Chapter 1835: The Little Secret of Miao Zhantian

"Ah?" What place could that be? Dong Rui asked again, voicing everyone's thought: "Where are they?"

He Lingchuan glanced at him: "What do you think—after Miao Zhantian blasted through the two-realm passage, where exactly did he go?"

"Hmm..." Everyone fell into deep thought.

"Miao Zhantian rushed to blast through the passage just to go find Qianhuan's true form." Just then another golden lightning bolt flashed overhead; Dong Rui looked up: "Then he should be somewhere beyond these upper and lower realms."

Wan Qi Liang also said: "Maybe it's right above our heads."

"Go find Qianhuan's true form?" He Lingchuan countered them: "Qianhuan has already merged with the Inverted Sea—it is the Inverted Sea, and the Inverted Sea is it. It is everywhere yet untraceable. Even if Miao Zhantian escaped these two realms, where could he find It? Even if he poked holes all over the shell, he might not kill Qianhuan."

"Uh..." Dong Rui gave up thinking, grumbling: "You're smart, stop being cryptic, okay?"

Zhu Xiuer: "Could it be..."

But it only said those two words, then stopped.

Dong Rui glared at it: "Could it be what?"

Speak up, Auntie!

"Personal speculation, for reference only." He Lingchuan first issued a disclaimer: "I've told you before—inside the Inverted Sea, the boundary between true and false, real and illusory, is defined by Qianhuan himself. Miao Zhantian has fought It this long; he must surely understand this."

He Lingchuan himself was thinking: "Qianhuan's form is vast; Miao Zhantian can no longer defeat Its true form head-on, so he must enter the false from the real, opening battle on another level."

Simply put, since the Inverted Sea is entirely defined by Qianhuan, Miao Zhantian can no longer defeat It in the "real world"—he must find a way to break through from a higher dimension.

"So perhaps the place Miao Zhantian went after blasting through the two-realm passage isn't beyond the heavens, but—" He pointed to his own temple: "—here in Qianhuan."

Dong Rui startled: "Qianhuan's brain?"

"Qianhuan tried to merge his body with the Dao in the Inverted Sea; since his body has become one with this heaven and earth, where do you think his soul is?"

"..." Wow, way over the top.

"Qianhuan has been trying to use his own will as the law of this little cave heaven—that is, 'body becomes all things, mind makes the law.'"

At this hint, Zhu Xiuer suddenly realized: "I get it—his sea of consciousness is very likely this little world's 'law realm,' at least what he himself believes and takes as the 'law realm'!"

Qianhuan's body fused with the Inverted Sea, becoming the "real."

Qianhuan's sea of consciousness, united with the similarly formless yet truly existing law, becomes the "illusory."

"Marvelous, marvelous!" Zhu Xiuer couldn't help exclaim: "Qianhuan's attempt is truly bold."

This realm above immortals—even It is striving tirelessly, ardently yearning for it.

"Blasting through the two-realm passage is very likely an opportunity to enter the false from the real, and also Miao Zhantian's only chance!" He Lingchuan pointed at the mirror image: "If it's a battle of souls, this kind of blow-to-blow, no-need-for-magic makes sense."

Divine powers and techniques are mundane means; the world of divine consciousness is simple—where would these things be?

There, only the collision of souls occurs, at most sparking a bit of thought—oh no, consciousness's spark.

"Earlier, when Miao Zhantian and Qianhuan fought for the Inverted Sea and lost, Qianhuan thought he was at his wit's end, finally relieved to dispatch all his dharma forms." Qianhuan's caution—this time he kicked an iron plate: "Miao Zhantian has been waiting for this opportunity, using the silver pear fruit to blast open the two-realm passage and enter Qianhuan's sea of consciousness. And Qianhuan's three great dharma forms are trapped in the barrier, unable to return aid—this is a major disadvantage."

"No wonder you said earlier, dharma forms are too strong, sometimes becoming Qianhuan True Person's weakness." Zhu Xiuer raised her paw to wipe her eyeball—this wasn't emotion, but excitement: "The stronger the dharma form, the stronger the soul needed to control it."

To control such powerful dharma forms, Qianhuan must have split off much soul power, and all at once three portions!

The soul is like a whole cake—cut too many slices, and what remains is necessarily less. Usually it's no big deal, but now Qianhuan must face Miao Zhantian, on par with the Shi Qian Great Heavenly Demon! Aside from that, just look at these two arch-enemies in the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror—Miao Zhantian's build is no smaller than Qianhuan's.

For the same build, Jiao Tu's combat ability is no advantage over humanoid heavenly demons.

"Qianhuan possesses myriad transformations of mirage art, mostly because he dislikes blunt, flashy clashes with enemies." As a mirage demon, Qianhuan's shortcoming is obvious: "So, if Miao Zhantian does everything possible to drive him to this point, he's already won thirty percent; tricking him into splitting off three dharma forms wins another thirty."

"Qianhuan can't avoid battle, or else his true form will be swallowed and devoured by Miao Zhantian like the upper and lower realms." People invading the Inverted Sea aren't just craving his body? "Heavenly demons have gouged out so many immortal caves; they must have deep insight into killing immortal souls and seizing immortal bodies."

