Immortal Chi Yin had just finished her conversation with Xu Hui of the Sunset Valley, taking a subtle step back with a faint smile—a clear signal that the discussion was over. As she moved, her gaze flickered imperceptibly.
Yet, Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit within the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror felt it like an ice needle piercing through the outer barriers, stabbing straight into his consciousness. The sharp, invasive sensation sent a tremor through his Yin Spirit and even his thoughts, rippling outward. But the disturbance quickly dissolved into the surging vortex of power surrounding him, leaving no trace.
That “ice needle” was Immortal Chi Yin’s gaze.
‘That woman…’
Yu Ci’s mind tensed.
Then, she made another move.
Scheming under the watchful eyes of two Void-Stepping experts was something any Core Refinement cultivator would hesitate to attempt—yet Immortal Chi Yin did so without a second thought.
Yu Ci couldn’t see what technique she used, but the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror was unmistakably sinking. Soon, it was completely buried in the snow and mud, and its descent only accelerated. In the blink of an eye, it had plunged seven or eight feet underground, as though the frozen earth and rock had turned into a bottomless swamp.
No one noticed.
Chi Yin was the closest to the mirror. Earlier, when the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror had been sent flying while resisting the “Molten Gold Surge” attack, it landed nearly ten zhang away from Yu Ci’s physical body—with Chi Yin standing right between them. Her figure conveniently blocked Xie Yan and the others’ line of sight, while the distant observers were too focused on the confrontation between the two Void-Stepping experts to spare a glance into the dark forest.
After sinking several feet underground, the mirror was pulled sideways by an invisible force. This area was beyond the perception range of the Dragon Fish, but there were still insects scattered below, illuminated by the Divine Map’s Starlight Seeds. Through these fragmented, narrow perspectives—combined with the broader view provided by the Dragon Fish above—Yu Ci confirmed that the mirror was moving toward Chi Yin.
It was fast. Within moments, it halted directly beneath her. From start to finish, no one sensed a thing.
Now, aside from Chi Yin herself, no one knew where the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror had gone.
The vertical distance between the mirror and the female cultivator was no more than five feet. In a way, this was the closest Yu Ci had been to Chi Yin since escaping the Twin Immortal Sect.
But this was far from a pleasant experience. If things continued like this, once the gathered cultivators dispersed—Xie Yan taking his physical body, and Chi Yin quietly pocketing the mirror—no one would ever trace it back to her.
And if that happened, Yu Ci knew he wouldn’t survive.
Aboveground, Xu Hui turned to Xie Yan, uttered a few words, then left without another glance. At the same time, Xie Yan remained silent, holding Yu Ci’s body as his feet lifted slightly off the ground. And in that same moment—while all attention was fixed on the two Void-Stepping experts—Chi Yin smiled faintly.
The Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror, which had momentarily stilled, now rose slowly under the guidance of her refined innate Qi.
At this rate, within two breaths, it would break through the soil. Hidden beneath the elegant drape of her robes, it would glide along the curve of her leg, pressing close—completely under her control.
It was a seductive but deadly path.
Yu Ci’s mind was ice-cold. Now, he had no choice.
In the next instant, his will solidified, and he lunged toward the “vortex” surrounding him.
With no hesitation, Yu Ci seized a pulling force generated by the outer currents of power and used it to propel himself forward. Unlike before, where he would carefully draw out strands of Yin Spirit energy along predetermined paths toward the mirror’s edge, this time—he threw his entire Yin Spirit into the surge.
His consciousness exploded in turmoil. The raging tides of power within the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror instantly overwhelmed him. If a Yin Spirit could “breathe,” Yu Ci would have suffocated by now.
The impacts came in relentless waves, threatening to shatter his sanity, to tear his Yin Spirit into fragments, to remold and scatter his essence according to the mirror’s will.
Yet the more it battered him, the clearer his mind became.
In the Yin Spirit Weapon Manipulation state, his Yin Spirit would continuously deplete, radiating “Starlight” until it drained him dry. If he abandoned control, the mirror would devour him outright. Weighing the lesser of two evils, Yu Ci chose the former—and then pushed further.
If the mirror was going to absorb his Yin Spirit energy and emit Starlight, then why not send the source itself—his Yin Spirit—into the process? The outer currents were like a tangled network of rivers, but all rivers eventually led to the sea. If he could just endure until the exit, he would win.
This wasn’t the result of careful deliberation. It was a gamble forced upon him.
Like a life-or-death sword duel, there was no time for hesitation. He had to trust his honed instincts and pour in every ounce of courage he had left.
From the moment his Yin Spirit plunged in, the turbulence never ceased. All sensation blurred into chaos—no direction, no bearings. His Yin Spirit energy dwindled rapidly, his soul’s structure quaking violently. Yu Ci was like a battered boat hurled into an underground river, fighting against the currents in utter darkness, enduring collision after collision.
