Chapter 45
As for that bronze mirror, aside from the large hole Xiao Xiao had pierced through it, rendering it shattered, it appeared no different from an ordinary bronze mirror.
However, Xiao Xiao noticed a few talisman papers stuck around the mirror’s perimeter.
Unlike the yellow grass talisman papers used by the Lingshan Talisman Sect, these talismans were made from a smooth, delicate parchment paper.
Wei Jie touched them and remarked, “These are made of human skin…”
Xiao Xiao wrinkled her brow in disgust that her fellow Talisman Sect cultivators from two hundred years ago would manipulate such demonic materials.
Upon closer inspection, she realized the symbols on these human skin talismans bore some resemblance to those used by the Lingshan Sect, though with slight variations in their renderings, revealing a shared origin.
As a member of the Talisman Sect herself, Cui Xiao Xiao felt deeply disgraced.
The Talisman Sect was originally regarded as a lowly, miscellaneous cultivation path looked down upon by true cultivators, often conflated by the masses with wandering charlatans peddling exorcism talismans.
Thus, as Talisman Sect cultivators, they ought to maintain upright conduct to dispel such biases.
Yet the shadowy mastermind behind this ordeal had clearly taken the demonic path of talismans to the extreme. If the Four Great Sects witnessed these human skin talismans akin to the Lingshan Sect’s work, it would further tarnish the sect’s reputation!
It was unknown how many people’s spiritual energy had been drained by the controller of this formation using the bronze mirror.
At that moment, Tang Youshu also noticed the connection, straightening the silver helmet askew on his head as he wondered aloud, “Master, these talismans, why are they so similar to our Lingshan Sect’s?”
Xiao Xiao stared at him speechlessly, thinking: Master, I was about to ask you the same thing!
How did you originally devise the unorthodox methods that founded the Lingshan Talisman Sect?
Regarding Tang Youshu’s establishment of the sect, the old master had indeed written extensively about it in his secret texts.
It seemed this was also related to Wei Jie’s experience of the Mirror City ordeal before journeying to the Four Great Sects.
After his harrowing adventure, Wei Jie had gained some insight and told his then unenlightened disciple that instead of cultivating inner energies, he may be better suited to the path of talismans.
If one could bring the art of talismans to its pinnacle, even those of mediocre talents could subdue all schools, attaining an unrivaled mastery.
It was because of this remark from the master that Tang Youshu became obsessed with studying talismans. Coupled with the few talisman papers Wei Jie brought back from the illusory city that seemingly opened his spiritual apertures, Tang began delving deeply into the study of talismans, seeking out reclusive experts everywhere during Wei Jie’s lifetime.
After Wei Jie’s death at Qin Lingxiao’s hands, Tang Youshu wandered for ten years before finally establishing the Lingshan Talisman Sect.
Now, holding these human skin talismans, Xiao Xiao felt a sudden enlightenment: it turned out the seeds of her master’s founding of the sect had originated from these demonic talisman papers.
However, to shed these talismans of their sinister overtones, it seemed Tang Youshu had drastically refined and improved them, stripping away their yin malignance.
Yet perhaps it was precisely because he stopped using human skin in their production, switching to yellow grass paper instead, coupled with Tang Youshu’s modifications, that caused these once formidable, demonic talismans to lose much of their original potency.
Naturally, the Lingshan Talisman Sect also trod a relatively mundane path, falling ten thousand miles short of the predecessor Wei Jie’s words about “subduing all schools and attaining unrivaled mastery.”
Nevertheless, since this was the case, Xiao Xiao still had to fulfill her duty to Wei Jie by planting the seeds that would lead to her sincere master Tang Youshu’s founding of the sect, following the original trajectory.
After a sigh, she carefully stored away the human skin talismans before handing them to Tang Youshu. Patting his shoulder, she solemnly encouraged the young master using Wei Jie’s words from long ago.
These words invigorated Tang Youshu, his eyes shining with resolute brilliance as he declared, “Grand-Master, our Talisman Sect will certainly be able to subdue all schools and attain unrivaled mastery! Besides, I won’t need to establish my own sect in the future. As the Sect Master of Lingshan who shattered this illusory city, your legendary feats should resound throughout the world! Though my untalented disciple’s cultivation is lacking, I do possess some literary talents. Allow me to thoroughly record your illustrious exploits, ensuring more people learn of our Talisman Sect Master’s mighty name!”