Dong Rui suddenly exclaimed: "Hey hey quick look, Miao Zhantian transformed!"

……

Sea of consciousness, Bu Xu.

The two strong contending, the collision's intensity nearly exceeding reality—each close-quarters impact sending out tremulous waves that could be heard far across the sea.

Bu Xu was again nearly smashed to pieces, just like three thousand years ago.

Qianhuan's true form's power and agility were as He Lingchuan predicted. Though this isn't his usual fighting style, the true immortal's foundation is there—millennia of cultivation not wasted.

What truly made He Lingchuan's heart leap was Qianhuan's regenerative ability. Miao Zhantian wielding twin blades, Jiao Tu couldn't possibly dodge completely. This attack nearly ignores scale armor, with several wounds deep enough to show bone, especially Jiao Tu's right front paw nearly chopped off—only skin and muscle hanging on.

Yet just like that, Jiao Tu trotted in two circles on the ground, the wounds basically healed, able to give full effort.

In the past two days and one night of battle in the Inverted Sea, he had nurtured his essence and stored energy—unlike Miao Zhantian, who was outputting while still needing to decipher Qianhuan's mirage formations, truly laboring in strength and mind.

Moreover, the shell behind him isn't mere decoration—whenever crisis strikes, Jiao Tu shrinks his whole body, able to directly retreat into the shell. Miao Zhantian's twin blades striking the shell only spark a few bits, quite like a mouse dragging a turtle with nowhere to bite—awkward.

The situation stalemated, hard to tell victory or defeat for a moment.

Both sides knew this was the final battle—winner takes all—so they held nothing back.

Qianhuan just dodged Miao Zhantian's straight chop; a dark shadow flickered behind him. Alarm bells rang—he shrank his neck at the critical moment, but his forehead still ached sharply, a horn chopped off.

Had he not reacted quickly, what got chopped off would have been his head.

Before them appeared another heavenly demon, resembling Miao Zhantian's facial features by two parts, yellowish-green skin, height halved—only up to Miao Zhantian's ribs, build relatively weak, no third eye on the forehead.

His gaze at Qianhuan was empty and cold.

Qianhuan rarely startled: "Can't use divine powers in the sea of consciousness! What are you—"

This is clearly a body-doubling technique!

However, whether heavenly demon or true immortal fighting in his sea of consciousness, divine arts and techniques are utterly unusable.

Because, here, soul power can only manifest as "strength" and "skill"! At most a bit of poisonous talent brought along.

This is the law of the sea of consciousness world—no one exempt.

So this suddenly appearing heavenly demon isn't Miao Zhantian's divine-power-summoned clone. In other words—

"Miao Zhantian is two heavenly demons?!"

Such a strange situation has only one explanation: one body, two souls! Miao Zhantian still hides another soul—this even Qianhuan has never heard of, likely a secret known to few in both the divine and mortal realms.

Moreover, bound by the rules of divine descent, it's impossible for two unrelated heavenly demons to descend simultaneously, crammed into one skin bag.

Between Miao Zhantian and this heavenly demon, there must be a deep bond.

"This secret, you're still the first outsider to know it!" Miao Zhantian laughed, "This is my twin sister Miao Yuntian, whom I devoured before she was born! But she was born powerful, so I kept her as my twin soul!"

The two celestial demons joined forces, leaving Qianhuan struggling on both sides.

Miao Yuntian's power was far inferior to Miao Zhantian's, but her form was swift and agile. At first, Jiao Tu wasn't quite used to it, nearly having his head sliced off.

The audience before the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror watched in stunned silence, Dong Rui murmuring:

"No, isn't this against the rules?"

What "kept"? Miao Zhantian simply severed and remodeled the soul of his unborn sister, forcibly refining her into a soul puppet!

No wonder Miao Zhantian was so confident on this journey—turns out even upon entering the Sea of Consciousness realm, he had backup! In Sea of Consciousness battles, either you can fight, or you have numbers. An extra helper trumps everything. He Lingchuan suddenly understood, "Ah, that's probably the main reason he's always succeeded in raiding immortal caves."

Miao Zhantian himself was already strong enough, and when seizing an immortal's body, he could fight two against one—truly leaving the opponent no way out.

It's just that the immortals he killed could never speak again, so this secret remained hidden until today, when the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror exposed it.

After Miao Yuntian entered the fray, Qianhuan indeed fell into a disadvantage, despite the protection of the seashell, his body was still covered in wounds.

The injuries were too numerous and severe, the slowing of healing speed becoming visibly apparent.

If this continued, his situation would be dire.

Dong Rui began to worry too: "Hey, you—what if Qianhuan loses? What are we to do?"

If this Overturned Sea were to belong to Miao Zhantian, wouldn't these people be doomed? He Lingchuan said nothing.

Will Qianhuan just lose like this, with no room for resistance? He always felt it unlikely.

How could the old, crafty Mirage Immortal so easily admit defeat?

Qianhuan must still have some reserve, but in such a critical juncture, why not use it?

What is he still wary of?