Moreover, the Gray Merchant’s problem was understood by the spectators clearly, while those involved had no awareness of it. If not pointed out, the Gray Merchant might remain stuck in the confusion indefinitely.
Exactly what the issue was, outsiders found difficult to express clearly, yet they distinctly saw that everything the Gray Merchant did was bizarre.
For instance, when the Gray Merchant stopped and spoke to the black-robed referee.
Subconsciously, he looked to the upper left air, even consistently believing the black-robed referee was in the upper left, yet the referee clearly was in the upper right.
The Gray Merchant was staring at empty air, speaking to the air!
It’s precisely because of discovering that the Gray Trader might have been hit that Fen Mo screamed, "Wrong, wrong! The direction is wrong!", hoping the Gray Trader would quickly realize his problem.
However, the judge raised a sound barrier at this moment.
How could this not make them feel angry? Although they knew the judge was likely in league with the opponent, such blatant bias really left them cold and helpless.
They hoped the Gray Trader would notice the anomaly quickly, but they were still too naive.
The Gray Trader said a bunch of "high-minded" words to his opponent, but he wasn’t facing the mysterious wizard who claimed to be Earl Mi at all, just a patch of air.
Earl Mi was clearly standing on the other side of the Gray Trader!
"What do we do? The Gray Trader still hasn’t realized something’s wrong." Fen Mo was anxiously jumping up and down, wishing she could rush into the arena.
"Worrying is useless." A slightly bored voice came from behind, it was the Shepherd, who didn’t know when he had woken up: "It’s normal for the master not to notice now. He should realize once his second attack misses again."
"You just like saying discouraging things. The shapeshifter across is so cunning, who knows if he’ll let the master launch a second strike, it’s all a mystery." Fen Mo retorted.
The Shepherd paused: "Shapeshifter?"
"It’s that guy called Earl Mi. One moment he feels like Shadow Series, the next like Earth Series, isn’t that a shapeshifter?" Fen Mo said earnestly.
The Shepherd said: "No matter who the Gray Trader’s opponent is, they must be your senior. Aren’t you afraid of being resented?"
Fen Mo didn’t know how to refute for a moment, pouting: "Anyway, they can’t hear us now."
The Shepherd pointed to the opposite side: "The person inside can’t hear, but the people outside can. Haven’t you noticed there’s an apprentice glaring at you for quite a while now?"
Fen Mo looked over and saw a Wizard Apprentice standing very close to Red Sword Dox, glaring at her hatefully.
Perhaps feeling guilty, Fen Mo glanced over and immediately looked away.
The Shepherd: "Putting aside other matters, aren’t you at all curious about the methods of Master Earl Mi?"
Fen Mo: "What’s there to be curious about?"
The Shepherd didn’t respond this time, but instead, the Magic Elephant spoke: "Previously in the corridor of the Carrion Squirrel, the Gray Trader clearly sensed the presence of an Illusion Node. We’ve always suspected there must be an Illusionist Wizard on the other side. But so far, they’ve yet to show up."
The Magic Elephant paused and said to Fen Mo: "Don’t you think that the methods Master Earl Mi is using now resemble an illusion technique?"
The Magic Elephant was just stating a fact, but after he finished, the Shepherd added to Fen Mo: "Don’t forget, you’re part of the Illusion Series yourself. If the opponent is indeed an Illusionist Wizard, aren’t you sensitive to it?"
Fen Mo opened her mouth, suddenly not knowing how to reply.
She could only look towards the Wicked Lady, hoping to hear from her that the opponent wasn’t an Illusionist Wizard.
However, the Wicked Lady calmly said: "Earlier, I didn’t sense any fluctuations from an Illusion Node, so I don’t know if it’s an Illusion Series. But this method does seem somewhat like it’s from the Illusion Series."
Even the Wicked Lady thought it looked like Illusion Series, making Fen Mo a bit embarrassed. As an Illusion Series apprentice, she didn’t sense anything, yet others from different series pointed it out to her...
