The Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror (Revised)

After the black octagonal mirror had completely drained Shi Fen dry, it did not leave his palm. It seemed to keep "sucking" at his body, as large quantities of strange, multicolored substances flew out of him and poured into the mirror.

This process continued for about half an hour. Shi Fen remained in a state of suspended animation throughout.

When no more multicolored substances emerged from Shi Fen's body, the black octagonal mirror hovered over his head. A large amount of colorful "thick mist" billowed from its surface, then surged into his shriveled body as if guided by some unseen force.

In less than a second, Shi Fen's body had returned to its former state.

"Mm."

With a muffled groan, Shi Fen's eyelids twitched with difficulty, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Shi Fen realized he was surrounded by a multicolored glow. He raised a hand, trying to grasp it, but his fingers passed through without affecting it in the slightest.

"Is this the underworld?" Shi Fen murmured.

"No. Why do I feel so comfortable?" Shi Fen felt more comfortable than ever. It was even better than when he had awakened his Spiritual Force last time.

Shi Fen hurried to his feet and looked around. He was in the break room of the Forging Room. Somehow, the mirror had left his palm and was hovering in midair, releasing a large amount of "colored mist."

"Phew." Shi Fen let out a long breath, realizing that he was still alive.

"I still have a chance to continue living my life." After experiencing the brink of death and a flashback of his memories, Shi Fen cherished his life all the more.

"I just don't know why the mirror is releasing colored mist."

Seeing that Shi Fen had regained consciousness, the mirror continued to emit a colorful glow and release "colored mist." It flew toward Shi Fen on its own, pressed against his palm again, and "skillfully" sliced it open before continuing to greedily draw his blood.

"Holy crap."

Seeing the black octagonal mirror attached to his palm again, sucking his blood, Shi Fen swore.

Shi Fen was no "gentlemanly sage." Even a rabbit would bite when cornered, let alone Shi Fen, who had held a high position in his previous life. His subordinates had often been on the receiving end of his scolding.

In fact, his teacher had scolded him from the time he was little, too...

The black mirror paid no attention to any of that. It greedily sucked Shi Fen's blood, drawing dozens of liters in a single second. A normal person had less than five liters of blood in their body, so Shi Fen was losing more than five liters per second.

If not for the colorful glow, even the Golden Horned Beast's physique wouldn't have been able to withstand this rate of blood loss.

A massive amount of blood poured from Shi Fen's palm. He felt like a freshly squeezed watermelon as the mirror greedily "sucked" at him.

"This time, it feels different."

Shi Fen looked around as countless motes of colored light poured into his body.

Though he was losing a lot of blood, he felt no "fear of imminent death" at all. On the contrary, he felt incredibly comfortable. He could clearly sense his physical strength rising at an astonishing rate.

Shi Fen understood. This was still the work of "that mighty being." If they didn't scare him half to death first, they wouldn't give him anything good.

With that thought, Shi Fen decided to let it happen.

He sat cross-legged on the bed and quietly watched the mirror greedily suck the blood from his palm.

More than an hour passed...

"Have you finally finished sucking?" Shi Fen said with a sigh when the mirror stopped.

The last bit of colored light in the room completely entered Shi Fen's body. As it did, the black octagonal mirror resting in his hand seemed to blend seamlessly with him.

He felt as if the mirror had become part of his body. Controlling it seemed like a natural instinct.

The mirror was small, about ten centimeters in diameter and one centimeter thick. It was black all over.

One side was an incredibly smooth reflective surface. Even though it was black, Shi Fen could still see a clear reflection in it.

The other side bore an archaic Eight Trigrams diagram. It looked somewhat like the Fuxi Innate Eight Trigrams Diagram, but the diagram on the back of this mirror was a little more complicated. Along its outer edge were many groove-like patterns that Shi Fen couldn't understand.

With a thought, the black mirror merged directly into his hand and disappeared. At another thought, it suddenly appeared in his hand again.

It was incredibly easy to control.

"Now that's amazing."

Shi Fen discovered that he could make the mirror appear anywhere within one meter of his body. To put it away, all he had to do was touch it with any part of his body and will it to disappear.

It worked through clothing, too.

"Interesting..."

Shi Fen didn't immediately inspect what he had gained. At this point, he wasn't in a hurry. He put the mirror away, got out of bed, and began to move around.

Awakening his Spiritual Force and then absorbing the colored light had greatly improved his physical strength. He wanted to get used to his new power before examining what he had gained.

Shi Fen stood in the open space of the break room, his gaze turning sharp. He clenched his right fist, crouched slightly, and suddenly threw a punch with all his strength. The air shook violently, and a fierce whoosh erupted around his fist.

"My strength has increased a lot. I wonder what level I'm at now."

As Shi Fen pondered his strength, he practiced Taiji Fist over and over. He focused his awareness on different parts of his body, sensing the changes in his muscles and gradually mastering them.

His punches varied between fast and slow. Sometimes he used too much force; at other times, his movements were weak and unsteady. Even a complete novice would have thought Shi Fen was a beginner.

After going through the movements again and again, his punches gradually became smooth and effortless.

