As if heaven and earth spun, when he looked again, they were already inside a vast, magnificent hall.
Beneath their feet were neatly laid stone slabs.
On both sides stood stone pillars so massive they required several people to encircle, towering over a hundred meters high.
There were eight enormous stone pillars in total, each carved with lifelike dragon sculptures coiled around them.
Every dragon was dozens of zhang long, with horns, manes growing from neck to back, and scales under their jaws growing backward.
The dragons on the two foremost pillars, one left and one right, turned their heads toward him.
Those pairs of car-sized dragon eyes stared straight at him, as if radiating boundless pressure.
The Erha Lin beneath him had turned into a well-behaved, honest-faced dog.
Its hooves stopped stomping, staying perfectly still.
Su Hao was also a little scared—just a little.
He kept convincing himself: fake, all fake.
"They really are fake—those aren't even stone carvings, just mirages!"
Confirming they were fake, Su Hao stopped being nervous.
He sat up straight, patted Erha Lin, and walked under one of the giant stone pillars.
He reached out and poked it.
His finger sank right in, but the feeling...
The texture was different.
When he poked in, it felt thicker, with stronger resistance.
"Since the gray mist is a kind of treasure, there's probably a difference between low-grade and high-grade."
Su Hao thought the pillar before him was long and round—too big for a grill—but it really...
Was super tasty, guruno~!
Die Xiaodie knocked off a tiny piece with her treasure orb and gave it a five-star review.
Proving the taste was truly excellent.
Su Hao also opened the panel, saw his mental power rising again and again, and couldn't help scrolling down to the evolution section.
"Sure enough, the evolution success rate has gone up too, but it's still not enough...
"What's really lacking is illusion ability mastery, not mental power."
One hour, two hours...
Die Xiaodie dismantled the lower corner of the first pillar on the right.
She ate her fill, and her mental power had already risen to over 19,000.
The sudden surge in mental power caused ripples in the air around her, as if brewing mental storms.
But she mastered it quickly too—in just a few hours, she had initially controlled the surging power.
Except for slightly weaker control, the power was fully restrained, no longer leaking out.
Su Hao's group continued exploring.
The palace was huge, with a front hall, a central hall, and numerous side halls.
Besides some decorations inside the halls, there were also spirits that could be 'eaten.'
Lobster soldiers and crab generals roaming the halls.
Su Hao even saw a yellow croaker with hands and feet, holding a big steel fork.
Probably a yellow croaker general?
In the Alliance's illustrated guide, he hadn't found any similar spirits.
And since they were all illusory beings, the panel map showed nothing but emptiness.
But the scenes before him still made Su Hao marvel.
"This place must be more than just the second layer of the illusion."
Senior Brother Wu had given him some intel about the mirage ruins.
The first layer's mirage pavilions and towers were mostly accurate, but there was no description of a dragon palace hall or dragons coiling around pillars.
Without a doubt...
"Because I found the gateway, I skipped the second, third, and other illusion layers and came straight to the core area of the mirage ruins?
"If it's the core area, then... where's the treasure?
"How can a dragon palace have no treasure? I'm clearly not unlucky~!"
He passed through countless halls and arrived at an empty, vast hall.
Suddenly...
Whoosh~!
Whoosh, whoosh!
Waves surged, and waves of pressure descended.
Su Hao looked up and saw a giant dragon coiled above the hall!
Its appearance was similar to the dragons coiled around the stone pillars outside.
It had red manes, was also dozens of zhang long, but much more real!
With the slightest movement, the surrounding lake water churned violently.
The entire hall seemed caught in a water vortex, shaking as it turned into hazy mist.
The violent waves surged toward Su Hao.
Erha Lin immediately released a blue water shield, protecting him inside.
"What spirit is that?!
"Monarch level?"
Su Hao opened the panel to check, but it was still empty.
It was still fake!
"But if it's just an illusion, how can it affect the water flow?"
Above the hall, the giant dragon slowly stirred, breathing clouds and mist.
When it opened its mouth, countless phantom images of houses and towers appeared; when it inhaled, the mirages shattered like bubbles.
Su Hao finally understood.
That giant dragon... was automatic.
His arrival had probably triggered some mechanism, making the dragon phantom move.
He was about to say something.
Suddenly, Die Xiaodie flew up from his head, invisible mental power vibrating around her.
The three treasure orbs also spun around her, whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Pushing back the shockwaves, Die Xiaodie flew forward, staring at the dragon.
Su Hao pressed down on Erha Lin's head and watched quietly.
Above,
The dragon moved faster and faster, leaving only afterimages.
Rumbling, waves surged.
Countless mirages appeared and disappeared around the dragon, over and over.
The scenes kept shifting.
Finally...
After who knows how long.
Like the clearing after rain, the hall returned to calm, all anomalies vanished, and the phantom dragon with red manes and backward-growing scales disappeared without a trace.
Only a pearl remained in its place.
A milky-white, pebble-sized pearl.
Falling slowly.
The panel also showed a marker.
It was a treasure.
Su Hao picked it up and examined it closely.
"Mirage Pearl...
"Could that dozens-of-zhang-long dragon be the legendary mirage dragon?"
He wasn't sure.
What the Mirage Pearl could do needed testing.
At that moment, Die Xiaodie still hovered in midair, eyes closed.
Soon, one, two, three, four... a total of over a dozen Die Xiaodies appeared around her.
Dancing gracefully.
The move "Illusion Clone," a type of illusion move.
It could deceive not only sight but also perception, with a very strong confusing effect, far surpassing the conventional move "Afterimage."
But...
"Illusion Clone is still just an illusion—it clearly has no physical form!"
In Su Hao's eyes, those equally cute Die Xiaodies stirred the water currents as they danced.
As if...
Turning illusion into reality!
The dozen phantom Die Xiaodies scattered.
Around each Die Xiaodie, countless gorgeous flowers appeared.
From buds to blooming to withering, all in a single breath.
Su Hao faintly caught the scent of flowers.
The phenomena around Die Xiaodie lasted over ten minutes before slowly fading.
She flew down and landed on his head.
"Guruno," she called softly.
Her voice was a little tired, but her big eyes were especially bright.
Su Hao felt that Die Xiaodie was somehow different.
He couldn't pinpoint where.
So, he opened the panel.
[Spirit: Die Xiaodie (Elite-level Limit)] [Spiritual Power: 13,000] [Mental Power: 20,000] [Moves: ...omitted..., Illusion Clone → Mirror Clone, Mirage] [Special: Illusion-Reality Shift]
He found it!
At the same time, Su Hao also noticed the evolution section below.
[Misty Dream Butterfly → Fairy Butterfly (Unlocked): Evolution Success Rate 100%]
The ultimate goal was achieved!
And the mirage ruins...
Su Hao exchanged a glance with Die Xiaodie, both seeing '$$' in each other's eyes.
One Mirage Pearl was nowhere near enough!
He thought, ready to continue looting the ruins.
Suddenly,
The scene before him changed drastically.
The grand, majestic hall had vanished.
In its place were the original broken walls and ruins.
He touched them—they were solid.
"I... got kicked out?"
—— I, the fill-in-the-blanks guy, appear again da.
Final question before evolution: Is the evolved form of Misty Dream Butterfly Fairy Butterfly or Butterfly Fairy? A. Fairy Butterfly B. Butterfly Fairy No C. (Anyway, if it changes, it's Su Hao who changes it. It has nothing to do with me, Pen and Ink, wanting to retcon things ㄟ(▔,▔)ㄏ)