The Mimic

"Choose one magic treasure." After stepping through the archway, this thought surfaced unbidden in Qin Sang's mind. He felt a jolt of vigilance, having roughly understood the reason. *This must be the restriction Liuli and Shixue spoke of.* During the trial of the Body Cleansing Pool, he had to select a single magic treasure from among all the ones he possessed, and he could only use that one for the entire duration. The restrictions of the Body Cleansing Pool were ever-changing and unpredictable, with countless variations that could manifest on any level, making it impossible to prepare targeted countermeasures in advance. Most of a spell cultivator's strength lay in their magic treasures and divine abilities, and their natal magic treasure was of paramount importance. Other cultivators would undoubtedly choose their natal treasure. However, everyone had shortcomings. Formidable divine abilities were rare, and even if found, they might not be suitable for one's cultivation. Thus, Nascent Soul cultivators routinely purchased or crafted corresponding magic treasures to compensate. For an ordinary cultivator facing such a restriction, losing twenty percent of their overall combat strength was entirely normal. It was undeniably harsh. Qin Sang's eyes flickered. He wondered whether this restriction on "magic treasures" would also count his natal spirit insect and external incarnation. *If so, it would essentially be a ban on all "external power,"* he mused inwardly. As for magic treasures, his choice was strictly between the Jinchen Sword and his demonic banners. If the Jinchen Sword were sealed, he would be unable to deploy the Seven Po Killing Array. If the demonic banners were sealed, he could only command the demonic fire refined within the fire lotus, drastically diminishing its might. After weighing the options, Qin Sang still chose the demonic banners. Summoning all of the demonic banners, Qin Sang silently declared his choice, making sure to indicate all of them to prevent the restriction from misunderstanding and permitting him to use only a single banner. The banner poles were crafted from the same ancient treasure, and all of them sealed the same spiritual fire, so they could be regarded as a single unified entity. Yet to his surprise, after waiting for a moment, there was no reaction around him. Qin Sang frowned slightly. With a flick of his mind, he summoned the Jinchen Sword from within the Qianjun Ring. The moment the blade appeared, the mist thickened abruptly, and a strange wave materialized out of thin air, converging frantically toward him. Before he could react, a layer of runes enveloped the sword's surface and sank into it in a flash. At that instant, Qin Sang felt the Jinchen Sword become as heavy as a thousand jun, sealed by an inexplicable force. His connection to the Jinchen Sword remained intact rather than severed, but the sword clearly could no longer be used—otherwise, he might die without even knowing how. Putting away the Jinchen Sword, Qin Sang summoned his external incarnation. Sure enough, just as expected, the external incarnation moved as normal and was not subjected to any restriction. His mind put at ease, Qin Sang conjured demonic fire to swirl around him and surveyed his surroundings. All he could see was white mist. The Heavenly Eye Butterfly was not restricted either, but its Heavenly Eye ability was hampered by the mist, narrowing his field of vision. Qin Sang discovered that beneath his feet was now a corridor of white jade, suspended in midair. Only two paces wide, it ran over a bottomless abyss, perilously steep. The corridor led straight toward the innermost depths. Qin Sang had a premonition that falling off the walkway would lead to consequences he would rather not face. He was completely alone on the entire corridor. There was nothing around, and Cultivator Yue was nowhere to be seen, yet the atmosphere felt suffocatingly oppressive. *Whoosh!* Demonic fire circling him, Qin Sang strode forward. His footsteps fell silently upon the corridor. Though there was no support underneath, the structure was exceptionally sturdy, showing not the slightest tremor. While Qin Sang made his way forward, on another corridor, Cultivator Yue was walking slowly with a vigilant expression. He had to watch not only what lay ahead, but also what was behind him. Seeing that no one had appeared behind him after all this time, Cultivator Yue felt relieved and concentrated on confronting the trial ahead. Unlike Qin Sang, Cultivator Yue not only had the python banner hovering beside him, but also a folding-screen-like magic treasure depicting a landscape of rivers and mountains suspended above his head. Between his brows, a faint white light shimmered, outlining the design of a stone stele. This was a secret talisman bestowed by Xuantian Palace capable of dampening the suppressive force here—an advantage newcomers like Cultivator Yue enjoyed compared to Qin Sang and Shanglu. Qin Sang was currently unable to sense the condition of anyone else. He walked along the corridor and, encountering no opponent, gradually quickened his pace. Suddenly, an evil wind swept in. The gust arrived without warning, but Qin Sang had remained on guard throughout. Reacting with lightning speed, he immediately drove his demonic fire to form a wall of flames before him. *Whoosh!