie Xingchen was still trapped in the terror of being unable to summon his space.

He tried activating Higher-Dimensional Space several times, and he could feel the ability being triggered. Yet the space would not appear.

It was not that he could no longer use the ability. Rather, as soon as the Higher-Dimensional Space appeared, another force immediately prohibited its existence.

Hearing Dai Qianzhong’s warning, Xie Xingchen instantly used the Manga Blade against Mo Bai, who was still speaking to her friends.

This invisible blade would not lose its effect merely because Mo Bai was powerful. It had no physical form, and there was no process of cutting.

Like the transition between comic panels and the turning of a page, there was only the final result of the attack.

The Manga Blade became incorporeal in Xie Xingchen’s hand, and in the next instant, Mo Bai’s body among the flowers was sliced into several pieces.

Xie Xingchen exhaled slightly.

“So that’s all an Ultra-Star Rank monster amounts to.”

But in the blink of an eye, the “Mo Bai” he struck transformed into a red spider lily and the real Mo Bai stood behind him.

Her voice was soft, “Who exactly were you attacking?”

A chill ran down Xie Xingchen’s spine, but he did not turn around. He threw himself forward instead and opened the distance between them.

He was an Advanced Player, so he naturally understood what happened.

Mo Bai used a card to make him waste his Manga Blade. Such a powerful S-rank card, yet it was wasted without ever touching its true target.

Xie Xingchen stared at the red spider lilies covering the ground and ground his teeth.

This was Mo Xiangyou’s ability. How wonderful it would have been if he obtained that card!

But it did not matter because he still had Perfect Sufferer.

Without hesitation, Xie Xingchen activated Perfect Sufferer and a pure-white six-winged angel appeared behind him. Its wings spread wide, protecting him.

Xie Xingchen shouted at Mo Bai, “Don’t you want this card back? I won’t let you have it! Go ahead and attack me. I’ll keep using this card over and over again.

S-rank cards require players’ energy and points to sustain themselves to remain intact. But I won’t nurture this card anymore, and I’ll keep consuming its energy until it disappears completely. So what if you’re an Ultra-Star Rank monster? You’ll never get this card back!”

Xie Xingchen understood the principles of negotiation very well, and he knew what Mo Bai cared about. If he wanted the right to bargain, he had to threaten her with something she valued.

Mo Bai gave a faint laugh. It was difficult to tell whether the look in her eyes was mockery or pity.

She casually beckoned with one hand, and the red spider lilies vanished. They returned to Mo Bai’s hand and transformed into a card.

Only after the Legendary Red Spider Lily disappeared could everyone finally see their true surroundings.

This was no longer the enormous pit where they stood. At some point, without any of them noticing, they were already gone from it.

They were now inside a vast and magnificent palace which was many times larger than Count’s Castle.

Mo Bai assimilated the Organ Trading Market and transformed it into her domain. From the moment this palace came into existence, it possessed a new name.

Nirvana Palace.

Mo Bai looked at Xie Xingchen, “Xie Xingchen, this is my domain, and as the master of this domain, I possess one particular authority.”

Two words surfaced in Xie Xingchen’s mind.

Card Sealing.

The six-winged angel protecting him disappeared, and it returned into a dull gray card. Unless Mo Bai lifted the seal, Xie Xingchen could no longer use it.

Mo Bai did not even attack, yet Xie Xingchen’s ability and two cards with extraordinary abilities disappeared.

He stared at the beautiful, mysterious woman before him. Then he suddenly remembered what happened after the Biological Research Institute No. 7 instance.

When members of the organization heard the news of the Soul Contractor’s death, everyone discussed what exactly happened inside the institute.

A mutated B-rank instance was nurturing an Ultra-Star Rank monster, and yet a group of Beginner Players somehow destroyed a quasi-Ultra-Star Rank monster.

How did they do it?

Everyone guessed that an extraordinarily intelligent top-tier strategist must be inside that instance.

Some people even joked with Xie Xingchen that if this strategist ever became an Advanced Player, Xie Xingchen’s position as Neverland’s number-one military advisor might not be safe anymore.

At the time, Xie Xingchen scoffed.

After entering Disease Town and exchanging information with Li Ming and Dai Qianzhong, he learned that this strategist was Mo Bai.

That made him even more eager to compare himself with her.

When he converted Gu Tiandong into a card right in front of Mo Bai, he felt incredibly pleased with himself. So this was the supposedly brilliant strategist who defeated a quasi-Ultra-Star Rank monster?

Nothing special.