At any moment, he could shatter.
At the same time, Yu Ci could feel that with each collision and tremor, wisps of energy seeped in, reacting with his Yin Spirit and ultimately altering some of its properties. He didn’t know whether this was good or bad, because before he could analyze it further, the “outlet” arrived!
A long, hissing sound echoed only within Yu Ci’s soul.
The Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror had broken free from the earth, piercing beneath Immortal Chi Yin’s skirt.
At that moment, an enormous starlight shot out from the mirror’s surface, piercing through the female cultivator’s magnificent emerald and mist-veiled robes before streaking into the air.
Having been transformed and refined by the mirror’s intrinsic power, the Yin Spirit starlight was formless and intangible—no one could see it, nor could they sense it.
That was how it ‘should’ have been. But the instant the starlight left the mirror, Yu Ci clearly felt it collide with an invisible net.
The net had clearly been laid around the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror long ago, serving as a powerful restraint. However, due to the Yin Spirit starlight’s extreme peculiarity, the net failed to stop it. Yet, on a level imperceptible to ordinary people, the moment the starlight struck the net’s threads, a faint ripple spread outward.
A slight stiffness flickered across Immortal Chi Yin’s smiling face.
But Yu Ci had no time to dwell on her expression.
The Yin Spirit starlight soared above the mountain forest just as a gust of wind swept through. The wind tore through the starlight’s outer shell almost instantly, directly touching Yu Ci’s Yin Spirit. A shiver ran through him, followed by a searing pain—as if a layer of his skin had been flayed off!
This was not physical pain, but agony that struck deep into his soul, without the slightest delay or mitigation.
A dire realization struck Yu Ci.
After forming his Yin Spirit, Old Daoist Yu Zhou had solemnly warned him: ‘”A newly formed’ Yin Spirit, ‘though powerful, is also extremely sensitive—like oil to fire. Direct exposure to the world’s natural’ innate Qi ‘can trigger violent reactions, causing severe depletion. Without sufficient cultivation or protective preparations, you must never recklessly release it. Even a breeze carrying’ innate Qi ‘could ignite it, leading to soul dispersion.”‘
Now, Yu Ci was facing exactly that.
His Yin Spirit, utterly unprepared, was exposed to the open air. Due to its sensitivity, it instantly absorbed an overwhelming flood of chaotic information, along with the fiery innate Qi of the world. As the wind brushed against it, excruciating pain seeped inward—like layers of skin being peeled away.
Gritting through the pain, Yu Ci forced himself to focus: ‘Time is short—where is my body?’
Normally, adapting a Yin Spirit to perceive the external world and translate it into human senses required practice. But Yu Ci was already familiar with soul-based perception. After only a brief disorientation, the chaotic surroundings gradually sharpened into clarity.
Soon, he had a complete “view” of the shaded mountain slope.
He saw Xie Yan, who had already flown past the treetops—and in his arms, Yu Ci’s own unconscious body.
‘Still close enough!’
Overjoyed, Yu Ci forgot even the pain wracking his Yin Spirit and urged it to fly upward. But just then, another fierce gust swept through, carrying with it a faint, inexplicable fragrance that he somehow detected.
‘How can I smell anything in’ Yin Spirit ‘form?’
The question barely formed before an explosive reaction erupted from within.
In an instant, his Yin Spirit swelled like an overinflated bladder, expanding to the brink of bursting. For a moment, he even heard the sound of fine cracks—or perhaps the hiss of flames licking at his soul. The wind outside fanned the fire, and under this dual assault, Yu Ci’s consciousness nearly burned to ashes!
The only reason he held on was because of the changes his Yin Spirit had undergone while twisting through the “riverbed” of the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror. The mirror’s power had tempered it, providing just enough resilience to prevent immediate annihilation.
“Agh—!”
Unable to endure the agony, Yu Ci screamed.
A scream from a Yin Spirit was not sound, but the most violent distortion of the soul’s structure—a ripple that stirred the surrounding innate Qi, creating waves imperceptible to ordinary people.
But Core Refinement cultivators were far from ordinary. At this moment, nearby cultivators sensed the disturbance to varying degrees. Yet the ripple was too brief, too abrupt—almost no one could grasp its meaning.
Almost.
Ming Lan had arrived with Monk Yixin and Lu Mingyue. Due to her lower status, she had stood quietly to the side, nearly unnoticed. But now, her usual smile vanished as her gaze shifted from a distant treetop to Immortal Chi Yin, locking onto her without wavering.
High in the sky, Xie Yan, with his superior cultivation, also sensed the anomaly despite his unsettled mind. Pausing, he looked down and quickly narrowed in on the general area.
But by then, all he saw was a Dragon Fish suddenly leaping from the forest canopy.