Yu Ci pondered Zhao Xiangshan's words and asked,
"Just now, you said the Azure Lotus Robe of the Great Void was property of the Three Venerables Cult, then later passed to the Eastern Branch of the Demonic Sect. Zhou Yi did not take it with him at the time?"
Zhao Xiangshan replied, "A cultivator of a grand sect must still have some sense of face."
"But the artifact spirit never returned to its place either."
"Yes. That is indeed most strange."
"It truly is strange." Yu Ci gave a dark chuckle. "The artifact spirit left in pursuit of the Dao, even abandoning its own foundation. Did it believe it no longer needed it?"
"At least, that was the information at the time."
Yu Ci did not press Zhao Xiangshan further. Instead, he lifted his head to look at the bright moon hanging high above the Sea of Blood.
The Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror had accompanied him for decades, scarcely ever leaving his side for even a moment. After years of refinement, every pattern upon it had been deeply imprinted in his heart.
He could say for certain that there was no trace within it of any spiritual existence.
Shaking his head, he realized that the most compelling thing was not some abstruse principle or Buddhist Dharma, but a solid, tangible example.
To put it more plainly, what could be more persuasive in making an artifact spirit abandon its foundation than "the success of one of its own kind"?
He had to admit that the example Zhao Xiangshan had chosen was exceedingly apt.
Great Black Heavenly Buddha Mother Bodhisattva... Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror!
If his earlier conjecture had only been sixty or seventy percent certain, now he had to add at least another twenty percent.
The remainder would need solid evidence to fill