Hearing this, Xiao Xiao panicked, snatching the notebook Tang usually doodled in. After flipping through a few pages, she shook her head in anguish, “How can you write like this? This…is all my name! Do you think your Grand-Master craves such empty fame? Those vain titles are merely burdens on the path to immortality… Here’s what we’ll do – replace all instances of my name with your Master Wei Jie’s. His reputation is tarnished enough, so your chronicle can help redeem it!”
As someone who had traveled back from two hundred years in the future, she ought to leave no traces to avoid disrupting the past. If recorded by her master, that would indeed be disastrous!
Tang Youshu nodded shamefully, once again realizing the vast chasm separating his life’s perspectives from his grand-master’s lofty realms – a gulf as wide as heaven and earth!
The grand-master’s humble modesty commanded utmost reverence, forever unattainable.
Overhearing the exchange between grand-master and disciple vying to heap accolades on the other, Wei Jie couldn’t help but chuckle as he languidly reminded Tang Youshu not to record the illusory city’s events in too much detail.
Otherwise, if Cui Xiao Xiao’s name was replaced with Wei Jie’s in the account of the Young Master Qin harboring impure thoughts, commanding his illusory self to intimately embrace and kiss, it would depict the esteemed Young Master Qin passionately kissing Wei Jie instead.
Such sensual prose might provoke Wei Jie to violently retch, he warned.
Overhearing this from the side, Qin Lingxiao’s face flushed red then pale, struggling to maintain his peerless dignity as he retorted, “You dare attribute the actions of a demonic illusion to me! Whatever vile deeds it committed have no bearing on me!”
Yu Ling’er, recalling the intimate scene at the Wealth God Temple, felt a pang of jealousy as she chimed in, “Enough! Didn’t Xiao Xiao say not to record such nonsense? Tang Youshu, you mustn’t write such things. Show me your work daily!”
Tang Youshu hugged his thick notebook, puzzled. “But you’re illiterate. How will you review it?”
Yu Ling’er stated matter-of-factly, “We foxes are the most intelligent. If you teach me a dozen characters each day, I’ll soon become literate!”
Tang Youshu immediately agreed, vowing to personally oversee Yu Ling’er’s reading lessons from then on!
Preoccupied with weighty concerns, Qin Lingxiao paid no heed to their idle banter, long aware of the Talisman Sect disciples’ propensity for frivolity.
That these people could only dwell on such trivialities after such a harrowing ordeal!
Qin Lingxiao cut off the Talisman Sect’s rambling to directly ask Xiao Xiao, “You seemed to tell Wei Jie that when shattering the mirror, you saw someone behind it. Was it Prince Can?”
Xiao Xiao turned to look at him, pondering before replying, “I didn’t get a clear look…”
Seeing he could not get a definitive answer, and anxious about his father’s safety, Qin Lingxiao did not wish to linger. Chanting an incantation, he summoned winds to lift the Soaring Cloud disciples, soaring over the towering city walls to search for his father within.
Xiao Xiao gazed at Qin Lingxiao’s departing figure, lost in thought. In truth, she had lied to the Young Master – she had seen the figure clearly.
In that instant when she shattered the “sunset” formation, glimpsed through the cracks, she had indeed seen Qin Lingxiao…
No, not quite Qin Lingxiao – it was a face much older than his.
Xiao Xiao had the feeling this person was connected to Qin Lingxiao, which was why she had not mentioned it.
Looking towards the nearby Luoyi City, although no longer an illusion, she had a premonition that the dangers within might rival the mirror city…
With this thought, she took a deep breath and waved to the others, “Let’s go into the city and pay Prince Can a visit!”
It had already been three days since the disastrous birthday celebration at Autumn Water Pond. She wondered how the prince intended to face the widespread condemnation.
…
At that moment, within a secluded chamber in Prince Can’s manor, amidst dim lighting, the prince gazed at the blood-stained man reflected in the formation’s focal mirror, then at the shattered bronze mirror fragments littering the floor. He slowly said, “Didn’t you claim this formation was infallible? Then how did that Cui Xiao Xiao break through it so swiftly?”
It turned out that beside Prince Can, an identical miniature city had been rendered in talisman ash.
