City of the Undead?

The tip of Fusheng remained wedged in the mirror's surface, unwithdrawn. He Lingchuan asked it, "Yield yet?" "I yield, I yield! I give up, you're amazing!" What was up with this saber? He Lingchuan gave the blade a twist. "Who did you call an unwashed bedbug just now?" "I..." The mirror reacted swiftly. "I meant that brat Third Gan!" "What kind of thing are you, really? Dare utter half a lie, and I'll twist you into a cruller." "I was originally a heart-protecting mirror bestowed by the Tianyan Sect upon General You Shanming. I accompanied him in battle for many years. After absorbing too many resentful souls, I awoke." This thing was actually a heart-protecting mirror? No wonder it was so tough to pierce; its very purpose was to deflect strikes. He Lingchuan recalled that the mirrors used by Qingxu and the others shared the exact same design. It seemed they were standard-issue items produced by the Tianyan Sect. Luckily, he had stabbed it from back to front, striking at its weak point. The mirror continued, "Later, General You fell in battle, and I was removed from his armor. I passed through many masters' hands. They all carried me while slaying mortals and demons, which allowed me to retain my spirituality even after the spiritual energy of heaven and earth withered." "Why did you come here?" "I was sealed for a very long time, slumbering all the while. A few days ago, I suddenly consumed a large lump of Emperor's Flowing Dew paste, which woke me up. Finding myself out in the wilderness, I summoned my mirror slave to take me away." The mirror sounded deeply depressed. "Even with my blessing, she was already over two hundred years old. Her lifespan was truly exhausted, so I had no choice but to take another mirror slave nearby." "Which was Third Master Gan?" As the name implied, this mirror used living people as slaves. "Yes. The rule for taking a mirror slave is that I must do three things for him. It's best if he gives direct consent." That fool. He Lingchuan shook his head inwardly. No wonder Eldest Master Gan had repeatedly admonished his third brother never to seek the Spirit Medium again. "Did Eldest Master Gan see how you dealt with Young Master Sha?" "He was right beside him at the time," the mirror said. "Do you think he wasn't aware beforehand? I told him it would consume Third Gan's second wish, yet he still made the demand!" He Lingchuan fell silent. Eldest Master Gan knew the Spirit Medium wouldn't work for the Gan family for nothing; the price would ultimately be paid by Third Gan. Yet for the sake of his business, he had still demanded that the Spirit Medium strike at Young Master Sha. Of course, looking at it from another angle, Third Master Gan had lived in luxury for seventeen or eighteen years entirely thanks to his eldest brother. What was wrong with paying a little price for the family? While he was lost in thought, a two-foot-long fish suddenly leaped out of the lake, slamming right into his wrist. This strike was a stroke of uncanny genius. While speaking with the mirror, He Lingchuan had kept his divine sense scanning the surroundings to guard against ambush. However, the lake water could shield against divine sense, and the fish leaped with no warning whatsoever. The evil spirit that had slipped away earlier had quietly entered the water and possessed the fish! The impact knocked his wrist aside, and the mirror flipped over with it, its reflective surface facing He Lingchuan! The mirror's surface glowed, and within it, he saw his own face. "Himself" was grinning malevolently at him: "Did you really think you won? Hand over your soul!" It had deliberately shown weakness and bided its time just for this moment! He Lingchuan instantly felt an immense suction emanating from the mirror, pulling to drag his soul inside. He had fallen victim to this before in the mirror illusion, but the suction from the mirrored duplicate back then was nothing compared to the genuine article before him now! No wonder so many had failed to escape its clutches. Yet just as the shadow in the mirror was laughing gleefully, a buzzing hum resonated in the true He Lingchuan's mind, as if someone had struck a grand ceremonial bell. The sound was melodious and deep, carrying an indescribable, colossal power that anchored his soul in an instant, unyielding and immoveable. Just as expected. He Lingchuan was finally at ease; his two-piece set was more than enough to counter this mirror. At the same time, his reflection in the mirror widened its eyes: From its perspective, a colossal city suddenly materialized in the void behind He Lingchuan. Though shrouded in dim gloom with only its jagged, towering outline visible, shadows crowded the city gates, and countless murmurs and whispers seemed to hum through the air, while a vast, majestic aura swept outward! Against such power, it could not resist at all! "The City of the Undead! The City of the Undead!" The mirror's voice cracked into a shriek, gripped by the terror of a hare with a tiger at its heels. "You came from the Realm of Souls! There really is a City of the Undead in this world..." Fusheng suddenly shuddered, its slaughterous aura cutting off the mirror's words. Ah, it cracked a little further! "City of the Undead, your mother!" With a savage grin, He Lingchuan pounded the mirror's surface twice with his fist. "Spit out my gold-armored bronze automaton!" He had no idea what ghost the mirror had seen to suddenly screech about a City of the Undead. He didn't know anything about a City of the Undead; he only knew of Panlong City. Thinking back to his initial journey in the desert, Panlong City indeed harbored countless heroic spirits, which had killed both Nian Songyu and National Preceptor Sun. Weren't heroic spirits also the undead? Panlong City's existence had always been his greatest trump card. To have it suddenly called out by this mirror made him very displeased. This thing was thoroughly sinister, constantly plotting to scheme against people. If not for his treasure still trapped inside it, he would have chopped it into mincemeat right now to eliminate future trouble. Having suffered such a fright, the mirror grew far more docile. With a pop, it spat out the gold-armored bronze automaton. Back then, the bronze automaton had thrown the three of them out of the mirror realm