Chapter 230: There’s No “Me” in the Mirror

The next day, the fully prepared team of hundreds set out in an orderly manner towards the Mirror Valley. Meanwhile, the elite troops from the four nations of the Ancient Spirit Realm built a sturdy, omnidirectional defense in the outside world, vigilant against any potential enemies seeking to cause trouble.

No one could be certain how much power the Evil Demon was hiding within the Ancient Spirit Realm, nor what unknown changes might occur next; but everyone understood that the core of all developments would inevitably revolve around this area.

According to information provided by Lingyin Fairy Island, if the entire spatial blockade enveloping the Ancient Spirit Realm was viewed as a grand formation, then the Mirror Valley was its focal point.

All the nodes operated around the focal point, collectively constructing this world-class magical formation that isolated the encroachment of “Destruction.”

This place was vital—it bore the most pressure and contained the most secrets. Naturally, now that the cycle of yin and yang had turned, weakening the formation’s power to its limits, numerous problems would arise.

“Beep beep… beep beep…”

Listening to the rhythmic sounds coming from the compass-like device in her hand, Miss Vilyric glanced around at the countless “selves” surrounding her, feeling a mix of novelty.

The Mirror Valley was just as it was rumored to be, with numerous large and small pale silver crystals scattered everywhere. These crystals had irregular shapes overall but resembled floor mirrors to an extent. Walking among them felt like stepping into some bizarre, multi-dimensional mirrored space, leaving one utterly dizzy.

In this strange valley where the illusory and the real mingled, finding the correct route was already quite challenging, let alone carefully distinguishing the countless reflections to find the subtly different “Pseudo Mirrors.”

Therefore, at times like this, relying on the auxiliary tools provided by Lingyin Fairy Island was essential.

The Mirror Valley was large—about half the area of a normal county. While nearly a thousand people sounds like a lot, screening through the entire valley in just a few days was still quite a tall order. Hence, these top-tier experts from various parts of the Ancient Spirit Realm had to spread out as much as possible, adopting a net-like approach in small teams.

This finals could arguably be seen as the least conflict-ridden in the history of the Four Saints Selection Tournament. Although most people still weren’t clear about the actual significance of this operation, many participants with limited abilities were just glad to compete peacefully.

“Beep beep… beep beep… beep beep beep beep beep!”

After walking for about fifteen minutes, the device’s steady signals suddenly became rapid. Vilyric’s spirit lifted as she looked around left and right, quickly waving at a few nearby dispersing individuals.

“Come here, come here! I think I’ve found something!”

“Where, where, where? Wow, my device is sounding too! This thing really works!?”

To ensure safety, every exploration team was required to gather at least five people. While it was best if they could form a full group on their own, if not, the island would assist in arrangement.

Vilyric’s team was small—counting Miss Xiao Kong and Murong Yun, there were only three. To make up the numbers, she brought along the more familiar Miss Le Qiao Qiao and the swordswoman Hong Yan, while Hen and Fish Dan’er, being literary contestants, naturally stayed back at the camp.

Although Hen had felt a bit strange lately, catching the Priestess’s attention, she had just brushed it off with a “no problem” a few times, making it inconvenient for the Priestess to ask further, so she could only focus on the task at hand.

The group gathered again, looking at the rapidly flashing dials in their hands, exchanging glances.

The Lady Thief, who was completely clueless about such high-tech gadgets, took the lead in breaking the silence.

“So, boss, what do we do next? Just glare with our eyes?”

It was all their first time using this thing, and although they had heard that approaching a “Pseudo Mirror” would trigger a change, they still didn’t quite understand how to search further.

“Don’t worry, let me try.”

Holding the flashing device, the Priestess stepped a few steps in a certain direction.

The frequency of the flashing remained unchanged.

She returned to the starting point and stepped back in the direction she came, and the beeping noise immediately calmed down.

“Hmm…”

Nodding thoughtfully, the black-haired girl then moved forward a short distance.

“Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep!!!”

The alarm went off instantly, reaching an unprecedented peak!

“Just as I thought, I think I understand the judgment principle of this thing… Look, the louder and faster it rings, the closer we are to the target, and conversely, it means we’re still far away. In other words, this is a safety distance alarm.”

Returning to the group, Vilyric glanced at the mass of dense silver crystals in front of them and the varied reflections appearing, explaining casually.

“A safety distance alarm… what?”

Seeing Miss Le Qiao Qiao scratch her head in confusion at this unfamiliar term, Vilyric rolled her eyes at her and could only helplessly say.

“Doesn’t matter what it’s called, just know how to use it. Let’s go, everyone be careful.”

With the help of the alarm to significantly narrow down the search area, Vilyric and the others soon found the target hidden among over a dozen crystals.

It was a square standard silver crystal, about as tall as an adult. As they approached, their respective figures clearly reflected on its surface.

At a glance, it did seem similar to other crystals. Still, upon closer inspection, it became evident that the reflection in this “mirror” held some subtle differences compared to the images reflected by the other crystals.

Clearly, the reflection in the mirror should change immediately with the body’s movement, but this one crystal had about a 0.5-second “delay.” Mixed in with the other adjacent mirrors, this wasn’t too noticeable, but with everyone’s dynamic vision, they could clearly capture it by focusing.

In addition, there was another more evident difference.

Several people gazed, slightly astonished, at a particular black-haired girl in front.

Because—this “Pseudo Mirror” did not reflect any image of her at all. Although she could be seen from a distance, upon getting closer, that form strangely vanished.

In the crystal, only void remained.

“What’s going on? Boss, where are you?”

“Miss Vilyric, you didn’t secretly do something weird again, did you?”

“What do you mean by that… you’re being stereotypical!”

The subject of the conversation shot someone a glare but shook her head in surprise.

It was indeed a bit odd since this thing reflects the essence of living beings; Vilyric had worried whether it would show her appearance from her previous life. And if it was because the soul of a god couldn’t be reflected, then Miss Xiao Kong didn’t seem to be an exception…

Could it be because the Cat Daughter didn’t possess a Divine Spark temporarily? If that’s the case, this interference regarding “existence” might not exempt her either… but it still feels a bit off, doesn’t it?

Forget it.

There were endless strange occurrences, but that wasn’t crucial now. After some thought, Vilyric decided not to dwell on that reason any longer. Instead, she pulled out her weapon, rested it against the gigantic crystal that was even taller than her, and activated “Information Detection.”

No matter whether they could understand it, it was never wrong to give it a shot.

Soon, information about this item surfaced in the Priestess’s view.

【A special derivative formed by the Ultimate Magic – The Seal of Heaven and Earth, one of the three hundred thousand basic pillars constituting the core of the grand formation. It contains a small amount of “Space” law power but has undergone distortion due to unknown external forces, resulting in a runaway of law power and becoming an unstable spatial channel connecting to an unknown world.】

   

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