The instant the black jade fragments struck the ground, spiderweb cracks suddenly spread across the altar floor, and the space beneath everyone's feet warped and flipped like a mirror. Lin Wudao instinctively grabbed the Chaos Sword, only to find himself falling into a blood-red mist. Faint whispers drifted from all around, like countless wronged souls screaming in his ears.
"This is... an illusion?" Lin Wudao circulated his spiritual power, trying to break through the mist, only to discover that the power of the Mystic Heaven Creation Instruction had been inexplicably weakened here. The Chaos Sword suddenly trembled violently, tiny cracks appearing along its blade as though it feared something.
"Ding! High Antiquity Illusion Array detected. The key to breaking it lies in confronting your inner demons." The system notification rang out in his sea of consciousness.
Before the words had faded, a familiar figure emerged from the mist-it was none other than the black-robed man from the Netherworld Sect whom Lin Wudao had slain with his own hands. The bronze mask on the black-robed man's face split in two, revealing a face that bore a seventy-percent resemblance to Lin Wudao's.
"You thought killing me would get you the inheritance?" The black-robed man grinned viciously, the bone staff in his hand transforming into countless chains. "Look at yourself. You're nothing but a despicable wretch who steals power by collecting corpses!"
Lin Wudao's pupils abruptly contracted as memories surged back like a tide. The wretched state he had been in when he first entered the cultivation world, curled up beside a corpse-collecting coffin to escape the bites of stray dogs; the elders' disdainful sneers when his Lineage discarded him like a worn-out shoe; and that secret trace of unease deep in his heart every time he collected a corpse. These images kept growing larger in the mist, stabbing at his nerves.
"Shut up!" Lin Wudao swung his sword at the black-robed man, only to find his attack passing straight through the man's body. The black-robed man let out a piercing laugh, transformed into countless black shadows, and burrowed into him. Lin Wudao felt as though his head would split apart, as if countless hands were tearing at his soul.
Just as he was about to buckle, the Chaos Sword suddenly gave a clear, ringing cry. Wisps of golden light seeped from the cracks in its blade, and wherever the light reached, the black shadows scattered and vanished. Stirred by a thought, Lin Wudao poured his spiritual power into the blade and shouted, "My fate is mine to command, not Heaven's! So what if I use corpses to prove my Dao?"
With that furious roar, the blood-red mist exploded with a thunderous crash. Lin Wudao discovered that he was actually inside an enormous bronze-mirror world. The mirrors reflected Tianxuzi, Youmingzi, and the others, each trapped in their own illusion. Tianxuzi knelt before a ground strewn with bones, howling denials of his past secret slaughter of his fellow disciples; Youmingzi, meanwhile, was entangled in countless vengeful spirits, letting out shrill, agonized screams.
At the center of the altar, the fused black jade fragments hovered above the highest bronze mirror, emanating an eerie purple light. Lin Wudao was just about to leap up and seize them when a giant hand covered in scales suddenly reached out of the mirror and dragged him inside.
"You again!" Lin Wudao swung his sword at the giant hand, only to discover that everything within the mirror world was warping and reassembling. He seemed to have fallen into an endless maze; with every step he took, the scenery around him changed. The Chaos Sword suddenly pointed toward the ground, its blade vibrating faster and faster. Lin Wudao followed the direction it indicated and saw that the patterns on the ground were exactly like the murals at the secret realm's entrance.
"So that's it!" Lin Wudao bit his fingertip and dripped blood onto the intersection of the patterns. The entire bronze-mirror world shook violently, and countless fragments fell from above. Seizing the opportunity, Lin Wudao grabbed the black jade fragments, but the instant he touched them, he saw Great Emperor Xuantian's memories from just before his death-
Upon the ancient clan's altar, Great Emperor Xuantian embedded three black jade fragments into the altar's core and, with a grave expression, left behind one final restriction: "If someone in the future can gather all the fragments, tell them the truth..." The scene cut off abruptly. In Lin Wudao's hand, the black jade fragments broke down into three Jade Slips, inscribed respectively with "The Truth of the Blood Sacrifice," "The Mystery of the Supreme Treasure," and "The Final Battle."
"Brat, hand over the Jade Slips!" Tianxuzi had broken free of his illusion at some unknown point, golden Dao patterns coiling around his entire body. "You think someone like you can unravel the Great Emperor's secrets?" Youmingzi also charged out from the other side, his seven skeletal generals transforming into a black torrent.
Lin Wudao tucked the Jade Slips into his robes, and the Chaos Sword erupted with light ten thousand zhang high. "If you want them, come and take them!" The crashing collapse of the bronze-mirror world mingled with everyone's furious roars. Amid the shattered mirror light, a final showdown over the secrets of High Antiquity thundered into motion...