### Chapter 3: The Illusory Realm
Once upon a time, three adventurers led by Little Musashi narrowly escaped the treacherous sands, only to find themselves hanging in mid-air over an abyss!
Yes, in their wild descent, the quicksand seemed to dissolve into thin air like fog—leaving them screaming in a state of weightlessness.
Even Little Musashi couldn’t have predicted that the quicksand would be suspended thousands of meters high! Beneath them was a mountain range shrouded in clouds, only the tips of the peaks dared to peek out.
A gust of wind slapped them awake. At their current rate of descent, if they didn’t do something soon, they would be having a very intimate meeting with the ground in about thirty seconds.
“Hey, Little Rain, isn’t that a flying sword on your back?!” Strong Brother suddenly remembered.
Cold Little Rain had been carrying the sword the entire way without drawing it. Not because she didn’t want to, but because it could only briefly carry a person for show and had a long cooldown. It was just a flashy toy worth nearly 2000 Spirit Coins—a classic example of style over substance.
But girls just love this kind of stuff!
Anyway, this thing sold pretty well in the weapons store, at least fulfilling everyone’s fantasy of flying on a sword.
She had forgotten all about it until Strong Brother reminded her, and she instantly snapped to action.
Weight limit be damned! This was a crisis!
Cold Little Rain drew the flying sword and began to chant a spell. Among the three, she immediately halted her downward plunge.
But then she looked at the other two and thought, “Uh-oh, what now?”
“Quick! Save Little Musashi! I can d*e without a problem!” Strong Brother bellowed.
Meanwhile, Little Musashi’s firm voice pierced through the air, “I have a plan, don’t worry about me!”
Trusting her, Cold Little Rain bit her lip and the sword swooped down in a huge arc. As it passed by Strong Brother, she tightly wrapped around him, maneuvering the sword to slow their descent together.
Clearly, the combined weight of the two exceeded the sword’s carrying capacity. Flying again was out of the question—they could only cling to the sword’s diminishing lift to combat gravity.
Still, with a resounding crash, the two plummeted into a thicket of foliage, and the sword crumbled to dust before they hit the ground.
Dazed, they lay among the leaves, groaning for what felt like an eternity before managing to get up.
Fortunately, aside from a few scratches, they were otherwise okay.
Once Strong Brother regained some clarity, he shouted, “Little Musashi! Little Musashi! Where are you?”
“Right here!” Little Musashi gracefully jumped down from a tree, looking surprisingly intact apart from a couple of minor scrapes.
“That’s great! We’re all fine—what a relief!” Cold Little Rain wasn’t mourning the loss of her flying sword, but her sentimental side welled up as she saw them overcome yet another crisis.
Just before touching down, Little Musashi executed a mighty sword slash, cushioning her fall and landing safely. So, they survived that little ordeal!
Even though her character card didn’t have a mana bar, using skills consecutively was a huge drain on her stamina.
Thinking quickly, she retrieved the red and blue potions Cold Little Rain had handed her and guzzled them down like a thirsty camel. Surprisingly, they seemed to replenish her energy!
At this point, all the viewers could finally breathe easy.
“That was intense! I nearly had a heart attack!”
“You said it! This livestream is better than a free action movie!”
“I’m so done with Strong Brother. Remember in the desert when Little Musashi was clearly plotting something cool, and he was yelling about her trying to k*ll herself? He had us all worked up!”
“Seriously though, I was really worried earlier!”
“Ha! Strong Brother acting all caring—who wouldn’t get swooped up in that?”
“Turns out, Little Musashi is a total badass!”
“Wait, how did she see through that? That desert was just an illusion!”
Strong Brother and Cold Little Rain raised the same question.
If it weren’t for Little Musashi, they might have been trapped in the endless sandy mirage until they dehydrated to oblivion.
“My master once said, sometimes what you see isn’t reality. You must believe in the strength of your heart,” she explained, albeit without knowing who her master even was—just throwing in a classic quote for flair.
【Cold Value from Sky Void Academy’s Strong Brother +101】
【Cold Value from Flowerless Palace’s Cold Little Rain +99】
Little Musashi’s expression shifted from lost to wise beyond her years.
“Since Ji Shen set up such heavy obstacles at the entrance to Mirror Mountain, this Small Cave Heaven must be important to them.
If this truly is just a barren desert, I can’t fathom why Ji Shen would be so obsessed with it.
So, I have to wonder—are we witnessing an illusion?”
Strong Brother suddenly had a lightbulb moment, “Wait, are you tracking the sun’s movement?”
Little Musashi nodded, “Exactly! Illusory realms tend to only capture fragments of real scenes. This is the hottest part of the desert during the day.
If we hadn’t noticed the unusual, we surely would have been lost in this miserable environment, succumbing to fear and thirst.
As a dual-sword user, my eyesight is multiples better than normal. I can look directly at the sun and not even blink!
So when that bl**d-red sun hung there without moving, I knew this desert was merely a cage preventing outsiders from entering the real Small Cave Heaven.
Ji Shen must have other ways to traverse this desert—that’s probably why we found no trace of them after entering.”
And the viewers were left in awe.
……
“Oh my god, just a normal member of the Demon-Slaying Squad has such terrifying insight and analytical skills? What must the Extermination of Immortals organization be like?!”
“Right?! One massive power after another is coming into view, the future of the Dao-Searching world is about to get super interesting!”
“I’m totally envious of Strong Brother and Little Rain! It’s infuriating that we can’t just refresh the dungeon—they get to experience it, and we’re left out!”
“That’s life, my young friend…
Incompleteness is a kind of beauty.”
“But I also want to stand shoulder to shoulder with Little Musashi!”
“Agggh! Why am I the only one getting infuriated?!
…”
“Another one’s gone crazy, drag them out!”
……
“Thud!”
Strong Brother suddenly dropped to one knee in front of Little Musashi, eyes sparkling with eagerness.
“Please take me as your disciple!
I’m begging you!”
Cold Little Rain, “…..”
Little Musashi, “…..”
The internet commenters, “…..”
What happened to your dignity?!
