Chapter 1741

They were fast on foot, but by the time they reached the square, Xiao Wenchen had already finished rallying the troops, his last few words lingering in the air, echoing off the mountain peak.

Over three hundred people had gathered in the square, wearing ceremonial robes and caps—clearly all disciples of the Illusion Sect, each holding spears and halberds, the most common being the three-pronged fork.

In addition, there were over a hundred demonic beasts and spirit birds gathered at the edge of the square; most were rare sights even to ordinary people, and even He Lingchuan had only seen them in illustrated manuals—such as the Dashanxiang with red buttocks, blue face, and red nose, which also had another face on the back of its head, equally vividly colored, known as the Facial Pattern Xiang.

Seeing it, the demon ape couldn't help but scratch the back of its head—this fellow bore a slight resemblance to it.

The Facial Pattern Xiang noticed its gaze and glared fiercely. Dong Rui patted his own demon puppet, telling it not to stare rudely at others.

In fact, when he originally crafted the demon ape, he had also blended in a bit of the Facial Pattern Xiang's traits—of course, not sampled from this particular individual.

However, the most eye-catching thing was not these demonic beasts, but the large mirror standing in the center of the square—

After the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror disappeared from the quiet chamber, it appeared here, its volume having expanded at least twofold, far surpassing the garden's moon-shaped archway.

He Lingchuan saw from the mirror that Bai Ziqi's fleet had successfully landed on the stone beach of the inverted lakeshore.

This was half a shichen earlier than Xiao Wenchen's plan.

Therefore, the Illusion Sect's urgent task now is to prevent the Heavenly Palace forces from spreading to Silver Pearl Island.

Xiao Wenchen stepped aside a few paces, pointed at the mirror surface, and said: "Go ahead—let these heavenly demons witness the might of my Illusion Sect!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Elders Jing and Xu strode into the mirror! The mirror surface rippled like water after they entered, still slightly undulating.

With them leading, the Illusion Sect disciples in the square quickly followed, rushing into the mirror.

More than a dozen spirit birds flapped their wings, flew over the crowd's heads, and plunged into the mirror.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror exclaimed: "One step to destination, ignoring distance! Truly remarkable!"

He Lingchuan tapped this useless thing—did it really worship other mirrors so blindly? But the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror indeed possessed vast divine powers; within less than half a ke, the square was empty, all the Illusion Sect disciples who had just been there now inside the mirror.

Judging from the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror's past records, these people had likely already reached the inverted lakeshore.

He Lingchuan also watched with envy. Isn't this just the Anywhere Door function? Through this mirror, Illusion Sect disciples can reach designated locations at any time—mobility is incredibly strong.

This is the advantage of the landlord, though it seems effective only within the small realm controlled by Qianhuan.

He also paid special attention to the turquoise on top of the mirror, noticing its color hadn't changed much.

It appears spatial transmission is this mirror's basic function—although it can transmit several hundred people at once, the energy consumed is not much.

Treasure, truly a fine treasure.

If I had this treasure, could I also activate an Anywhere Door on my own territory in the future?

Although the Jinghong Ferry of Lingxu Upper City is also a long-distance transmission grand formation, its location is fixed and cannot be moved freely like the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror.

"Where are they?" Dong Rui asked, gazing at the distant, quiet lakeshore, "Why can't I see them?"

"They're here." Xiao Wenchen extended his index and middle fingers, drew two circles before the mirror, and the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror's partial image instantly enlarged and focused.

Thus, He Lingchuan and others clearly saw that on the lakeshore northwest of the Heavenly Palace camp, several hundred yakshas had gathered.

They were also grotesque in appearance, almost no two alike, yet they remained motionless, concealed by dense tall grass nearly two zhang high, completely hidden. The Hao Yuan Golden Mirror had deliberately chosen a top-down angle; otherwise, from other angles, their silhouettes would be invisible.

Soon, a few more yakshas arrived, their leader turning around and gesturing to his companions behind.

This gesture, only humans can make.

Dong Rui exclaimed, pointing at the leading yaksha: "Wait, this—this is the Hun Tian Fork..."

What this yaksha holds in its hand is exactly the Hun Tian Fork that Elder Jing was holding earlier—its style somewhat unique, the two blade tips curved and forked like serpent tongues, the tips blue as Wang Wang, which he still remembers.

Now this Hun Tian Fork is in the yaksha's hand—could it be? "Could this person actually be Elder Jing?!"

Xiao Wenchen nodded: "Not bad."

He pointed at the yaksha herd in the mirror: "This is the unit we previously sent into the mirror."

The Hao Yuan Golden Mirror is not merely capable of transmission. When they passed through, it also conveniently altered their appearances! Indeed, this is the Illusion Sect under the Mirage Immortal, here in the Phantom Realm crafted by Qianhuan—without a few tricks of disguise, it wouldn't make sense.

Zhu Xiuer looked at herself, curious: "If I go through the mirror, can I also change my outfit?"

"Yes." Xiao Wenchen didn't turn back: "This illusion only changes your outward appearance, how you appear in others' eyes—not your true self; even if you were an elephant, after passing through the mirror, you could possess a human form."

Oh? Interesting. Zhu Xiuer twitched her forepaw, determined to try if given the chance.

For hundreds of years, it has always been this form—she's grown tired of looking at it.

Dong Rui kept staring at the mirror: "Have they gone into the water?"

The mirror clearly showed that Elder Jing's unit had likely finished assembling, begun moving forward, until all the "yakshas" sank into the lakewater, leaving the lakeside empty once more.

