Chapter 382: Mirror Dragon Sword Sea

That massive mirror of heart-amber stood quietly in the center of the platform. This precious material, which was hard to come by even in all of Shao Long, had been cast and polished into a mass weighing over a hundred pounds. A walnut-sized depression remained at its ancient, moist center, and the hazy, ghostly light of the entire mirror surface seemed to subtly converge toward it.

That silhouette sat before this amber mirror. The sky-blue long robe was still fluttering softly. For a Mystic Gate practitioner, he indeed appeared overly thin. His gray-white long hair drifted, immortal-like, as he sat before the hazy jade mirror in the dim cavern, resembling an old immortal buried for years.

The woman's soft voice sounded before this scene.

Xiao Tingshu froze completely. In an instant, his hands began to tremble first, and he turned toward the woman with a dazed expression: "Wh-what... Sword Master?"

"He has been dead for a long time. Perhaps when he entered, he was already a corpse." Ming Qitian repeated, not turning her eyes to look at him. "So, I think you have been deceived, Peak Master Xiao."

"... No, impossible." Anyone could see the man's utter loss of composure. He suddenly propped himself up and crawled toward that silhouette, his voice hoarse and distorted. "Ma-Master Brother—Master Brother!"

However, no one answered him. Only the shrill, desperate cries echoed in the mountain belly; the echoes would not even return until the next moment.

Xiao Tingshu turned his head in a panic to look at the expressions of the four peak masters, as if hoping to gain some refutation, but everyone's complexion was cold and sunken. At the same time, they slowly drew their sword hilts—evidently, all those who still possessed cultivation had tacitly accepted this fact.

Xiao Tingshu's already pale and weak complexion suddenly seemed to have its soul completely extracted. Tears flowed down first, and he looked at the platform with dazed, lifeless eyes, his body trembling uncontrollably.

Of course it was so, because this was not just a bolt from the blue regarding a death notice. As long as one thought about it just a little, countless suffocating things would rush toward them, like a ten-year-old high-rise building suddenly collapsing and crumbling.

—If Bai Tianqu had long since died, then whose schemes had he and Kongdong been fulfilling all these years?

Suddenly, the sword sense within the mountain belly began to grow thick as never before.

Several people looked up abruptly. It was growing at a speed that made one's heart race. If it had been like a scent floating in the air just a moment ago, it was now nearly a heavy body of water, and it began to pulse, become active, collide, and rupture, as if boiling.

Within the mountain belly, an ancient, long sigh suddenly sounded.

Everyone shifted their gaze to the stone platform. There, Bai Tianqu's silhouette remained stiffly seated, and the bronze coffin was as quiet as before. Only on the pitch-black back of the ancient mirror did a figure slowly stand up.

Everyone looked as if they had seen a ghost: sky-blue robes, gray-white long hair, a thin figure, an aged face with deep cheekbones—this was clearly another Bai Tianqu!

He had evidently been there all along, sitting cross-legged opposite the dead corpse with the heart-amber mirror between them. Perhaps for days, perhaps for months, perhaps for ten years.

The person Xiao Tingshu had supposedly been in contact and communicating with, the "Master Brother" he had obeyed and admired for ten years, now stood before everyone. He walked forward from behind the mirror, looking down at the people below, like the master awakened in this sea of swords.

He indeed seemed to have awakened from a long dream, rubbing the sword hilt in his hand—that was a standard-issue Kongdong long sword. A pair of gray, misty old eyes fell straight onto the stone cliff where the few stood.

"Too early..." He spat out two syllables, light, slow, and majestic, yet the voice seemed to come from all directions, as if fused with the sword sense of the entire mountain belly.

Shi Shaosheng held his fully unsheathed sword in his hand, his aged face frozen like ice: "Who are you?"

That strangely cold majesty clearly did not belong to the Junior Brother who had bid him farewell and entered the mountain ten years ago... He had been extreme and fervent, the stubbornness in his bones revealed on his face; he was definitely not this demonic, cold, and condescending figure of today.

The person on the platform spat out two cold, low laughs. It was hard to imagine that this figure, majestic as a ghost king, would reveal his emotions like this, but perhaps he had indeed been suppressed for too long: "Hiding in the dark... it has already been twenty years."

With a long, hoarse sigh, the boiling sword sense in the mountain belly suddenly surged to the point of ascension.

Several peak masters gripped their sword hilts tightly at the same time, their bodies tensed like iron as they looked at their surroundings. This was no longer a scent or boiling water, but a roaring, erupting magma; it was... something huge awakening.

Outside the mountain, in places they could not see—under the thick cold fog behind the Law Enforcement Hall, at the bottom of the cold streams in the mountain ravines, in the rocks, among the beautiful peaks, in the deep forests—throughout all of Kongdong, bright and cold sword weapons were slowly emerging. They had existed in the shadows for twenty years, and now they were revealing their forms to the world.

