Marriage Was Out of the Question

After seeing Xu Yinglian to the entrance of Jinling Cave Mansion.

The silly junior sister's eyes were red, and she still didn't seem to have completely calmed down.

She had merely said something offensive in the Scripture Hall, but she'd lowered her voice and earnestly apologized to Qiu Changtian.

Of course, Qiu Changtian didn't take it to heart.

To be honest, with the task of seizing the Sky Mending Stone weighing heavily on his mind, he couldn't be bothered to consider this junior sister a rival.

His true enemy was the unknown person living in Yuxu Palace who possessed a fragment of the Sky Mending Stone!

Anyone who could obtain this Innate Supreme Treasure was most likely a great figure of Grand Elder rank, whose status was even higher than the Ziwei Sect Master's.

Whether through persuasion, deception, or theft, Qiu Changtian had no confidence that he could get the fragment of the Sky Mending Stone from them.

Telling them the whole story was out of the question. Whether they would believe him was beside the point; there was simply no way to explain how he knew about the catastrophe of the Age of Dharma's End.

Not to mention the Kunlun Mirror inside him. It was an Innate Supreme Treasure of the same rank as the Sky Mending Stone.

If anyone found out about it, it would surely bring him disaster, not fortune!

After seeing his junior sister back, Qiu Changtian returned to his cave mansion and meditated on the stone bed for several hours. Following the route of the Nine Heavens Pure Micro Entrance True Words, he circulated his True Qi through several cycles, making his qi sea just a tiny bit fuller.

With today's cultivation done, Qiu Changtian once more called out in his heart:

"A Jing! A Jing!"

After a long while, an exasperated voice finally replied:

"What is it?"

"It's time to go to Shushan," Qiu Changtian reminded her.

The Kunlun Mirror fell silent for a moment, then asked:

"What do you plan to do about Xu Yinglian?"

"Obviously, turn her down." Qiu Changtian smiled. "Women will only slow down my cultivation!"

Kunlun Mirror: ...

"What? Am I wrong?"

"Xu Yinglian's primordial yin is naturally exceptionally pure. If you cultivated together with her, yin and yang would mingle, greatly benefiting you," the Kunlun Mirror said truthfully.

"You lecherous mirror, how do you even know about Dual Cultivation?" Qiu Changtian asked suspiciously. "Come on, what is it about her that you've got your eye on?"

"Xu Yinglian has the bloodline of a phoenix bird," the Kunlun Mirror explained. "It's thin, but the rank is still there."

"The bloodline of a phoenix bird? So what?" Qiu Changtian sneered inwardly, Just as I thought, then pressed on.

"Phoenix birds are the true descendants of the phoenix, divine spirits among demons, and their blood burns hot," the Kunlun Mirror said candidly. "If you cultivate with her, yin and yang will mingle, stirring the spiritual essence deep within her bloodline. Then I'll be able to record the talent of the 'phoenix bird bloodline' in the mirror."

"And then?" Qiu Changtian sighed. "To obtain the talent of the 'phoenix bird bloodline,' I'd have to play Xu Yinglian's character, wouldn't I?"

"Yes," the Kunlun Mirror replied. "Her character is 'striving to win.' You should understand her very well."

Qiu Changtian fell silent, lost in thought. Only after a long while did he say:

"Take me to Shushan first."

"Fine." The Kunlun Mirror began to operate. Qiu Changtian felt a dazzling light flare in his sea of consciousness, as if his three souls and seven spirits were all quaking.

[Countdown to World Destruction: One thousand years.]

[Please hurry and find the Sky Mending Stone.]

The Kunlun Mirror recited mechanically:

[Point Two: Shushan Shangqing Sect, Green Snail Peak.]

[Identity: Ling Yunpo.]

[Mirror Flower Water Moon template overlay in progress. Traveling through time and space.]

Ling Yunpo abruptly opened his eyes.

He was sitting cross-legged on a soft bed, surrounded by a bedroom furnished in an old-fashioned style.

A bronze mirror hung on the wall beside the bed.

Ling Yunpo looked into it and saw a black-haired young man with a handsome, valiant appearance and a resolute expression.

Although his features bore a considerable resemblance to Qiu Changtian's, his aura was completely different—rather burdened by a deep sense of grievance.

To put this aura in human terms, it was like a dark young man whose older brother had murdered his entire family and fled, leaving him single-mindedly bent on revenge...

