Chapter 367: Overestimated Her Intelligence, Underestimated Her Desires

"Pfft!"

Su Yan took the blow head-on. Her blood and qi surged violently, and she spat out a mouthful of blood.

Seeing that his sneak attack had succeeded, the Evil Spirit King's expression twisted. Just as he was about to press his advantage, Su Yan simply wiped the remaining blood from the corner of her mouth and slowly straightened her back.

She had already learned everything she wanted to know; there was no longer any need to let this thing continue to plague the human world.

The Evil Spirit King was already within arm's reach of Su Yan when he suddenly sensed a terrifying aura.

He even found it somewhat laughable.

It had always been others who feared him; he had long since forgotten what the feeling of fear was like.

But the sensation at this moment came so intensely. Subconsciously, he wanted to flee, feeling immense regret that perhaps he truly should not have provoked the human before him.

But no matter what thoughts he had now, it was already too late. A powerful devouring force erupted once more from Su Yan's pupils. This time, before he could even catch his breath, he was thoroughly sucked inside.

Accompanied by the Evil Spirit King's wails, Su Yan slowly closed her eyes and sat cross-legged, mobilizing all the spiritual energy in her body to begin refining the evil spirit she had just absorbed.

She had required a massive amount of evil energy to suppress the power within her pupils again; this was practically heaven helping her out.

All she had to do now was wait patiently until the energy in her pupils completely settled.

"Ah!!!"

On the other side, Kong Nian let out a painful scream. The sensation of her eyes being physically gouged out truly exceeded her wildest expectations.

Blood slid down from her eye sockets, but soon, this pain was replaced by the distortion in her heart.

Because she was about to obtain all of Su Yan's power. She would become a truly gifted individual, never needing to cater to anyone's whims again. She would be the undisputed new Clan Leader of the Kong family!

And these were the greatest desires she had buried deep within her heart since childhood.

Now, she was going to have them all.

She continued to chant the mantra, impatient to have Su Yan's eyeballs enter her own sockets.

One second.

Two seconds.

She trembled with excitement. Although she could see no light, she could feel with absolute clarity that those eyeballs, which contained incomparable supernatural powers, were coming toward her, slowly settling into her eye sockets.

This was the most ecstatic moment of her life, as well as the happiest and most agonizing.

"It's done!!"

Feeling clearly that her sockets were being filled, she lost all sense of proportion and reason, her joyful voice echoing throughout the mountain forest.

All that remained was to master that surging, torrential power, and she was fully prepared for anything.

However, only a few breaths later, her expression changed drastically, and her breathing became incredibly rapid.

"How can this be? Why can't I feel anything?"

At this moment, she felt it must be a problem with her perception, or perhaps because she had lost her spiritual energy, her perception of the energy contained within those eyes was not clear. She exerted all her strength, focusing all her attention on those long-coveted eyeballs.

Still nothing.

She had possessed that power before, so she knew exactly what it felt like. But now, her eye sockets were empty; let alone energy, she couldn't even feel the presence of the eyes themselves.

A terrifying thought flashed through her mind, causing her to instantly lose all rationality.

It couldn't be wrong!

It absolutely couldn't be wrong!

That dying person was clearly Su Yan; how could the eyes she gouged out of Su Yan's sockets be wrong?

She struggled to open her eyes, even ceasing to think about the energy within them, wanting at least to recover her sight first.

But her eyelids felt as heavy as ten thousand catties; no matter how hard she tried, she could not lift them.

Sweat mixed with blood covered her cheeks, making her entire appearance look quite horrific.

At that moment, a sharp voice suddenly came from directly in front of her.

The person was reciting the Kong family's mantra to break the illusion.

In an instant, all her sensations seemed to change, except for the pitch-black darkness before her eyes, which remained unchanged.

"Miss!"

This slightly anxious voice clearly belonged to Ruan Tao, but Kong Nian knew it was Kong Xiang who had arrived.

"Uncle Kong, please come help me..."

For the first time, her voice broke into a sob before him. She was no longer the high-and-mighty Young Mistress of the Kong family, but like a panicked child.

When Kong Xiang saw Kong Nian's tightly closed eyes, the bloodstains on her face, and the pair of eyeballs lying on the ground, his heart sank completely.

They had only been separated for a short hour. He felt that even if Kong Nian couldn't break the formation herself, she should definitely be able to protect herself. But it seemed he had overestimated her mental fortitude, or perhaps underestimated the illusions created by the evil spirit.

What on earth happened to make her lose her eyes?!

"Miss, I am here."

He quickly supported Kong Nian as she fell from the formation.

Kong Nian grabbed his arm, using all her strength to mask the terror in her heart. "Uncle, help me quickly! I encountered Su Yan. She was already at her end, so I gouged out her eyes. Now her eyes are in my sockets, but why can't I feel her power? Why can't I see anything?"

Listening to her incoherent rambling, Kong Xiang immediately understood what had happened.

Almost everyone who entered the second trial encountered a different illusion, and he was no exception. Furthermore, the scenes manifested by this illusion were the deepest desires hidden in one's heart.

For Kong Nian, her deepest desire was, of course, to obtain Su Yan's power and become a super powerhouse. But he truly hadn't expected that Kong Nian would actually be unable to distinguish that it was all fake, falling completely into the trap of the illusion.

"So, you gouged the eyes out yourself?"

Having stayed by Kong Nian's side for so many years, he had practically watched her grow up. He felt a sense of kinship toward her as an elder; seeing her do something so foolish, he felt both heartache and indignation.

"Stop asking that! Just tell me quickly, did I make a mistake in some step? That's why it turned out like this? I'll fix it immediately, hurry up!"

Kong Nian gripped his arm tightly, clutching at her last lifeline.

Kong Xiang looked toward the illusion he had broken; there wasn't a trace of Su Yan to be found anywhere.

"Miss, calm down first. We can take our time with the matter of your eyes."

"Don't you see what I look like right now? I'm like a blind person! How can I calm down? Tell me quickly, what should I do next? And is Su Yan's corpse over there?"

Kong Nian only wanted Kong Xiang to tell her that she hadn't done anything wrong, and that she had indeed obtained Su Yan's power.

That was all she wanted.

(End of Chapter)