Sensing the wave of terrifying suppression, Lin Huang, Saber9, and Virtuoso all had a change of expression.

The Dead Spirit Vine just now was already a peak ninth-rank heavenly god-level powerhouse. The current suppression was so powerful that it was already at the next level. It was obviously a half-step Lord, no doubt about it.

Although Lin Huang was curious about how much of a difference there was between his ability and that of a half-step Lord, he knew very well that this newly-emerged enemy had exceeded the range of what he could handle. He began having thoughts of retreating.

He had dared to attack without hesitation when confronting the Dead Spirit Vine earlier because the suppression from his opponent was not powerful enough to make him want to give up at once. The suppression this time, however, truly gave him the sense that he had met with an invincible foe.

His rational side reasoned that he had no chance of winning at all if the group were to battle their foe head-on. As soon as they fought, there would only be one conclusion, which was that their opponent would kill them.

Just when he was going to tell Virtuoso and Saber9 via voice transmission to retreat, Virtuoso's voice transmission came through first.

"Don't imagine how powerful the enemy might be. The stronger you think it is, the more powerful it will be!"

Lin Huang was stunned when he heard this, but he reacted immediately. "It's an illusion?!"

"You can think of it as that," Virtuoso responded.

At that moment, Lin Huang saw Virtuoso dispelling their defensive technique. Their knees, initially bent, gradually straightened. A moment later, they stood upright within the suppression, as if they were not affected at all.

"We've found Phantom City's entrance." Virtuoso's gaze seemed to have pierced through the fog, looking into the distance.

"Can we talk about entrances later—how do we settle the threat in front of us now?" Lin Huang asked through voice transmission immediately.

"That Dead Spirit Vine that we encountered earlier and this monster are Phantom City's gatekeepers. To put it simply, they're actually illusions that Phantom City created."

"So the Dead Spirit Vine that we killed earlier was an illusion as well?" Lin Huang's brows lifted when he heard that; he had his doubts.

The notifications that came from Xiao Hei were real enough. Meanwhile, the massive amount of Rule Bending Powers that surged into his body was real too.

If it were an illusion, Xiao Hei would certainly not have transmitted fatality notifications.

Virtuoso seemed to notice Lin Huang's doubts. They then explained further, "It wasn't a simple illusion, but a real illusion that's similar to my ability.

"If those who fall under the illusion think it's real, it will become real and can also interfere with reality. If they insist that it's fake, then it will merely be a fabricated illusion."

"Do you mean to say we wasted our efforts killing that Dead Spirit Vine earlier? When in reality, we could have ignored it completely?" Lin Huang was rather speechless.

"That's right. If we insist on believing that it's not real, it will just be imaginary." Virtuoso nodded. "There's only one way to pass through Phantom City's gatekeepers, which is to believe that they're not real."

"Can't we kill all of the gatekeepers by force?" Lin Huang raised his doubts.

"It's futile. A new gatekeeper will appear every time a gatekeeper is killed. Their abilities will be even more powerful, and their numbers will also increase," Virtuoso explained somewhat helplessly, "Theoretically, there is no upper limit to the gatekeeper's abilities.

"Furthermore, no Almighty would be bored enough to come to Phantom City to kill the gatekeepers just for fun."

While both of them were conversing, Lin Huang noticed that on the other side, Saber9 had stood up as well. He dispelled his defense technique, completely ignoring this wave of powerful, invincible suppression.

At that moment, a gigantic Night Demon Fir extended its branches. Countless leaves blotted out the entire sky in an instant, surrounding the entire space where the three of them were.

The dense branches were like endless tentacles, coming at Lin Huang and the other two from every direction.

"You must steadfastly believe that this attack is just imaginary and that the half-step Lord who launched it isn't real!" Virtuoso immediately said to Lin Huang through voice transmission as they saw the branches surging toward them like a wave.

Virtuoso already had a rough understanding of Lin Huang's abilities. Although Lin Huang was powerful, he was far from able to take on a half-step lord-level powerhouse.

If Lin Huang was hit by the attack, he would certainly die!

As his Divine Telekinesis sensed countless branches approaching the group, Lin Huang could not calm himself down. He instinctively wanted to counter and attack with his sword; he was completely unable to ignore this wave of threat.

A moment later, countless branches pierced through the fog. They pierced through Virtuoso and Saber9's bodies immediately, as if they were passing through two shadows.

The two of them did not defend, nor did they dodge, much less show signs of being struck by the attack.

The next second, over a hundred branches forced their way in front of Lin Huang. Instinctively, he called up Mirror in front of him to shield him.

However, Mirror only lasted for less than a second before it suddenly shattered. The branches directly stabbed through like metal knives piercing through glass.

Lin Huang spat a mouthful of blood. This was the backlash from Mirror's inability to take the attack and, thus, collapsing.

This was also Lin Huang's first time encountering a situation where Mirror had been shattered by an assault.

The branches easily pierced through Mirror and continued coming straight at Lin Huang.

Virtuoso and Saber9 were in a panic, but they could not help.

Watching the branches coming at him, Lin Huang suddenly closed his eyes slightly and moved his lips. His emotions soon calmed down.

An instant later, when he opened his eyes, a branch went straight through the middle of his brow. However, there was no trace of blood at all. A moment later, his body was impaled by countless branches, but it was as if they had gone through a shadow.

Only then did Lin Huang lift his hand to wipe at the blood on the corner of his lips. He nodded at Virtuoso and Saber9 lightly. "It's over!"

"How did you do that just now?" Saber9 could not help asking.

He was aware that if he were put in a life-or-death situation after his defenses had been breached, it would be impossible for him to immediately alter his thoughts to ignore the attack.

"It's just a little trick of a Buddhist cultivator," Lin Huang explained calmly.

In reality, he knew very well that if he did not have the imperial monster, Demonic Buddhist Holy Son, it would have been hard for him to escape death earlier.

He had borrowed the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son's meditation secret skill to clear all the thoughts in his mind immediately so he could stay calm. He then imagined that the attack was purely illusory—that the half-step Lord did not really exist.

The whole process had been a close call. If there had been just the slightest flaw, he would have had to use a substitute for death and would need to be revived by now.

Fortunately, he had handled the entire thing without any mistakes in between, which allowed him to barely escape this fatal attack.

"What do we do next?" Lin Huang lifted his head to look at Virtuoso.

"It's simple. Imagine Phantom City's entrance." As soon as Virtuoso was done speaking, they gestured with their hand. A glittering, dazzling golden gate appeared before them. "We just have to open the gates and go in."

Once they finished speaking, Virtuoso pushed open the gates that had appeared out of thin air. Pulling at Lin Huang and Saber9's arms, Virtuoso stepped through the door directly…