Switching from Qiu Changtian to Ling Yunpo required only activating the Kunlun Mirror's Mirror Flower Water Moon. This created a permanent illusion that quietly affected the five senses of everyone nearby.

Whether they looked, listened, smelled, or touched, no matter who tried to probe him by any means of perception, they would sense an image that was no longer Qiu Changtian's, but Ling Yunpo's.

Of course, maintaining this appearance required playing the corresponding character.

If his inner character didn't match his outward appearance, and their synchronization value dropped too low, people would sense something amiss, putting Mirror Flower Water Moon at risk of being broken.

As for traveling through time and space, that was a unique ability of the Kunlun Mirror.

It could fix a point in time and space, then transport him to the time and place specified by that point.

For example, Qiu Changtian spent an entire day at the Kunlun Taiqing Sect.

At night, he could transport his body to the Shangqing Sect on Shushan that morning, then disguise himself as Ling Yunpo using Mirror Flower Water Moon.

That way, "Qiu Changtian" and "Ling Yunpo" could appear in different places at the same time, giving each identity an alibi.

As for why he needed to do this, it was because the second fragment of the Sky Mending Stone was hidden within the Shushan Shangqing Sect.

"Little Mirror, can you sense where the second fragment of the Sky Mending Stone is?" Ling Yunpo asked gravely.

"Its location remains unchanged," the Kunlun Mirror replied. "Three thousand meters underground."

Ling Yunpo: ...

What the hell was three thousand meters underground? Was he supposed to dig all the way down?

But it went without saying that whoever had hidden something three thousand meters beneath Shushan must have been a great figure in the Shushan Shangqing Sect—perhaps even a Grand Elder.

He'd have to think it over and proceed slowly.

"Junior brother, are you up?" his senior sister called from outside.

"Senior Sister!" Ling Yunpo quickly got dressed and climbed out of bed.

He opened the door and saw his senior sister standing prettily outside, smiling at him.

Senior Sister An Zhisu was the only disciple of Su Jian, the master of Green Snail Peak in Shushan. She had already reached the great perfection of the Abode Transformation Stage and was just one step away from forming her core.

However, since her master, Su Jian, had gone into seclusion and never emerged, Senior Sister An had no one to guide her. Her cultivation had stagnated, so she'd had no choice but to shift her focus to managing everyday affairs.

For example, accepting disciples on her master's behalf and raising junior brothers.

Ling Yunpo looked her over. Today, Senior Sister An wore a short, goose-yellow blouse and a long, soft-white skirt, her hair tied into an elegant bun at the back of her head.

With her pure, charming features and gentle, water-like aura of an older sister, she truly had a charm no man could resist.

Yet between her brows lingered a faint trace of fierce Killing Intent...

That was the Killing Intent she had forged as a Shushan Sword Immortal through countless life-and-death duels. It kept Ling Yunpo from daring to underestimate her.

"Junior brother, you only joined our Green Snail Peak yesterday, so today I'll tell you about cultivating immortality." An Zhisu led him toward the Quiet Reflection Hall with a smile.

"To begin cultivating from a mortal body, you first need to 'abstain from grain,' then 'refine qi,' and finally master the 'method of circulating qi.' Those who cultivate the Dao call this 'crossing the three gates.'"

"Since Master is in seclusion, I'll pass on three volumes of scripture on her behalf."

"The Nine Essences Return to Radiance, Uniting the Spirit, Supreme True Jade Scripture, for abstaining from grain and food;"

"The Supreme One Primordial Chaos True Record, for opening the qi sea;"

"The Shangqing Secret Transmission: Shushan Qi Circulation and Sword Control Art, for learning the method of circulating qi. It also contains the essential mantra for the mental cultivation method of our Shushan Sword Control Technique."

As Qiu Changtian, Ling Yunpo had long since mastered the "three gates" An Zhisu described.

But since he was now playing Ling Yunpo, he used Mirror Flower Water Moon to disguise himself as a mortal who had yet to enter the Qi Refining Stage, patiently listening as Senior Sister An carefully explained the contents of the introductory scriptures.

[Detailed explanation of the time-and-space travel mechanism: For example, the protagonist saves at noon on July 1 in Kunlun, then travels to Shushan and spends some time there as a Shushan spy. When he loads his save and returns to Kunlun, he returns to the same point in time: noon on July 1. From the Kunlun side, it is as if "the protagonist never left at all."]