Chapter 263: Lian Yue Mirror

"This young whelp is decisive enough; since that's the case, I'll let you off for now. It's your turn, you two reincarnations—no, you don't even qualify as true reincarnations of Old Jialan; you're merely his failed experiments." The semi-transparent middle-aged man's shadow withdrew his gaze from afar and fixed it on the old monk and the dying Yuan Tong in his grasp, a strange expression flickering across his face.

"Aren't you a fragment of Jialan Shiren's soul? Then what is your relationship with Jialan Shiren, and what did you mean by those words just now?" The old monk stared intently at the semi-transparent shadow, his face now utterly devoid of amusement, cold and grim.

At this moment, he felt something was terribly wrong.

"What I meant is exactly what I just said: you were never the complete reincarnation of Old Jialan's true spirit—merely an attempt he made using forbidden arts to split off a sliver of his primordial essence."

"But clearly, he failed. None of you reincarnations succeeded as true reincarnations. The sliver of essence he split off seemed to malfunction during reincarnation, fracturing into several pieces, which is why you appeared one after another." The semi-transparent man spoke calmly.

Wang Yu listened nearby, utterly baffled, yet felt he had vaguely grasped something.

After hearing the semi-transparent man's words, the old monk's face gradually paled, but then he remembered something and shouted loudly:

"Impossible! I don't believe you. I am Jialan Shiren's first reincarnation—I awakened memories from my past life myself, and I naturally possess the fifth Jialan Secret Key. How could I not be his true reincarnation?"

"Besides, who are you? Do you think a few mere words can shake my Dao heart?"

Hearing this, Wang Yu couldn't help but glance at the semi-transparent man, his mind filled with equal shock and suspicion about the man's identity.

"Shake your Dao heart? How pitiful. You know I'm telling the truth—you simply refuse to admit it."

"As for that fifth Jialan Secret Key, yes, it appeared alongside your birth—but where is it now?" The semi-transparent man asked coldly, expressionless.

At these words, the old monk's face changed, yet he did not immediately answer the man's question.

"Let me help you find it," the semi-transparent man said softly, then suddenly raised his hand and seized Yuan Tong, who dangled in the old monk's grip.

A soft *puff*.

A fist-sized blood hole suddenly burst open in the chest of the seemingly dying young monk. A slender rib, untouched by a single drop of blood, shot out directly into the semi-transparent shadow's hand.

The man merely rubbed his palms together—blinding white light flared between them—and a pure white key, like jade, appeared in his grasp.

Wang Yu watched, stunned.

The fifth Jialan Secret Key, explicitly designated by the sect's ancestral elder, had been hidden all along inside this Jin Gang Temple novice—no one could have imagined it!

The old monk, witnessing this, lost all color from his face, yet muttered under his breath:

"I remember—after entering the secret realm, one day I suddenly couldn't find the key anymore. I thought it had flown away on its own."

"That was Jialan Old Man's design. Whenever a new reincarnation containing his primordial essence appears, the key automatically enters the body before birth, detaches and bursts free at a specific time, and simultaneously triggers a spark of Jialan's memories in you—otherwise, all his arrangements in this realm would be wasted."

"But you're quite resourceful. Unable to subdue the Fan Body or open the treasure vault, you sought to permanently monopolize the Jialan Secret Realm and deny future seekers their chance—so you allied with a remnant soul left behind by Jialan's spiritual pet."

"To extend your lifespan, you used the forbidden techniques from your awakened memories, sacrificing a later reincarnation to forge a human puppet, hiding your soul within it, and giving your own body to the spider's remnant soul to inhabit."

"Thus, both of you clung to life. When the third reincarnation arrived at the realm, you easily crushed him together."

"You were merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet with the human puppet's body and some longevity herbs within the realm, you somehow survived six or seven hundred years—remarkable, truly."

"The 'Thunder Ruler' in your hand—wasn't that brought in by your second reincarnation? He clearly possessed a Thunder Spirit Root; his origins must have been somewhat notable." The semi-transparent man spoke slowly, as if every deed the old monk had performed in the realm had unfolded before his eyes.

After hearing this, Wang Yu finally understood most of the truth. His body prickled with cold sweat, a chill surged down his spine, and his gaze toward the old monk turned uneasy.

He never imagined this old monk was such a ruthless monster!

"Who are you? How do you know all this?" The old monk's face turned ashen as he listened, until he could no longer bear it and roared at the semi-transparent man.

"Who am I? Haven't you seen me every day? Otherwise, how could I possibly know what happened in this realm the moment I awoke?" The semi-transparent shadow suddenly smiled, raising a hand and pointing upward.

At these words, both the old monk and Wang Yu instinctively looked up—but neither understood what the man meant.

Above them lay only empty void and the tower's peak.

Seeing their confused expressions, the semi-transparent man sighed, then raised his hand and beckoned toward the high empty air.

The next instant, a thunderous *boom* echoed from high above the tower.

The enormous full moon hanging in the sky let out a roar and plummeted toward the tower, growing brighter as it fell, shrinking rapidly until it became a tiny silver glow that plunged into the tower's peak and landed directly in the semi-transparent man's hand.

The light faded—the silver glow transformed into an ancient, plain silver mirror, its surface covered in countless layers of tiny, overlapping inscriptions resembling Cangying.

Wang Yu glanced at the mirror from afar—and instantly, countless overlapping rune shadows swirled before his eyes. His head throbbed with a deafening *buzz*, his body staggered, and he nearly collapsed.

Fortunately, his powerful spiritual sense snapped him back—he jolted upright, steadying himself—but dared not look at the mirror again, his heart filled with dread.

"Lian Yue Mirror! This is Jialan Shiren's former fourth-rank soul weapon!"

"I remember now—you're the spirit, Gong Yue!"

The old monk seemed barely affected by the mirror, but at the moment he saw it, fragments of Jialan Shiren's memories suddenly reawakened in his mind, and he cried out involuntarily.

"You finally remember. That's right. Jialan Old Man deliberately sealed those memories within the sliver of primordial essence he split off. Unless I appear before you, none of you reincarnations would ever recall me in your entire lives."

Hearing this, Gong Yue smiled for the first time. The ancient silver mirror in his hand trembled slightly, and streams of silver light erupted from its surface, illuminating the entire level of the tower.