They had originally been wandering between the mountains and waters according to the harmony of heaven and earth, and now they all returned to the orderly water system of the Five Peaks Lotus Heart. Sharp, ghostly, white-bright fish darted past from the bottom of the streams.

And the center outlined by this complex water system had always been Sword Belly Mountain.

Countless Kongdong disciples were witnessing this scene. They covered their mouths tightly in astonishment among the peak clouds. Those swords emerged from the rocks, combining into nimble sword dragons several feet long, then entered the water and moved like living creatures. Everything was as if in a dream.

And behind the "Hanging Sky Curtain" peaks, Seeing Pei Ye leaped onto the peak top from the small courtyard and also suddenly pressed his sword and looked back—only to see sword after sword emerging from under the cliffs and beside the trees. Between the peaks, it was as if many mirrors had suddenly appeared, flowing with dazzling light under the morning sun.

"..." Seeing Pei Ye looked over his blood-dripping bangs; they were all swimming rapidly toward the Five Peaks Lotus Heart.

From the air, from the bottom of the water, countless sword weapons darted nimbly toward Sword Belly Mountain, and when they gradually connected into a sufficiently massive expanse, a magnificent slowness manifested.

On a larger scale, it was like a cloud vortex composed of swords slowly drifting and rotating around this mountain.

Inside Sword Belly Mountain, the Five Peak Masters watched with suffocating intensity as these countless sword weapons rose from the bottom of the streams and protruded from the mountain walls—old ones, new ones, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand... gradually filling the entire empty mountain belly. A hundred miles of Kongdong, twenty years of accumulation.

They slowly circled the mountain with a uniform and beautiful rhythm. The leading sword weapons began to aggregate, and the newly arrived sword weapons kept joining in. Gradually, a massive shape began to manifest, rotating around that silhouette on the stone platform.

The Five Peak Masters watched this scene with cold bodies—Kongdong and the Huan Si Lou had spent twenty years together to forge this thing. Kongdong dreamed of using it to forge the two-hundred-year sword treasury, but for the Huan Si Lou, what they had always wanted was just it itself.

Now it was indeed under the control of the Huan Si Lou.

A hundred miles of Kongdong, the stone swords of Jade Mountain clanging—an incredible living creature nurtured by this piece of spiritual landscape... Thirteen thousand six hundred swords, the generated head was already like a building. It bowed its head and lay on the stone platform, hundreds of swords rotating to surround that ancient heart-amber mirror. When it raised its head again, it was already like a gemstone embedded in its massive forehead.

Behind it, every sword dragon was a dragon bone, and every sword stream flowed into this vast ocean. That body, already exceeding a hundred feet, was coiled in this high and vast mountain belly, and there were still tiny bright fragments gathering toward it.

This was the array-sword creature forged by the man from the snow-night lake mountain after he walked out of the 【Star Burial Mound】, with twenty years of painstaking effort. He first forged it, and then ten years later, he endowed it with true spirituality using the 【West Court Heart】.

The massive ancient array wandering between the mountains and waters—【Mirror Dragon Sword Sea】.

On the stone platform, "Bai Tianqu" slowly raised his hand and fastened a complex theatrical mask onto his face.

The form of this mask was exactly the same as the one on Qu Zhu's face, only the two colors were completely reversed, dark gold studded with purple, like a rebellious and strange monarch.

Without any need for prefix modifiers, he had already come to Shao Long thirty years ago as a top-tier 【Yue Que】, taking a peerless genius like Qu Zhu under his command. His name was even older than the Crane Ranking.

The Three Kingdoms Opera Master who dictated the Southwest for the Huan Si Lou, the old man's voice was majestic and cold: "I am, 【Sima】."

Above his head, the sword dragon lowered its ferocious and sharp head slightly, the horns forged from swords resembling sharp, vigorous trees.

"Pity, even with twenty years of unremitting effort, as of now, it is still short of one piece." This Opera Master slowly drew the long sword in his hand, lowering his eyes to look directly at the white-clad woman below. "Fortunately... we can still wait a while."

Ming Qitian looked calmly at him and the massive creation behind him. She had actually begun to understand many things. The thick, boiling sword sense wrapped her completely, and that ghostly ancient mirror was like an eye that could not be looked at directly—this was indeed an extremely dangerous enemy.

Actually, from very early on, she had had countless ways to avoid fighting such an opponent alone here, but she had always only made the most natural choice.

Walking the red dust, asking for swords in the world, was originally using one's own heart to experience the human world. This was the necessary path for the second level of the "Gu She". Carefully selected routes did not count as walking the world, and filtered opponents would not make the sword mind bright.

"I fight whoever I encounter, that is all."

She turned her sword slightly, and dozens of feet of cloud energy unfolded abruptly. The cool sword intent swept away the oppression of half the mountain belly.

——————

Between the peaks, the youth leaped alone among the cliff trees, running while wiping the fresh blood from his face, forcing the wounds on his body to knit together once more.

His complexion was already visibly pale, but his lips were pressed into a thin line. His whole person seemed to be firmly supported by something, still incredibly maintaining the peak speed and sharpness.

