Mirror Flower

Go!

When all three ritual implements returned without accomplishing anything—especially after the flying shuttle, which carried a light and nimble aura and was most fearful of filth, had severed the other party yet left it completely unharmed—Jin Guang immediately grew suspicious. With a raised hand, she released dozens of talismans, each containing a spell more powerful than one cast by Jin Guang at full strength.

Dozens of talismans were equivalent to dozens of Jin Guangs casting spells at once. Layers of clear radiance rose, and an aura of true reality enveloped the surroundings. The environment immediately twisted, and the monster that had pounced before Jin Guang vanished swiftly.

"Sure enough, it's the Mirror Flower Water Moon Method!"

Jin Guang looked at the woman who appeared in midair. The woman's aura was pure and ethereal, drifting like an immortal, as though she might ascend in feathered transcendence the very next moment.

"Still trying to deceive me?" Seeing that the woman's face bore a thirty-percent resemblance to her own, Jin Guang could not help showing anger. The Golden Light Treasure Mirror flashed, and a thunderbolt-like mirror beam containing the Five-Thunder Incantation streaked forth.

The woman frowned slightly. Every inch of her skin blossomed with glazed-treasure hues, seven-colored brilliance shining as the seven emotions and six desires of the human heart surged forth. She extended an arm, and a glazed-treasure flower appeared at her fingertips.

Lightning flickered, and the treasure flower shattered. The colors on the woman's body instantly distorted, revealing countless chaotic, mixed, and illusory auras, exposing her true foundation. By her appearance, she was clearly Chan Master Mirror Flower of Water Moon Nunnery—though now, she ought to be called the Demoness Mirror Flower.

"Heaven-Human Sect's Golden Light Mirror truly lives up to its reputation!" Mirror Flower snorted coldly. Layer upon layer of illusions emerged around her, covering all directions, while she herself vanished.

Jin Guang smiled and silently recited an incantation. Fragmented seal-script characters appeared in her eyes, forming new sigils within her pupils. Looking around, she easily found her opponent amid the layers of illusions.

At the same time, a silver-red blade light shot out, darting and weaving through the air. Its cold gleam was biting as it cleaved through layer after layer of illusions and pointed straight at Mirror Flower.

The corners of Mirror Flower's lips curled slightly. As her hands danced, an illusory mirror flew out from the rolling mist and clouds. With a light flicker, it concealed the sharp blade light. The next moment, the mirror surface reversed, and the silver-red blade light slashed toward where Yu Chen stood.

Electricity sparked in Jin Guang's palm. The Golden Light Treasure Mirror flashed, and a mirror beam carrying arcs of lightning directly severed the blade light. Then, with a beckoning gesture, the silver dagger flew back into her hand.

Afterward, she released the Mount Tai Jade Seal with a backhand motion. She had used this treasure before to test her opponent. It had been refined from Mount Tai Guardian Stone and contained traces of divine-path aura. Once it flew out, a heavy presence suppressed the surroundings as it smashed straight down toward Mirror Flower's crown without any finesse.

With a flick of her finger, Mirror Flower transformed the illusory treasure mirror before her into a glazed-treasure flower that rose into the air, spilling down dense glazed radiance like a curtain of pearls, making the surrounding scene all the more resplendent.

At the same time, Mirror Flower straightened her finger, and a burst of force erupted from her fingertip, shooting directly toward Jin Guang's face.

That force was invisible and formless, leaving no trace. In a daze, Jin Guang could not evade it in time and was struck. At once, she felt as if her five viscera were burning within, countless thoughts surging up at once, while her soul seemed to have been struck by a thousand-pound hammer, faintly on the verge of dispersing. Yet at this moment, she inexplicably gained a strange insight into comprehending the void and letting all methods move freely.

"True Emptiness Finger! White Lotus Sect!"