A hooded man clad in ritual robes knelt with the prince at the formation’s center. Just moments ago, the mirror had reflected the image of a young girl wielding a demon-subduing sword, shattering their bronze mirror with a single strike.
As the mirror cracked apart, the hooded man had locked eyes with the girl for an instant before the shrapnel slashed across his face, leaving him drenched in his own blood.
Fortunately, he had pulled Prince Can out of the formation in time. A moment’s delay, and he would have perished by the girl’s blade.
Bitterly disappointed by this failure, the hooded man dabbed the blood from his face with his sleeve, venting his ire, “The formation devised by my senior martial brother was originally perfect. However, it relied entirely on the lantern oil for its potency. If infused with blood from the Enlightenment Beast, its power would have been amplified, eliminating any chance of exposing the light’s flaws. Curse those two wretched beast hunters for their utter failure! If we had the Enlightenment Beast and the Corpse-Eating Beast at our disposal, everything would have proceeded smoothly… It’s my fault for being inept. If only my senior brother could return in time to supervise the formation himself, they would never have escaped…”
Hearing the man’s words, Prince Can sighed, “I too did not expect Hunter King and the others to perform so poorly… However, when that mirror shattered, it seemed that Cui Xiao Xiao caught a glimpse of you…”
Upon hearing Prince Can’s words, the hooded man finally raised his head with a cold scoff, “That fleeting glance could not have revealed much about me. Besides, I was severely wounded from the voodoo worm infliction at the Autumn Water banquet, rendering me immobile – the Four Great Sects can attest to this. For some upstart sect master who emerged from nowhere to blindly accuse me based on an illusion is meaningless rhetoric!”
The face revealed from beneath the hood was none other than an aged “Qin Lingxiao.”
This was indeed Sect Master Qin He of Soaring Cloud Pavilion, grievously wounded at the Autumn Water banquet.
After his injured disciples carried him away for treatment, he had arrived in Luoyi City under the protection of his close subordinates while Prince Can remained behind.
Prince Can merely smiled faintly, his tone unchanged, “Nevertheless, your son also entered that formation earlier. If paternal love caused you to subconsciously hold back, it would be understandable…”
Detecting the implicit rebuke beneath Prince Can’s placid remark, Qin He immediately kowtowed in solemn apology, “I would never dare! Though I have concealed my identity as Qin He, I have never forgotten my roots or the vital task you entrusted me with long ago. Earlier, I had truly steeled myself to sacrifice that child Lingxiao. But as you witnessed, that Cui Xiao Xiao’s eyesight is too keen, too cunning. Because of her, your century-long grand plan has been devastated in an instant. I await your judgment!”
Prince Can gently reassured him, “Over these years, you and your family have diligently served me without fail. What crime could there be? When I initially took you in, I had already mentioned that as an ordinary mortal, if I wished to achieve immortality, I could only rely on assistance from mighty cultivators like yourself. As the saying goes, ‘When one attains the Dao, even chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.’ I am willing to offer everything to help my subordinates speedily achieve transcendence. It is only this treacherous disruption that has temporarily impeded us. I can only pity poor Zhuer…”
As he spoke of her, Prince Can seemed overcome with sorrow, his eyes glistening with moisture.
Wei Di knew that all this time, he had been secretly hunted by the Wei Family while Prince Can provided steadfast refuge and obeyed his every request. Without the prince’s full support, he could never have acquired so many ritual implements to enhance his own powers.
Now, Wei Di still needed to utilize this ruler obsessed with immortality, so he responded with the appropriate deference.
When Prince Can mentioned feeling some turbulence in his spiritual energy that needed stabilizing, Wei Di immediately rose to assist the prince in calming his disrupted inner energies.
These scions of the imperial clan were all wholly immersed in luxury and idleness.
It seemed this Prince Can had been inspired by someone to harbor the delusional ambition of attaining immortality with his mortal talents. Thus, he scoured far and wide, recruiting all manner of experts in an attempt to absorb their spiritual energies.
Unfortunately, his inherently flawed spiritual roots rendered him unfit for true cultivation.
Inwardly disdaining the prince’s delusional fantasies, yet betraying no hint outwardly, Wei Di dutifully sat opposite him as usual, preparing to channel some of his own spiritual energy as a temporary salve to satisfy the prince’s insatiable yearning for the fullness of the dantian.