Only now did he finally understand just how terrifying Mo Bai truly was. The reason Mo Bai lost to him before was simply that she cared more about human lives.

She was always trying to save as many people as possible. And the moment Mo Bai was freed from those restraints, Xie Xingchen was no match for her at all.

He could not win. Whether in ability or strategy, he was inferior to Mo Bai. There was no way he could win.

Was he really going to die here?

Xie Xingchen stared at Mo Bai, his heart filled with unwillingness. Even if he died, he thought that he should at least disgust Mo Bai.

He sneered, “Mo Bai, so what if you can kill me? You’re still a monster! Even if you can barely maintain your sanity right now, eventually you’ll go mad. This is an instance, and players can’t leave before the instance ends. Your companions are still here. After I die, sooner or later you’ll have to fight them to the death!”

Then Xie Xingchen turned toward Ding Xun and the others and shouted, “If I were you, I’d put aside my prejudice and cooperate with me against this monster! Otherwise, you’ll die by her hands too!”

Then he turned back toward Mo Bai and burst into loud laughter.

“Mo Bai! What a pity I won’t get to see the hideous look on your face when you abandon your humanity and personally slaughter your companions! Hahahahaha!”

He laughed for a while, then realized that Mo Bai was still looking at him with pity. Her lofty, superior expression made him deeply uncomfortable.

Ding Xun, Ye Pingjun, and Du Heng did not join him either.

Their expressions were resolute because they trusted Mo Bai unconditionally.

“You trust her that much?!” Xie Xingchen shouted. “She’s a monster!”

Du Heng said, “I’ve seen plenty of monsters, and Mo Bai doesn’t feel like one.”

He found it strange too. He could sense the terrifying power inside Mo Bai.

When he used Weak Point Detection on her, he could no longer find any weakness at all. And yet he still felt that the person before him was Mo Bai.

She was clearly so overwhelmingly powerful, but there was no malice in her.

Ye Pingjun found it strange too. He prepared himself to see a completely insane monster, but Mo Bai was still Mo Bai.

Seeing everyone’s confusion, Mo Bai raised a hand and gently pushed the great doors of Nirvana Palace.

The snow stopped, and sunlight streamed into the palace.

Outside the doors, everyone saw crowds of people bustling back and forth.

The townspeople who were once mutated by Gao Siyun all returned to normal. They also forgot everything that happened earlier.

Now, they simply went about their lives as they always did.

Ding Xun was the first to run outside.

What appeared before her was a peaceful little town bathed in sunlight.

In front of Nirvana Palace was a broad plaza, and a large sign stood in the middle of it.

Written upon it were the words:

[

Welcome to Pure Land Town. While staying in this town, please obey the following rules:

Rule One: The town can protect you from outside influences and help you remain yourself. The town can reject contamination originating from external sources. As long as your heart does not change, you will always remain who you are.

]

“So that’s why Mo Bai can preserve her humanity,” Du Heng said. “As long as she stays inside this town, she won’t be corroded by malice.”

Ye Pingjun sighed, “But that also means Mo Bai can never leave this town again.”

Ding Xun said optimistically, “We normally can only live inside Peach Blossom Land anyway, and our range of movement isn’t very large. I believe Mo Bai can keep expanding her domain, and when her domain becomes as large as the entire world, she’ll be free.”

“You really do blindly believe in Mo Bai,” Ye Pingjun said, shaking his head.

The three of them were focused on Mo Bai.

But Xie Xingchen and Dai Qianzhong immediately noticed the second rule.

[

Rule Two: This town warmly welcomes members of the Observation Group to settle here. Town residents and all other outsiders are forbidden from harming players of the Observation Group. The town will devour the life force of any aggressor. If you have ever harmed an Observation Group player out of greed for their cards, your life will enter a countdown.

Please rest assured that the town will not waste your life force. It will preserve that energy and use it to heal kind-hearted players who have been injured.

]

A chill ran down their spines. No wonder Mo Bai did not attack them. She didn't need to.

As long as they remained inside this town, their life force would be continuously drained away.

Eventually, they would weaken until they died.

Mo Bai walked out onto the plaza and stood beneath the sunlight.

She was as mysterious as the night itself, yet she did not reject the light.

She looked at Xie Xingchen, “Did you think I would torture you to death? Did you think I would lower myself to your level?”

Mo Bai hated Xie Xingchen and Dai Qianzhong, but she would not allow that hatred to corrode her heart.

Everything in existence followed rules, so she would hand her hatred over to the rules and let them resolve it.

She was Mo Bai.

Whether human or monster, she would never surrender to fate.