Chapter 427: The Demon Mirror of Desire

The Prophet avatar followed his intuition forward for some distance, until a grayish-white card appeared in his line of sight.

His intuition told him with certainty that this was what had stirred his spirituality earlier.

Gently rubbing two fingers together, he summoned an Invisible Hand to pick up the card on the ground. Only after the card was in his hand did he notice it was covered in fine cracks, as if about to shatter.

"Did the earlier incident damage the seal on this?"

Murmuring softly, the Prophet avatar extended his left hand, his index and middle fingers gently rubbing across the card twice. The texture was somewhat cold and rough, like stroking a stone.

As spirituality continuously poured in, the grayish-white layer on the card crumbled away piece by piece, revealing its true appearance: on the front of the card was a beautiful woman seated on a magnificent throne, holding a scepter, with forests, rivers, and fruits behind her.

The woman on the card was extremely beautiful—a beauty that transcended gender. Her facial features, no matter from what angle one looked, seemed to offer something one would find appealing. Especially those blue eyes, noble and sacred, carrying a sense of familiarity.

In the upper left corner of the card, a line of small text was written in ancient Fussac: Sequence 0: Witch of Chaos! "Looking at this makes me want to pour a bottle of Witch potion down Huang Tao's throat. Too bad that guy is already in the Black Emperor form—oh wait, now it's the Primordial Moon form."

The Prophet avatar sighed, put away the Witch card, and turned back along the path he had come.

Before long, he exited the mirror world. Looking around, he saw that Thea and Phoenix did not seem to have moved even an inch, and casually remarked: "Aren't you two planning to loot the place? This is a pirate general's flagship, after all. Whether it's money or mystical items, there won't be a shortage. This ship will sink in less than half an hour, and then there won't be a chance."

As he spoke, he turned his head toward the distant sea. Beneath the surface there, a massive shadow was rapidly moving away. This pirate general's subordinates weren't very reliable either—they didn't even bother to investigate, just directly piloted the Stealth Ship and fled.

"A tempting offer, but the battle earlier damaged the cabins too thoroughly. We won't be able to find anything in a short while. Besides—"

She looked up at the dark clouds overhead that showed no sign of dispersing, and left the rest of her words unspoken.

The Prophet avatar likewise looked up at the overcast sky and said in a calm voice:

"After the Concealment effect faded, I haven't used the power of the Sun and Shadow domains. The Storm Church won't notice the anomaly this quickly."

"Unless the Lord of Storms has been staring at the sea the whole time, but that's clearly impossible—after all, I still haven't been struck by lightning."

While they spoke, the neatly severed, python-like black tentacles on the deck finally stopped writhing. Specks of dark purple fluorescence, mixed with a little pale blue and crimson red, seeped out from the tentacles and spontaneously gathered toward the mirror the Prophet avatar had tossed aside earlier.

What's going on? Isn't this mirror an item from the Apprentice pathway? The Prophet avatar noticed this immediately and murmured to himself with some confusion.

A touch of silver-white quickly surfaced in his eyes, turning deep and losing focus.

This lasted only a dozen seconds or so before his eyes cleared again. He looked at the mirror that had already begun to absorb part of Yalina's characteristics and let out a speechless sigh.

"What's going on?" Thea walked over to the mirror with some curiosity and asked.

"The connection Yalina established with this mirror hasn't been cleared yet. That caused these characteristics originating from her to spontaneously gather toward it. Mmm... including part of the characteristics left behind by the pirates on this ship."

"But the characteristics here are all incomplete. Most of the characteristics were sent to the Underworld. If it hasn't transformed into an undead creature, perhaps someone could be found to help retrieve them, though I think that's unlikely."

The Prophet avatar explained thoughtfully. He examined the mirror with curious eyes, somewhat curious about what kind of mystical item such mixed characteristics would form.

After waiting a while longer, the characteristics contained within these black tentacles finally completely separated out. The black tentacles visibly turned grayish-white, losing their vitality, like a strip of wind-dried cured meat.

Specks of fluorescence swirled and gathered around the golden mirror on the deck, like a dazzling river of stars.

After the black tentacles lost their vitality, the speed at which the fluorescence gathered suddenly accelerated, as if an invisible force was pulling them in.

In a dozen seconds, all the fluorescence had merged into the mirror on the deck.

Enveloped in light, the mirror's volume continuously expanded until its long axis reached nearly two meters before the expansion stopped.

The light gradually receded, revealing a somewhat dark mirror frame. Set into the frame was a ring of gems in various colors, predominantly pale purple, each about the size of a fingernail. Scattered around these were gems interwoven with pale blue, crimson red, and golden yellow.

The mirror surface was deeply dark, calm as a stagnant pool, seemingly unable to reflect anything at all.

Phoenix, who had finished meditating, also walked over. He asked with some curiosity: "What are its effects and negative effects?"

"I don't know, but I have a feeling it'll be quite outrageous."

The Prophet avatar said casually, then half-crouched and extended his left hand to touch the edge of the mirror frame. His eyes suddenly went deep, losing focus, turning into a vast expanse of white.

