After Zhou Hao and Murong left Xia Ling's place, they casually wandered around for a while before going their separate ways to handle their own affairs.
Zhou Hao still had to continue studying under Ouyang Zhen, while Murong returned to deal with recent matters.
Their lives continued peacefully and pleasantly.
A year later, Mu Jinyin was the first to emerge from Ouyang Zhen's Mirror Illusion Formation.
Zhou Hao noticed immediately. He promptly set aside what he was doing and went over to take a look.
Upon seeing Zhou Hao, Mu Jinyin flapped its wings and flew onto his shoulder. "Dad."
"Mm." Zhou Hao smiled and nodded, lightly tapping its head with a finger as he asked with a smile, "How did it feel to live with yourself?"
"It was a little hard to get used to at first, but I gradually became familiar with it afterward. It also helped me understand myself better," Mu Jinyin replied.
When it first entered the illusion formation, it had fought its mirror image, but neither side could gain the upper hand.
Left with no choice, they could only stop fighting and live together.
When two people lived together, the other person would see traits in oneself that might normally be overlooked. Likewise, one would also see the other's traits.
And Mu Jinyin had in fact been living with itself, so it came to know a self it had never seen before—a self that was its true self.
Whether its strengths or weaknesses, through their time together, it gradually learned to accept them calmly, because that was who it was.
From the moment it accepted itself, it understood Ouyang Zhen's true purpose in arranging the mirror image.
This mirror image had not been meant to improve its combat experience, nor had it been meant to