Chapter 98: Many Faces

Without a doubt, Immortal Chi Yin was a peerless beauty.

Some complained that her features were too sharp, yet they could never imagine how serene and softened her face became during moments of quiet repose.  

Others criticized her demeanor as aggressive, like the edge of a sword, yet they had clearly never witnessed her adorable drunken clumsiness.  

There were also those who dismissed her cold arrogance, unaware of how uninhibited and joyful she appeared when laughing heartily.  

He knew her too well.  

After five years of close companionship, always by her side, even with his eyes closed, Yu Ci could recall every expression and gesture of Immortal Chi Yin. Her every smile and word combined into an idealized image, a benchmark for beauty etched deep within his heart.  

It was a mark engraved upon his soul, an impression impossible to fade. Even if buried for a time, brushing off the dust would reveal every detail as vividly as before.  

Yet, this same stunning woman had left Yu Ci with a final memory that was dark and chilling, like a cold wind blowing through a ghostly hell.  

Immortal Chi Yin was beautiful but capricious. Her pride and self-centeredness knew no bounds, leaving her utterly indifferent to the feelings of others. One moment, she might converse with you warmly; the next, she would unleash thunderous fury, placing you in a life-or-death predicament.  

Most unsettling of all was her innate bloodthirstiness. She delighted in tormenting those who angered her.  

Yu Ci vividly remembered an incident when he was just ten years old. 

A servant had enraged Immortal Chi Yin, and she devised a new form of torment. Without moving her hands or feet, without visibly summoning her True Qi, she merely spoke from several meters away.  

“Your left foot,” she commanded, and the servant’s left foot snapped.  

“Your right eye,” she uttered, and the servant’s right eye shattered.  

With just over ten sentences, the servant’s bones and features were utterly destroyed, while their skin and internal organs remained untouched. They screamed in agony for seven days before finally succumbing to death.  

This horrifying scene was seared into Yu Ci’s memory, as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.  

During his five years with the Twin Immortal Sect, such incidents were all too common. Even Yu Ci himself had skirted death numerous times, surviving only by reading her moods and treading carefully to preserve his own life.  

The past was too painful to recall.  

Yu Ci took a deep breath, burying those memories once more. Yet now, on this Southern Frost Lake, amidst this peculiar atmosphere, a question – or rather, an impulse – surfaced within him:  

Should he step forward and reveal his identity?  

He fixed his gaze on Immortal Chi Yin. 

She, however, paid him no mind.  

Immortal Chi Yin was still as radiant and proud as ever. She clearly wouldn’t concern herself with a young daoist of such meager cultivation. Even if she noticed him, she wouldn’t connect him to the attendant who had vanished twelve years ago amidst a fiery night of chaos.  

She didn’t even bother sparing Yu Ci a glance. As she approached, she tossed an item toward Murong Qingyan.  

“Here, this is the Great Void True Talisman, isn’t it? In the end, Nan Songzi didn’t dare take it with him. As for the other treasures, not a trace remains.”  

Murong Qingyan caught the talisman and softly expressed her thanks. Then, shifting her gaze to Immortal Chi Yin, she asked about another matter: “Where is Aunt Tao?”  

“On the mountain’s other side…”  

Immortal Chi Yin provided the precise location and then sneered. “I helped clean up your sect, yet instead of gratitude, I’ll probably get complaints. How tiresome.”  

Murong Qingyan shook her head with a faint smile, saying no more.  

Immortal Chi Yin, too, refrained from speaking further. After a quick glance at Meng Wei, she said, “My carriage is ten miles from here. Are you coming with me to Cliff City, or…?”  

“I already mentioned that I’d linger at the Rifting Earth Sect for a few days. Besides, I have a letter from Uncle Gan of the Four Illuminations Sect to deliver to Daoist Yu Zhou.”  

This was clearly a refusal. Immortal Chi Yin made no effort to persuade her. With a casual “Suit yourself,” she left without arranging a future meeting, her figure vanishing in an instant.  

Yu Ci’s eyes followed her departure until she disappeared entirely. Even then, his gaze remained fixed on the night sky, unmoving for a long time. He had ultimately refrained from doing anything foolish.  

It would have been like an ant standing before a giant, angrily roaring: “Hey, big guy, you just tripped me!”  

The giant might not even notice, but if it did, it would simply step down again with indifference.  

Yu Ci took a deep breath. His heart pounded fiercely, seized by an overwhelming sense of urgency, a pressure like never before, slowly tightening around his throat. 

*****

“Senior Brother Yu! Senior Brother Yu!”  

Early in the morning, the sound of Bao Guang calling in the courtyard was quite annoying. Yu Ci had stayed up late the previous night studying talisman scriptures and had only just fallen asleep for an hour. However, Bao Guang, being very familiar with him, didn’t care in the slightest. He barged through the doors and made his way straight to Yu Ci’s bedroom.  

“Senior Brother Yu, don’t sleep anymore. Senior Sister Murong has come to bid farewell at the temple and even asked the master about you!”  

“Hmm?”  

Yu Ci opened his eyes. The title “Senior Sister Murong” immediately brought his thoughts into focus.  

It had been twenty days since the battle at Southern Frost Lake, yet the events of that day were still vivid in his memory. Even if he wanted to forget, he couldn’t. 

Murong Qingyan, Nan Songzi, Meng Wei, and most importantly, Immortal Chi Yin—their figures had been running through his mind like a carousel whenever he had a moment of leisure these past few days.  

That day after the battle, Nan Songzi’s soul had escaped, fleeing far beyond reach.  

