Chapter 368: Soul Village

When He Lingchuan released Gan Sanye Gan, he made it very clear: if he dared to leak these matters, the Grand Tutor of the Baoshu Kingdom would surely seek revenge for his son. The entire Fu Kingdom could not afford to offend the King of Baoshu, let alone a mere Wu Ze County.

After hearing this, Gan Sanye Gan's lips trembled twice, and he slunk away. After going back and forth through the gates of hell several times, he dared not utter any more harsh words.

After all, even the Soul-Stealing Mirror, which had once been his master, had been subdued by He Lingchuan, and he finally realized that a small arm could not twist a steel bar.

By now, the east was turning white, and the farm chickens were beginning to clear their throats to announce the time. He Lingchuan and his two companions had also returned to the county town.

Early-rising residents were beginning to bustle about for their livelihoods. The Wu Ze County in reality was full of the smoke and fire of life; how could the illusions in the mirror compare? The three of them found a random roadside stall and slurped down a large bowl of rice noodles each, the bowls larger than a person's face. This stall didn't know what herbs it used for its chaotic stew, but the soup base was bright and flavorful. Adding a handful of mushrooms and a pinch of pickled long beans, the sour and refreshing taste was followed by a heavy richness. He Lingchuan ordered an extra plate of peanuts to spread over the noodles, and then ordered four large steamed buns to make do.

The people around them were also squatting by wobbly little tables, sweeping through their food like a whirlwind, their foreheads covered in a thin layer of sweat, but they were extremely satisfied.

After the meal, Wu Jingsong went back to pack his bags, preparing to check into the Purple Bamboo Garden.

He also wanted to rush back to the Grand Tutor Sha's mansion as soon as possible, but He Lingchuan would not set off with the merchant caravan for another two or three days, so the two guards could only suppress their impatience and wait.

He Lingchuan returned to the Purple Bamboo Garden with the Soul-Stealing Mirror tucked in his robe. Most of the guests here had not yet risen, and as he walked through the corridor, he could vaguely hear the sound of snoring from inside.

He returned to the bathhouse to soak first, relaxing thoroughly, then closed the doors and windows tightly and took out the mirror.

Although all things have spirits, for a man-made mirror to accidentally gain spirituality and become a demon—that was truly a matter of fortuitous timing, something to be encountered but not sought. Many divine artifacts did not even have this treatment; at best, having a dim-witted artifact spirit was already quite remarkable.

But it didn't have legs, after all, and couldn't run on its own, which was why it needed a mirror-slave to carry it around.

As for those evil ghosts, not only could they not touch the mirror themselves, but the living creatures they controlled couldn't touch it either, so they were likewise unable to pick it up.

Now that it had broken its contract with Gan Sanye Gan, without a mirror-slave, it couldn't run anymore and could only stay obediently in He Lingchuan's hand.

He Lingchuan only then learned that, in fact, after Sha Xinghai and First Master Gan had made their deal, First Master Gan had hoped the shamaness would return the soul to its owner. That way, it would be done without anyone knowing, and the Gan family wouldn't have to bear any risk.

But the mirror refused.

How could food that had reached its mouth be spat out so easily?

Now, this mirror began to beg He Lingchuan: "Please do not hand me over; I am willing to be your heart-protecting mirror."

He Lingchuan was no longer afraid to look it in the eye, and shaking the mirror, he said, "Set on following me?"

"Mm!"

He held the mirror and looked at himself from left to right: "Are you conquered by my charm?" The young man in the mirror was truly handsome!

"……Yes, yes."

He tapped the mirror twice: "Confess and you'll be treated leniently, otherwise I will..."

Twist it into a pretzel, right? The mirror was full of longing: "I want to feel the aura of the City of the Dead; this would be of great benefit to me."

So this fellow was yearning for Panlongcheng? "How so?"

"You also know that I was born from resentful souls. But I have devoured too many, and the resentment and hatred they held in life never dissipate; they all pile up inside the mirror, unable to be vented, forcing me to change to eating other things." The mirror had its own troubles. "The City of the Dead behind you far exceeds imagination, and the power of resentment it can bear also far exceeds imagination. I want to learn from it."

"You want to draw a tiger based on a cat?"

"You could say that."

He Lingchuan stroked his chin: "What do you need me to do?"

"Nothing, just let me stay on your person, and I can ponder it slowly." The mirror lacked nothing but time. "I vaguely feel that the City of the Dead is exceptionally powerful at night, and its connection to you is also very tight."

This fellow really wasn't feeling wrong; he could only enter Panlongcheng at night.

The mirror asked curiously again: "How can you carry such a terrifying City of the Dead without being affected by it?"

"What kind of influence should there usually be?"

"A massive amount of Yin energy and resentment would erode your essence, consume your blood and Qi, make you mentally exhausted and physically weak, and before long, you would be plagued by illness and die. Given the scale of this City of the Dead, killing a fully grown human would take at most... ten days?" The mirror asked him cautiously, "How long have you been connected to it?"

"Half a year." Oh, then it was fine; he felt his body was even better than half a year ago.

"!!" Half a year, and this man was still as vigorous as a dragon or tiger? "Even if your constitution surpasses ordinary people, it's useless! This kind of Yin power can drain even an immortal dry! Let alone the City of the Dead, even the shamaness couldn't withstand my attachment, which is why I had to sign them as mirror-slaves; otherwise, I'd have to change people every few months, which is quite troublesome."

