“Enough,” Murong Chuyi said, sweeping his sleeve. “You’ve already obtained what you wanted. Tell us. Where is Yue Chenqing?”
“He…” Shangao snorted twice through its pig nose. “At this very moment, he’s being held in the fourth secret chamber at the top of this tower. Two high-level bat spirits are guarding the outside, and he has twelve Bloodsucking Ancient Vines wrapped around him. The four of you alone want to rescue him? Heh heh. Difficult.”
Murong Chuyi sneered. “They’re nothing more than two demons and twelve ropes. What can they possibly stop?”
With that, he raised his hand and waved it. The horsetail whisk around his wrist suddenly transformed into a long sword shimmering with silver light. Heavenly lightning and electric fire hissed and coursed along the blade. Murong Chuyi brought two fingers together and said:
“Zhaoxue, Ride the Wind!”
The long sword Zhaoxue flashed brilliantly. As it drifted through the air, its sword light illuminated Murong Chuyi’s face.
Zhaoxue was thin and light, so his method of riding the sword was somewhat different from everyone else’s. The sword was not stepped upon beneath his feet. Instead, it transformed into clusters of silver sword light, like flowing wind and swirling snow, circling around him and condensing sword energy to help him ride the wind through the void.
When Shangao saw this, its little red-bean eyes immediately widened to the size of soybeans.
“You—you’re leaving just like that? Aren’t you going to ask the second and third questions?!”
“Not necessary.”
Shangao became anxious.
“You don’t want to know what taboo that little pig-brain violated?”
Murong Chuyi’s method of rescuing people was simple and brutal. He said bluntly, “No interest.”
How could this be?!
Shangao immediately flew into a rage.
“Your grandmother! Then haven’t I suffered a huge loss?! One person’s painful memories aren’t even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth! No! You’re not allowed to leave! You must ask! Otherwise, obediently give me two more portions of memories, or your Grandpa absolutely won’t let you off!”
Jiang Yexue patiently said, “How exactly have you suffered a loss, sir? We agreed that at most three questions could be asked. We never said we had to ask all three. Since Chuyi feels that one answer is already enough to save someone, naturally—”
Before he could finish, Shangao swung its enormous mountain-cleaving ax and, furious beyond measure, struck the ground.
In an instant, crimson waves surged and splashed from the blood pool, sending foul waves in every direction. Jiang Yexue was standing closest to Shangao, and he was about to be injured by the force of the blade. Mo Xi was just about to summon the Swallowing-Heaven Barrier when—
BOOM!
A golden talisman paper, surging with spiritual energy, struck the ground before Jiang Yexue and opened a powerful protective barrier, blocking the full force of Shangao’s giant ax outside the boundary.
Mo Xi abruptly widened his eyes.
“Gu Mang…”
The talisman had not been cast by Jiang Yexue himself, nor by Murong Chuyi. Of the four, the one who had reacted fastest had actually been Gu Mang!
Amid the dazzling burst of light from the protective talisman, Gu Mang stood against the light, his clothes whipping wildly in the fierce spiritual wind. For an instant, not only Mo Xi but even Jiang Yexue stared at Gu Mang’s back in stunned disbelief—
It overlapped with the figure of Commander Gu, who had fought shoulder to shoulder with them many years ago.
—
“Give me one more chance.”
“This time, I won’t disappoint you.”
On the summit of Battle Soul Mountain, Gu Mang’s plea still rang in Mo Xi’s ears.
Looking at Gu Mang’s figure bathed in golden light, the organ inside Mo Xi’s chest seemed to be seized by a hand covered in thorns, and a sharp pain suddenly clenched around it.
Gu Mang truly had been working hard all this time to draw closer to the person he had once been.
To that Commander Gu who had never betrayed them, who had shared life and death with them…
“Brother Pig, if you want to eat painful memories, just say so. Why did you have to attack?”
After saying this, Gu Mang waved his sleeve, and the golden barrier suddenly disappeared.
“Come on. You can take mine too. Is that good enough?”
