Hallucination

"Xiaoshuai, wake up. We dimensional travelled or something!" Mu Yu called as he tugged Xiaoshuai's tail with one hand and scratched his hand with the other.

"Huh? Huh? Is it time for breakfast?" Xiaoshuai asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Breakfast, my foot! We've been kidnapped!"

"Weren't we sleeping in the cave? How did we end up here? Did the oldie sell us?"

"There's no reason for him to. He knows the way out, so there's no point in throwing us out of the cave. Plus, he's strong enough to kill us face to face; there's no reason to attack us in our sleep. I'm wondering if somebody else entered the valley and kidnapped us. I don't know if it'd make sense for them to dump us here even if they somehow found the cave."

Mu Yu touched the wall. He boldly and confidently surmised Ageless Kumu was the one who moved them. The wall was tall enough to prevent anyone below Primordial Infant Realm scaling over. Their only option was self-explanatory.

"Once I find those celestial fiend fruits, I'll gobble all of them and uproot the darn tree!" brayed Xiaoshuai, tearfully rubbing his belly.

"I don't know about uprooting the tree, but we need to leave an unforgettable memory for him."

Mu Yu kicked stones along the path and ceaselessly cursed Ageless Kumu as they walked. The entire trip, all he heard was his complaints and footsteps. The further he walked, the thinner the white fog was. There was eventually light visible, intensifying as he walked further and further. Sunlight. He finally felt sunlight on his skin after nearly five days. The warmth and light uplifted his mood after living in moist darkness.

There was a red pillar with arms and maroon squiggles. The scent of blood hit his nose from the pillar's interior. The blood wasn't derived from fiend beasts but a physical altercation. There were two corpses at the foot of the pillar, both still gripping the pillar with one hand each even after death. Judging from the degree of decay, they died almost half a year ago.

As Mu Yu cautiously approached the red pillar, a frustrating feeling surged into his mind. The blood-craving pillar called him over in an eerie, screeching voice, lulling him in to kill someone and pour their blood into it. The pillar was able to overthrow his love for life and evoke a desire to collect blood for it.

"Mu Yu, what are you doing?" Xiaoshuai questioned when he noticed Mu Yu draw his flying sword and stare at his arm.

"Blood… I want blood." Mu Yu cut his hand before Xiaoshuai could intervene.

Xiaoshuai jumped up to stop the bleeding. "Have you lost your mind? Your eyes and hair has turned green. Did the pillar do something to you?"

A linden image surfaced on Mu Yu's right hand. "Yeah, why do I have to feed the pillar blood?"

"Because it's your master. You must serve it blood," the tree answered.

"It's not my master! I don't need a master!" Mu Yu thundered

"It can eliminate all cultivators. Isn't that what you desire?"

"Why do I want to exterminate them? Only a select list deserves to die."

"As long as the world of cultivation ceases to exist, the number of innocent lives lost will drastically reduce. The pillar can help you do that."

"Who is first?"

"Start with cultivators around you."

"Cultivators are an insult to this world. The pillar shall cleanse the world of cultivation for you."

"Not every cultivator is malicious."

Mu Yu couldn't tell which of the two voices at war in his head belonged to him. Unfettered Feng Haochen, sassy Lan Ling'er, innocent Tian Ran, Cheng Yan and Xiang Nan wore odd looks. Uncle An stood behind them, creating a tense atmosphere. Cai Lie had a pot of wine and wanted to offer a toast…

"I won't kill them," asserted Mu Yu, eyes, hair and hand returning to normal.

"You will regret it."

Mu Yu stumbled back and gasped for air. The pillar looked just as it did moments ago. Somehow, the pillar trapped Mu Yu in the illusion. His hairs perked up just thinking what a close call it was. He sat down and ran a cycle of Dustfallen Mental Cultivation for the next two hours.

Mu Yu opened his eyes again and could look at the red pillar without feeling perturbed. "I would be a goner if I wasn't perceptive."

"I was perfectly fine, weakling," ribbed Xiaoshuai.

"That's because it only works on studs."

"Oh, I forgot. It got me, too. No wonder why I was so itchy," claimed Xiaoshuai, scratching his butt cheek and wagging his tail.

"You're not even human."

"But I'm a stud!"

Mu Yu ended the pointless verbal tirade and inspected the two corpses. He presumed the two were also trapped in the illusion but were unable to escape until their blood was completely drained. He figured Ageless Kumu used the pillar to test people's mental fortitude.

"Destroying the world of cultivation? I'm not an elemental demon. Elemental demons…" Mu Yu rose to his feet.

Where did the thought come from? Was that really an illusion? What do I do if the power within me takes over? I'm human. I'm human. I wouldn't do that.

"What's the matter?" Xiaoshuai asked from Mu Yu's shirt.

"Nothing," lied Mu Yu.

Mu Yu went around the red pillar and continued for another two hours. He reached a magnificent bridge above a river. The lotuses under the bridge were in bloom and the source of life in the silent valley. There was a huge tree growing from the river, shrouding the sunlight and stretching across the entire valley. There was a door plugged into the hole of the branch.

Xiaoshuai pointed to the big fruits dangling from the branches. "Are those the celestial fiend fruits? They must be delicious."