The Mystery of the Shattered Mirror

The glazed ground of the Spirit Sword Plaza still bore the scorched marks of the Void Race's corrosion, but they were quietly covered by new growth of vines. Translucent flowers bloomed on these vines, each one condensing the phantom image of a light butterfly, turning last night's crisis into a medal of the Endless Sword Dao's transformation. Chu Mo rubbed the Sword Master shard in his palm. The patterns on the surface of the rhombic crystal suddenly lit up, casting a fragmented mirror image onto the ground.

"Is this... Hanging Mountain from the land of the Primordial Beginning?" Yun Che leaned closer to examine it. In the mirrored image, a colossal mountain, its body inverted and plunged into a sea of clouds, floated at the edge of the Void Sea. A strange black mist flowed from the ancient bronze mirror at the mountain's peak. "The Sword Master's incomplete scroll didn't mention this place."

Before she finished speaking, the eight Great Domain Guardians rushed over. The Thunder Domain Guardian Envoy's armor still crackled, the residual lightning mixed with the dark purple of the Void Race. "Lord Chu Mo, similar mirror projections have appeared at the borders of each domain. The furnace in the Geng Metal Domain has even started operating in reverse!" On the jade slip he unfolded, dense runes were twisting into mirror-like patterns.

The Azurewood Domain Lord's World Tree phantom suddenly shook violently, and the leaves falling from its canopy turned to ash. "Before the Void Race retreated, I felt a familiar aura deep within the Void Sea... like the sealed source of the Chaos Sword Body." His gaze fell on the shard in Chu Mo's hand. "Perhaps it's related to this Sword Master fragment."

Chu Mo's twin power suddenly boiled, and the mirror image projected by the shard began to change. He saw a figure in a black robe walk out of the bronze mirror on Hanging Mountain. The person held a sword tassel identical to the masked man's, but instead of the heads of Divine Lords, it was strung with twelve bronze mirrors inscribed with ancient curses. "So the masked man had accomplices." His sword-like brows furrowed tightly, and the Fate Defying Sword unconsciously hummed.

"Senior! Something's happened at the training ground!" The blacksmith boy's shout broke the silence. When everyone arrived, they found dozens of new sword cultivators trapped in a cage made of mirrors. Their spirit swords were stuck in the mirror seams, and each mirror reflected a distorted version of themselves — some had grown Void Race tentacles, others had the rhombic mark of the Sword Master appearing on their foreheads.

"These mirrors are devouring their Dao hearts!" Yun Che's soft sword slashed open a bronze mirror, but the fragments instantly reassembled. The mirror actually reflected the scene of her being sacrificed on Godfall Island. Chu Mo's pupils contracted sharply. His twin swords slashed out simultaneously. The golden light of the Chaos Sword and the purple flames of the Fate Defying Sword intertwined, burning the words "Endless" onto the mirror surface.

When the words "Endless" lit up, the spirit swords of the trapped sword cultivators suddenly resonated. The blacksmith boy's hammer-sword burst with the light of the artisan's path, melting the mirror surface into molten iron; the Thunder Domain sword cultivator's Thundercloud Sword Tassel triggered tribulation lightning, shattering the core of the mirror array. As the last mirror disintegrated, everyone found a bronze token inscribed with the words "Void Mirror Division" buried in the center of the mirror array.

"Void Mirror Division... I've seen this name in the annotations of the Sword Master's incomplete scroll." Chu Mo flipped the token. The patterns on the back were identical to the bronze mirror on Hanging Mountain. "Thirty thousand years ago, the Sword Master sealed a group of cultivators who could control the Mirror Law. They attempted to replace reality with illusion." He suddenly remembered the Light Orb Race children inside the Void Race's main body. The star map imprint on his chest faintly echoed the token's patterns.

At this moment, a ground-shaking roar came from the direction of Mount Guiji. Amidst the golden sword light erupting from the new Sword Tomb, countless mirror fragments were mixed in. Each mirror reflected Chu Mo from different times and spaces — a confused youth in the Mirror Abyss Corridor, the Sword Sovereign crowned in the Hong Meng Hall, and a terrifying figure completely entangled in Void tentacles.

"The Mirror Law is interfering with the foundation of the Endless Sword Dao!" The Azurewood Domain Lord's World Tree phantom began to wither. "If we don't cut off the source at Hanging Mountain, the entire Divine Realm will become an illusion!"

Chu Mo gripped his twin swords. The Light Orb Race on his sword tassels suddenly transformed into a compass, its needle pointing directly towards the Void Sea. He looked at Yun Che. The dark purple scale curse mark in her hair lit up again, and the fragment of the Ice Clan Fate Pearl in her hand was absorbing the residual power of the mirror array. "This time, we're going directly to Hanging Mountain." His voice was firm. "No matter what conspiracy the Void Mirror Division has, the reality of the Endless Sword Dao cannot tolerate the slightest erosion of illusion."

The moment they stepped into the Void Sea, Chu Mo's twin pupils reflected a vast sea of mirrors. Countless floating bronze mirrors reflected the past, present, and future of the Myriad Realms. And in the center of all the mirror images, Hanging Mountain stood like a giant sword plunged into the Void Sea, the ancient bronze mirror at its peak devouring the entire Void Sea into a mirrored world. Even more alarming, within the black mist entwining the edge of the ancient mirror, twelve faint phantoms similar to the Divine Lords' corpses were vaguely visible. Their chests were also embedded with the Chaos Sword Body mark.

"Welcome to the opposite of reality, pawns of the Chaos Sword Body." The black-robed figure's voice came from within the mirror. The twelve bronze mirrors flipped simultaneously, reflecting images of Chu Mo and Yun Che bound by chains. "It's been thirty thousand years. The Sword Master's game should end now — and you are the keys to restarting the laws of the Myriad Realms."