As he spoke, he took several steps forward, planted one foot on the cracked stone at the edge of the blood pool, and pointed at his own head.
“Eat as much as you want.”
Shangao was insatiably greedy. It pointed at Mo Xi and Murong Chuyi, whose sword light still surrounded him.
“What about them? I want theirs too!”
Gu Mang raised a brow.
“I can’t decide for them. Why don’t you ask them yourself?”
Now that the four of them were on an isolated island, with nothing but demons throughout the tower, it was better not to provoke anything if they could avoid it.
Murong Chuyi swept his wide sleeve, his features cold and handsome.
“If you want it, take it. Quickly.”
Shangao was afraid they would change their minds. It immediately began absorbing their memories from a distance.
First, wisps of black energy surged from Murong Chuyi’s chest and were swallowed entirely into its stomach.
Then it seized the suffering accumulated within Mo Xi’s heart.
Yet after these pains entered its belly, the restless fire within Shangao did not subside. Instead, its greed grew even stronger.
Because of the demon clan’s contract, it had been trapped within this tower for thousands of years. When the previous Bat King had been alive, he ate humans and took lives, and Shangao had consequently absorbed plenty of their suffering as well.
But now, the current female Bat King wholeheartedly wished to escape her demonic body, ascend, and become an immortal. Thus, for the past hundred years, she had never actively sought human lives.
For so long, the only cultivator Shangao had directly encountered was Yue Chenqing, who had come a few days ago.
Yue Chenqing had grown up well-fed and well-clothed. He had a cheerful temperament and was carefree by nature. There was truly little bitterness or deep hatred in his mind, so Shangao found consuming his memories exceptionally boring.
But today was different.
The moment Mo Xi and Murong Chuyi’s suffering entered its mouth, Shangao was like a starving person suddenly tasting steaming, fragrant fresh meat. It almost did not want to let go.
Still, it was, after all, an ancient beast. It retained some measure of self-control.
It steeled itself, forcibly shifted its pig eyes away from the two men, and turned toward Gu Mang.
“Fine! Not bad! I’ll eat yours last, and then your Grandpa will let you all go!”
Gu Mang smiled.
“Oh my, then thank you so much for showing mercy and letting us off.”
His tone, expression, and manner of speaking were simply too similar to the Gu Mang of the past.
In fact, during this period, Mo Xi had always felt that Gu Mang was constantly drawing closer to the Senior Brother Gu of old. And at this moment, the way Gu Mang smiled while negotiating with Shangao was practically as though time itself had turned backward.
Shangao’s brain was not very bright. It could not detect the sarcasm and actually thought Gu Mang was sincerely praising it.
Thus, it snorted proudly and put on a lofty expression, waving its hand at Gu Mang.
“Of course. Your Grandpa always keeps his word. When have I ever gone back on my word?”
With that, it began absorbing Gu Mang’s suffering.
Black energy surged from deep within Gu Mang’s chest, transforming into a thin strand of black smoke floating through the air before flowing into Shangao’s wide-open mouth.
Shangao had only taken one mouthful when it abruptly closed its mouth.
Then it opened its eyes wide and stared at Gu Mang in utter disbelief.
An unusual, crafty gleam flashed within those glittering red-bean eyes.
That gleam gave Gu Mang the feeling—
This pig seems to want to swallow me whole.
Gu Mang instinctively took a step backward and tentatively smiled.
“Choked?”
Air puffed from Shangao’s pig nose. It opened its mouth, but before it could speak, saliva had already begun dripping down.
It had never imagined that inside this young man who looked only twenty-something or thirty-something years old was suffering no less than that accumulated by thousands upon thousands of people!
Yet strangely, it could not probe his complete memories.
It could sense his suffering, but it could not discover the true reasons behind that suffering.
It was like smelling an irresistible delicacy that made one’s mouth water, yet always being separated from it by a distance and unable to eat it. The hunger gnawed at its insides until even its heart and liver seemed to clench together with its empty stomach.
