Ask the Mirror

Chapter 182: Devourer of Demons

In a flash, he had traversed dozens of li of mountain paths and plunged back into the rapidly constricting demon encirclement. He no longer made any attempt at concealment. Many demons spotted him, but with the thunderous roars of the Ghostly Beast hot on his heels, none dared approach. Those too slow to scatter were simply crushed into pulp.

After several unlucky wretches served as examples, no demon dared stand in the Ghostly Beast’s path.

Yu Ci now shifted tactics. Relying on his enhanced senses from the Five-Directions Spirit-Linking Talisman, he made straight for wherever demons clustered most densely. In moments, the encirclement dissolved into utter chaos.

Yu Ci had already regained control of the great bird overhead. Its broad perspective encompassed nearly the entire mountain peak. Looking down from the sky, dozens of demons popped out one after another from the shadows of trees and rocks like fleas shaken loose—not by their own will, but driven by the Rakshasa Illusory Force erupting from the Ghostly Beast’s roars.

In that instant, the encirclement near the peak twisted violently and collapsed entirely in the briefest of moments.

Yu Ci changed course once more, leading the enraged Ghostly Beast in a sudden charge toward the nearby combat zone. Behind him, demons swept by the illusory force howled and stampeded. Those capable of flight took to the air, only to plummet spinning back down. After this wave passed, Yu Ci felt certain these creatures could no longer threaten him.

Ahead, both earthly and heavenly perspectives opened up. In his Yin Spirit’s perception, the turbulent currents of Heaven and Earth’s primordial qi had completely engulfed that region. The large tree where Gan Shizhen had been resting moments ago collapsed with a thunderous crash; before its crown even struck the ground, it was torn apart by the raging qi currents.

His physical body was right there!

Just as alarm flared in Yu Ci’s heart, a powerful warning detonated within him.

Without thought, the “Heavenly Thunder Cloak” enveloping his Yin Spirit materialized. The interwoven lightning net detached from his body, coalescing into a dazzling purple thunderball that burst forth with a thousand beams of brilliant light.

Yu Ci’s grasp of thunder technique’s pivotal mechanism was exquisitely timed. The thunderfire responded to the opportunity, resonating subtly with the yin and yang qi flowing through Heaven and Earth, unleashing power far beyond the ordinary. A deafening crack split the air as yin-yang thunder transformed, drowning out even the Ghostly Beast’s roars behind him.

After its fierce eruption, the thunderlight faded to nothing. But at its most brilliant moment, a black figure sprang away with a sizzling sound, a layer of black smoke rising from it, followed by a series of piercing shrieks.

After unleashing the thunderball, Yu Chi fled underground without a second thought. But the sonic vibrations from the black figure’s shrieks penetrated even there.

To his horror, the heavy earth energy within the surrounding soil suddenly surged. The Black Verdant Silk flowing through it also awakened, interweaving into a net from which a tremendous corrosive power arose—capable of affecting his Yin Spirit, voraciously consuming the outer layer of Yang Harmony Qi.

So the “Verdant Spirit Silk Net” could also damage the Yin Spirit—it simply required adjustment. Yu Ci instantly knew that his attacker must be one of the Core Refinement demons controlling the silk net.

The gap between them was too vast. Yu Ci could not possibly contend with such a foe. Forcing what remained of his Yang Harmony Qi together, he plunged deeper into the soil, even as he attempted to trace an Evil Repelling Talisman.

He’d barely drawn half the talismanic patterns when the earth thudded with a muffled concussion. The surrounding earth energy grew even more turbulent. The deep soil transformed in an instant into a raging sea, layer upon layer of powerful earth energy battering him. After only two waves, the last of Yu Ci’s Yang Harmony Qi scattered. Cold, sinister energy seeped in, threatening to freeze his very thoughts, like closing palms preparing to trap him where he stood.

The methods of a Core Refinement demon were truly fierce! 

Beneath the surging impact, Yu Ci’s consciousness grew hazy. In the Yin Spirit state, this was a fatal thing.

Just then, a booming concussion resounded from the depths of his soul. Yu Ci’s sluggish thoughts shuddered, as if striking a reef—but then he understood: he had struck an iceberg! It was the vast information long sealed within his memory, truly like an iceberg floating in the ocean. What surfaced above water was already colossal, but far more remained hidden beneath.

Over the past several days, Yu Ci had repeatedly tried to unearth its mysteries, but always obtained only fragments of obscure meaning from the periphery. Now was no different—yet this fragment was pure and profound: It seemed to be a vibration in a expanse of azure void, without substantial form, its intensity expressed only through the trembling of space itself.

Yu Ci still didn’t understand what it meant, but this fragment of vibration was so pure that it had left an imprint on his soul. The imprint was so profound, it was like a channel that cut through bedrock, guiding the flow of his spiritual power. 

The Core Refinement demon’s sinister qi had not weakened; its assault on his Yin Spirit continued unabated. But at this moment, his soul vibrated.

One vibration gave birth to waves!

In that instant, Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit suddenly became ethereal, not dissipated, but transformed into an invisible shockwave, mixing with the surrounding turbulent earth energy. Influenced by this, it twisted and disintegrated. However, relying on its unique penetrating power, it passed through the earth energy and, under the unifying influence of the profound imprint, reassembled, first reverting to its unique “shockwave,” and then taking form.

In the span of a single thought, Yu Ci had slipped free of the Core Refinement demon’s restraints, leaving Heaven and Earth wide open for his flight.

