Luckily, the kids restrained themselves from immediately blowing up. A moment of pride over how much they've grown didn't last long as I turned a wee bit annoyed by the fact that he was still trying to put us under an illusion .
It was pointless as we were effectively (and collectively) immune, at least from most arts that could be found here, but that didn't mean that the feeling itself wasn't uncomfortable. Sort of like having a wet sock and having to walk around with it.
"Well, we were going to use the array," I glanced to the side where it used to stand. "But I suppose it wasn't meant to be. We have come through here a few months back and it was a pristine city; may I bother Fellow Daoist for the story of what happened here?"
His eyes flashed in a strange color as it seemed he recognized his attempts weren't working. Not that he stopped--just intensified them as he began to weave a tale. How true that tale was? No way for me to know.
"It was a bit before of my arrival," he said. "But the mayor of the city had suddenly gone completely mad, from what I was told. He began to kill indiscriminately, and a huge fight broke out between him and some of the wandering cultivators passing through the city. The fight led to most of the destruction that you see, including the array that was destroyed personally by the mayor, prohibiting people from leaving.
"The battle raged on for weeks, until he was eventually exhausted to death. Alas, in the wake of that fight, the entire city was left to ruins. It just so happened that I was passing through at the time and, feeling the pang of grief for the souls trapped in this nightmare, I decided to stay here and help rebuild. Unfortunately, as the array had been destroyed, gathering materials and people has been... difficult. Especially young workers, they are practically non-existent." his eyes glanced stealthily at the kids as he said that.
"Interesting," I said, finally losing it.
"It really was--"
"--no, no, you misunderstand," I interrupted. "It was one thing for you to try the pathetic illusionary arts on us--morons will be morons, I suppose--but for scum like you to covet my kids?" Qi began to unfurl from me subconsciously, stirring a wind that kicked up a small dust storm. "I've seldom seen someone yearning to die so badly."
"... you should calm down, Fellow Daoist," though he backed up a bit and though his eyes flickered with the expression of uncertainty, he must have gotten back the courage as over a hundred shadows began to emerge from the nearby ruins, aiming at us. "Hasty decisions often lead to heavy consequences."
Before blowing my top off and regretting it, I decided to quickly check his status window, praying to the system that he wasn't going to require any points... since I didn't have any give. Luckily, he didn't.
[--Dao Sight used][Target: Lin Wen][Age: 298][Talent: low-Sky][Cultivation Realm: Third Rotation of Revolving Core Realm][Cultivation Method: Illusionary Song Sutra (low-Heaven)][Cultivation Arts: Silent Bewitchment (peak-Earth), Conflicting Heart (low-Earth)...][...][Traits][Coward (Rare) -- an overtly cowardly soul; will always run away rather than fight. Becomes outwardly submissive if overpowered][Cruel (Legendary) -- cruelty runs in their veins; if possible, they will always utilize the most cruel action][Opportunistic (Epic) -- will always take advantage of a situation if possible, even at the expense of others][...][Assessing suitability...][...][A Minor Anomaly Discovered][Illusionary Heart-Seed (???) -- target is infested by an Illusionary Heart-Seed. It is a specially prepared nascent seed of the Lightmoon Plum, wrapped and woven in seventy-two layers of arrays. Fully ripened Lightmoon Plum can induce a hallucinogenic state in anyone beneath the Imperial Realm by merely being near it for prolonged periods of time; using its seed as a base allows high-end masters of arrays to create masterful combinations, Illusionary Heart-Seed being one of them. It contains all properties of any other Heart-Poison, with the added layer of it being impossible to detect, either in life or death][...][Recommendation: the target's vile and unchanging nature is not compatible with the host's path; the system does not recommend recruiting of the target, but it is worth flash-freezing their heart after death and investigating the Illusionary Heart-Seed][Final Assessment: a somewhat above-average talent that has exhausted all of its potential, leaving it with little to no room to grow in the future. Was never meant for much more]
... the annoying combo of traits aside, Illusionary Heart-Seed piqued my interest, largely because the system classified it as a Heart-Poison... like Long Tao's little problem. Now, I don't think the source is the same, but it, too, has those annoying '???' next to it, and the fact that it's made of something that can incapacitate anyone below Imperial Realm by just casually breathing it in from nearby is more than enough for me to want to check it out.
Even with the upgraded Harmonized Heart, he was yet to actually defeat the curse; it didn't seem to impede him much in cultivating, to be fair, but that may be just because it's Long Tao, and not because the curse itself is weak. Anyway, it's mostly looking like this dude came into the city in the middle of chaos (if not having caused the chaos himself to begin with) and used his illusionary arts to become its leader.
It was largely hollow, though; there were like two people in the masses at the Void Transformation Realm, with the rest all being below it, and the majority being in the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
"Master, there is a Shaman among them," Rayce suddenly said. Shit. When did he walk up to me?! How is it possible that, after all this time, his stealth is still so good?!
"Oh? Somebody you know?"
"No," he shook his head. "But... I'd like to challenge them, if you don't mind."
"Why would I mind? Just be safe."
"Of course."
"Ah, right," I turned back over toward, uh... what the heck was his name? Holy shit. I read it not ten seconds ago--Lu Wen! Yes, Lu Wen! I'm almost definitely positive that was it! "You've been trying to put us under illusion for a few minutes, now," I said. "It's clearly not working. Wouldn't it be better to stop doing it and conserve Qi for a bit longer?"
"... kill them," I heard him order.
"Tao'er," I said, turning toward the old monster who clearly had zero intentions of joining the fight. I mean, why would he? The kids finally have someone besides themselves to truly practice on. "I want his heart."
"... e-eh?" it wasn't just him that stumbled over themselves, but almost everyone else.
"M-Master... did, did you develop some strange urges?" oi, Xiu'er, what the hell?!
"Don't worry, Master! I will support you no matter what!" Little Feng, that's a wonderful sentiment, but completely wrong!
"If need be, I will rip out my own heart--"
"--Lan'er, another word and, for the next year, I will unilaterally support Xiu'er in all conflicts between you two."
"..."
"There's something called Illusionary Heart-Seed in him, which is the kind of a Heart-Poison--" I barely finished saying 'Heart-Seed' before a figure blurred in front of me, shooting off.
... it looks like there really is some kind of a connection, huh?