“You’ve lost many memories…” Shangao murmured. “What a pity. What a pity. Even forgetting them is so painful. If you could remember them… that flavor would simply…”
It suddenly slurped up its saliva, its eyes blazing with excitement.
Seeing the ferocious expression on its face, Mo Xi suddenly tensed.
“Suiran, come forth!”
At almost the exact same moment, Shangao threw the words it had just spoken—I always keep my word; when have I ever gone back on it?—to the back of its mind.
It leaped out of the blood pool and lunged toward Gu Mang like a vicious beast attacking prey, saliva flying from its mouth and its face twisted into a savage expression.
Mo Xi shouted, “Watch out!”
He threw out a talisman, enveloping Gu Mang within a barrier. Immediately afterward, a burst of flame crackled to life, illuminating the ancient tower hall.
Suiran tore through the air.
Mo Xi held his long whip in his hand and stood before Shangao, his gaze fierce.
“You wretched beast! You’re getting more and more outrageous!”
Shangao threw back its head and laughed wildly.
“Getting more outrageous? So what?!”
Its vicious, blood-red eyes passed over Mo Xi and fixed upon Gu Mang behind him. It licked its lips.
“I never imagined that such a high-grade person filled with resentment and malice would be delivered right before me! I fell into the Bat Clan’s trap and have been forced to remain in this blood pool for hundreds and thousands of years, guarding this tower for the Bat King! If I find a way to make your memories flash back, and while you’re suffering, tear you apart and eat you whole—then I—then I… Hahahaha! I’ll be free! I’ll be free!!!”
Mo Xi’s heart tightened.
Memories flash back? What does that mean? Could it… restore Gu Mang’s memories?
How could that be possible?!
Gu Mang was missing two souls. This was not ordinary amnesia. How could…
Before he could finish the thought, Shangao suddenly swung its arm.
BOOM!
The blood pool churned like a submerged dragon stirring the waves, like a giant whale overturning the sea. More violent waves than before surged upward.
Amid the dangerous shaking of the building, an enormous object suddenly rose from the depths of the blood pool, reaching a full ten people in height!
As the thing emerged from the water, blood surged violently in every direction, sending wave after wave crashing against the shore, like countless jade flowers shattering across the bricks.
The blood drained away.
The enormous object revealed its true form amid the scarlet torrent.
Mo Xi froze.
Then it felt as though all the blood in his body had frozen solid in an instant.
“The Time Mirror?!!”
After the blood covering the mirror fell away, the enormous mirror radiated magnificent golden light. Ancient talismanic characters had been engraved into its edges using an intaglio technique.
The mirror reflected no human figures. Instead, its surface was covered by a vast layer of mist, within which the light of time and space flickered unpredictably.
It really was…
The Time Mirror…
Mo Xi had only read about this mirror in the academy’s books.
It was connected to the three great forbidden arts passed down throughout the Cultivation Continent.
They were Rebirth, the Exquisite Chessboard, and the Gate of Life and Death Through Time and Space.
Throughout the boundless river of time, there were countless legends concerning Rebirth. The Exquisite Chessboard was slightly less common, while the Gate of Life and Death Through Time and Space was the most mysterious of the three forbidden arts.
It was said that once someone mastered this forbidden art, they could tear apart time and space, return to the past, and reverse the future.
But this technique was simply too sinister. The records had been lost and damaged, leaving behind only fragments and scattered phrases, making it impossible to distinguish truth from falsehood.
It was also said that those who recklessly practiced the forbidden art of the Gate of Life and Death Through Time and Space often met with sudden and gruesome deaths, leaving not even their corpses behind and dying without a proper end.
Therefore, aside from a few madmen with extraordinarily deep obsessions, no one was interested in this forbidden art.
But the Time Mirror was different.
Traces of the Time Mirror could be found throughout various ancient texts on the Nine Provinces Continent. According to legend, it was a relic left behind by the High God Fuxi when he created and researched the Gate of Life and Death Through Time and Space.
It possessed effects similar to that forbidden art and could likewise bring people back into the past.