After a while, his eyes returned to clarity. He quickly withdrew his extended left hand, stood up, stepped back from the mirror, and said rather speechlessly: "Even more outrageous than I imagined, both the positive effects and the negative ones."

"What is it?" Thea's curiosity was piqued by his actions, and she pressed further.

The Prophet avatar sighed, organized his words, and said:

"If you stay in front of this mirror for more than three seconds, it will record a blurry mirror image of you. As the time spent looking in the mirror increases, the image inside will gradually become clearer. However, the person looking in the mirror cannot see any of this. They will only see a figure that is not entirely identical to themselves—one that is more perfect, more attractive, and more charismatic than the person looking in the mirror.

It's like a delicious bait. When you see a more perfect version of yourself, regardless of gender, you'll wish that were the real you. You won't be able to resist lingering before the mirror, or using it.

Anyone can use this mirror to cast curses or blessings upon the mirror image it records."

"What are the negative effects of using it?" Phoenix asked curiously.

The Prophet avatar shook his head and said calmly: "That is its negative effect."

"The moment you try to use it, it has already recorded your mirror image. Blessings and curses are fundamentally no different—they're merely a means for it to accelerate recording mirror images."

"It won't directly cause someone to lose control or create corruption, but as usage time increases, the influence of this mirror grows stronger. Those whose mirror images it has recorded will gradually change their personality, preferences, and habits, until even their gender and orientation change."

"At that stage, you either suffer immensely from conflicting self-identity, or fully embrace your altered self, becoming its puppet, becoming a part of this mirror."

"What a vicious mirror. No wonder it was formed from her characteristics." Thea commented with a stiff expression.

Phoenix nodded in agreement and said with a sigh: "People driven by desire will find it very hard to refuse this mirror."

"Indeed. Let's just call it the Demon Mirror of Desire—a mirror that stirs up desire and exploits it."

The Prophet avatar spoke as if struck by a realization.

Crack! Crack! Boom! The sounds of gunwales and deck breaking echoed continuously around them. The hull of the Nuins split apart right down the middle, the ship instantly tilting and sinking into the sea at a visible rate.

A whirlwind whipped up with a whoosh, lifting the figures of the several people into the air. The Prophet avatar summoned an Invisible Hand and directly grabbed the mirror that had been sliding off as the ship tilted.

He turned the mirror face-down and created a layer of white frost to cover it, preventing it from having the chance to reflect any living creature.

In less than a minute, the broken Nuins had only its mast and upturned bow still stubbornly sticking out above the sea surface.

The Prophet avatar looked down at the sinking Nuins beneath his feet and sighed softly:

"Let's head back to Delinius Island first. As for this mirror, we'll discuss how to deal with it when we get back."

"It's just a useless mirror. You can keep it yourself or hand it over to the Church. Besides, wasn't hunting her down your task to begin with? I don't think our running into each other was really just a coincidence."

Thea laughed softly, her tone betraying no emotion whatsoever.

The Prophet avatar nodded slightly. Then, one hand holding the frost-covered demon mirror and the other resting on Phoenix's shoulder, while Phoenix's hand rested gently on Thea's shoulder, the three figures swiftly turned transparent and vanished.

Only the ripples on the sea surface that had not yet fully disappeared, and that massive shadow, remained—evidence that this place had not been peaceful before.

West Byron, Pas Valley.

Lei Kedun had already brought Tu Ba Ge back to the inn in Yinpas, where he sat at the small round table by the window, writing a letter to Laurent Nord Abraham.

Good evening, Mr. Laurent Nord Abraham: I have found the secondary eye of the Devious Evil Creature among the two materials you need; it is in the collection of a South Continent merchant.

He quoted a price of 4500 pounds, because the materials on this route are relatively rare, so there is a premium; you may consider it as you see fit.

I have not received any effective news about the tentacles of the Spirit World Stalker; if you want to advance quickly, my advice is to go hunt it in the Spirit World, as extraordinary beings on the apprentice path are too rare, which also leads to the corresponding materials seldom appearing.

If you have other ideas, you can reply directly to me; if you choose to trade, you can directly summon a Knowledge Rabbit, which will bring the items to you.

The incantation for summoning the Knowledge Rabbit is: a spirit wandering in the realm of illusion, a friendly creature capable of communication, a rabbit-shaped spirit favored by knowledge.

When summoning them for a transaction, you need to add the phrase "Transaction Partner" at the end to specify which particular Knowledge Rabbits, and at the same time place this letter at the center of the summoning ritual so the Knowledge Rabbits can recognize which transaction it is.

The specific ritual procedure is as follows: your friend, Al Thaines.

After finishing the letter, Lei Kedun leaned back against the chair, shook his neck slightly, then casually wrapped the pale yellow paper in a layer of starlight and tossed it into the Spirit World, leaving it to the book messenger to deliver.

"Boss, boss, I've cleaned that iron ring; can you tell what it is?"

Tu Ba Ge came bouncing over at that moment, holding in his hands a metal ring the size of his chubby little waist, woven with gray-blue and dark gold.

Lei Kedun looked at Tu Ba Ge with some surprise, not expecting it to have actually cleaned that rust-covered ring bit by bit.

(End of Chapter)