Chapter 486: The Difference Between Su Mu and Illusion Ash

"Why waste words on him? Just destroy his realm!" A flash of brutality crossed the Lord of Dawn's eyes as the divine power of the Merciful Holy Mother of Myriad Blossoms erupted outward.

His hands instantly transformed into rapidly growing vines that plunged violently into the earth.

An instant later, the earth shattered. Hundreds of millions of trees and flowers burst madly from the ground, surging straight into the sky.

It was as if he intended to single-handedly transform the entire Illusion Ash Realm into a forest.

But at that very moment, Illusion Ash's indifferent voice rang out. "Still acting so arrogant at death's door? Take a look at where you are first."

The two Saint Lords were startled. Looking around, they paled in fright. The transcendent army was gone. The grand, towering buildings of the realm were gone. Even the forest Dawn had just planted had completely vanished.

At some unknown point, they had been plunged into a space resembling the depths of the universe—cold, desolate, devoid of gravity, and without any boundaries or sense of up and down.

"How is this possible!?" Dawn cried out in horror. "I was guarding against his Illusion Technique the entire time, how could..."

Illusion Ash's figure abruptly squeezed into this space. He sneered at the two of them. "Guarding against my Illusion Technique? You two idiots, my Illusion Technique shrouds this entire realm. The moment you stepped inside, your defeat was sealed!

"You must be shocked. Wondering how my Illusion Technique could possibly cover the entire realm? That is because..."

He waved his hand. The pitch-black void of deep space was wiped clean like a mirror, revealing the true scenery hidden behind it.

There were hundreds of millions of white threads. They pulsed like transmitted network signals, undulating with faint flashes of light and electricity. Together, they wove into a fine, dense web.

A single glimpse revealed the whole. It was painfully obvious that this Illusion Technique space was a "birdcage" meticulously woven from those hundreds of millions of white threads.

The bottom ends of those white threads connected to all the inhabitants of the Illusion Ash Realm. These threads extended directly from their very souls—they were threads of mental energy!

"You actually siphoned the mental energy of everyone in the realm to construct this Illusion Technique space? Are you not afraid of draining them dry?!" Dawn roared in furious shock. He finally understood why Illusion Ash had remained holed up in his realm. He had been preparing this Illusion Technique all along.

Illusion Ash smiled faintly. "My will is the only one that exists in this realm. All other living beings are nothing more than tools meant to serve me. What does it matter if I siphon a little of their mental energy?

"Besides, if many people do end up dying because of this, the blame falls squarely on your heads. If the two of you weren't as stubborn and stupid as donkeys, allowing yourselves to be manipulated, why would I have ever gone to such lengths?

"I sincerely and patiently explained everything to both of you. Why wouldn't you believe me? I have spoken more truths to you two than I have in my entire life, yet you refused to believe a single word."

"I believe you now. You're right. We can't let ourselves be used by the mastermind behind the scenes," Dawn said hurriedly.

The smile on Illusion Ash's face gradually turned cold. "You don't believe me; you're just afraid. But... it's too late. Within this Boundless Illusion Prison, I no longer have to worry about sneak attacks from the mastermind. I can finally focus on dealing with you two idiots.

"Rest assured, I won't kill you. I'm going to turn you into puppets. Then, you'll help me shatter that mastermind's conspiracy!"

"Attack!" Dawn roared. He and Yuanhuang moved in a flash, erupting with their full divine power without holding anything back.

Illusion Ash's eyes turned cold. "Bring it on!"

Now fighting without restraint, he released boundless divine flames from his body. In just an instant, the entire starry void of the universe was transformed into a purgatory sea of fire.

Boom!

Endless vines and trees surged up from the flames. They entrenched themselves in a corner of the starry sky, shattering Illusion Ash's domain of fire.

Yuanhuang unleashed a barrage of roars. Brilliant, cold metallic light illuminated the void, and scorching white plumes of steam billowed out as he smashed toward Illusion Ash like a falling meteor.

Terrifying might soared into the expanse as three vastly different divine powers roared against each other.