However, because it was only a prototype, although it could create an illusion of the past, it could not truly change anything.
In other words, after a cultivator entered the world within the mirror, they could repair regrets from the past, but such repairs were destined to be futile.
The moment the cultivator left the mirror world, every change they had made in the past would be erased.
The past within the mirror was merely a fleeting dream.
Once the dream ended, reality would still be reality.
Nothing would change.
Therefore, the Time Mirror had another name that suited it even better:
The Yellow Millet Mirror.
Yesterday’s events were nothing more than three thousand years of a Yellow Millet Dream.
As master artifact refiners, Jiang Yexue and Murong Chuyi naturally already knew about the Time Mirror.
Even Murong Chuyi, normally so composed and indifferent, changed color slightly.
“The Time Mirror is a divine artifact of the God Clan… How could it be here?”
Jiang Yexue said, “I’m afraid it isn’t the complete mirror. Look at its left side.”
Everyone’s gaze immediately fell upon the left half of the Time Mirror.
Sure enough, there were obvious fracture marks.
This ten-person-tall mirror was actually only a small fragment of the Time Mirror!
But even as a fragment, its power was already astonishing.
Shangao bared its teeth and roared:
“Bitter hatred enters the blood and bones; beneath the Yellow Springs, it cannot be erased—Formation, open!”
It pointed its mountain-cleaving ax, and the strand of black energy it had just extracted from Gu Mang’s chest shot directly into the mirror.
As the strand of black energy entered the mirror, the mist within began to surge violently, like the rolling river of years stirred by raging winds and turbulent clouds.
Immediately afterward, a dazzling golden light burst from the mirror.
Shangao roared:
“Sufferer, fall within!”
The cry was like a soul-summoning spell.
Those unrelated to this painful memory were completely unaffected.
Only Gu Mang let out a loud cry and suddenly collapsed to his knees, coughing up a large mouthful of blood.
Mo Xi exclaimed, “Gu Mang?!”
Gu Mang seemed to have all four limbs bound by thousands of invisible puppet strings. He gripped the blue-brick floor tightly with both hands, every bone and tendon bulging visibly, yet he was still being dragged toward the Time Mirror by an invisible force.
At the same time, Shangao let out several more piercing, bizarre cries.
Murong Chuyi looked around. His sword brows lowered.
“This is bad!”
In the darkness of the ancient tower, countless points of red light suddenly lit up.
From a distance, they looked like millions of lanterns ignited in the long night, like a brilliant galaxy.
But this magnificent sight was anything but elegant.
It meant that the bat spirits resting in the corners of the ancient tower had been awakened by Shangao’s howling.
A tidal-like rustling murmur began to echo from all around.
The sound grew louder and denser.
Finally, it rose like terrifying waves and crashing billows sweeping across the earth!
Countless bat spirits flew toward them!
Killing intent filled Murong Chuyi’s eyes.
He raised his hand and shouted:
“Zhaoxue, Destroy a Thousand Mountains!”
The long sword surrounding his body suddenly transformed behind him into a surging wave of spiritual energy mixed with swirling snow, rushing headlong toward the first wave of approaching bat spirits!
WHOOOM!
The white spiritual-energy tide and the black sea of bats collided like dragons and tigers battling, violently tearing into one another in a struggle neither side could easily win.
At the same time, the pulling force of the Time Mirror upon Gu Mang grew several times stronger.
Gu Mang suddenly fell flat against the ground, desperately gripping one of the white-bone tower pillars, yet he still could not withstand the terrifying summons of the mirror.
Throughout history, those who entered the mirror had faced nine deaths for every one chance of survival.
Jiang Yexue had originally been helping Murong Chuyi resist the flood of bats. But when he turned and saw how desperately Gu Mang was struggling, he wanted to free a hand to help him.
Before he could act, however, Mo Xi’s Suiran had already slashed through the air and wrapped tightly around Gu Mang.
Mo Xi said to Jiang Yexue, “Don’t worry about him. I’ve got him!”
As he spoke, he pulled the snake whip Suiran back and embraced Gu Mang.