* The wall of fire successfully blocked the evil wind. The moment the wind dispersed, an illusory, eerie shadow grazed the demonic fire. It let out a shriek, fled frantically into the white mist, and vanished. Qin Sang looked in the direction the shadow had fled, choosing not to pursue it. The clash had been brief and yielded little information, but his attention was caught by the shadow itself: though capable of shrieking, it did not seem like a living creature. Pondering this briefly, he pushed onward. The eerie shadows harassed him repeatedly. Seizing an opportunity, Qin Sang trapped one with demonic fire; the shadow promptly dissolved into a clump of mist, proving it was indeed spawned by the ancient restriction. After that, he gave it no further thought, wielding the demonic fire to obliterate every shadow that barred his path. The further he went, the stronger the shadows became, but the demonic fire was formidable enough to handle them without requiring other divine abilities. The external incarnation did not need to attack either, following closely behind Qin Sang with a defensive ability prepared, ready to intervene at a moment's notice. With the Ruyi Pearl restricted, Qin Sang relied on the external incarnation to grant himself an extra layer of protection. After countless shadows perished in the demonic flames, Qin Sang finally saw a change in the scenery. The corridor broke off ahead, opening into a spacious circular platform. In the center stood a stone statue. All the eerie shadows vanished at once. The moment Qin Sang stepped onto the platform and his gaze fell upon the statue, it came alive. Its carved stone eyes rotated slightly and fixed upon Qin Sang, brimming with battle intent! *I must defeat this stone statue to pass.* Glancing at the void on the other side of the platform, Qin Sang understood. Without hesitation, he struck at once. The demonic fire transformed into a flaming dragon, surging toward the statue. Right then, Qin Sang's pupils contracted slightly. Ripples disturbed the void around the statue, and a magic treasure materialized out of thin air—it was a python banner! And that was not all. Faint light shimmered above the statue's head, and a landscape screen appeared. Outside the Body Cleansing Pool, Qin Sang had seen Cultivator Yue use both of these magic treasures. The statue was actually mimicking an intruder! *Swish!* The battle intent in the statue's eyes soared. It took a step back just as the landscape screen faded into the void, projecting the painted ink-wash mountains and rivers into reality, and the statue slipped directly into the painting. The scroll blanketed the platform, swiftly spreading toward Qin Sang to drag him into the painting as a blot of ink. The python banner moved in tandem, launching a pincer attack. With a calm expression, Qin Sang immediately split off half of his demonic fire into a fiery barrier to intercept the landscape screen. At the same time, his figure blurred as he swept up the remaining half of the flames and charged straight at the python banner. The snow python depicted on the banner roared, and a familiar jade-white profound light flashed before Qin Sang! Having once worked with Liuli to crack the python banner, he knew the workings of this treasure inside and out. Had there been three of them, it might have posed a challenge, but a single snow python was far from enough. Showing no intention of dodging, Qin Sang flicked his fingers repeatedly, splitting the demonic fire into more than a dozen black arrows that drove deep into the jade-white light. *Boom!* The profound light collapsed on the spot, exposing the true body of the python banner. Demonic fire promptly enveloped the banner, forcing the snow python out. Screaming in agony, it was incinerated into ash—the entire sequence strikingly realistic, as if alive. Once the snow python died, the python banner disintegrated on its own. Qin Sang felt a wave of relief. If the statue's magic treasures could be destroyed and would not repeatedly respawn, dealing with it would be much simpler. Glancing at the ink-wash landscape that was about to cover the entire platform, Qin Sang gathered his demonic fire and deliberately allowed the painting to swallow them before launching his counterattack. Qin Sang's figure vanished, turning into a speck of ink within the scroll. Before long, a raging blaze erupted within the elegant ink painting like wildfire, engulfing half the landscape in an instant. Devoid of emotion, the statue did not lack combat experience and scrambled to rein in the treasure's power, but it was already too late. The demonic fire tore brazenly through the scroll and pounced upon the statue's true body. Before the statue could react, a stream of frigid qi burst through the rift torn open by the demonic fire, freezing the statue into a solid block of ice. Qin Sang and his external incarnation stepped out shoulder to shoulder. With a point of Qin Sang's finger, a flaming dragon slammed into it head-on. *Crack!* The stone statue shattered, and Qin Sang emerged victorious. The anomalies on the platform instantly subsided, and a new corridor appeared ahead. Qin Sang was in no hurry to advance, reflecting on the clash that had just occurred. *The statue used two magic treasures. It seems Cultivator Yue wasn't restricted.* *Cultivator Yue couldn't possibly know no Daoist arts, yet the statue only alternated between those two magic treasures. It's very likely that Cultivator Yue hadn't cast any arts yet, and it couldn't mimic what hadn't been shown.* *I wonder if the others are experiencing the same thing. The statues mimic the intruders' abilities to serve as obstacles for the rest. When they see the demonic banners, they should be able to deduce my identity, but since we're already inside the Body Cleansing Pool, being exposed hardly matters.* *Then again, if I had chosen the Sun God Tree, wouldn't this contest have ended right then and there?