Era of Magic and Martial Arts

Zuo Bai widened his only eye, the white in it flickering with blue light, like a computer about to crash.

He watched the gradually shrinking [Mask] circle, each [Mask] moving with uneven steps, yet uniformly closing in on him.

In a trance, he seemed to hear the footsteps of countless Death Gods, pressing in from all directions.

"Wait, footsteps of Death Gods?"

"Footsteps?!!"

Although the sound was faint, barely audible, and appeared intermittently, as if it were a mere illusion.

But Zuo Bai’s ears indeed caught the wet splashing of footsteps on sewage.

Zuo Bai’s heart suddenly jolted: "Shadow, why are there footsteps?!!"

To know that previously, the shadow, besides speaking, was completely silent.

Not to mention footsteps, even when it ambushed and pierced him, making a hole in his chest, not a sound was made.

"Something’s off... This shadow is different from before, something’s wrong with this shadow!"

Zuo Bai sensed something unusual but hadn’t fully noticed.

It’s like doing an experiment—discovering a problem is just the first step, then you must hypothesize, design experiment steps, find evidence in the process to verify the hypothesis, and finally conclude the experiment.

Experiments take time, but death gives little preparation.

The footsteps, being Zuo Bai’s discovery, were also the experimental deadline countdown.

"Why is there sound? Where exactly is the problem?"

Zuo Bai listened intently, trying to pinpoint the source of the footsteps.

However, the sound shifted left, right, forward, and backward, sometimes continuous, sometimes intermittent, completely unpredictable.

The blue light in Zuo Bai’s eye flickered more frequently, and threads of black smoke gradually gathered into a cloud on his forehead.

Suddenly, he wielded the ten-meter-long Bone Snake, drawing an expansive circle outward.

Hiss—Hiss—

The nearest circle of [Masks] was pierced waist-deep, as if penetrating a circle of illusory shadows, without substance.

Each [Mask] still moved unhurriedly towards him, the radius of the [Mask] circle shrinking again.

"All illusions? Visual afterimages? But if they’re fake, why can they move?"

Zuo Bai pondered anxiously, furrowing his brow.

"[Mask] not only can transform into shadows, but also replicate its illusions and manipulate them?"

His mind worked quickly, trying to extract a clear line of thought from the chaos.

However, without time or conditions to experiment or deduce.

He could only shelve doubts, relying on scientific intuition to hypothesize a conclusion—the moving figures before him were all illusions, all illusory [Masks].

"The real [Mask] is just one, hidden among these illusions, and can shift positions within them at any time.

Therefore, your footsteps can shift left, right, forward, and backward, without any pattern!"

Zuo Bai’s eyes sparkled, his hands never resting, he continued to swing the Bone Snake, piercing the circle of [Mask] illusions, trying to find the real [Mask] among the layers of illusions.

At the same time, he coldly laughed, saying:

"[Mask], I’ve already seen through your little trick.

The reason you can shift within the illusions isn’t because you truly possess space-transcending abilities, but rather..."

Zuo Bai’s gaze suddenly lowered, no longer focusing on the tightly packed [Masks], but instead fixating on the murky water.

There, under the feet of countless illusions, hid an invisible shadow blending with the sewage.

That shadow twisted and swirled underwater, like a tail-biting snake, threading the [Masks] above together.

"The shadow beneath the water can extend wherever you can instantly appear."

Zuo Bai’s voice was deep and cold, cutting to the core of the truth:

"Along with your ability to fabricate illusions using certain means, the combination creates this magical deception!"

Zuo Bai was indeed close to the truth.

The principle of this magic was indeed the combination of [Shadow Coexistence] and [Ghost Shadow].

[Ghost Shadow] is the Limit-Breaking Skill of Soul-Seeking Step, occasionally summoning a confounding Ghost Shadow behind, confusing and bewildering the enemy.

Using Soul-Seeking Step, the faster the steps, the higher the chance to trigger a Ghost Shadow, each maintaining inertia for 0.5s before dissipating.

[Shadow Coexistence] allows the body and shadow to switch positions anytime.

Combined, it creates a magical scene of eerie effects.

Even though Zuo Bai had deduced this, he still missed the most lethal point.

He hadn’t figured out why the shadow produced footsteps this time.

But Zuo Bai really had no time to delve deeper.

The [Mask] circle, the radius unknowingly shortened to less than 3 meters, almost within reach.

"Found you!"

Zuo Bai shouted coldly, the Bone Snake in his hand stabbing rightward like lightning.

He observed the shadow in the muddy water pause momentarily, the water beneath its feet rippling faintly, and its suit color deepened slightly.

Though all these changes happened in a flash, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, Zuo Bai precisely caught that fleeting... reality!

The footsteps abruptly stopped.

The Bone Snake’s spine shattered, mercury-silver liquid nanobots surfaced, violently vibrating into mist, enveloping the upright [Mask].

[Mask] raised its head, the gold-rimmed glasses instantly fogged, obscuring those dark, lifeless eyes.

His cheeks, suit surface, and even the cloak behind him, were covered by a delicate mist, as if his whole body was wrapped in a soft raincoat.

On the raincoat’s surface, silver patterns faintly appeared, like tailor-embroidered designs, exquisitely beautiful.

At the same time, the [Mask] beneath the raincoat, this time, didn’t crumble like an illusion but instead rippled viscously.

Zuo Bai’s pupils shot out ghostly blue light, countless data streams flashed across his eyeball surface.

In the next instant, the entire Bone Snake shattered inch by inch, turning into a pile of white bone debris, adhering to the raincoat’s surface, making the silver veins even deeper.

The air hummed a vibration, as if an unknown force had been triggered in the empty space.

Like wireless charging, the silver veins on the raincoat were instantly filled, glowing brightly, the silver radiance dazzling, illuminating the shadow beneath as it disintegrated bit by bit, as if consumed by Bright.

"Light creates shadows and can also devour shadows."

Zuo Bai stared wide-eyed, speaking slowly:

"This time, [Mask], tell me how you’ll resurrect, why don’t you answer me?!!"