"... It's already a bit far, Seeing Pei Ye." The black cat said suddenly. "Almost thirty miles."

"Mm."

"... Seeing Pei Ye." The black cat called out softly.

"..."

"Seeing Pei Ye."

"Mm?" The youth's eyes stared straight ahead, his heart calculating the distance to the location pointed out by Meng Li without a moment's pause.

The black cat watched him quietly, then suddenly said softly: "We are not chasing anymore."

The youth paused, then turned his head abruptly: "What?"

"... You cannot defeat him." The black cat was silent for a moment before saying softly, "I have seen him three times... I have a very bad feeling."

"... We were just a little bit away just now." The youth's blood-stained face looked at it in disbelief. "Didn't you see how heavily injured he was? He couldn't even block a single sword of Zhanxin Liuli—"

"Illusion."

"..."

The black cat looked at him calmly: "I believe in his heavy injuries, and I saw with my own eyes that he was no match for Zhanxin Liuli... It was not acting. But this person's control over everything is too heart-stopping."

"..."

"Have you forgotten what we faced when we arrived at the Sword Treasury Pavilion? If not for Ming Qitian being truly powerful, you would already be dead."

"... That was of course a trap where the enemy was in the dark and we were in the light, but just now..."

"Just now was also." The black cat looked at him. "It was just that Wudong helped you dismantle it."

His heart was gripped by something, and Seeing Pei Ye's throat went hoarse.

"When he left the Scripture Treasury, he clearly knew you would come to this small courtyard. At the Sword Treasury Pavilion, he confirmed that you would be stronger when holding Zhanxin Liuli, so when we came here, we faced an array technique that restricted sword-holding." The black cat said. "If not for Wudong, I cannot imagine how we could have survived."

"... But this has already happened." Seeing Pei Ye said hoarsely. "Master Wu left such a situation for me, and I still let him escape by a hair's breadth... I cannot let him down."

"This is exactly what I want to say." The black cat looked at him with earnest green eyes. "Exhausted, heavily injured and dying, luckily escaping... even in such a situation, I think he is still calmly controlling everything."

"..."

"Could he know that Meng Li recorded that location? Could he imagine that Meng Li would tell you... When you arrive, do you think there won't be a third killing blow tailored for you?" The black cat looked at him. "Who can you rely on this time?"

"..." Seeing Pei Ye stopped his footsteps for the first time, looking at the black cat on his shoulder. Coldness and boiling heat alternated in his body.

They had not been together for just one day. The days of mutual distrust and going their own way had long passed. The youth had long remembered that the black cat could always calmly point out the correct direction when he was impulsive.

But this time, the words were so hard to accept.

"... Not go..." Seeing Pei Ye looked at it with a dry throat. "Not go, do what? We have clearly found him, didn't you see? Zhanxin Liuli truly heavily injured him twice... I..."

"I know." The black cat seemed a bit wordy for the first time, repeating, "I know, Seeing Pei Ye. He is definitely approaching his limit. Perhaps he cannot even withstand a single sword... But, I think he is controlling this limit, do you understand?"

"..."

"The moment this person exposed himself to us, he might have already thought of everything that would happen later."

"... Then what do you say we should do?" Seeing Pei Ye looked at it with a stiff voice.

"Destroy the Soul-Taking Bead, and go back."

"..."

"Without the Soul-Taking Bead, you won't be the target."

"... And he will also be able to leave." Seeing Pei Ye said.

"..."

"So you mean, we don't fight." Seeing Pei Ye took a deep breath. "Give up, escape, surrender—but if he has really thought of everything, doesn't he definitely have other backup plans to take the bead? We destroy this bead... then who will face him next?"

"... I don't know." The black cat was quiet for a moment. "I am only responsible for you."

Seeing Pei Ye stood silently on the peak top. The cold morning wind lifted his bangs and clothes, and the blood slowly dried into marks.

"I, I have an idea." He said suddenly, looking at the little cat with a hoarse voice. "We don't go to the place he specified. Just now we defeated him with Zhanxin Liuli's mystic energy, he must want to counter it... Then now we take the initiative to stay far enough away from Miss Ming."

"We hold the Soul-Taking Bead in our hands, if he wants it, he will come to take it himself." Seeing Pei Ye looked at the black cat with hope. "He is heavily injured now, his strength should be below the Tuanshen realm, but even if we are forty miles away from Miss Ming, Zhanxin Liuli is still very powerful. We force him to challenge Zhanxin Liuli, do you think it will work?"

The black cat looked at the youth in front of it quietly. Actually, it didn't want to play any more games with this enemy at all. They still didn't know the true purpose of the Huan Si Lou. That person had made twenty years of preparations, and what they saw now was just the tip of the iceberg. The Huan Si Lou and Kongdong had woven a dense and thick net, why would it be broken by a Six-Life youth who suddenly broke in?

He appeared too young and too weak in front of this theatrical mask.

But looking at these clear brown eyes, it really couldn't say any words of refusal.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 383 =====