Jin Guang's face turned greenish, her gaze somewhat unfocused. Looking at Mirror Flower as she strolled over, she said coldly, "It is said that the True Emptiness Finger uses all manner of inner-cultivation delusive demons, comprehending the unborn true emptiness through one's own sorrow and suffering. If you wish to hurt others, you must first hurt yourself! It seems that despite that face of yours that bewitches all living beings, you were thoroughly deceived by someone in your early years, weren't you?"

"What does whether I lived well or not have to do with you?" Threads of Sha Qi arose in Mirror Flower's eyes. Walking up before Jin Guang, she lifted her chin and smiled. "At the very least, I'm still alive, while you..."

Before she could finish, Mirror Flower's mind trembled faintly. Her spiritual nature was warning her. She rapidly retreated, only to see two streaks of clear light fly from Jin Guang's eyes.

With a sweep of her long sleeve, layer upon layer of glazed mist rose and formed barriers upon barriers, yet the clear light shattered them one after another before finally pinning her in the void.

"Despicable! You actually hid ritual implements in your eyes!" Glazed radiance surged around Mirror Flower, constantly driving away the clear light.

Jin Guang beckoned, and the Golden Light Mirror flashed behind her. An arc of lightning sent the dazed-eyed White Fox flying. After swallowing a medicinal pill, she sneered. "How truly ignorant. You can't even tell the difference between Daoist arts and ritual implements!"

Having recovered a little of her magical power, Jin Guang raised the Golden Light Mirror again and shone it upon Mirror Flower. Brilliance laced with lightning arcs emerged. A glazed flower fell, and Mirror Flower caught it in her hand, breaking the clear light.

With a turn of her wrist, the treasure flower withered. Glazed-colored petals scattered through the air, every one of them radiating sharp intent. Though Jin Guang knew some were real and some false, she did not dare let down her guard.

She opened her mouth and exhaled a breath of vital essence. A paper umbrella flew from her sleeve, and stimulated by the essence, streams of clear spiritual light flowed across its green canopy. Under the petals' chopping strikes, it shook loose drops of light like dew, reflecting a crystalline clarity all around, carrying the mood of rain falling upon flourishing flowers, imprinting the vast sky.

Suddenly, Jin Guang's expression changed as she looked toward the monster emerging from the rain of flowers, its entire body drenched in blood.

This monster was exactly the same as the one Mirror Flower had conjured earlier, only even more wicked and fallen.

Once it appeared, both the glazed dream realm formed by the layers of illusions around Mirror Flower and the pure radiance falling from the paper umbrella above Jin Guang were affected. The dream realm's fantastical beauty was stained with traces of blood and sin, while the pure spiritual light trembled continuously, rejecting the increasingly dense turbidity around it.

"You fought me just now to let him in?"

Looking at Mirror Flower's face, Jin Guang understood in an instant. From the very beginning of the battle, Mirror Flower's goal had been to draw her attention and clear a path for this monster. Otherwise, with this monster's aura, how could it possibly have crossed the City God's protection and entered this place?

Roar! The monster bellowed and reached down to grab Jin Guang. Muscles uncovered by skin landed upon the clear radiance, immediately provoking violent changes. Blood filled with filthy aura was scorched by the spiritual light, evaporating into streams of white smoke.

Patches of scarlet spots appeared across the paper umbrella's surface, its spirituality crying out in grief.

The Golden Light Treasure Mirror flashed at the monster, and thunderbolts fell. White smoke billowed in streams, but the monster ignored it all and continued attacking.

Growing paler and paler, Jin Guang controlled the paper umbrella while considering how to respond.

Mirror Flower watched the increasingly fragile clear radiance, then looked at the glazed-treasure flower in her hand, with no intention of intervening further.

"Boundless heaven and earth, borrow the law of heaven and earth!" With a furious shout, the surrounding glazed dream realm shook. Then a man in Daoist robes leaped in through the window and struck at the monster with a raised hand.

Arcs of lightning appeared in his palm, forming an illusory taiji diagram that branded itself onto the monster's body and sent it flying outright.