My Simulated Road to Immortality

Chapter 288: 268: The Intent of a Horse Can Also Hurt People

Translator: 549690339

“Thump! Thump!”

Li Fan’s heart suddenly beats uncontrollably, pounding within his chest.

As if he is witnessing his own gruesome death in the near future.

Without thinking, Li Fan wants to murmur [Real] in his heart and return to his anchored moment.

But in a flash, he feels something is not right and abruptly stops himself.

The mysterious Heart-Refining Spell slowly grinds the fear bubbling up in his heart, transforming it into nourishment for his mind. At the same time, it buys Li Fan a precious sliver of calm to think.

“Could it be that Zhang Zhiliang noticed something and intended to harm me this way?”

“No… He should have ascended to the God Transformation stage by now. It makes no sense to go to such lengths just to deal with a minor Foundation Establishment Cultivator like me.”

“He could just take action directly.”

“So, the bizarre situation at hand is the work of the [Mind Steed] itself?”

While pondering, Li Fan suddenly feels disoriented.

The hairs on the back of his neck rise, as if he’s being watched.

Stunned, Li Fan whirls around.

Zhang Zhiliang is looking at him eerily, wearing an indescribable smile.

Instinctively, Li Fan retreats, spiritual power surging within him as the Mist Blade is about to strike.

But in a blink of an eye, Zhang Zhiliang’s figure disappears.

Li Fan is momentarily stunned before realizing he’s inside the Tianxuan Mirror.

Even the Celestial Healer would need to cause quite a disturbance to forcefully intrude.

There’s no way Zhang Zhiliang could sneak in so silently.

“An illusion?”

Li Fan turns his head to look at the fallen body of the Mind Steed and immediately detects something strange, frowning.

The posture of the Mind Steed’s body has subtly changed without his notice.

“Is it dead or alive?”

Li Fan couldn’t help contemplating.

The fear strikes again, lingering in his heart.

His body goes cold.

“This [Mind Steed] is quite bizarre.”

“But I have [Real], no matter how dangerous it is, it can’t harm my life…”

At this thought, Li Fan feels somewhat reassured.

Strangely enough, when he thinks this way, the inexplicable fear in his heart momentarily recedes like the tide.

“Interesting…”

Li Fan’s attention is captured.

However, he still retains the state of a human body with a horse face, clearly indicating that this event is not over yet.

Seizing this lull, Li Fan’s mind spins swiftly, considering his strategy.

However, before Li Fan can think up a solution, the situation changes again.

The sound of the arrow piercing through the air is suddenly heard.

Then comes the muffled noise of it penetrating flesh and bone.

Li Fan follows the sound and spots an arrow, seemingly appearing from nowhere, piercing through the left arm of the Mind Steed’s corpse.

Just as Li Fan is about to pull out the arrow, to verify whether it’s real or not, a sharp pain assaults him.

Funnily enough, the pain also originates from his own left arm.

Following his spirit sense, his face suddenly darkens.

The same location, the same wound!

Even when Li Fan applies his spiritual power, the wound will not heal.

When he buys a Trauma Healing Pill from the Tianxuan Mirror and swallows it down, it too has no effect.

The wound remains.

“This…”

“Is it real or unreal?”

Li Fan’s mental sense focuses on the agonizing pain on his arm – everything feels so real.

“So it seems, anything that happens to the [Mind Steed] will be reflected onto me?”

“If…”

His tangled thoughts are stopped by Li Fan forcefully operating the Heart-Refining Spell, clearing away distractions.

Ignoring the pain in his body, he continues to ponder a countermeasure.

“Theoretically speaking, Zhang Zhiliang has no reason to play tricks on me. This [Mind Steed] indeed is a precious treasure that enhances the divine soul.”

“So can one infer that the bizarre scenes that just unfolded seemed so real because they bypassed my senses and acted directly on my divine soul?”

“Going beyond the concept of ordinary illusions, this strikes directly at the soul…”

While Li Fan ponders, a sharp sword suddenly appears out of nowhere.

The chilling light bursts out, severing the index finger on the right hand of the Mind Steed completely.

The intense pain makes Li Fan gasp involuntarily.

Looking at his right hand, sure enough, the index finger is gone.

All that’s left is continuous bleeding.

Li Fan holds his mutilated right hand before his eyes and closely observes it.

“Is it real…”

“Or is it fake?”

The rationality tells Li Fan everything happening to him is just the effect of the Mind Steed on his divine soul. It is all fake.

But the continuous burning pain from his body forces Li Fan to doubt his own judgement.

“If this is all illusory, it doesn’t matter.”

“But what if I’m wrong, and these wounds are real?”

“If I let these changes continue to happen, am I not awaiting death?”

An idea involuntarily pops up.

“To judge whether it’s real or fake, why not ask someone to examine it?”

With this thought, Li Fan leaves the Tianxuan Mirror.

But when he shows his horse face to other cultivators and receives no strange looks after wandering around for a few laps,

Li Fan finally is certain that this is a false experience brought by the Mind Steed.

However…

“Hiss!”

Touching his chest, Li Fan discovers another deep wound.

While he’s validating it outside, eight wounds have appeared on Li Fan’s body.

“The speed is getting faster and the wounds are getting larger.”

“Even knowing these are illusions, but at this level…”

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s real or fake.”

“So, if I let it continue like this, could I actually die?”

Before crossing time and space, Li Fan had heard of a certain punishment.

The eyes of the criminal are covered, and then a cut is made on the arm.

Afterward, water is dripped to mimic the sound of blood dripping, and the criminal is continuously whispered that he’s losing too much blood.

Even though the wound on the arm has already clotted and there is no danger of losing too much blood and dying,

There are criminals who really believe they are losing too much blood and subsequently slowly die.

If you think you’re dying, then you will actually die.

Li Fan suspects that the action of the [Mind Steed] operates on the same principle.

Since the illusion has become almost indistinguishable from reality, if he does nothing and just waits for the situation to develop,

When the body of the Mind Steed is affected by fatal injuries like a blown-off head,

Li Fan may also be affected by the synchronized injuries and actually believe he has suffered such severe injuries.

And then he may inexplicably die.

This is the concrete impact of one’s own cognition on the body.

To avoid this…

Unless…

Li Fan opens the [Real] panel.

He stares intently at the charging progress.

“As long as the auto-protection of [Real] has not been triggered, regardless of how real my personal perception is, I’m not in any life-threatening danger.”

With this thought, Li Fan feels much relieved.

The fear in his heart gradually vanishes.