Winter's Ghost, Instant Kill!

Inside the pavilion, Jiang Xuan stared directly into the mirror and activated the formation with his mana.

The ink-black mirror immediately rippled with a ghostly glow, clearly reflecting Jiang Xuan's figure.

The next moment, with a humming sound, his consciousness suddenly sank, as though some terrifying behemoth had seized him and dragged him down into the deep sea.

Before he could react, however, a splash sounded, and the weightless sensation Jiang Xuan felt abruptly vanished. His consciousness returned to its proper place as if breaking through the water's surface.

"Am I in?"

Turning his head to survey his surroundings, Jiang Xuan discovered that the familiar Divine Firmament Sect training ground had long since vanished. In its place stood an unfamiliar, lush mountain forest.

That confirmed that Jiang Xuan had indeed entered the Mirage Mirror: Three Thousand Realms.

Yet what astonished him was that, upon examining himself inwardly, he found not the slightest thing amiss.

The apertures throughout his body circulated as usual, his mana flowed without the slightest obstruction, and his five senses were as sharp as they were in reality. Even the Winter chill that eroded him day and night had not diminished in the least.

"This illusory realm is rather impressive... though that makes sense. The Divine Firmament Sect is one of the foremost great sects in the Northern Region. An illusory realm jointly created by them and the Sea-Heaven Merchant Alliance ought to be powerful. If someone like me, at the early Spirit Pivot realm, could detect something strange, that would be the real joke."

While Jiang Xuan searched within the Mirage Mirror for differences between this place and reality, Mo Yu, after seeing to Jiang Xuan, turned and returned to her post.

"That sickly fellow chose Challenge Mode too." Seeing her return, another maid spoke with a hint of mockery.

"Mm."

Upon receiving that definite answer, the mockery on the maid's face became even more obvious. "There are more and more people who don't know the height of heaven or the depth of earth. Challenge Mode is meant for those sect prodigies. What's some sickly ghost from a poor household joining in for? Especially that guy—he looks like he could breathe his last at any moment..."

"Bai Zhi." Mo Yu's delicate brows furrowed slightly at her companion's words, and she interrupted her mockery. "How that young master chooses is his own business. It has nothing to do with us."

"How is it none of our business?" Bai Zhi curled her lips, her face full of annoyance. "Miss specifically instructed us to record the performance of every disciple who chooses Challenge Mode and compile it into a volume. These people are joining in the fun for no reason and adding so much work for us."

Naturally, Jiang Xuan knew nothing of what was happening outside.

After confirming that the Mirage Mirror was no different from reality—at least, he could not sense any difference—Jiang Xuan followed Mo Yu's earlier instructions. He took out the talisman plaque engraved with Sea-Heaven patterns from his robes and lightly tapped it with his fingertip, bringing up the battle interface.

Battles in the Heavenly Sea Illusory Realm were divided into three kinds: Demonstration Mode, which could conjure countless environments to test the power of spells; Duel Mode, for acquaintances to spar; and the final kind, random matching, also called Challenge Mode. That was Jiang Xuan's purpose in coming here.

In this mode, enemies were matched at random. Those who fought never knew who their next opponent would be.

The only rule was that the higher one's win streak, the stronger the opponent one would be matched against. This mode was most suitable for honing real combat experience.

Moreover, it was the only option for cultivators who chose the second payment method.

Without question, this was what Jiang Xuan chose.

As his fingertip tapped confirm, a white flash suddenly streaked before Jiang Xuan's eyes with a swish.

Then, a youth about Jiang Xuan's age appeared out of thin air across from him. The youth was clearly a newcomer as well, curiously looking about in every direction.

Yet beneath his curiosity was an eagerness he could barely restrain—this was precisely the time when disciples of Jiang Xuan's generation had opened their apertures and mastered their spells.

When one carried a sharp blade, the urge to kill naturally arose. That saying did not describe Jiang Xuan alone; others shared the same mindset.

Having grasped mysterious and wondrous spells, they all wanted to test the strength of their own techniques.

However, the eagerness on the youth's face instantly died when he saw Jiang Xuan's condition. All that remained was speechlessness. "Brother, with your condition, shouldn't you be recuperating properly? Why have you come to fight in an arena?"

"I'm fine, cough cough... To me, this state is a boost, not a weakness, cough cough..."

Before he could even finish the sentence, Jiang Xuan coughed two or three times. That sight left the cultivator opposite him even more speechless.

But in the next breath, the expression on the other man's face changed.

"Haa..."

As he spoke, Jiang Xuan also began circulating his mana, activating the first stance of the Returning to Stillness Annihilation Sword—Winter Is Coming!

A silent sword intent spread outward, perfectly merging with the Winter chill that flowed through his body day and night.

As the intent of winter circulated with his mana and spread throughout Jiang Xuan's body, his skin grew increasingly pale, even tinged with blue. This made Jiang Xuan look ever more like a ghostly soul that had walked out of the far-northern ice plains, rather than a human being.

And as the changes appeared in his body, the icy aura radiating from Jiang Xuan grew sharper and sharper. At that moment, the air around him was frosting over at a visible rate. With every breath, piercing white mist spilled from between his lips and teeth.

"Hiss..."

Staring directly at Jiang Xuan across from him, Zhao Gui felt a chill race up his spine and straight to the crown of his head.

It was no ordinary cold, but a frigid chill capable of freezing a soul until it cracked.

And as the "ice ghost" fixed him with that indifferent gaze, Zhao Gui felt as if someone had dragged him into an icy lake in the depths of winter. He could feel the warm sunlight leaving him, leaving behind only boundless darkness and bone-piercing cold. Even his blood seemed about to freeze within his veins.

The extreme frost, the gloomy chill, and the limitless darkness made breathing difficult. It was as if an invisible hand of ice had clamped around his throat.

"What the hell?"

"Is this your doing?!"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

Zhao Gui was not a disciple of Four Seasons Valley, nor did he cultivate the Winter Solstice sword.

Thus, faced with those strange sensations, he did not release a matching aura to confront Jiang Xuan. Instead, he began shouting wildly.

—This was also the most instinctive reaction of humans and beasts when facing danger.

It could not be denied that shouting really could bolster one's courage.

Relying on his roar, Zhao Gui recovered a little of his nerve. At last, a sliver of his mind broke free from that frozen darkness.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Rising from the icy lake loosened Zhao Gui's mind, and he instinctively sucked in a deep breath.

At the same time, his mind spun rapidly as he considered how to deal with this strange opponent before him.

"This guy is too bizarre. I..."

Splat!

Before Zhao Gui could think of a way to deal with Jiang Xuan, heart-rending pain suddenly exploded from his chest.

Lowering his head instinctively, Zhao Gui's pupils abruptly contracted—a crystalline ice sword had somehow already pierced into his chest, with fine frost flowers congealed upon its hilt.

"When did..."

He would never receive an answer to that question.

The instant the sharp ice sword entered his body, it violently exploded in the next moment.

The tiny ice sword burst into hundreds and thousands of ice spikes. Since it exploded from within, Zhao Gui's body was instantly riddled with holes by the tiny shards of ice.

Thud.

Just like that, Zhao Gui was instantly killed in a single exchange.

Until his death, he never saw when or where that ice sword had flown from.

And he was not an exception!