Chương 172: The Realm of Illusion

When Richard was sizing up Lin Daiyu, Lin Daiyu was naturally also sizing up Richard.

Richard, dressed in a black robe, looked like an ordinary nobleman, without any aura of a strongman. Instead, he gave people a sense of the ordinariness of an ordinary person.

His gentle demeanor gives people a feeling of warmth and comfort.

"Wait a minute, I have a few more friends who want to come out and play."

Richard said to Lin Daiyu.

He then waved his hand, and several women appeared in Lin Daiyu's courtyard.

The youngest of them all is Xiao Yao, who often follows Richard around. Dressed in a bright green dress, she exudes a vibrant and energetic aura.

The woman in green beside her was none other than the first divine weapon that accompanied Richard—the Qinglin Sword.

For many years, Richard had been nurturing her spirituality until recently when he received the inheritance of the Creation of Intervention and transformed her into a sword spirit.

He also transformed all the other divine artifacts he had used before into sword spirits.

Including the light blue mid-level artifact longsword, which she named Lan tide herself; The wind-elemental mid-tier artifact, the longbow, is also worn by Feng Yao in a blue robe.

Canglan, clad in a long black dress, wields a high-level artifact sword of the Destruction type.

These are the main battle weapons that have accompanied him all the way, but now most of them can no longer keep up with the speed of his progress.

Richard didn't want them to just gather dust in his spatial ring, so he chose to create a special race: the Sword Spirits.

Their current appearance is merely a transformation; in essence, they are still sword-shaped beings.

But now they possess intelligence no less than that of ordinary people, and they can cultivate themselves to become stronger.

His resources are also open to them, including the Great Dao of the Original World; how far they can go depends on them.

He had only recently enlightened these sword spirits, and they were all cultivating and playing with Xiao Yao under the World Tree.

Just now, when Xiao Yao wanted her avatars to come out and play, they also became curious about the outside world and wanted to come out and play.

Li realized that there wasn't much of a problem in this world, so he released them all.

Lin Daiyu blinked, looking curiously at the sisters who had suddenly appeared.

As far as she knew, Richard was single.

Now it seems that men really are all jerks. With so many women around, how can they still have the nerve to say they're single?

The difference in their abilities was too great, and Lin Daiyu's mental fluctuations were completely transparent to Richard.

He was speechless. What were they thinking?

Although these sword spirits were indeed influenced by him to take on female forms, ultimately it was their own decision, wasn't it?

Isn't it normal for a man like him to transform his sword spirit into a beautiful young lady?

Looking at pretty girls can make you feel much happier, right?

Richard said irritably, "Put away your thoughts. They are all divine artifacts that fought alongside me. Now that I have the ability, I will naturally help them to awaken their spirituality, unlock their intelligence, and embark on a new path."

Lin Daiyu stuck out her tongue sheepishly. Well, she had been judging him by her own petty standards.

"I also want to thank you for the elixir you gave me, which helped my father recover."

"I am but a mortal, and have nothing to offer you. Please have a cup of tea." Lin Daiyu was quite honest and immediately gave Richard a deep bow.

"No problem, no problem, it's nothing, don't be so polite." Richard waved his sleeve lightly, stopping her.

We're all group members, so why be so polite?

It seems Xia Mi still needs to mentor her more. Look how easily Xia Mi bosses her around in the group chat.

Since we've all joined the chat group, it's fate that brought us together. He doesn't put himself on a pedestal; instead, he prefers to interact with everyone as equals.

That's stupid.

What does this difference in strength matter at this point?

The myriad worlds offer endless opportunities; who knows if one of our fellow members might surpass him in the blink of an eye?

If they act so high and mighty now, what will happen later? Will they have to grovel and submit?

It would have been better to treat each other as equals from the start.

Besides, how do we know that no big shots will join the group in the future?

"Please, sisters, have a seat. Please forgive Daiyu for the lack of preparation; I didn't know so many friends were coming. I'll have the servants bring a few more cups right away."

