Chapter 204

Everyone stared and saw that the old man took out and placed on the table was a small round mirror-like object.

At just one glance, those who were knowledgeable identified that this was a magic tool.

Seeing Pei Ye also leaned forward from a distance and saw that this thing was framed in black metal, but the smooth part in the middle was not copper or silver, but faintly visible as greasy and hazy, like jade but not jade, and for a while, he couldn't distinguish what it was.

"Normally, this is for sword cultivators, but everyone can come and try, as long as it takes about three to five breaths." The old man pointed with a smile, signaling the attendant to set it up in the field, "You can play without cultivation, it's best to be a bit bolder."

Compared to the caution on the martial arts side, the literary side was actually more eager to try, but upon hearing the last sentence, many people sat firmly without changing their expressions.

The martial arts side also hesitated for a while. Going up first was a good opportunity to show one's face, but it was also easy to make a fool of oneself, especially the "best to be a bit bolder" made people mutter.

It was Inspector Zhao who suddenly smiled: "Supervisor Sui, I also practice swords in my spare time. After these years of cultivation, I also have the realm of Second Life. Why don't I try first? In case I reach the standard of the Sword Academy..."

Sui Zaihua laughed: "Please feel free."

Zhao rolled up his sleeves and strode forward. His steps stiffened while walking, but he heard the old man behind him instruct: "Go and support Inspector Zhao."

At this time, he couldn't retreat halfway. Zhao walked to the field and took the mirror from the attendant: "How... how to use this?"

"Inspector Zhao, stand still and look directly at the mirror surface, and then introduce Qi along the texture of the mirror frame."

Zhao didn't have Fourth Life, and his Qi couldn't be injected into other objects, so he asked a martial artist to help start it.

Afterward, Zhao stood in front of the mirror with his hands folded. When his gaze touched the mirror surface, he suddenly felt a trance, and for a moment, he felt as if his soul had left his body, which startled him and he took a step back.

He immediately shook his head and moved his gaze away from the small mirror. He looked back and wanted to give an awkward smile to the supervisor and his colleagues, but when his gaze moved over, he was suddenly pale, and his whole body stiffened.

Empty.

I don't know when it was night, cold moon, autumn trees, and the bleak sky shrouded everything. Except for the bleak wind and crawling yellow leaves, the Egret Viewing Platform was empty.

Zhao also forgot what he was doing.

Forgot who he was, and where he was.

The emptiness and uneasiness shrouded him strongly. In the silent space, he was alone, helpless, and the moon was being slowly covered by something.

He couldn't remember anything, didn't recognize anything. He was panicked, looked around, and urgently wanted to find a fulcrum—even if it was just any familiar thing.

And in this situation of blue face and pale lips, suddenly, he saw a long, strip-like object with a faint moonlight appearing in front of him.

Sword.

This concept popped up in his heart.

He immediately pounced and grabbed it. As soon as this thing was in his hand, a faint familiarity emerged, and a sense of stability suddenly arose in his heart.

He forgot whether he had practiced swords, and forgot to think about this question. Only at the moment the sword was in his hand, the instincts buried in the deepest part brought a not-so-firm reliance and stability to his heart.

He felt a little more solid, and just as he wanted to think about something, suddenly, the moon disappeared completely.

Cold wind and fishy smell spread from behind, swallowing the entire Egret Viewing Platform.

He turned around blankly, and his face seemed to be torn apart in all directions, blooming with extreme horror. He raised his arm to block his face, screamed miserably, and the sword in his hand fell to the ground with a "clang."

Everything fell into darkness.

"Inspector Zhao! Inspector Zhao! Inspector Zhao..."

Someone was calling in the darkness. Zhao opened a pair of blank and terrified eyes. All the memories surged back into his brain, intertwined with the residual loneliness and confusion, and were clearing the coldness just now out of his brain.

"Oh, I..." He looked up, the ground was tilted, people were sitting upside down, and then a force supported him, and everything was righted.

He tilted his head and looked. It was the martial artist who started the magic tool for him.

Only then did Zhao fully come back to his senses and figure out his situation—the small mirror was still standing quietly a foot away, and after looking at it, he panicked and retreated, then collapsed to the ground.

"..." Zhao breathed deeply, wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, and looked around with a forced smile, "This is truly a huge loss of face."

Naturally, no one laughed, and they all tacitly downplayed it, never shifting it to the courage of the inspector.

And Zhao could only smile bitterly in a daze.

The feeling this magic tool brought to people could not be described as "fear." It was definitely not just scaring you simply. It was exactly as the old man said, it was a true test of the state of mind.

Zhao considered himself not a timid and weak person. On the way to the capital to take the exam in his early years, he had truly seen blood and fought with bandits with a knife in his hand, otherwise he wouldn't have wanted to try it after hearing the old man say "best to be a bit bolder."

