The glazed ground of Spirit Sword Square still bore scorched marks from the Void Race's corrosion, yet newborn vines had quietly spread over them. Translucent flowers bloomed along those vines, each one condensing a phantom of a light butterfly, adorning last night's crisis as a badge marking the transformation of the Endless Sword Dao. Chu Mo rubbed the Sword Lord fragment in his palm when the patterns on the Rhombic Crystal suddenly lit up, casting a shattered mirror image across the ground.
"Is this... Hanging Mountain in the Dawn of Primordial Chaos Land?" Yun Che leaned closer. Within the mirror's image, a colossal mountain plunged upside down into a sea of clouds, floating at the edge of the Void Sea. The Ancient Bronze Mirror atop it flowed with eerie black mist. "The Sword Lord's remnant scrolls never mentioned this place."
Before her words had faded, the Eight Great Domain Guardian Envoys hurried over. The Thunder Domain Guardian Envoy's armor still crackled, traces of lightning mingling with the Void Race's dark purple energy. "Lord Chu Mo, identical mirror projections have appeared at the borders of every domain. Even the furnaces of the Geng Metal Domain have begun operating in reverse!" The jade slip he unfolded was packed with runes twisting into mirror-like patterns.
The Azurewood Domain Lord's World Tree Phantom suddenly swayed violently, and leaves drifting from its crown turned to ash. "Before the Void Race withdrew, I sensed a familiar aura deep within the Void Sea... like the origin of a sealed Chaos Sword Body." His gaze settled on the fragment in Chu Mo's hand. "Perhaps it is connected to this Sword Lord fragment."
Chu Mo's Twin Life Force suddenly boiled over, and the fragment's projected mirror image began to change. He saw a black-robed figure step out from the Ancient Bronze Mirror on Hanging Mountain. The figure held a sword tassel identical to the masked man's, except instead of Divine Lord heads, it was strung with twelve bronze mirrors carved with ancient incantations. "So the masked man had accomplices." His sword-like brows knitted tightly as the Fate Defying Sword hummed of its own accord.
"Great Master! Something happened at the training grounds!" The Blacksmith Boy's cry shattered the silence. When everyone arrived, they found dozens of new sword cultivators trapped inside cages formed from mirrors. Their spirit swords were wedged in the cracks between the mirrors, and every surface reflected a distorted version of them—some had grown Void Race tentacles, while diamond-shaped Sword Lord marks appeared between others' brows.
"These mirrors are devouring their Dao Hearts!" Yun Che's flexible sword cleaved through a bronze mirror, only for the fragments to reassemble instantly. The mirror even reflected the scene of her being sacrificed on Godfall Island. Chu Mo's pupils abruptly contracted. His Twin Life Swords struck out together, the golden radiance of the Chaos Sword intertwining with the violet flames of the Fate Defying Sword and burning the words "Endless" onto the mirror's surface.
As the word "Endless" lit up, the trapped sword cultivators' spirit swords suddenly resonated. The Blacksmith Boy's Hammer Sword erupted with the light of the craftsman's Dao, melting the mirrors into molten iron. The Thunder Domain sword cultivators' Thunder Cloud Sword Tassels summoned tribulation lightning, shattering the core of the mirror formation. When the final mirror collapsed, everyone discovered a Bronze Token buried at the center of the formation, engraved with the words "Void Mirror Division."
"Void Mirror Division... I saw that name in the annotations on the Sword Lord's remnant scrolls." Chu Mo turned the token over. The patterns on its reverse were exactly the same as those on Hanging Mountain's Ancient Bronze Mirror. "In records from thirty thousand years ago, the Sword Lord once sealed a group of cultivators who could manipulate Mirror Law. They sought to replace reality with illusion." He suddenly recalled the Light Orb Race children within the Void Race's main body. The star-map imprint over his heart faintly echoed the token's patterns.
At that moment, a heaven-shaking, earth-rattling roar came from the direction of Mount Guiji. The golden sword light erupting from the new Sword Tomb was mixed with countless mirror fragments. Every shard reflected a Chu Mo from a different time and space—one was a bewildered youth in the Mirror Abyss Corridor, one was a Sword Venerable being crowned in Hong Meng Hall, and another was a terrifying figure wrapped from head to toe in Void Tentacles.
"Mirror Law is disrupting the foundation of the Endless Sword Dao!" The Azurewood Domain Lord's World Tree Phantom began to wither. "If we do not sever the source at Hanging Mountain, the entire Divine Realm will fall into illusion!"
Chu Mo tightened his grip on both swords. The Light Orb Race on his sword tassels suddenly transformed into a compass, its needle pointing directly toward the Void Sea. He looked at Yun Che. The dim Zi Lin Curse Mark in her hair had lit up once more, while the Ice Clan Fate Pearl fragment in her hand absorbed the residual power of the mirror formation. "This time, we're going straight to Hanging Mountain." His voice was resolute. "No matter what scheme the Void Mirror Division is plotting, the reality of the Endless Sword Dao cannot tolerate even the slightest corrosion from illusion."
The instant they stepped into the Void Sea, Chu Mo's Twin Pupils reflected an endless sea of mirrors. Countless floating bronze mirrors showed the past, present, and future of all worlds. At the center of every reflection, Hanging Mountain stood like a gigantic sword plunged into the Void Sea, while the Ancient Bronze Mirror at its summit devoured the entire Void Sea and turned it into a mirror world. More chilling still, twelve phantoms resembling Divine Lord corpses could vaguely be seen within the black mist coiling around the ancient mirror's edge, each with a Chaos Sword Body mark embedded in its chest.
"Welcome to the reverse side of reality, pawn of the Chaos Sword Body." The Black-robed Figure's voice came from within the mirrors. All twelve bronze mirrors flipped over at once, reflecting Chu Mo and Yun Che bound in chains. "Thirty thousand years have passed. The Sword Lord's game should end at last—and you are the keys to restarting the laws of all worlds."
Before you continue