Logically, Nan Songzi’s priority now should be to find a suitable body to possess in order to protect his soul from destruction. With his upper Core Refinement stage cultivation, his essence, Qi, and spirit had long been tightly interwoven, forming the finest golden elixir through numerous cycles of refinement. His soul was incredibly resilient, able to endure for quite some time even without a physical body, while also retaining some of his physical abilities. From the circumstances that day, it was clear that when his soul escaped, he also took his magical artifacts, making him significantly more dangerous.  

Because of this, the Heart Prohibition Temple had heightened its level of alertness and brought in a daoist elder from the sect with upper Core Refinement stage cultivation, skilled in soul-suppressing and exorcism techniques, to assist Yu Zhou in ensuring the temple’s safety.  

In contrast to the orderly and confident preparations here, the severity of Meng Wei’s injuries had been unexpectedly alarming.  

According to the authoritative diagnosis of the sect’s elder, she had likely been struck by a “God-Slaying Thorn,” which had damaged her Core Refinement stage cultivation. She had then forcibly raised her Qi, shaking her very foundation.  

The “God-Slaying Thorn” was famously sinister and lethal in this world. It was said to be a weapon formed by refining innate Qi with a unique technique, transforming it into a solid entity. It could split into countless rays of energy, scattering or converging at will. When scattered, it ignored all barriers, including a cultivator’s protective innate Qi, and once it entered the body, it attacked the Qi source, damaging the foundation with unparalleled venom.  

Fortunately, perhaps because Nan Songzi’s cultivation was inadequate or the technique was incomplete, the power of the God-Slaying Thorn he had formed wasn’t as devastating as legend claimed. Although Meng Wei’s foundation was damaged, her injuries weren’t irreparable, and she simply required a long period of recuperation.  

Thus, after meeting up with Yu Zhou and the others who had come to assist, Meng Wei was urgently sent back to the sect’s main mountain gate for treatment and recovery. As a guest and a key figure in the incident, Murong Qingyan accompanied her. Now, was her time in the sect over?  

Bao Guang seemed quite excited. Since witnessing Murong Qingyan toy with Nan Songzi that night, the young daoist had developed considerable admiration and fondness for female cultivator. Before she left for the sect’s mountain gate, he had even “chatted” with her briefly, at least managing to make himself known to her. Now, seeing her return, his excitement was evident.  

The meeting process, however, was quite uneventful.  

Murong Qingyan’s visit was primarily to bid farewell to Yu Zhou. When she arrived, she also delivered a letter from an elder of the Four Illuminations Sect to Yu Zhou. As she departed, she courteously inquired if there was a reply.  

With Yu Zhou present, neither Yu Ci nor Bao Guang had much opportunity to speak to the female cultivator, only managing to greet her briefly while listening to the polite small talk between Yu Zhou and her.  

Soon, the formalities of her farewell were complete. Murong Qingyan officially took her leave. The only unexpected twist was that Yu Zhou, occupied with other matters, asked Yu Ci and Bao Guang to escort her down the mountain.  

Bao Guang was elated, talking non-stop along the way, while Yu Ci occasionally added a word or two. Bao Guang, having spent most of his time on the mountain, quickly ran out of topics and began talking about the Flat-feathered Bird.  

That Flat-feathered Bird had been transferred to Murong Qingyan by Meng Wei. At this moment, it was circling gracefully in the air, appearing to have accepted its new owner. This made Bao Guang, who had always struggled to get along with the bird, incredibly envious.  

“This bird is quite clever, but it’s strange. It can transform into other birds, yet its original form remains unknown. It’s been like this several times.”  

“That’s perfectly normal. Even a person who changes their face too often might eventually forget their true appearance,” Murong Qingyan remarked, more as a reflection than a response.  

Yu Ci stared at her.  

For a beauty as stunning as Murong Qingyan, descriptions of her features seemed redundant. A simple “pleasing to the eye” sufficed perfectly. What captivated Yu Ci more, however, was the small white flower tucked into her hair. It was a token of mourning for her late martial aunt, Tao Rong, who had perished at the hands of Immortal Chi Yin.  

Curious, wasn’t it?  

Yu Ci found it challenging to discern the true nature of the female cultivator before him. Since their first meeting at South Frost Lake, she had displayed various personas—fiery, charming, regal, composed, gentle, and now contemplative and empathetic. Her demeanor changed constantly, as though she were a different person at every moment. Yet with each transformation, she exuded an aura that was utterly refreshing. Of course, to her enemies, it would likely feel entirely different.  

Bao Guang still had questions. “Senior Sister Murong, what do you need the Flat-feathered Bird for?”  

“For teaching, of course.”  

Murong Qingyan’s answer was surprising but entirely reasonable upon further explanation.  

“My Myriad Cosmos Sect specializes in talismans and illusions. While the sect has expanded its repertoire over the years, its foundation remains unchanged. The Flat-feathered Bird is a remarkable creature of this realm, and its water manifestation techniques resonate with our sect’s arts. Having a tangible example is far more vivid than mere words.  

“Moreover, this Flat-feathered Bird played a pivotal role for one of my most respected elders during their sword practice and enlightenment.”  

“Who might that be?”


Enjoy reading Ask the Mirror? Then please show your support if you can.This chapter was released on goblinslate by translator Goblin. Your support makes Goblin translate more. So, do the right thing please.

Want to read more? Become a Ask the Mirror ($5 per month) member at Goblinslate Patreon and get Five or More Advance Chapters immediately, then stay 5 or more chapters ahead of the regular release for the month! 

Or, become a CN WN Bundle ($10 per month) member and have access to all the CN webnovel advance chapters on Goblinslate. Get more chapters by sponsoring at BuymeaCoffee or Patreon Shop.

Check out my other projects: 

Flower Stealing Master 

Immortal Divine Tribulation

Dual Cultivation with a Fox Demon 

The Way of Restraint

2 thoughts on “Chapter 98: Many Faces”

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top