But this was not simply throwing people into a dangerous situation to test their courage, but a test that stripped everything away and reached the heart.

Even if Zhao was thrown into a bandit's den where he could be slaughtered, he wouldn't lose his calmness and courage to resist, because in his fifty-two years of life, he had had too many experiences of cold sweat, from fighting bandits to managing a state. Identity and memory would give him enough calmness and support. Even if he was unarmed, he knew he stood higher than these bandits who only knew how to kill and set fires. He could try to escape by strategy, and even if he failed, he would try to maintain the dignity of a state inspector.

But not in this small mirror.

It isolated everything, leaving only the pure "I" in the depths of his heart, then placed a simple sword for you, and finally, placed a huge, absolutely insurmountable fear.

This is the so-called "Sword Heart Question."

How tough is the purest you, and what can you face when you hold the sword.

Zhao could of course be calm in the face of danger, but that came from the identity of "Inspector" and the resources he could mobilize, from his confidence in his own wrist and experience.

Rather than from his original heart, and the sword he touched occasionally.

Zhao bowed to all sides with a smile, didn't explain, and had nowhere to explain. He patted the dust on his body and returned to the east field.

"Inspector Zhao, 'Relying on Qi, Losing the Sword'," the old man announced the result with a smile.

Zhao walked back, cupped his hands and smiled: "Supervisor Sui is not kind. Such a scary thing, you lied to me that it was a gadget for playing games."

"Wronged, this is indeed a thing for playing games in our Sword Academy." This adult actually showed some innocent interest.

Zhao shook his head and sighed helplessly, sitting down.

Only then did Sui Zaihua explain: "Everyone saw it. After Inspector Zhao looked at it, the mirror surface was muddy and opaque, which is 'Relying on Qi.' Afterward, the amber quality was calm and condensed, representing that Inspector Zhao grasped the sword of the state of mind, but afterward, the black quality pressed on, without any obstruction, occupying the entire mirror surface, which represents that Inspector Zhao surrendered, which is the so-called 'Losing the Sword'."

Seeing Pei Ye, who watched the whole process, knew what he was talking about. First of all, this was a double-sided small mirror, like an iron ring hoop holding a jade plate. And at the moment Zhao looked at it, the whole person stopped completely. At the same time, the so-called "amber quality" in the mirror moved.

As if the jade plate liquefied, it turned into a piece of heavy, yellow turbidity during the rotation, and only after a breath, this turbid Qi condensed and stopped, as if it had turned from liquid to solid again. Afterward, a fierce and deep black invaded from the bottom of the small mirror, and in an instant, it completely covered the small mirror.

At the same time that the entire small mirror fell into darkness, the standing Zhao suddenly lost his voice in panic, staggered backward, and collapsed to the ground.

The old man's voice continued: "'Sword Heart Illumination' has four states: Muddy, Clear, Bright, and Empty Clarity, which reflect the level of the heart and nature of the person being illuminated, corresponding to 【Relying on Qi】, 【Facing the Scene】, 【Holding the Heart】, and 【No Change】; the invasion of black quality verifies the 'Fearless Heart' of the person being illuminated when the sword is in hand. According to the degree of black quality invasion, there are also four levels: 【Losing the Sword】, 【All Defended】, 【Not Invaded】, and 【Bright Spirit】."

"These four levels of state of mind come from 'Zhuangzi' and were obtained by the Dao Enlightenment Society from Mount Yunlang, used to define the fearless heart of sword cultivators." The old man continued, " 【Relying on Qi】 refers to those who deal with danger with a breath of courage."

"It's just 'I'll fight with you'," Zhao smiled from the side.

Then he smiled: "Not bad, just now Inspector Zhao was 【Relying on Qi, Losing the Sword】. Those talents who want to try can come up."

Hearing that there were so many levels, and Inspector Zhao was at the lowest level, it truly stimulated many people's desire to challenge—after all, everyone was not just Second Life, and they had been practicing swords for twenty or thirty years. Although they couldn't reach the standard of the Sword Academy, everyone was very looking forward to testing their own level.

After all, it was an extremely fresh thing, even if it was just as a topic of conversation, it was an extremely rare piece.

Sure enough, someone came up soon. It was a young escort, Fourth Life, and also a stable choice for the top sixteen of this year's martial arts competition.

This one could inject Qi by himself, so he didn't need assistance. He saluted all sides on the stage, then his gaze fell on the mirror surface, and he pressed his hand on the mirror frame lightly.

In an instant, this body seemed to have its soul extracted, stiff and motionless, and then the mirror surface turned into flowing turbidity, and afterward, it condensed and fixed, and the black curtain swept up.

"Ah!" A short, soul-lost scream, and this young escort collapsed to the ground again.

Now the whole field was quiet, only the sound of the old man clapping and laughing came from the east.