Speaking of this, it let out a long "Oh," thinking it had found the truth: "Did you also become a city-slave of the City of the Dead?"

"Get lost!" He Lingchuan flicked it with his finger, sending the mirror spinning several times. "Do you think I'm a fool like Gan Sanye Gan?"

After Gan Sanye Gan signed the contract, he had to obey orders, but He Lingchuan's body and will were completely free; no one required him to do this or that.

Was... that so?

He thought carefully; he hadn't made any contracts, he had just taken a blade from the black dragon that Zhong Shengguang had transformed into.

That was at most just an agreement.

Hey, no, wait a minute.

The Divine Bone Necklace couldn't be thrown away, and the Floating Life Blade would also shamelessly return. Ah, this...

Thinking about it this way, he didn't seem so certain anymore.

The mirror spun around while clicking its tongue: "Too terrifying, too interesting, I must study it well!"

Which demon that had opened its wisdom did not yearn for the Dao? But for an object to become a demon was too rare; it had no ready-made path to follow and could only grope its way forward.

Unfortunately, there had been no results.

Just when it was about to lose heart, Panlongcheng appeared, pointing out the direction for it! This was its Dao, the direction for its future efforts.

He Lingchuan scooped it up and held it against his chest.

The mirror only thought he was testing the placement of the heart-protecting mirror, not knowing he actually wanted to see the reaction of the Divine Bone Necklace.

Earlier, when retreating from the side of Mo Chouhu, the necklace had heated up to remind him that a treasure was here.

Generally speaking, the Divine Bone was only interested in things it could eat.

But this time was clearly an exception; the Divine Bone was quiet, without a hint of enthusiasm.

Did it look down on the heart-protecting mirror, feeling it was hard to swallow? Then, was the heating by the lake earlier just a simple reminder not to let the culprit escape?

Although the Great Fanghu did not have a master-servant relationship with him, it truly kept a close watch on his every move.

He Lingchuan looked at the simple and happy mirror, the latter not knowing it had just escaped a disaster: "Your mirror-battlefield, what exactly is going on?"

It turned out that although the resentful souls eaten by the mirror had disappeared, their resentment could not be vented. The Soul-Stealing Mirror was not a Pixiu; it did not have the ability to only take in and not give out. If this continued, it might be burst open itself. Therefore, it recreated the battles General Yu had fought in his lifetime, giving these resentments a target to vent on, slowly dissolving them.

It was just that this method was like peeling a cocoon and drawing silk; the effect was particularly slow. It had tried for over two thousand years and hadn't sent many away.

So the world in the mirror could only be maintained, letting them play by themselves.

But it now discovered that the number of people in the City of the Dead was far greater than its own, and the resentment was far deeper, yet it could be controlled perfectly well; it was truly a miracle.

"A miracle?" He Lingchuan thought of the Three-Corpse Worms at the first moment.

Panlongcheng cleverly utilized the Three-Corpse Worms; this was probably one of its effective ways to dissolve the resentment of the dead souls.

But this was a secret that could not be spoken.

"Can I use your mirror to collect people?"

"Not anymore." The mirror said miserably, "Before, to stop you from escaping, I forcibly intervened and modified the rules. Now that world is in chaos, and there is no spare energy to suck in living people for a long time."

"How long is a long time?" This mirror had existed for a long time; the "long time" it spoke of was definitely not the same concept as he understood.

"At least four or five... decades?"

He Lingchuan gave it a flick: "Four or five years, or four or five decades, speak clearly!"

"At least several decades!" the mirror said sadly. "If not for being forced by circumstances, I would not dare to move you into the Soul Realm."

"Isn't that just an illusionary realm you created? How much trouble could it be to change a rule?" No wonder the mirror first sent him into a replicated Wu Ze County, rather than the battlefield.

But this was the second time he had heard the term "Soul Realm" from the mirror.

"It's not that simple," the mirror explained helplessly. "Heaven creates and earth grows, each having its own logic. Soul Realms are all copied from past history, so they must be seamless and flawless. If you add even a little change, you add a little loophole. Places that are unreasonable or inconsistent will grow more and more numerous, until finally, the entire Soul Realm's operation becomes unsustainable and it can only collapse. At that time, I—I will be in huge trouble!"

It had originally hoped the vengeful spirits in the Soul Realm could kill these few intruders quickly, so the resulting loopholes wouldn't be large, and it could find ways to patch them later. Who would have known...

Hong Luan had been scorched by lightning, and it was the mirror itself that had intervened to reverse the laws and strike it down. Now it was a mess; the vengeful spirits inside all discovered that history had changed and instantly rioted.

He Lingchuan hissed softly: "The Soul Realm can't be changed at all?"

"No!" the mirror said decisively. "Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not! Not even a tiny bit."

It was a bloody example itself. Its mirror world had only just taken shape when it was stirred into a chaotic mess by those vengeful spirits; it didn't know when it would be able to recover.

This serious? He Lingchuan stroked his chin. Then, every night when he entered Panlongcheng, leading to discrepancies between the dream and real history, did that not matter at all?

Before, he was ignorant and only thought it was fun; now, after hearing the Soul-Sucking Mirror's explanation, he suddenly felt the Great Fanghu was truly awesome, as if it could even twist the laws.

"What does the City of the Dead you see look like?"

"This..." the mirror found it hard to describe, so it could only say, "See for yourself."

The next second, the mirror's surface revealed the outline of the City of the Dead it saw, which could also be called a reflection.

He Lingchuan let out an "eh."

(End of chapter)