The moment he held Gu Mang, Mo Xi understood just how terrifying the Time Mirror’s summons was.
That invisible suction force originated from the divine spirit created within the mirror. A mortal body could not withstand it for long.
Holding Gu Mang, Mo Xi was dragged toward the mirror together with him.
Jiang Yexue shouted, “Brother Mo—! Brother Gu!!”
These had once been the names Jiang Yexue used for them when they had fought on the battlefield together.
Later, Jiang Yexue’s legs had been crippled, making long-distance campaigns impossible. Later still, one became Lord Xihe while another became Elder Qingxu. In their official dealings and social interactions, they had grown accustomed to the distant, formal titles dictated by etiquette.
Yet at this moment of crisis, Jiang Yexue still called them by the names they had used in their youth…
The golden light grew stronger and stronger.
The pulling force became increasingly powerful.
They were about to be dragged into the mirror, back into one of the most painful periods of Gu Mang’s past.
Nine deaths for every one chance of survival.
Nine deaths for every one chance of survival.
How many people had entered this mirror and managed to return without a single injury?!
Although Gu Mang knew nothing about this mirror, he had after all been reforged by the Liao Kingdom. He possessed a kind of instinctive animal intuition.
As the two drew closer and closer to the mirror, Gu Mang began struggling in Mo Xi’s arms.
“Let go!”
Mo Xi said nothing.
Instead, he had Suiran wrap around the two of them even more tightly.
Gu Mang suddenly raised his eyes.
An unusual light shone in them.
He shouted fiercely:
“You stay outside! You can help them! Let go!”
Mo Xi gritted his teeth.
“You… shut up!”
“Let go—you don’t have to come with me—!”
Mo Xi roared:
“Shut up!!”
The golden light grew several times stronger.
This time, even Suiran, which had been wrapped around the stone pillar, could no longer resist the Time Mirror’s power.
Suiran suddenly shattered into countless points of red light, like red clouds dancing through the air, returning to Mo Xi’s body before disappearing.
Without Suiran’s protection, the two were immediately dragged violently toward the Time Mirror.
At almost the same moment, tens of thousands of bat spirits that had burst from the darkness shattered Murong Chuyi’s divine sword formation, Zhaoxue.
Seeing this, Murong Chuyi swiftly drew his dagger.
The gleaming blade illuminated his resolute phoenix eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, he sliced open his own palm and raised his hand, scattering his blood into the air.
He was using his spiritual blood to attract these bloodthirsty bats, using himself as bait…
Jiang Yexue cried out, “Chuyi!!”
Murong Chuyi cast a barrier, trapping himself within it. His powerful spiritual blood attracted all the bats, and in an instant, they surrounded the barrier, attacking it in a frenzy.
His pale figure, together with the barrier, was swallowed completely.
Only his voice could be heard shouting from within:
“Jiang Yexue! Stop that broken mirror! Hurry! I can’t hold out for long!”
On one side, Murong Chuyi was surrounded by the raging flood of blood-drinking bats, his only protective barrier liable to collapse at any moment.
On the other, Mo Xi and Gu Mang had already been dragged to the very edge of the Time Mirror, and it seemed they would both fall into this ancient divine mirror at any moment.
Jiang Yexue’s face was as pale as paper.
Mo Xi, meanwhile, shouted:
“How could it be that easy?! Help Murong drive back the Fire Bats and Shangao! Then find a way to come back and deal with this mirror!”
After saying this, the two could no longer resist.
The pulling force suddenly yanked them forward, dragging them into the rolling years within the mirror—
Before being swallowed by the mirror, the final scene Mo Xi saw was Jiang Yexue operating his wooden wheelchair and coming to Murong Chuyi’s side.
He opened his Qiankun Pouch.
Dozens of wooden-and-bamboo mechanical armors dropped to the ground, transforming into warriors standing guard with raised blades.
Then Mo Xi’s vision went black.
Together with Gu Mang, he fell into the abyss of time and space, losing all awareness.