Chapter 18: The Dance of the Illusory Butterfly

The Soul Confusion Array gradually blurred people’s minds; once fully activated, it wielded power equivalent to that of the later stages of distraction. Moreover, this array was a soul-based attack formation, extremely rare throughout the entire cultivation world.

Tens of thousands of disciples from the Soul Separation Sect poured their spiritual awareness—i.e., their spiritual energy—into the “web,” which was actually the pattern of the array. The Soul Separation Array then transformed this spiritual energy into countless mutated spiritual attacks, constantly targeting enemies within the array’s space.

At this moment, the Three-Tailed Dragon, the Illusory Butterfly, the Four-Winged Flying Dragon, the Thundereye Dragon Sculpture, the Phantom Dragonfly, the Golden Spotted Bee Queen, along with hundreds of beasts in the Out-of-Body stage, were trapped by the array. The essence of all these beasts was attacked by the mutated spiritual attacks, as if their essences were being “sliced apart,” causing unbearable pain.

Meanwhile, the five powerful cultivators from the Soul Separation Sect—Soul Annihilation, Soul Exhaustion, Soul Departure, Soul Loss, and Soul Scattering—flew in the air, their eyes filled with triumph.

“Hmph, with the death of these two top-tier beasts and hundreds of other beasts in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains, our Soul Separation Sect will now be able to take control of the entire mountain range. All its resources will belong to us,” said Soul Exhaustion, his face showing a cold expression as he spoke proudly.

“That’s right. Once these two top-tier beasts die, none of the other beasts in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains will be able to resist our attacks anymore.”

“Exactly. There are countless spiritual veins, minerals, and medicinal herbs in the Heaven’s Punishment Mountains. It’s shameful that those ignorant beasts have occupied them. Now, they should belong to us human cultivators.”

“Hehe, there’s no need to kill these two top-tier beasts. Why not knock them out first and turn them into pet beasts? Wouldn’t that be even better for us? With them, we could even destroy those three cultivation sects. Eventually, the entire Tianhua Continent will belong to our Soul Separation Sect.”

……

The five of them then excitedly began to imagine such a future.

Inside the array, the Three-Tailed Dragon and the Illusory Butterfly saw their subordinates falling one after another, reverting back to their beast forms. They felt immense regret.

“Butterfly, we can’t go on like this. I’ll transfer all my vital energy to you—use your ultimate move!” The Three-Tailed Dragon could no longer bear to watch. His own essence was also under attack by the array. Realizing that everyone would die if things continued this way, he decided to take a desperate gamble.

The Illusory Butterfly was also a miracle of nature—capable of transforming vital energy into soul power to launch soul attacks.

Hearing the Three-Tailed Dragon’s words, the Illusory Dance Butterfly immediately agreed and reverted to its true form—a beautiful butterfly over a kilometer long that suddenly filled the entire formation space. Though stunningly beautiful, no one in that space could appreciate its grace.

The Three-Tailed Dragon also reverted to its true form, also over a kilometer long, its body covered in green scales, with its tail divided into three hundred-meter-long dragon tails.

“Haha! These two top-tier monsters finally can’t hold on any longer and have reverted to their true forms,” Soul Annihilation shouted, watching the changes in the formation.

But as soon as he spoke, the Illusory Dance Butterfly suddenly began to dance, its four colorful wings fluttering gently. Around it, a peculiar luminous space formed.

This luminous space resembled countless tiny butterflies layered together, with countless light points dancing as well. It transformed into ribbons, colored balls, and seas of flowers at will, changing according to the butterfly’s thoughts.

The appearance of this luminous space directly blocked the mutated spiritual attacks from the “Confusing Soul Formation.” Then, the Illusory Dance Butterfly swiftly flew, bringing the luminous space around the Three-Tailed Dragon and the hundreds of monsters, protecting them all.

“What? Impossible! How can this monster create a spiritual space and block our attacks?” Soul Exhaustion exclaimed in surprise, noticing the changes inside the formation.

At that moment, Soul Annihilation’s usually dark complexion turned red. He had just mocked the Three-Tailed Dragon and the Illusory Dance Butterfly, thinking they would be attacked and forced to revert to their true forms, believing they would soon fall into a coma.

“It’s just a monster at the mid-stage of Divination. Even if it can create a spiritual space, how long can it last? Our sect’s protective formation possesses the power of the late stage of Divination,” Soul Departure said immediately upon seeing Soul Annihilation’s expression.

Instantly, Soul Annihilation, Soul Exhaustion, Soul Loss, and Soul Scattering all nodded vigorously in agreement with Soul Departure’s words.

Indeed, the Illusory Dance Butterfly had created this unique spiritual space by transforming its own vital energy along with its spiritual consciousness. As a result, its vital energy was constantly depleting, so it truly couldn’t last long.

The Three-Tailed Dragon was well aware of the Illusory Dance Butterfly’s abilities. Since it wasn’t affected by the formation’s spiritual attacks, it immediately took action to wake the many monsters and restore their consciousness.

