Taboo Mage - A journey of fairy tale stories

I steeled myself and turned back into the courtyard.

Under the corridor bridge, Jue Chi and Yuzhi were still holding hands and whispering sweet nothings, which made my skin crawl. I quickly walked over and yanked the Mummy out of Jue Chi’s embrace.

“You…” the Mummy’s expression darkened instantly.

Suppressing my laughter, I turned around and wrapped my arms around Jue Chi’s waist.

“You heartless coward! How could you just leave me behind?”

I cried dramatically, though I was secretly stifling a wave of nausea, wiping away my tears in a pitiful manner.

Jue Chi was taken aback for a moment and instinctively tried to push me away. I immediately grabbed his arm, leaned in closer, and whispered in his ear, “You foolish monk! Are you crazy? That’s a Mummy! A Resentful Spirit!”

Jue Chi didn’t respond; he cast a glance at me before pushing me away.

Seeing Jue Chi reject me, the Mummy immediately snuggled back up to him, leaning against his chest like a little bird seeking comfort. However, the malice in its gaze as it looked at me made my heart tremble.

This one seemed to be much more formidable than any Resentful Spirit I had encountered before. I felt I might have taken too big a risk.

I noticed something was off; given Jue Chi’s Taoist cultivation, he shouldn’t be oblivious to this situation.

Even if he couldn’t recognize that the Mummy wasn’t human, he shouldn’t be getting emotionally attached to a woman, right?

Baffled, I suddenly thought that this might be a case of the observer being confused. If I could break the situation, would Jue Chi be able to see things clearly again?

However, finding a breakthrough in an Illusion was no easy feat. Earlier, I had tried to use my relationship with Jue Chi to provoke the Mummy into anger.

As long as she got angry, the barrier of the Illusion would crack, and I might find my way out.

But judging by the current situation, Jue Chi was completely infatuated with the Mummy, and the Mummy, in turn, trusted him entirely.

This left me with no opportunity to exploit.

So, I had to explore other ways to find a breakthrough in this Illusion.

Since I had nothing on me that could be useful, I glanced at the two entangled together and decided to wander around this place a bit more, hoping to find something else.

I turned and walked out of the courtyard, first strolling around the street, but found nothing. Everything seemed like sculptures frozen in place, devoid of any life.

Dingling-

Suddenly, a ringing sound came from somewhere. I looked up in shock; this was a sound I had heard before, the bell that Zhou Qifang always carried with him.

Could it be that he has discovered I’m trapped here?

“Zhou Qifang! Zhou Qifang!”

I shouted to the sky, but heard no response. Frustration and disappointment washed over me. It seemed Zhou Qifang hadn’t found this barrier.

Suddenly, the bell rang again, and for a moment, I thought I might be imagining things again. I looked around, focusing on the direction of the sound, and was surprised to find it was coming from a tree.

It was a large willow tree, its branches swaying gently in the breeze.

A thought suddenly struck me like a bolt of lightning: at that old theater stage, Zhou Qifang’s bell was hung on a tree, wasn’t it?

Could it be this tree?

I quickly approached the large willow tree, feeling a mixture of doubt and hope. According to what I knew, if the barrier was created by a spirit creature, the scenes within the Illusion should reflect the creature’s own fantasies.

I stood before the willow tree and examined it closely. Why did the surrounding scenery feel vaguely familiar?

Especially the buildings around the theater stage-they were almost identical to the real ones, just a bit newer.

This was clearly an Illusion created based on reality, which meant this Illusion wasn’t crafted by the spirit creature.

She didn’t have the ability to do this.

The only one capable of creating this Illusion was… Jue Chi!

As the realization hit me, my heart raced wildly. I felt as if a curtain had been lifted from my mind, revealing something important, yet it was still unclear, blocked in my thoughts.

The bell continued ringing in my ears, becoming faster and more urgent.

With a buzzing sound, as if responding to a summon, I abruptly closed my eyes, feeling the world spin around me. When I opened them again, I was met with a dazzling starry sky.

“Are you okay?”

Zhou Qifang stood before me, arms crossed, looking down at me lying on the ground.

I shook my head, spreading my hands as I lay on the grass. Before me, I could still see Jue Chi in his long robe and the woman in a cheongsam, her figure graceful and alluring.

“How did I end up here?” I closed my eyes for a moment, and once I fully cleared my head, I stood up, brushing the grass off my clothes.

Zhou Qifang looked up at the theater stage across from us and said, “You were trapped in a barrier. Jue Chi summoned me and opened a crack in the barrier. I used the bell to guide you out.”

“What did you say?” I frowned, pausing mid-action as I patted my clothes and incredulously stared at Zhou Qifang.

Zhou Qifang took the bell hanging from the tree and placed it in his backpack, continuing, “It was Jue Chi who released you from the barrier. Do you understand?”

“Are you saying that Jue Chi knew that the thing he was entangled with wasn’t human?” I widened my eyes, unable to suppress my rising voice.

So why was he still acting out that tragic scene with the Mummy?

Zhou Qifang glanced at me without responding, simply turning his back and walking toward the exit.

I picked up my backpack that I had thrown on the ground and hurried after him, “I thought about it earlier. It’s quite possible that this barrier was created by Jue Chi himself, so this is real, right?”

Zhou Qifang didn’t reply, walking all the way to the car. I could tell he was getting irritated by my questions, as he turned to look at me and said in a deep voice, “Why do you become so unsure whenever it comes to Jue Chi?”

“I…” I opened my mouth, the words on the tip of my tongue, but I didn’t know what to say.

He was right; in the past, I would confidently draw conclusions the moment I thought of something.

But now, facing Jue Chi made me start to doubt my own judgment.