Seeing that he was stopping her, Daiyu stopped insisting on bowing and greeted the sword spirit sisters.

"Wow, am I an older sister too?" Xiao Yao's slightly quirky and exaggerated voice rang out.

"This..." Lin Daiyu didn't know how to answer. She knew about Xiao Yao. Everyone in the group had explained to her that Xiao Yao was the martial soul that Richard awakened in the Douluo World. It was said that she was already several hundred years old. Logically speaking, she should call her sister.

But Xiao Yao is hundreds of years old but still looks like a child. She doesn't know the specifics of Xiao Yao's situation. Will calling her that offend Xiao Yao?

"Ignore her, just call her 'little sister.' She didn't want to grow up," Richard said.

"I don't want to grow up. Growing up isn't fun at all."

Xiao Yao also has her own logic. Although she had been staying in Richard's little world, there were still many intelligent beings in that little world, even though there were no humans.

Those intelligent beings are no less intelligent than ordinary humans, and may even be more intelligent.

From the moment she gained sentience, she has been consciously observing all life in the world.

After hundreds of years of observation, she finally concluded that the adult world is not fun at all, and children are much more fun.

Later, after becoming a member of the Management Committee of the Divine Realm of the Origin World, he believed this even more.

Even though the original world is so vast, those intelligent races are still prone to conflict, fighting and arguing over small resources, often taking their cases to the committee.

She felt that the adult world was terrifying and that it was better to be a carefree child.

In any case, her growth is tied to the original world, so she doesn't even need to worry about it.

Richard's divine clones often send her all sorts of plant life essences to help her grow, which is incredibly comfortable.

As long as she doesn't grow up, she will always be her father's most beloved daughter. She doesn't want to grow up at all.

"No need for that, this will do." Richard casually took out a tea set and handed it to Qinglin, who was standing next to him.

He immediately took the initiative and invited Daiyu to sit down. All this polite formalities would go on forever.

Qinglin took the tea and began brewing it with practiced ease. The water used for brewing the tea was the elixir of life, and the tea leaves were some kind of unknown spiritual tea, highly sought after in Richard's original world because of its calming and vision-improving effects.

"You don't seem to have any storage space yet? Here, take one. If you think it's not enough, ask Xia Mi for a bigger one. Don't be shy, these things aren't worth much in the group."

Richard noticed Daiyu's predicament of not having any storage space and casually tossed her a bracelet.

The girl is still too shy. Xia Mi has already taken the initiative to recognize her as her little sister, so why shouldn't she take advantage of the situation and ask Xia Mi for a storage ring?

Anyway, she can easily make that stuff out of thin air.

"Thank you, senior." Lin Daiyu took the bracelet, played with it for a while, and then put it on.

Richard chatted with Daiyu while keeping his attention on the other side.

A special grotto-heaven that is closely connected to the real world yet independent of it. It has an area not much smaller than the real world, and this grotto-heaven is divided into many layers.

Daiyu's previous incarnations included the Western Spirit River, the Heaven of Separation and Sorrow, and the Sea of Sorrow, all located in different areas within the grotto-heaven.

This is the background of the immortals and gods that appears in the entire world of Dream of the Red Chamber. Apart from this blessed land that is isolated from the real world and hidden in different dimensions, there is no other special place in this world.

Above the Heaven of Separation and in the Sea of Sorrow lies the Illusory Realm of the Fragrant Cave of Fangchun Mountain.

This is a surreal fairyland ruled by the Fairy Disenchantment, who oversees human affairs, romantic entanglements, and the tragic fates of women.

This is also the objective that Richard needs to address during his visit.

There are several other immortals like Fairy Jinghuan in the entire cave, each residing in a different space, and each seemingly the master of a force.

These immortals and gods are by no means any proper immortals or gods; they cultivate themselves using the seven emotions and six desires, karma and fortune of the human world as fuel.