Chapter 1495: A Barrier That Blurs Reality and Illusion
Brother Pan actually felt the urge to jump for a split second, but the thought barely surfaced before he snapped back to his senses. He swung his item behind him, only to find no one there—that voice just now seemed more like an illusion!
Realizing that Xu Huo might not be injured at all, he immediately abandoned the chase and retreated from the room, contacting his companions while retracing his steps. Unfortunately, the phone that had worked moments ago now had no signal at all. Looking out through the doors and windows, there wasn't a single person, nor could he hear even a whisper of sound.
Having fallen into the trap without realizing it, Brother Pan didn't dare waste any time where he was. He pulled out a teleportation item, intending to leave the slums, but the item failed—he wasn't sure if it was being suppressed by a higher-level item or if he was being interfered with to the point of being unable to use items. But he understood that if he delayed any longer, he might really end up dead. So he began destroying the nearby buildings, trying to force a path open.
However, he hadn't gone far before he discovered that the path ahead had turned into an abyss again. Looking out the window, the original slum scenery had vanished, replaced by an endless darkness. For a moment, the house he was in seemed to be the only existence in this place.
"Jump down." That voice sounded behind him again.
"Come out!" Brother Pan spun around, but unable to locate the source of the voice, he could only use a defense item to create an isolation layer, guarding against a sneak attack.
But Xu Huo never showed himself.
"Coward who hides his head and tail, if you've got the guts, come out and fight me one-on-one!" Brother Pan shouted.
"Jump down." The voice echoed through the room, as if seeping out from the walls, surrounding him from three hundred and sixty degrees.
Instinct drove Brother Pan to sweep the entire room with his items. Finding no clues, he wavered between self-doubt and self-affirmation. But this state didn't last long, because he realized that after hearing "jump down" several times, his mind was beginning to waver.
He was certain he hadn't left the slums. Even if he jumped from here, it probably wouldn't be more than twenty meters—a height that wouldn't kill him... Using his items, he climbed onto the windowsill and leaped!
But the fall lasted longer than he expected. After surpassing the time needed to cross the entire height of the slums, he started to panic. Earlier, he had thought he was merely being deceived in sight and sound, and that it was absolutely impossible for the other party to kill him outright within a spiritual realm. But after completely losing touch with the boundaries of reality, he came to his senses belatedly—that outer zone player's mental evolution was stronger than he had imagined!
Both being C-grade players, the other was far stronger than him. He still hadn't shaken off the other's mental influence, let alone fight in this state!
Brother Pan decisively used his ticket!
Watching the person who had jumped onto the street stand still and then disappear, Xu Huo felt a slight regret. It was rare to encounter such a cooperative C-grade player, but in less than two minutes, the guy had already backed out.
He had to shift his attention to the other four D-grade players.
Compressing the process of "mental interference" wasn't easy. Xu Huo initially tried to affect all four equally, but when the effect wasn't obvious, he reduced the range of his spiritual realm and summoned the Library Tower.
The Library Tower was the core of his spiritual realm. It could exert an almost coercive influence on those trapped within, like setting a cage inside the spiritual realm. Normally, it was used to trap players who could still stay clear-headed under mental interference, but now he intended to use it to increase the intensity of his spiritual power.
Placing the people inside the Library Tower, Xu Huo didn't let them actually see the tower. He only applied an equal amount of spiritual power. Confirming that the intensity was about right, he issued the command again.
Facing the abyss outside the door, the middle-aged player who was more heavily affected had already begun to waver. After Xu Huo repeated the command three times, he actually stepped into empty air. But just as he fell, he snapped awake and forcibly used an item to cling to the threshold.
Standing on the building across the way, Xu Huo watched the man climb back up without interfering.
Having gradually figured out a few things, he thought of another problem.
Generally speaking, spiritual power affects people within the range of the spiritual realm and cannot affect those outside it. For example, if the range of the spiritual realm is fifty meters, then someone fifty meters away can clearly see what's happening within that fifty-meter range. The fundamental principle is that spiritual power changes people, not reality itself.
So if one maintains enough distance, the performance of a mental evolver is like looking through a transparent glass—not so mysterious or irresistible.
The simplest way to solve this problem is to expand the range of the spiritual realm as much as possible, ideally exceeding the range of long-range attacks, so that players at the boundary can see the super evolver's operations but cannot interfere.
Another method is to reinforce the outer wall of the spiritual realm.
Assuming the spiritual realm spreads outward in a circular shape, as long as one forms a barrier at the edge with spiritual power that cannot be directly breached by the naked eye, the reinforcement effect can be achieved.
This is different from being inside the spiritual realm. To reach a level that affects people outside the range, the spiritual power barrier must approach substance, reaching a point where it blurs reality and illusion, confusing the real with the unreal.
Undoubtedly, this is very difficult. Moreover, when the range of the spiritual realm is large enough, blurring the boundary between the spiritual realm and reality isn't really necessary, because if the range is too large, players must enter the spiritual realm to actually engage the super evolver—they have no choice but to come in.
However, Xu Huo felt that this "blurring barrier" was very necessary, especially when facing other mental super evolvers. Concealing his actions so that opponents couldn't learn his methods in advance or gauge the interference intensity at different distances was also a form of self-protection.
Of course, he couldn't actually use spiritual power to affect reality yet, unless he relied on the "Seventeenth Hospital" and the "City Sand Table." But he could try to achieve a similar effect through spatial stacking.
So, while continuing to interfere with the four D-grade players, he positioned himself at the center of the spiritual realm and began to control space rays on a large scale, creating a massive barrier at the edge of the spiritual realm's range.
The "Cube Space" slightly reduced the difficulty of this plan.
To achieve perfection, Xu Huo intended to build this outer barrier into a hemispherical shape, which would prevent any aerial spying.
The operation process wasn't easy. In two hours, he had completed less than one-tenth of the barrier's construction. While releasing his spiritual power at maximum range, this rapidly drained his energy, forcing him to stop and rest.
That C-grade player had already run off. Feeling that his energy was about to give out, Xu Huo dealt with the remaining players ahead of time, including the two who had come to probe the depths.
(Chapter End)