A Fourth Life sword master and a Second Life civil official had the same performance in front of this mirror, which could only explain one problem—they had not reached its lowest threshold.

If it was said to be a toy, it was also a toy for big children.

Someone came up immediately. This time it was a disciple of the Bai Zhu Pavilion, which counted as a proper sect. The man was over thirty and looked calm.

"Uncle Zhu." Li Piaoqing obviously recognized this person and tilted her head to the young man, "He is known for his perseverance in heart and nature."

This person's temperament looked much more reliable than the young man just now, and everyone ignited some hope again, staring and watching.

The man walked up slowly, faced the mirror, injected Qi, and then the jade mirror turned yellow and then black. The man also lost his color and screamed—not a bit smaller than anyone just now.

He also staggered backward, but fortunately, although he was also swaying, he finally didn't collapse to the ground again.

It was this small progress that stimulated many people's desire to challenge, and people began to come up one after another, and even formed small teams of two or three.

Afterward, nearly twenty people experienced it one after another, including Kuang Rong, Chu Nian, and several capable disciples of Bai Zhu and Seven Serpents, but the performance of this small mirror had no difference. There were only repeated yellow then black, yellow then black, and then the tester screamed in horror and fell to the ground.

Gradually, people were a bit suspicious—no matter who went up, would this mirror really have a second kind of performance?

However, after all, several true masters, that is, those who locked the top four, hadn't gone up yet. People cast their eyes on the ranks of the three major factions.

Seeing Pei Ye "slapped" and was about to stand up, but was pressed down by the young girl with extremely fast reaction. Then she looked at Shen Yao who cast a glance beside her and nodded.

"Don't worry, let's probe some things out first before you go on stage." The young girl said.

The two chatted for a few words, but suddenly heard small exclamations from the field. They looked over, and it turned out that after Shen Yao touched it, this mirror appeared for the first time.

It was still yellow turbidity, still the black curtain invading, but this time, it was not unstoppable. The woman stood still, the black curtain was still invading the mirror surface, but it was much slower, as if resisted by something.

The old man's language just now crossed people's hearts—All Defended!

Is this All Defended?

However, this situation didn't last. It only proceeded for about one-fifth, and that invisible resistance seemed to suddenly collapse. The black curtain restored its fierce advancement again, and within half a breath, the mirror surface was completely pitch black.

Shen Yao staggered backward with a pale face, but she didn't lose her soul and scream, nor did she fall to the ground.

People couldn't help but look at the old man.

The old man smiled faintly and announced her result: "Relying on Qi, Losing the Sword."

No extra comments, not even a "not bad" was worth it.

This made people feel discouraged in hope, but the next one to go up made everyone on the field feel refreshed—a handsome young master stood up from the Bai Zhu seat. Who else could it be but Zhang Mozhu?

This was a Fifth Life true disciple, a stable choice for the top four.

Could he make the small mirror produce some new changes?

Zhang Mozhu's mouth seemed to always carry a smile. He carried a long sword at his waist and held a folding fan in his hand. He walked up and saluted all sides elegantly. Afterward, without extra words, his gaze fell on the mirror surface, and he raised a hand that looked more like holding a pen than holding a sword, and pressed it on the mirror frame.

In an instant, the jade quality flowed, but what was disappointing was that it was still heavy and turbid yellow, but next, the scene that had just appeared on Shen Yao appeared again.

The black quality that rushed up was like mud, moving slowly upward, and unlike Shen Yao at that time, the resistance given to it had not disappeared, and this black quality was even slower than Shen Yao at that time.

Continuing to move slowly upward, one-fifth, one-fourth, one-half, three-fourths... until four-fifths, the black quality suddenly rushed, and that resistance finally collapsed. Zhang Mozhu gasped heavily and staggered back a few steps.

Regretful sounds came from the field in unison.

"Relying on Qi, Losing the Sword," Sui Zaihua said, still without extra evaluation.

Zhao smiled helplessly, sighing in his heart.

In fact, his face was already a bit hot. The so-called "outstanding people," twenty or thirty people couldn't even cross the first threshold of a toy, and he also began to feel that the letter was indeed a bit "exaggerated."

He only hoped that Shang Huaitong could truly hold up some of Bowang's face.

And just at this time, there was some movement of people walking on the other side. Zhao turned his head, but it was a young girl in green clothes standing up from the tree shadow. It was exactly Cuiyu's Li Piaoqing.

If it were Bai Yuliang, it might be better... Zhao smiled and nodded at her, tilted his head and said to the old man beside him: "The only true disciple of Cuiyu among the three factions, still very young."

However, the hand of the old man beside him holding the teacup paused before sending it to his mouth. Putting down the teacup, the old man's gaze moved to this young girl, and paused again.

"What a spiritual child." The old man said.

(End of chapter)