At those words, amusement crept into the eyes of all three Immortals of the Heavenly Dao. Their looks seemed to say, Let's see how long you can keep denying it. Li Xiaoya had no idea that he had already given them a complete account of how the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma had escaped, and was still offering excuses he thought were clever. This was precisely what made Buddha Xuanmen's Spirit-Confounding Art so formidable. With ordinary mind-controlling spells, the victim usually suffered some adverse reaction once the spell was lifted. But after the Spirit-Confounding Art was dispelled, the victim showed no unusual reaction whatsoever. His memories and physical responses remained fixed at the instant the spell had been cast. Even in the present cultivation world, this was a renowned and profound art.
"You really are a little liar. Still refusing to admit it?" Fairy Qingxia rolled her eyes at him and said with a laugh.
"I really...!"
"Here. You'll understand once you've looked!" Buddha Xuanmen interrupted him. With a sweep of his sleeve, he tossed something silver toward Li Xiaoya.
"What's this?" Li Xiaoya caught it and took a close look. It was a silver mirror, its back covered with exquisite raised and recessed patterns, with a strange eye carved in relief at the center. After examining it for a moment, Li Xiaoya suddenly tucked the silver mirror into his robe and chuckled. "Ah! Master Xuanmen, you're far too kind, giving me such a valuable gift on our very first meeting. Thank you!"
The three broke into a cold sweat at the sight. This boy certainly had no shame-he even dared pocket an Immortal Cultivator's belongings. Buddha Xuanmen burst out laughing. "Excellent! You really are shameless enough. But this isn't a gift. It's for you to take a good look at your conscience!" With that, he beckoned toward Li Xiaoya. Silver light flashed in his hand, and a silver mirror appeared there. From its appearance, it was the very one Li Xiaoya had just tucked into his robe.
Li Xiaoya felt the weight against his chest vanish. The mirror inside his robe was gone. He gave a fawning smile. "Well, I grew up a poor kid. Old habits, old habits. Hehe!"
The three did not know whether to laugh or be annoyed. Fairy Qingxia laughed. "Nothing about you looks honest. Listen properly to Senior Brother Buddha, and stop making mischief."
Buddha Xuanmen shook his head and tossed the mirror back. Li Xiaoya caught it, breathed on its surface, and rubbed it hard against his trousers. Looking into it, he said, "There's nothing here! Apart from one handsome, dashing young fellow, there's..." Li Xiaoya had still hoped to clown around and bluff his way through, but what appeared in the mirror left his mouth hanging open in shock, unable to speak for a long while.
In the mirror, Li Xiaoya's grinning face turned blank. The voices of his conversation with Buddha Xuanmen after the Spirit-Confounding Art had been cast also rang out.
"What is your name?"
"Li Xiaoya!"
Clatter! Li Xiaoya had watched only half of it before flinging the mirror away, his face rather pale. "Sorcery! This is sorcery! I never said anything like that!"
"This mirror is called the Recording Shadow Mirror. By casting a spell on it and pointing it at someone, you can record and preserve what that person did and said over a period of time. You should understand that the methods of us Immortal Cultivators are beyond anything you mortals can imagine. I think you would do better to be honest!" Buddha Xuanmen said calmly from beside him.
"This..." Li Xiaoya was utterly speechless.
For a while, Li Xiaoya remained silent. Everything that had happened over the past few days had gone beyond anything he had known in his ten years of life: flying arts, Immortal Cultivators, an animal transformed from a ganoderma, that fierce battle of spells, those strange flames... all of it seemed so unbelievable, yet so real. Now, a mirror that could show words and actions from his past that he had never said or performed no longer seemed quite so jarring or strange. It almost seemed to make sense.
"Well? Nothing left to say, you slippery little rascal?" Fairy Qingxia asked with a laugh when she saw him staring blankly.
"Well... uh... then what do you... want to do? I helped let the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma escape. Do whatever you want with me!" Li Xiaoya stammered.
Seeing how frightened he clearly was, yet how he still put on the air of a dead pig unafraid of scalding water, all three could not help laughing.
"If the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma has escaped, then let it be. Our Heavenly Dao Sect lacked the good fortune. It was never destined to be ours!" Buddha Xuanmen said unexpectedly. He paused, then changed tack. "From now on, stay in our Heavenly Dao Sect and cultivate! You needn't concern yourself with the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma anymore. We won't hold you accountable either."
"Hm? Ah?" Li Xiaoya was astonished. Still uneasy, he asked, "You really don't want it anymore? Weren't you terribly worried about that Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma? You can just decide you don't want it?"
Heavenly Venerable Daoling and Fairy Qingxia opened their mouths to say something, but remembered how Senior Brother Buddha had seemed to have a plan from the beginning. They said nothing and quietly watched him handle the matter.
"We don't. Spiritual treasures of heaven and earth can only belong to those fated to obtain them. There is no need to keep pursuing this!" Buddha Xuanmen was surprisingly easygoing, and spoke with certainty.
"You really don't want it?" Li Xiaoya asked doubtfully.
"We really don't!" Buddha Xuanmen said with a smile.
"And you don't blame me for letting it go?" Li Xiaoya asked again.
"We don't!" Buddha Xuanmen said firmly.
"Ha!" Li Xiaoya slapped his thigh and waved his arms excitedly. "That's what I've always said! Most monks and bald men are good people. Excellent, excellent! Master Xuanmen, as a monk, you ought to have a compassionate heart. Just look at the Five-Element Rainbow Ganoderma-what a lovely, adorable little animal! Catching it, killing it, and eating it to increase your... uh... magical power, that would be awful! You must remember that it's a life too. Letting it go was only right. Master Xuanmen, I admire you, I worship you! I want to learn from you, salute you... and..."
"Enough, enough, enough!" Fairy Qingxia interrupted him, laughing as she scolded him. "We're simply not holding you accountable, aren't we? Stop spouting flattery. What do you mean, 'a life too'? You ate a river deer just the day before yesterday!"
"Hehe!" Li Xiaoya scratched his head nonchalantly and grinned foolishly, looking utterly innocent. He said no more.
"Hehehe! Once you join our Heavenly Dao Sect, you'll have to mend this habit of lying and deceiving people!" Buddha Xuanmen said with a chuckle.
"Oh, look at you, bare-chested, with your trousers torn too. Senior Brother Daoling, why don't you have someone take him down to change his clothes?" Fairy Qingxia suddenly said from beside them.
"Oh! Right, I'd forgotten all about that. Li Xiaoya, in a moment, go down with a senior brother and change your clothes. Have a meal while you're at it. It should be about time for mortals to eat now, shouldn't it?" Heavenly Venerable Daoling said, as though he had suddenly remembered. Then he murmured an incantation, and a streak of yellow light flew out of the cave abode.
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