Feng Zikang landed on the mountaintop and immediately felt a searing heat wash over him. Looking up, he saw the Fusang Tree blazing like a torch, fire engulfing everything from trunk to branch, the heat oppressive.

“Such pure Lihuo Zhenqi.”

The Fusang Tree feeds on flame, absorbing the True Fire of the Sun. Through its own internal circulation, it refines this into pure Lihuo Zhenqi, which disperses in all directions.

Thus, ancient legends speak of a Fusang Tree at the edge of the world, born from absorbing ten thousand fathoms of earth-fire—the place where the Golden Crow of the Sun rests at night. Compared to the one on Dragonfang Island, that legendary tree must be vastly larger and grander.

However, even the current canopy spanned a hundred zhang in radius, shrouding the surroundings. Feng Zikang found his vision entirely golden, unable to see anything clearly.

Huo Zhongguang, being merely a Soul Shadow, could not withstand the intense heat and had already darted into Feng Zikang’s Sea of Consciousness, buzzing urgently, “Junior Brother, now that we are here, where exactly do we find the entrance to the Demon Mansion?”

Feng Zikang circled the Fusang Tree once. “If my calculations are correct, the entrance to the Demon Mansion is almost certainly right here. We just need to find the spot where this key is used.”

He drew qi into his body. His meridians were circulating, and he should have been impervious to heat and cold. Yet, under the Fusang Tree, it was so hot he was sweating profusely, feeling as if he were being roasted alive.

Feng Zikang took out the Dragonfang Ancient Mirror. A wash of blue light enveloped him, finally bringing some coolness.

“The Dragonfang Ancient Mirror, where yin is born from extreme yang, actually holds the essence of pure water! The Dragonfang Mirror was ground from the tip of a giant dragon’s tooth—it is the true yin point born from the blazing yang of Dragonfire True Qi. Carrying it here was indeed remarkably effective.” Since the Dragonfang Mirror was the key to the Demon Mansion and was retrieved from this location, he was now even more certain the entrance lay precisely here.

Long Que diligently scanned the area. Being only desiccated bone, he naturally feared no heat, digging and scraping everywhere with an endearing, clumsy air.

The little fox, understanding the situation, also hopped down from Feng Zikang’s shoulder, sniffing the ground to help search. It, too, did not seem bothered by the heat, being a natural anomaly.

Feng Zikang stood still, observing carefully. The Lihuo Zhenqi overflowed here; his Formless Heavenly Demon incarnation could barely leave his body. Otherwise, investigating the surroundings with the incarnation would have immediately revealed the truth.

“Chirp!”

Suddenly, the little fox emerged from under the Fusang Tree, a smudge of damp earth on its nose. It chirped and darted into Feng Zikang’s embrace.

“Oh?” A flicker of joy crossed Feng Zikang’s face. Nothing grew beneath the Fusang Tree; it survived solely on the accumulated Dragon Essence Fire Qi within Dragonfang Mountain. Where did damp earth come from?

He hurried forward two steps and stood beneath the tree. Sure enough, a clear spring was slowly seeping out. However, as soon as it broke the surface, it was boiled by the Lihuo and vanished into steam.

“Let’s go.”

Feng Zikang rejoiced, drawing his sword light. He dug through the damp soil, and with a flash of white light, a doorway appeared amidst a booming sound!

Beneath the gnarled roots of the Fusang Tree lay a door of white jade. Feng Zikang reached out to push it but felt an intense heat; the door didn't budge an inch.

“This is the entrance to the Demon Mansion?”

Huo Zhongguang was both thrilled and startled. He watched as Feng Zikang aimed the Dragonfang Mirror at it. A beam of blue light struck the white jade, causing ripples to spread. With a sound like shattering crystal, the door abruptly swung open, revealing a dark, eerie passage.

“Hurry inside.”

Feng Zikang, clutching the little fox, leaped in. Long Que followed closely behind. With a heavy thud, the jade door slammed shut once more behind them.

He felt his body plummeting. Although the jade door was closed, faint cyan phosphorescence illuminated the four walls, allowing him to see somewhat. Beneath them, however, lay only a patch of murky green fog, the bottom invisible.

Feng Zikang let out a soft cry. His iron sword transformed into a sword light, slowing their descent.

The walls were made of bluish-white jade, perhaps the natural material of Dragonfang itself, or perhaps the handiwork of those who built the Demon Mansion. Feng Zikang swung his sword light, slicing off a shard to examine it. It seemed identical to the material of the Dragonfang Ancient Mirror—it appeared natural, the inner substance of Dragonfang. Whoever built the Demon Mansion had seemingly only carved out this passage and made no other modifications.

But this passage was exceedingly long. Feng Zikang continued to fall, looking up, yet still seeing only that layer of murky green. He had no idea when he would reach the bottom.

“Good heavens, this is a bottomless pit!”

Huo Zhongguang exclaimed. Now free from the scorching of the Lihuo Zhenqi, he materialized again, accompanying Feng Zikang as they drifted downward.

They fell for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, yet the bottom remained unseen. Based on the speed of the sword light's flight, Feng Zikang had descended thousands of zhang beneath the sea level from the mountaintop’s nine hundred zhang height, and still, there was no end in sight.

“How long did it take you when you first entered the cave dwelling?”

Feng Zikang was curious. According to Huo Zhongguang’s description, he seemed to have stumbled into a cavern while fighting and fleeing, vaguely entering the dwelling and immediately encountering a sword strike head-on. He didn't recall such a lengthy descent.