Only after practicing Taiji Fist for nearly an hour did Shi Fen gain a preliminary grasp of his greatly increased strength.

"It feels like my strength has increased at least four or five times. If so, I should be at the high Fighter Level now, right?" Shi Fen said to himself uncertainly, clenching his fist. "I'm already this strong without learning Genetic Origin Energy. If I master Genetic Origin Energy, my physical strength might really reach the heavens in a single step.

"But I'm in no hurry to become a Martial Artist. Comprehending Teacher Yi's legacy is what matters most."

"Now let's see what I gained. Eighteen years of hard work got me this mirror. I wonder what good stuff is inside." The black octagonal mirror suddenly appeared in Shi Fen's palm. His face full of anticipation, he established a mental connection with it.

A massive amount of information flooded straight into Shi Fen's mind.

The black octagonal mirror was called the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror.

It contained three Inner Worlds, as well as two other abilities. Given the mirror's name, Shi Fen strongly suspected that it had another ability: sending him into reincarnation and allowing him to be reborn.

The first ability was the detection function.

Like a "detector," it had an extremely powerful detection ability.

It could detect all substances within its range and at its detection resolution.

Detection radius: 1,000 kilometers.

Detection resolution: decimeter-level. Any object with actual dimensions greater than ten centimeters could be detected.

Shi Fen could receive and process the information in his mind. He could also project it as a 3D image and view it in real time. He could even grant others permission to receive information and share the detector's data with them.

A thoughtful note at the end stated that Shi Fen's current information-processing limit was a spherical area with a diameter of 11,235 kilometers.

The second ability was the Scan Recording Function.

This ability worked in conjunction with the detection function.

Scanning an object or living being would provide all its information and store it in the mirror's "database." This information could be used for analysis and examination, helping with Treasure Refining.

Scanning radius: 1,000 kilometers.

Scan recording limit: all substances and treasures below the True God Level could be scanned and recorded as raw data. The more complex or profound the object, the longer the scan would take.

Given Shi Fen's "God Perspective" on this world, the only part that caught his attention was the scan recording limit.

He knew about all kinds of wondrous treasures and Supreme Treasures. A mere detection and scanning function wasn't worth his attention.

In his eyes, for such an "overbearing" mirror, its two auxiliary functions could only detect things and had no offensive power at all.

That made Shi Fen very sad.

Even knowing the functions didn't consume his energy, he still felt very sad.

It was no wonder Shi Fen was so disappointed.

He felt that high-level large and small detectors could do everything these two functions could, and had a greater detection range. As for the energy consumption, he didn't care about that either. Once his strength improved a little, the energy required to detect within a radius of one thousand kilometers would be negligible.

The three Inner Worlds, on the other hand, were completely different.

Their power was heaven-defying!

According to the information, Shi Fen could move freely between the three Inner Worlds.

First, the Inner World.

It was a continent one million kilometers long, wide, and high, filled with incredibly pure and dense cosmic energy. It was like a Cosmic Secret Realm in the Primordial Universe.

The Inner World's gravity could be adjusted through the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror.

The adjustable range was 0–10,000 times Earth's gravity.

Second, the Image World.

The place Shi Fen had been in before was one of the Image World's subworlds. After he completed the Qualification Trial, that subworld had shattered.

The Image World now corresponded completely to the Treasure Refining World. It was an image of the Treasure Refining World, where Shi Fen could forge and study how to make treasures while saving a massive amount of materials.

Third, the Treasure Refining World.

Unlike the previous "Virtual Trial Space," the Treasure Refining World now consisted of several connected "rooms," like the inside of a palace complex.

Everything inside was real, too.

The Main Hall was exactly the same size as the "Virtual Trial Space" he had been in before: one thousand meters wide and one hundred meters high. The other Side Halls were smaller, measuring three hundred meters long and wide and thirty meters high.

Here, he could "pilot" the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror and fly.

Counting its flight ability, the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror now had three abilities. Shi Fen thought the flight function was the most practical of them.

After getting a general idea of the information, Shi Fen didn't immediately go inside to inspect what else he had gained.

He suppressed his excitement, unlocked the Forging Room door, and handed the Perfect Feather-Pattern Dagger to Shi Tian. After casually exchanging a few words with his older brother, he hailed a taxi and rushed home as fast as he could.

When he got home, Shi Fen locked the door again, hurried back to his bedroom, and drew the curtains.

Shi Fen activated the detection projection, casting out a colorful sphere one meter in diameter. A 3D projection appeared before his eyes. At its center was the location where Shi Fen stood.

At the bottom of the sphere was the mantle's magma layer, five hundred kilometers underground. At the top was Earth's atmosphere. Since the detection radius was five hundred kilometers, the highest point he could see had already reached the outermost layer of the atmosphere, the "exosphere."

Looking down along a line of longitude, he could see the incredible transition from the atmosphere to the mantle. Having spent his whole life as a "scientist," Shi Fen found the sight of Earth from this angle astonishing.

Studying Earth from this perspective...

This was much more fun than studying forging.