while falling down along with the hongluan. If the mirror spirit refused to cooperate, He Lingchuan would have lost a precious treasure. The gold-armored bronze automaton had reverted to a miniature figurine. When He Lingchuan picked it up to inspect it, he nearly spat fire in rage: "Where is the profound crystal? Where is the profound crystal inside my automaton? Did you swallow it?" As a massive combat puppet, the gold-armored bronze automaton required profound crystals to operate. He Lingchuan had only two profound crystals to begin with, and he had slotted one into it, expecting it to last several battles with careful budgeting. Who knew the automaton's compartment would be completely empty! "It wasn't me! It drained it all on its own!" Through the mirror's defense, He Lingchuan learned that after the three of them left the mirror realm, the gold-armored bronze automaton lost connection with its controller. Without receiving an order to cease action, it continued to rampage. It was a heavy energy guzzler, so back and forth, it quickly burned through the profound crystal. Hearing this, He Lingchuan's heart bled. Such a precious energy source, each crystal costing tens of thousands of silver, had actually been wasted like this. Looking at the automaton covered in scratches and scars, it was obvious it had gotten into plenty of brawls inside the illusion. A massive loss! To make matters worse, the mirror even complained, "It picked fights with the figures inside my mirror and ruined a ton of karmic ties! I'm the real victim here!" He Lingchuan was utterly incensed. Just as he was about to give this wretched mirror another harsh lesson, the sound of approaching hoofbeats echoed, and Wu Jinsong and Xu Dongdong finally came galloping back. "Just as we reached Baijiao Shrine, Third Gan turned to ash." Wu Jinsong was still somewhat out of breath. "We were tricked." He Lingchuan waved the bronze mirror toward them, remembering, of course, to keep its back facing them. "The mirror is right here," he said testily. "It was behind everything. Third Gan was just a front—a mirror slave bound to it." Wu Jinsong cautiously drew closer. "This is the object that snatched our souls?" "Most likely." He Lingchuan patted the mirror's surface. "Hey, where are their souls? Give them back!" He rapped on it several times before the mirror grudgingly spat out two balls of light. The two glowing spheres flew toward Wu Jinsong and Xu Dongdong, entering through their respective seven orifices. The two men shuddered, and their gaze quickly shifted from dull and rigid to clear and alert, their expressions coming alive. Then they exchanged a glance and clasped their fists toward He Lingchuan. "Thank you for your assistance, Young Master He!" Just from the shift in their tone, He Lingchuan could tell their souls had returned—or rather, their wits had returned—and their emotional range was restored. "We still need to retrieve Young Master Sha's lost soul." The mirror hurried to say, "I can, but if I release it now, his soul will disperse." From here to the Sha residence, the distance was well over a hundred li. Even a living soul could not remain separated from a body or a vessel for too long. Since their companions had all been killed by it, Xu Dongdong gnashed his teeth in hatred: "No need! We brought seabed wood to nourish souls..." How could they have come looking for Young Master Sha's lost soul without preparing a vessel? But his words trailed off mid-sentence, because he suddenly remembered that the seabed wood had originally been carried by their companion, who had died inside the mirror realm. "Return our seabed wood!" The mirror kept silent, pretending not to hear. It wasn't stupid; once it handed the item over, the heavy saber would probably come crashing down. "It seems we must take this thing back with us as well." Wu Jinsong looked at He Lingchuan, hesitating before saying, "I wonder if Young Master He would be willing to part with it..." This was someone else's spoils of war, and He Lingchuan possessed considerable skill; what kind of price could he possibly offer to persuade him to part with the mirror? He Lingchuan waved a hand. "Are the two of you returning to the Grand Tutor's estate under the Jeweled Tree King to report your mission?" "Indeed." "I'm heading to Beijia as well." He Lingchuan bared his teeth in a smile. "Mind if I travel with you?" Wu Jinsong was overjoyed. "That would be wonderful!" His heart immediately eased, and his smile grew even brighter. "If you escort the young master's soul back, the Grand Tutor will surely reward you handsomely!" He Lingchuan gave a couple of dry laughs, feeling that Wu Jinsong had actually seemed more sincere back when he was missing part of his soul. Right then, they demanded the mirror return the five corpses of the Sha residence guards, burying them and carving gravestones by the shores of Mochou Lake. Wu Jinsong and Xu Dongdong recited prayers for them and poured out two flagons of wine before leading their horses and heading back to Wuze County alongside He Lingchuan. As for Third Master Gan, He Lingchuan had handled his fate as well: He had forced the mirror to sever the mirror slave contract, restoring Third Master Gan to a free man. Killing him with a single stroke of the blade would have been far too lenient. Truth be told, while the soul-snatching mirror was by no means a good thing, with the Gan family teetering in crisis and Third Master Gan in such wretched straits, becoming the mirror slave of the soul-snatching mirror was actually the best way out. Earlier, even after being severed in half by He Lingchuan, the Spirit Medium had healed rapidly by virtue of her status as a mirror slave, not to mention that she had lived over two hundred years, vastly exceeding the limits of ordinary mortals. If this mirror played underhanded tricks and struck from the shadows, it might truly have pulled the Gan family out of the mire. Hadn't Eldest Master Gan already demonstrated it once? Wicked artifacts had their wicked uses, and crooked paths had their crooked conveniences. He Lingchuan had intentionally forced the mirror to remove the contract, reducing Third Master Gan back to his original state so he would bear what he was meant to bear. For a parasite like him, once the family's pillar collapsed, his fate... Heh.