The transformation was so uncanny that the Core Refinement demon only realized something was amiss when the earth energy’s confinement closed on emptiness—by then, Yu Ci was already far beyond its reach.

The demon roared in fury and struck out again, seeking to use the “Verdant Spirit Silk Net” permeating the surroundings to once more trap Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit. But Yu Ci had now entered a remarkably peculiar state. The moment the floating Black Verdant Silk stirred, his Yin Spirit etherealized again, once more transforming into that highly penetrative shockwave, transmitted through the atmosphere, effortlessly breaking through the “Verdant Spirit Silk Net” and widening the distance from the demon behind him.

Infuriated, the demon would surely have struck again—but at that moment, a sword’s sharp ring echoed through the void.

The seemingly delicate beauty instantly displayed her exceptional ability to seize opportunities. The Azure Wave Sword Qi instantly unleashed a shockwave that swept across an area of ​​several miles, firmly suppressing the two demons entangled with her. Although it lasted only a brief moment, it was enough for her to intervene.

Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit felt a suction force again, but this time it was without malice. 

Yu Ci then followed this force, forcefully throwing himself towards the center of the sword qi eruption. There seemed to be resentful curses from the surrounding demons, but under the protection of the Azure Wave Sword Qi, these impacts, which could potentially harm him, were meaningless.

The Azure Wave Sword Qi is a renowned defensive sword technique of the Siming Sect, derived from the phrase “The waters of Azure Wave (Canglang) are clear, enough to wash my tassels,” possessing immense power to counter evil and heretical methods. (G: Canglang meaning Azure Wave. Name of a river.)

Under the protection of this sword qi, Yu Ci’s Yin spirit remained completely unharmed, flowing directly into his physical body, the two merging seamlessly.

He opened his eyes, his mind still somewhat dazed, not yet recovered from the tremors of the azure void.

Just now, he had clearly gained some insight from it. That extremely minute fluctuation at the edge of the tremors in the azure void, fleeting yet the most vivid example, allowed him to comprehend a variation of the divine soul form, which he immediately applied.

More importantly, he used this insight as a thread to connect the fragmented gains of the past few days. He didn’t know how or why the hundreds of burning blood droplets within the gaping space stored this information and transmitted it to the memory area of ​​his soul, but this didn’t prevent him from making an intuitive judgment:

The tremor in that azure void was a grand collision between two great forces separated by billions of miles, perhaps the beginning of a great war…

Then he truly awoke. He found himself lying beneath a ravaged cliff face. Beside him was Gan Shizhen, sword in hand, defending against the enemy. This beautiful martial aunt made no grand movements, yet with a slight swing of her short sword, the sword aura she had laid was tight and precise, giving no opportunity for the demons.

But Yu Ci noticed that fine beads of sweat were trickling down her hairline.

The female cultivator’s condition was not good. In fact, apart from him, the condition of all the creatures in this flat area below the cliff was not good either.

And, the roars of the Ghostly Beast drowned out everything.

******

“Taga, what in the hell is going on with that Ghostly Beast?!”

Daguo shouted, the crystal on its forehead blazing with fierce emerald light, its tone beyond fury.

The black figure that had just attempted to seize Yu Ci, when not chanting incantations, always spoke in its unique clicking, clacking voice: “That Divine Connectivity whelp—he lured the Ghostly Beast here!”

Taga had no time to elaborate. The deafening roar already swept across the region, and the bursting Rakshasa Illusory Force impacted every living creature.

Daguo’s mind went blank. Hot, swollen blood nearly burst its skull. It roared, the crystal on its forehead flashing emerald light repeatedly, its entire body’s muscles and bones emitting strange creaking sounds—yet even so, it prevented the turmoil incited by the illusory force from overwhelming it.

It too had participated that day in Lord Diro’s siege of the Ghostly Beast. As one of the survivors, it had ultimately developed some resistance to the Rakshasa Illusory Force. It wanted to question Taga further, but from that direction came a muffled howl.

It was Taga’s agonized scream.

Daguo looked in horror to see the Ghostly Beast, its entire body ablaze with green-white flame, charging forward like a small mountain. Taga was no longer the one skilled at gliding through shadows—it had been nearly crushed into a pile of mangled flesh, half its form now torn away by the Ghostly Beast’s savage grip, beyond all shape.

“Impossible! After that battle with Lord Diro, the Ghostly Beast was already at its last gasp. How could it…”

Daguo had experienced that fight. It clearly remembered how the Ghostly Beast, in its full fury, had slaughtered Core Refinement demons like chopping vegetables. Over a hundred experts, none weaker than itself, had combined their forces and still been torn apart. And that was with Lord Diro occupying its attention! Now Diro was dead—who could stop it?

The flow of qi behind it changed. Daguo was sharp-witted; it turned to see its companion, who had been the main attacker, now displaying speed utterly incompatible with its bloated body. In a few flickers, it slipped past the edge of sword-qi laid down by the female cultivator and vanished from sight. Of course, that cunning bastard called out as it fled:

“Daguo, run!”

That bastard should be stuffed into a dark magic altar and every drop of oil rendered from its body!

Daguo roared in fury and turned to flee as well—but the atmosphere beside it exploded with a thunderous boom. An instant earlier, purple-red lightning had already pierced its entire body. Such thunderfire couldn’t even harm it—but the momentary paralysis it brought was the deadliest thing now!

Its heart froze. The crystal on its forehead already reflected the image of that Divine Connectivity whelp pulling his companion up the cliff, fleeing.