Everyone looked at the lakewater, then at the lakeside Heavenly Palace camp—no explanation from Xiao Wenchen needed; they understood what Elder Jing and his group intended to do.

The mirror's view switched back to the Heavenly Palace camp. Dong Rui waited a good while, then couldn't help but laugh: "No way—I really can't tell which are real yakshas and which are Illusion Sect people."

As the saying goes, fish eyes mixed with pearls—this group of living people is mixed among the yaksha army, launching a fierce attack on the Heavenly Palace forces!

True and false, hard to distinguish.

Yet their individual combat strength far surpasses ordinary yakshas, often catching the Heavenly Palace soldiers off guard.

Zhu Xiuer scratched her eyes: "Hold on—does the Heavenly Palace army have no Yuanli? Can't they see through our disguise?"

Bai Ziqi and his guards have none, but the elites he brought are like soldiers, perhaps from certain nations, possibly able to gather some Yuanli.

"With that pitiful amount of Yuanli, you want to pierce the divine powers of the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror?" Xiao Wenchen said lightly, "Unless the Between Between Between Beijia army arrives in person!"

Though all called "Yuanli," the Yuanli of Yaoguo, Luodian, and Between Between Between Beijia are incomparable; using it to break ordinary illusions might suffice, but here we are in the Inverted Sea, and the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror is the supreme treasure of the ancient Mirage Immortal!

He Lingchuan suddenly said: "Among the troops your sect sent out, there seem to be many disciples from Silver Pearl Island. They share no heaven with yakshas—how could they willingly disguise as yakshas and go into the sea?"

The one who led them to Shilong Peak, Lu Jing, is a Silver Pearl Islander. For over a hundred years, men like him—common-born youths selected into the mountain gate to cultivate immortality—have been countless.

Meanwhile, the lake yakshas periodically emerge to harass and slaughter civilians; these sect disciples have fought alongside them—would they bear no grudge?

Xiao Wenchen waved his hand: "Before, they often did this—disguised as yakshas, infiltrated the yaksha army to sabotage and slaughter. Only this time is special; their target has shifted from yakshas to the Heavenly Palace army."

These arguments all make sense.

He Lingchuan, while monitoring the battle scene displayed by the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror, asked Xiao Wenchen: "Sect Master Xiao and several elders have followed Qianhuan Xianzun for many years, seen much and known widely—I have a question I'd like to ask."

Elder Liu immediately responded: "Go ahead."

"I've heard that over these past few thousand years, the Heavenly Palace has invaded many cave dwellings, killing many immortals." He Lingchuan raised a long-standing question: "I've seen the Heavenly Palace's chaos beasts, also watched the so-called 'divine descent' of the heavenly demons—especially the latter's fleshly bodies have limited strength, causing the descending heavenly god avatars' power to be limited. They can handle cultivators with ease, but how could they possibly inflict fatal harm on immortals?"

Before encountering these living immortals of the Phantom Sect, no one could give him an answer. Zhu Xiuer, who was beside him, died in battle in ancient times, and she also did not know what happened afterward.

"There are many reasons for this." Elder Liu said in a deep voice, "If an immortal's cave dwelling does not receive an influx of spiritual energy from the outside world and only consumes its own reserves, the internal environment will also deteriorate day by day. If the Heavenly Palace attacks such a cave dwelling, the immortals inside were already weakened, far from their peak, so their defensive capabilities naturally decline."

The status and abilities of the Thousand Illusions True Person are laid out like this—he could set up a vast Spirit-Gathering Grand Formation for himself, drawing in the spiritual energy of half Flash Gold for his own use. Which ordinary immortal has this ability? The fall of most immortals over the past three thousand years fundamentally did not require the Heavenly Palace to act; they simply faded away silently on their own.

The Upset Heaven and Earth Grand Formation has already been dismantled, and the massive influx of spiritual energy has ceased, so the immortals of the Phantom Sect now also begin to fear that they will follow in their footsteps.

"To conserve spiritual energy, some immortals will even enter long-term meditation, which is what is called 'closed-door death seclusion.' When foreign enemies invade, he may not necessarily be in a waking state, and this also gives the Heavenly Palace an opportunity to exploit."

He Lingchuan wore a look of sudden realization.

Understood—it's like a hibernating bear; when disturbed awake, it is always somewhat sluggish.

"Both of these scenarios require a stroke of luck, so the Heavenly Palace still has one final killer move." Elder Liu's face sank like water, "Deploy their own immortals!"

Dong Rui exclaimed in surprise: "Huh? The Heavenly Palace...?"

The Heavenly Palace also has immortals?

But he immediately reacted—yes, when Yu Zecheng pursued the cave spider queen to the Yangshan Islands, he even summoned a manifestation of Mu Su True Lord. According to Zhu Xiuer's later evaluation, the true form of Mu Su True Lord is the Nine-Death Rebirth Grass, nearly equal to a demon immortal in power.

This also means that Between Between Between Beijia indeed has a demon immortal in residence, though it does not easily mobilize under normal circumstances, after all, the external spiritual energy is not abundant. This also fits Between Between Between Beijia's status as the world's number one demon nation.

And with Between Between Between Beijia's strength, sustaining a few demon immortals should pose no problem.

"Just how many demon immortals and immortals does the Heavenly Palace and Between Between Between Beijia actually have? Until the Immortal Venerable entered seclusion, we also did not obtain the full roster." Xiao Wen Cheng said solemnly, "We can determine that this Heavenly Palace team certainly contains demon immortals."

(End of Chapter)