The Shepherd: "You’re from the Illusion Series. If Master Earl Mi is an Illusionist Wizard, what type of illusion do you think he’s using?"
Although the Shepherd’s question was normal, Fen Mo felt humiliated... Most importantly, she couldn’t lose her temper.
After a moment of silence, Fen Mo said: "If it really is an illusion, it could be misleading the senses."
After Fen Mo spoke, the Wicked Lady shook her head: "From the outside, it indeed seems like a sensory misdirection, but affecting the senses isn’t exactly high-level illusion. The Gray Trader should be able to notice, yet he hasn’t, so it’s probably not sensory misdirection."
Sensory misdirection refers to the manipulation of the five senses, which is the foundation of the Illusion Series.
For example, when first learning Illusion Series, it’s all about using illusions to deceive the opponent’s eyes, which is visual. Then it could be auditory, olfactory, tactile... all these fall under sensory misdirection.
In the Wicked Lady’s view, if it really were sensory misdirection, it would likely be primarily visual guidance. But visual guidance is the most basic illusion; how could the Gray Trader not see through it?
Although the Gem Dragon Bloodline has strong resistance to physical attacks and weak resistance to spiritual ones, this doesn’t mean the Gray Trader’s spiritual resistance is weak.
It’s important to note that the previous stage of the Jewel Dragon is—Crystal Earth Lizard.
The Crystal Earth Lizard is extremely resistant to physical elements, moderate to physical résistance, but highly resistant to spiritual attacks.
As a Blood Origin Wizard, the Gray Trader certainly inherited the strengths of the Crystal Earth Lizard when optimizing his bloodline, and his spiritual resistance is definitely not weak.
It’s impossible for him to be deceived by low-level illusions.
The Wicked Lady’s view was actually the thought of most people present, including the Wise Sovereign.
However, reality was quite different from their thoughts; rather, Fen Mo’s conjecture was actually closest to the truth.
The illusion used by Angel really was an illusion that impacted the senses.
It’s just that this illusion affects not only the senses but also extends from "senses" to a deeper level: perception.
Simply influencing the senses sometimes might not even fool an apprentice. However, if perception is also deceived, then waking up on one’s own becomes very difficult.
So-called deception of perception is actually about making all "self-rationalizations," which must be self-consistent in one’s cognition.
To give an inappropriate example, someone with red-green color blindness finds it hard to realize that their color perception is skewed. Red-green color blindness is a condition-induced perceptual bias, somewhat different from Angel’s use of illusions to deceive perception, but they share similarities in terms of cognitive impairment.
Turning what’s thought to be, into a coherent loop of logic in the brain, this is what’s called cognitive impairment.
...
During the time Angel let Earl Mi duel with the Gray Trader, he wasn’t just "idle"; aside from searching for abnormal emotions, he was also contemplating the duel and when it would be best for him to intervene.
The final conclusion was that intervening during close contact was ideal, so with Earl Mi acting as a cover on the outside, Angel could make subtle moves behind the scenes.
Therefore, when Earl Mi’s fist materialized and penetrated the Gray Trader’s gemstone shield, hitting him directly in the chest, Angel made his move.
The illusion, long prepared, was directly attached to the Gray Trader through the energy wave from the punch.
Injecting it directly into Gray Trader’s body to influence from within would have been optimal. But Angel never underestimated the physicality of Bloodline Wizards; to avoid detection, an external attachment was safest.
Moreover, Earl Mi’s element mimicry simulated the Gray Trader’s external energy properties, masking the residual illusion from Angel.
At that time, the illusion showed no signs of activation. Plus, with the Power of the Gemstone acting as cover, Gray Trader didn’t detect it immediately.
At that moment, Angel hadn’t figured out how to use this illusion yet. It was merely a preliminary move, waiting for the right moment to activate it.
Angel just didn’t expect the opportunity to come so quickly.