Chapter 2046

You're supposed to guard the tree, aren't you? Then I'll beat you to a pulp!

But the giant serpent before us is fierce; if Suto makes a single misstep in positioning, he'll be wrapped up immediately.

Never mind—saving people comes first. Old Bull snorts, randomly locks onto a Yang Xiao True Person, and charges.

His build isn't as naturally agile as a tiger or leopard's, but he does have some divine talents that can slightly compensate—like this charge: as long as there's no obstacle in between, within thirty zhang he ignores distance and can directly rush to the target's rear.

But just as he was about to activate it, He Lingchuan suddenly saw a mirror appear straight ahead.

Or rather, a mirror appeared in midair, lunging toward He Lingchuan.

As soon as he stretched his neck, his whole body was sucked in—and then he vanished.

Suto only glanced at it, saw the mirror's style and size—wasn't it the Soul-Capturing Mirror that had just taken in three people?

Can it hold living things and still move freely? He Lingchuan actually has such a heaven-defying mirror?

Even in ancient times, magical artifacts with such divine power were exceedingly rare—except for the Yao Gui Shi's portable towers used to store Yao Gui, which don't count.

Suto looked toward where the Soul-Capturing Mirror had originally been; that mirror-like opening was indeed gone.

The Yang Xiao True Lord lunged simultaneously, slashing his sharp claws at the mirror—

The mirror surface was like water, feeling cool to the touch.

It also lunged headfirst, but the mirror flickered and vanished, like an illusion.

How could such a treasure casually accept enemies?

At the same time, those several hundred small swords suddenly missed, shifted direction, and nearly struck the Yang Xiao True Lord.

Meanwhile, the other end of the mirror opened beside Suto, and He Lingchuan leapt out from within: "Swap. I'll handle this one."

"……?" Suto's eyes bulged out.

This isn't right? This mirror doesn't just hold living things—it also has teleportation ability like the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror?

The crowd outside the cauldron was also stunned: "What's going on here?"

He Xiong actually holds such a heaven-defying artifact in his hand?

Qing Yang's expression turned solemn as he asked Mu Su True Lord: "Have you ever heard of such an artifact, True Lord?"

Mu Su True Lord shook his head: "Not even in ancient times."

The stronger the artifact, the more singular its function. So-called specialization and refinement, specialization and strength—artifacts may initially have many traits, but during continuous self-enhancement, their effective attributes dwindle, leaving most with only one or two in the end.

The mirror He Xiong displayed combines "holding living things while moving" and "directed instantaneous teleportation"—both extremely rare functions. Figures like Qing Yang and Mu Su, being great masters, know just how extraordinary this is, worthy of being called a peerless singular treasure.

He Xiong actually holds such a treasure in his hand? Their prior intelligence gathering made no mention of it at all.

"Old Bull!" Suto reacted slowly, and He Lingchuan reminded him again.

Suto snapped back: "Alright, you be careful—don't get swallowed in one bite."

It was currently fighting the giant serpent irritably. Seeing He Lingchuan appear fully, head to tail, it was surprised but also breathed a sigh of relief.

In its view, even if He Lingchuan couldn't defeat the serpent, his agile form could hold out for a while; moreover, he now had the mirror's aid...

Hey, mirror, mirror, mirror—what on earth is this mirror!

He Lingchuan saw the great doubt in its clear eyes, but due to the battle he didn't explain, only saying: "You can also summon the mirror—just use it as you did before, now as you did before!"

It can? Suto blinked, but it had only ever summoned the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror before.

At this moment, He Lingchuan temporarily left his guard duty, so the Yang Xiao True Person veered off to attack the sapling.

Suto had no intention of leaving it to the Blood Demon, so without hesitation he mentally chanted: "Hao Yuan Golden Mirror, open!"

Sure enough, the mirror unfolded before it, but its appearance and style were completely different from what it knew as the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror—in fact, identical to the large mirror that had just carried living people.

Suto lunged headfirst into it, and in the next instant appeared beside the tree—right in front of the Yang Xiao True Person.

It swung its tail upward and lunged, a thought flashing in its mind:

This damn thing is still the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror, right? Otherwise it couldn't respond to its summon—just that He Lingchuan changed its appearance!

The battle was intense and urgent; it didn't have time to think further.

Only He Lingchuan inside and outside the cauldron understood what was really happening:

The scene actually had two mirrors: the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror and the Soul-Capturing Mirror, with different functions and appearances.

But he used the Great Expansion Heaven Pearl to alter the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror's appearance to match that of the Soul-Capturing Mirror. Whether friend or foe, everyone assumed this one mirror possessed two heaven-defying functions.

In fact, the Soul-Capturing Mirror remained in place, only its entrance concealed by his illusion technique. Though it couldn't move after holding living things, it could shrink its entrance.

The benefit of this deception is that it leads enemies to misjudge his tactics.

These immortal-level experts present, including Qing Yang and Mu Su True Lord outside, if they believed he had a space allowing instant entry, hiding, and relocation, then no matter how they surrounded and blocked him, it would be useless—they could only seek a one-hit-kill effect.

That's why the Qing Meng Sword Formation and the Yang Xiao True Person's doppelgänger didn't come over.

Soon, Qing Yang adjusted his tactics to focus on attacking the strange tree, since He Xiong was too slippery to get close to. This immovable tree became a better target.

The main battle pressure immediately shifted to Old Bull and the Blood Demon's side.

This is also the situation He Lingchuan and Suto hoped for—after all, the former isn't yet at immortal level, so being constantly targeted by a group of immortals makes it hard to exert his strength.

He Lingchuan must create a "free and easy" environment for himself, so that under the disadvantageous conditions of being surrounded by immortals and confined space, he can grow bolder with each fight!

As for why the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror can be used inside the Mu Wang Ding, it's still thanks to the strange tree initially taking root within the ding.

It is a product of the Great Vast Vessel; its taking root and growth represents the Great Vast Vessel's penetration of the ding's internal laws.

This is exactly how the Great Vast Vessel once used the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror to penetrate the Overturned Sea.

The Great Vast Vessel hasn't fully grasped the Mu Wang Ding's laws, so the Hao Yuan Golden Mirror can only enable short-distance teleportation. But this ding's interior is much smaller than the Overturned Sea, so transfers of several zhang or a dozen zhang are already sufficient for He Lingchuan to evade danger urgently.

The Yang Xiao True Lord's movements are extremely agile, naturally disdaining that big clumsy ox, but it and its two doppelgängers lunged at Suto's nape—when suddenly a phantom image leapt from his neck with a whisper, lunging straight at its eyes.

The distance was too close, the opponent's movement faster than a flea's, and the Yang Xiao True Lord actually failed to dodge, getting stabbed in the left eye.

Blood splattered everywhere!

At the same time came Old Bull's gleeful laugh: "Mie hahaha, you idiot!"

But the Yang Xiao True Person, rich in combat experience, knew now wasn't the time to dodge—otherwise the opponent would press the advantage and inflict greater harm. Thus it immediately shut off pain, gripped the object lodged in its eye with its left claw, and wrenched it out forcefully.

This is a razor lizard, and it is also Shituo's external dharma form.