* In truth, Qin Sang was overthinking it. The Body Cleansing Pool did not merely test raw strength. To prevent anyone from sweeping through the entire trial with a single overwhelming treasure, another restriction was in place—the Nine Nether Demonic Fire had already exceeded that limit. On another platform, Cultivator Yue watched the sky full of spiritual fire rapidly dissipate along with the stone statue, his face grave. "Such... powerful spiritual fire. Could it be him?" He had been cultivating in seclusion at Tianshan and had never heard the rumors surrounding Qin Sang, but he could still deduce the truth: none of his fellow sect competitors possessed such a magic treasure. His expression shifted unpredictably, a sense of crisis rising within him, and his pace unconsciously quickened. He was fortunate, for upon the very first stone platform he had encountered a statue mimicking Qin Sang before the external incarnation had ever taken action. The others, however, would have to face both Qin Sang and his incarnation! ... As time went on, Qin Sang encountered two more stone statues. The magic treasures and divine abilities each wielded were completely different from the last, clearly mimicking other competitors. The more strength he displayed, the more likely the statue mimicking him could sweep away the obstacles and eliminate all his rivals. Yet Qin Sang vaguely felt that things were not so simple. Would the statue mimicking him only fight others? In the end, might it become a stumbling block for himself, turning him into the architect of his own greatest rival? With this in mind, Qin Sang only used the demonic fire and his incarnation to dispatch the statues throughout the process, without resorting to other means. Having defeated the third statue, Qin Sang continued forward. Before long, another platform appeared ahead along the corridor. Unlike before, however, the stone statue upon this platform remained motionless. The new development caught Qin Sang's attention. *Has the final trial arrived? Did only three competitors enter, or are there only three stages? Could Shanglu really have failed to make it in?* Musing on this, he walked a lap around the platform's edge. Sensing something, he looked back, only to find that the corridor had completely vanished. All around was dead silence, without a single hint. Qin Sang inspected the area carefully and attempted to attack the statue, only to be rebuffed by a restriction, leaving him no choice but to wait patiently. Fortunately, the statue did not make him wait for long. *Crack!* The statue suddenly twitched, its eyes slowly opening. Immediately after, an astonishing scene unfolded: banner after banner materialized out of thin air before the statue, identical to the demonic banners around Qin Sang. *Flap!* The demonic banners fluttered loudly as a torrent of black spiritual fire gushed forth, its appearance and aura nearly indistinguishable from his demonic fire! Qin Sang's heart sank slightly. It was just as he had anticipated. He only wondered whether the statue's spiritual fire was merely a hollow imitation. Unexpectedly, the statue's transformation was not yet finished. Qin Sang watched dumbfounded as a python banner appeared beside the statue, a bronze cauldron hovered above its head, and its hands formed seals, draping its entire body in a suit of seven-colored armor... Behind it, an external incarnation even emerged! Everything Qin Sang had revealed, combined with the most powerful magic treasures and divine abilities of the previous three statues, was manifested upon this one entity. All those qualified to vie for the Body Cleansing Pool were geniuses of Xuantian Palace, the cream of the crop among their peers, possessing secret arts passed down by the sect. None among them was weak. With so many magic treasures and divine abilities concentrated in one body, paired with the potent spiritual fire and an external incarnation, it was nearly impossible to find a flaw. It was the first time Qin Sang had ever faced such an adversary. For a moment, he genuinely did not know where to begin. The statue would not grant Qin Sang time to think. Radiant light flowed across its entire body, the brilliance of magic treasures and Daoist arts flashing in alternating, dazzling succession. *Clang!* The bronze cauldron flipped upside down, its mouth aiming right at Qin Sang. The statue swung its arm with force, and the ice fan in its hand unleashed streams of frigid qi that transformed into a bone-chilling hurricane. Carrying shards of ice sharper than swords and blades, it swept across half the platform in an instant. Simultaneously, the statue's external incarnation and python banner struck from the left and right flanks. Surrounded on three sides, Qin Sang found himself in dire straits. Unfazed in the face of peril, he resorted to his previous tactic, ordering his external incarnation to intercept the statue's incarnation. At the same time, forming the Altar Turning Mudra in his mind to break free of the bronze cauldron's binding force, his feet trod upon the Lotus Mudra. Slipping through every gap, he bypassed the frigid hurricane like a phantom, pouncing first toward the python banner. *Whoosh!* Just as he approached the python banner, the statue's spiritual fire arrived as expected. Anticipating this, Qin Sang did not dare take it lightly. His figure paused slightly, and he immediately drove his demonic fire with full force to block it. *Rumble!* Flames danced across the sky. Qin Sang's expression shifted slightly. The statue's spiritual fire was a touch weaker than his own, but it was undoubtedly still a top-tier divine ability. The statue was exceptionally difficult to deal with. Virtually no weakness could be found on its body; it seamlessly integrated the divine abilities and magic treasures of every competitor. If he wanted to forcibly destroy the statue, it would be impossible within the time limit of the Body Cleansing Pool. Qin Sang pondered silently. Thinking back to the time he had spent waiting earlier, it must have been to allow the others to catch up. Barring any surprises, everyone's opponent was likely identical. It seemed the requirement of the final trial was not to defeat the statue, but to see who could hold out the longest! Yet dragging things out for too long would cause one to miss the Body Cleansing Pool. In that case, why not adopt a different line of thought—such as lending the statue a helping hand so his opponents would be defeated all the sooner? A flash of inspiration struck Qin Sang's mind, and he immediately formulated a plan.