The three of them went all out, unleashing their deadliest killer moves. Every strike was a desperate gamble for their lives. Not a single expert who reached the Saint Lord Realm was anything less than a terrifying existence who had crawled their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The ultimate life-and-death struggle and the most profound pulses of Law played out across the starry expanse.

Wherever the three passed, the galaxy grew dim and lifeless. Stars trembled on the verge of collapse before instantly turning to cosmic dust.

Gradually, three incredibly majestic phantoms of Gods rose from the starry sky!

The Sovereign of Flame Hell stepping out of the blazing purgatory!

The Merciful Holy Mother of Myriad Blossoms born from the myriad flora of the world!

The Fallen Sin Maitreya, interwoven from machinery and flesh!

The three of them summoned the true forms of their Gods, throwing them into continuous, violent collisions.

In the end, a battle between Saint Lords boiled down to a clash of Gods. It was a test of elemental counters—whose God was stronger, and who could mobilize more divine power!

Fighting one against two, Illusion Ash gradually lost ground. The wounds on his body multiplied, yet he wore a confident smile of absolute victory.

In contrast, Dawn and Yuanhuang had sustained lighter injuries, but they were panting heavily. They were already at the end of their ropes.

Right at that moment, Yuanhuang suddenly swung a punch at Dawn!

Dawn was horrified. "What are you doing!?"

Yuanhuang's expression changed wildly. "It wasn't me! I was aiming for Illusion Ash!"

"You... your body..." Dawn stared at Yuanhuang in absolute horror. Countless tiny threads of mental energy were already anchored all over his body.

Right now, Yuanhuang looked exactly like a marionette.

Realizing something, Dawn hurriedly looked down at himself. His eyes were splitting with rage as he found mental threads anchored onto his own body, having appeared there at some unknown point.

He frantically slashed at the mental threads, but Illusion Ash's cold sneer echoed in his ears.

"Threads forged from the mental energy of hundreds of millions of people are not so easily severed! Submit to my control, Dawn!"

"Don't even think about it, I—" Before Dawn could finish his sentence, a pair of crystalline blue eyes, as deep as the ocean, reflected in his pupils. His words stopped abruptly.

He tried to tear his gaze away, but to his horror, he found that those eyes were like the eyes of a God, projected across the entire starry sky. There was nowhere to hide!

Hum!

An eerie mental fluctuation pulsed through the void. Dawn's arms fell limply to his sides, his eyes turning completely hollow.

"Next is you, Yuanhuang!" Illusion Ash sneered as he lunged forward. His gaze was blazing, but his already fair face had grown even paler. Clearly, even with the mental energy of hundreds of millions of living creatures backing him, forcibly subjugating a Saint Lord exacted a massive toll.

The mental will of a person is a fascinating thing. It never remains in a fixed state; rather, it fluctuates constantly. The most obvious example of this is fleeting, short-lived enthusiasm.

When someone makes up their mind to do something, their willpower is truly indestructible for the first few minutes. But once that brief window passes, their desires pierce right through their resolve.

Using an Illusion Technique to control someone's mind works the exact same way. Dawn was in the middle of an intense battle, meaning his willpower was at its absolute peak—the equivalent of those first few minutes of unbreakable resolve. That was why Illusion Ash had suffered such an immense drain and needed to rely on external power to pull it off.

On the other hand, Su Mu had launched his sneak attack exactly when the battle ended and Dawn had completely relaxed his guard. He was able to shatter Dawn's willpower with ease. Not to mention, through their numerous prior interactions, Su Mu had laid down plenty of hidden traps in advance.

This was where he and Illusion Ash fundamentally differed in their deployment of the Illusion Technique. Even though their abilities shared the exact same origin, their methods were worlds apart.

Illusion Ash preferred to cast his Illusion Technique as an overwhelming, crushing wave of supreme mental power.

Su Mu, however, was like a gentle spring rain that silently nourished the earth. By the time his opponents fell under his Illusion Technique, they wouldn't even realize it.

One was highly efficient; the other was perfectly concealed.