“Brothers, Butterfly has protected us with her innate skills, but her vital energy is also disappearing rapidly. So, one by one, whenever Butterfly’s energy runs low, immediately transfer your own energy to her,” the Three-Tailed Dragon sent a mental message to each beast, conveying this order to their minds.
At this moment, the Three-Tailed Dragon could not transfer its own energy to Butterfly either; it was afraid that if its own energy was exhausted and the five Divination Stage experts from the Soul-Severing Sect rushed in, all the beasts would have no one to defend them and would be completely at the mercy of the Soul-Severing Sect.
All the beasts understood what the Three-Tailed Dragon meant and nodded in agreement.
Soon after, Butterfly continued to dance, creating scenes such as a sea of butterflies among flowers, a sky filled with stars, and a maze-like ancient cave. These breathtaking scenes protected the hundreds of beasts from being attacked by the formation.
Three days passed, and the Soul-Severing Sect and the beasts remained locked in a stalemate.
“Four Elders, I think if this continues, we’ll never be able to kill these beasts. How about we all enter the formation and fight them, depleting their vital energy before exiting?” Soul-Destruction, who had waited for three days, finally lost patience.
Soul-Exhaustion, Soul-Gone, Soul-Lost, and Soul-Scattered exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
Suddenly! Suddenly! Suddenly!
The five Divination Stage experts from the Soul-Severing Sect rushed into the “Confusing Soul Formation” and each took out a pitch-black staff, attacking Butterfly at the same time.
Obviously, they intended to kill Butterfly in one strike and then leave the formation.
How could the Three-Tailed Dragon let them succeed so easily? If that happened, it and all the beasts would be attacked by the formation again, putting their lives in real danger. So, the Three-Tailed Dragon immediately led the Four-Winged Dragon, Thunder-Eye Dragon Sculpture, Phantom Dragonfly, and Golden-Striped Bee Queen to fly up and block the five experts from the Soul-Severing Sect.
Inside the “Confusing Soul Formation,” the Three-Tailed Dragon and the five beasts, now separated from Butterfly’s protection, were immediately attacked with mental assaults. Faced with the five experts from the Soul-Severing Sect, they had to fend off the mental attacks while also doing their best to attack the experts, aiming to injure them before entering Butterfly’s mental realm.
This tactic proved effective. The five experts from the Soul-Severing Sect were skilled in soul attacks but were extremely weak in spell attacks and close combat. As soon as they saw the Three-Tailed Dragon leading the four beasts charging at them, they flew to the edge of the formation to avoid being caught by the Three-Tailed Dragon and the others.

Thus, the five members of the Li Hun Sect suddenly flew to the Illusion Dance Butterfly and then lured out five demon beasts in the Divination Stage, such as the Three-Tailed Dragon. After depleting some of their vital energy, they immediately fled. The vital energy of the Five-Tailed Dragon, Four-Winged Flying Dragon, Thunder-Eye Dragon Sculpture, Phantom Dragonfly, and Golden Spotted Bee Queen was being rapidly consumed. Although they understood the intentions of the five Li Hun Sect members, they had no choice but to continue wasting their energy in this way. Another day passed. Just as these demon beasts grew anxious and the people of the Li Hun Sect grew happy, a group of demon beasts suddenly appeared in the distant sky. Hundreds of demon beasts led by the Sky Sound Worm and Ice Blood Ant finally arrived near Skull Mountain. The Dimensional Sphere where Qu Yi was hiding also attached itself to the Golden Qilin. The Artifact God immediately released its spiritual awareness to scan the surroundings. With its spiritual awareness still in the early stages of fusion, it could sense the entire stone mountain area of the Li Hun Sect. “Qu Yi, tell the Golden Qilin that the other two top-tier demon beasts in the Heavenly Punishment Mountain Range are currently trapped inside a soul formation. To break this formation, all the disciples of the Li Hun Sect must be killed. Without their spiritual awareness contributing, this soul formation will lose much of its power,” the Artifact God quickly conveyed its discovery to Qu Yi. Qu Yi had planted a soul shackle in the Golden Qilin’s soul, allowing direct spiritual communication, so he immediately passed on the Artifact God’s words to it. The Golden Qilin understood but did not speak right away, waiting for the right moment. The Sky Sound Worm and Ice Blood Ant flew up into the air, looking at the dark formation space several miles wide below and then at the disciples of the Li Hun Sect in Skull Mountain. They immediately guessed that the Three-Tailed Dragon, Illusion Dance Butterfly, and the other demon beasts were trapped inside the formation. “Bingbing, what should we do? Brother Dragon and Butterfly must still be in this formation. Should we go in?” the Sky Sound Worm asked anxiously, its spiritual awareness unable to find a way to break the formation. “Worm, how would I know? I’ve never studied formations,” the Ice Blood Ant replied even more anxiously, transforming back into its true form—a 50-meter-long snow-white ant—floating in the air. The Four-Winged Black Panther, Heavenly Winged White Tiger, Blizzard Ice Silkworm, and Dark Scented Cold Fox, all in the early stages of the Divination Stage, were also confused and could think of no way to break the formation.

Seeing the anxious expressions on all the demons in the Distraction Stage, Golden Qilin flew over to them and said firmly, “Insect King, Ant King, I see that on that Skull Mountain, those disciples of the Soul-Severing Sect seem to be casting spells. It must be related to this formation. How about we attack those disciples? Maybe we can help the Dragon King and Butterfly King work together to wipe out the entire Soul-Severing Sect.” Hearing this, Heavenly Sound Insect and Ice-Blood Ant’s eyes lit up, and they immediately nodded in agreement.