However, just as he closed his eyes to cycle his energies, Wei Di was suddenly assailed by a frigid murderous aura.
When he reopened his eyes, he saw his chest had already been impaled by an arm.
In that instant his heart was grasped, his spiritual energies also seemed to be continuously siphoned away by that arm.
“Your…Highness…you…”
Immobilized, Wei Di could only bulge his eyes in horror as he gazed at the smiling prince.
When had this ruler acquired such formidable abilities? Moreover, those blackened talons clutching his heart bore the unmistakable signs of demonic possession…
Despite impaling Wei Di’s heart, the prince’s smile did not waver as he spoke soothingly as before, “Since your beloved wife and daughter have already descended into the underworld, what further attachments bind you to this mortal realm? Have no further concerns – I have taken note of your lingering resentments. Rest assured, I will eradicate the Wei Family and avenge the grievances against you and your loved ones!”
With those words, his talons clenched, bursting Wei Di’s heart asunder.
Bulging his eyes in anguished wails, Wei Di finally slumped lifeless into the growing pool of his own blood.
Absorbing Wei Di’s spiritual energy, Prince Can’s previously haggard and dimmed complexion visibly rejuvenated, restoring his middle-aged vigor.
He slowly rose, kicking aside the corpse obstructing his path before turning to open a hidden mechanism concealed behind a hanging painting, following the secret passage to another chamber.
Upon entering this inner sanctum, the prince’s customary benevolent smile gradually faded, his expression becoming indeterent and inscrutable.
He approached a large bronze vessel in the center of the chamber.
Illuminated by the flickering candles, the vessel could be seen filled with a deep crimson liquid, exuding an overpowering metallic stench that revealed its contents – a vat of blood.
Yet this was no ordinary blood, but the precious heart’s blood of a yin dragon.
It was the final spoil obtained by Hunter King before his demise – every drop of that yin-tainted dragon’s blood had been drained into this vat.
For the entity immersed within craved a constant replenishment of blood from denizens of the underworld to sustain its existence.
Prince Can leaned over, gazing intently into the vat.
At that moment, something resembling thin paper slowly rose to the surface of the churning beast blood. These paper-like fragments were the tattered remnants of book pages densely covered in minuscule script.
Prince Can had pored over these words countless times before, having long since committed them to memory.
They told the story of a young prince who, through tireless recruitment of extraordinary individuals and ruthless scheming, step-by-step implemented a meticulous plan to ultimately achieve immortal transcendence.
In this tale, the prince first obtained the heart’s blood tears of a femme fatale to gain eternal youth. He then brought the Four Great Sects under his control, using them to deal with a youth of the Wei surname who saw through his schemes too soon. The prince also presented the Enlightenment Beast to the emperor, incurring heaven’s wrath which caused devastating droughts across the Da Qi empire, destabilizing the imperial throne.
Afterward, the prince supported his young son’s ascension, wielding power behind the scenes throughout the imperial court.
By now, the prince had learned of ambitions loftier than the imperial throne – the path to true immortal transcendence unattainable to ordinary mortals.
Thus, his capable lieutenants used the mirror city formation to drain the demonic cultivation of the infamous Wei Demon Lord, allowing the prince to seize half of his hellish power. However, the Wei Demon Lord somehow received aid in refining the demon bead within, purging his demonic nature to transcend his tribulation and ascend to immortality.
Yet the prince ingeniously exploited the openings revealed in the tattered life records, meticulously orchestrating each step until that very Demon Lord destined for ascension was instead slain by his own disciple, his soul obliterated. Meanwhile, the prince usurped Wei Jie’s rightful celestial position, directly ascending to immortality in a single stride.
What a seamless, perfect tale! One could admire it endlessly.
However, Prince Can knew the original story had not begun so flawlessly. This prince’s fate should have been no different from countless other mortals – an obscure life followed by an unremarkable demise, reduced to mere ashes in the end.
After initially obtaining these tattered life records from Wei Di, Prince Can had employed various ingenious methods over the years, constantly experimenting to alter his predetermined destiny.
With each incremental change, the story recorded on the pages would shift accordingly.
Until finally, he had ultimately perfected this grand epic of spiritual usurpation, detailing his brilliant rise from an ordinary mortal to achieving immortal transcendence.