“I just pushed the door open and I was there,” Huo Zhongguang replied, equally confused.

Feng Zikang frowned slightly, scrutinizing the jade stone of the tunnel wall, maintaining his speed as they continued to fall.

An hour passed.

“This isn’t right!”

Feng Zikang snorted and halted his sword light. Long Que couldn't stop in time, tumbling over before managing to regain his footing.

“What’s wrong, Junior Brother?”

“We have been flying at this speed for nearly a hundred li. No matter how vast Dragonfang is, it cannot possess such vertical depth! I’ve seen the scenery on these tunnel walls repeat itself three or four times now! This must be an illusion formation!”

Feng Zikang closely examined the minute patterns on the jade walls. Within the span of an hour, the pattern had repeated three times. The texture of the jade stone was naturally formed over eons; identical patterns were impossible. After observing the third repetition, he definitively concluded they were trapped in an illusion formation.

“An illusion formation?”

Huo Zhongguang fell silent in thought. This type of magic and divine ability was what military strategists were least adept at, whereas those of the Demonic Path specialized in it. However, his own Demonic Path cultivation was not deep enough for him to offer any insight.

The Demonic Path excels at using the five colors to confuse the eyes and the five sounds to deceive the ears, making them experts in deceptive illusion formations.

Yet, this illusion of a bottomless pit was the simplest kind—no dazzling effects, merely trapping one between an unknown up and down. It was extremely monotonous, yet a truly masterful illusionary technique.

“If we haven't actually been falling, then where are we right now?” Feng Zikang asked, frowning, looking back.

“Where are we?” This question stumped Huo Zhongguang. They had jumped through the jade door and descended continuously. If they were merely caught in an illusion, where was their real body now?

Although they shouldn't have fallen for this long, the sensation of flight felt real. That left only two possibilities: either they were looping in circles, or their direction was fundamentally wrong.

“Could it be that we are actually suspended in mid-air?” Huo Zhongguang blurted out, then immediately shook his head. This was clearly impossible. The summit of Dragonfang Mountain was covered by the Lihuo Zhenqi of the Fusang Tree; they could not have passed through it so easily. If they had fallen into this maze, they surely would have noticed.

“I… I feel…” Long Que spoke timidly. His voice was childlike and tender, though after several days of practice, it had become somewhat more fluent. “We haven’t moved.”

“Haven’t moved?” Huo Zhongguang exclaimed in surprise. The little fox, however, nodded slightly, issuing a soft chirp in agreement.

Feng Zikang laughed aloud and nodded. “The eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind—is everything we see, hear, smell, taste, and touch necessarily real? Senior Brother Huo, as cultivators of the Demonic Path, we know that all things can be manipulated, and all things can be illusory.”

“Human senses are truly the most unreliable thing.”

Although the scenery constantly changed, although the wind howled past their ears, although their feet felt empty beneath them, and although they felt themselves constantly falling—all of this stemmed from the Six Senses, and for the Demonic Path, this is the art of manipulating others' Six Senses, the way to delude the masses.

Feng Zikang summoned the Dragonfang Ancient Mirror and suspended it in the air. Gazing into it, he saw that although he was standing on his sword light, he was actually on solid ground!

“I see now.” Huo Zhongguang seemed to grasp the concept and was overjoyed, bowing to thank Feng Zikang!

Once the spirit was freed from worry, the illusion naturally vanished. Looking up, the white jade door was faintly visible. They had only descended perhaps a few dozen zhang. Furthermore, facing due south along the jade walls, there was another tunnel entrance.

Feng Zikang was not in a hurry. He squatted down and carefully propped up an unremarkable, withered little flower. Its petals were divided into five colors, though it was small, resembling a common daisy. Its stem was thick and hairy, not particularly attractive.

“It is indeed the Five-Colored Bodhisattva Flower. This flower cannot be seen by anyone in its life; the moment it is seen, it dies. Only it can create a Six Sense illusion so complete that even I could not distinguish it!”

The Seven-Colored Bodhisattva Flower is a specialty of the Demon Realm, dedicated to creating illusions. Its fragrance and appearance can generate a perfect Six Sense illusion, one that even a Great Overarching Golden Immortal could not discern immediately.

Naturally, the Five-Colored Bodhisattva Flower found in the mortal realm is much weaker in effect, but it can easily bewilder cultivators below the Foundation Establishment stage, and even experts in the Core Condensation stage might not easily identify it.

If not for Feng Zikang’s Formless Heavenly Demon incarnation, which specialized in discerning the Six Senses and found the flaw in the slightest detail, the few of them might have continued falling until old age without ever escaping this illusion formation.

The Five-Colored Bodhisattva Flower possesses immense power, yet it has one flaw: it despises its own ugly appearance, so it creates illusions to conceal itself? The moment its illusion is broken and its true form is seen, the flower's spirit dies of shame and withers away, ceasing to exist in the world.

“Since it’s dead, why are you picking it, Junior Brother?”

Feng Zikang smiled faintly. “Though this flower is dead, its roots, stems, and leaves can all be used in medicine. Many useful elixirs can be refined using this substance. But the most crucial thing is not this.”

Feng Zikang gently parted the petals and found three teardrop-shaped seeds inside, crystal clear and transparent. He carefully picked out these three seeds and held them in his hand. They emitted a deep, eerie blue light, transforming infinitely like a kaleidoscope—truly beautiful to behold.

“These are the seeds of the Five-Colored Bodhisattva Flower. If cultivated in the future, they will certainly be a formidable self-defense treasure.”