His curiosity piqued, Shi Fen kept changing the sphere's size, releasing his Spiritual Force, and examining it closely for a long, long time. He even adjusted the sphere's brightness, stuck his head inside, and used his own eyes to inspect everything.

As they say, men never grow up.

For Shi Fen, who had already died once, new and unfamiliar things still held an irresistible fascination.

By the time he had finished studying the sphere, it was already eight in the evening.

Shi Fen agonized over it for a long time, but still didn't dare to receive the information and inspect it himself. It was so late; he was afraid he might see something he shouldn't and get "needles in his eyes."

Holding the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror, Shi Fen communicated with it. His figure vanished from the bedroom, and he arrived in the Inner World.

Shi Fen stood in the middle of the continent and looked around.

There were no mountains here, only boundless grasslands. A faint mist hung in the air. Strangely, it let light through well and didn't block the sunlight much. Shi Fen raised a hand to shield his eyes and gazed into the distance, but could see only the hazy horizon.

A continent one million kilometers long and wide was no joke. Though he couldn't see the edge with his own eyes, he could overlook the Inner World with his "God Perspective," thanks to his control over it.

Fine, dense grass covered the ground. There were no other plants.

He took a deep breath and felt refreshed. It seemed that if he took a few more deep breaths, his strength would increase.

He knew that the mist contained a large amount of "cosmic energy." This was a cultivation paradise. He hadn't expected it to improve his strength so dramatically.

Shi Fen estimated that he could gain at least a few kilograms of strength a day—no less than the effect of the "Five Hearts Towards Heaven" Genetic Origin Energy cultivation method described in the original story.

Compared to that, "cultivating" with gravity in the Inner World was even more effective. For Shi Fen, who had just undergone a "complete transformation," gravity could act on his whole body, tempering him from every angle and laying a solid foundation.

All he had to do was set the gravity, then study and live his daily life in the Inner World. His strength would keep increasing.

"Looks like I'll have to rest here from now on. Should I buy a bed and bring it in, or build a shack?" Shi Fen rubbed his chin with the hand holding the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror, considering what to do.

He soon made up his mind.

"Never mind. How can I sleep without a roof? It'd be creepy sleeping in such a huge place. I'd better spend some money to build a shack. With my Spiritual Force, it shouldn't be difficult."

Holding the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror, Shi Fen prepared to activate it and leave.

"Hmm?"

Shi Fen stared at the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror in his hand, stunned.

"This isn't scientific." When he came to his senses, Shi Fen's eyes widened.

He had been so focused on other things that he hadn't noticed this major "bug."

The problem...

It was like someone climbing into a huge sack while holding it, then still having the sack in their hand after climbing inside.

That wasn't "normal."

It was like Luo Feng in the original story using a World Ring to store his clone inside it, only for his clone to enter while holding the World Ring.

That was completely impossible, wasn't it?

The World Ring was in Luo Feng's original self's hand.

That was what followed the laws of space!

But the Inner World completely broke that rule.

"It's like crawling into a Klein bottle and pulling it over yourself." That was how Shi Fen felt.

But Shi Fen had seen a thing or two by now. After a brief moment of surprise, he thought through some of the key points.

First, the mysterious expert whose name he didn't know had abilities that were far too heaven-defying.

Second, there was what the earlier description of its functions had said.

Shi Fen could move between the three worlds. That meant they were connected, but not completely connected. He could "pilot" the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror and fly in the Treasure Refining World, but it hadn't said he could do the same in the Inner World.

That meant the two weren't exactly the same.

The "Inner World" was particularly special.

To verify this, Shi Fen traveled back and forth between home and the Inner World several times. No matter where he was, the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror remained in his hand.

At home, he found a camera with no data-transmission function and brought it into the Inner World. He set it up beside him, pointed it at the spot where he would stand, and started recording.

Shi Fen walked into the camera's field of view and went straight to the Treasure Refining World. He didn't have time to look at what was inside. He waited for one second, then immediately returned. Then he went to the Image World, waited for one second, and immediately returned again.

He stopped the recording, went back home, set up the camera again, and pointed it at the spot where he would be standing.

Then he returned to the Inner World.

After watching the two recordings, Shi Fen understood everything.

When he entered the Treasure Refining World, his body disappeared, leaving only the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror floating in the air. When he entered the Image World, both his body and the mirror remained outside. When he entered the Inner World, his body and the mirror disappeared together. The same thing happened when he returned.

After watching the recordings, he took the camera with him to the Treasure Refining World, set it up to record himself again, then went to the Inner World and the Image World one after the other.

After Shi Fen entered the Treasure Refining World, the mirror itself remained floating in the bedroom.

The results were the same as before. When he entered the Inner World, his body disappeared. When he went to the Image World, his body stayed where it was.

He set up the camera to record himself again, then went to the Image World first and from there to the Inner World and the Treasure Refining World.

This time, the result was a little different. Shi Fen felt that his consciousness returned to his body first, then he traveled to the other two worlds.

Since the mirror itself had remained in the bedroom, this time Shi Fen entered the Inner World without bringing it with him.

He really could move freely between the three worlds.