Love Travels through Time (My father who traveled through time and space to cultivate immortality came back to pick me up) - Chapter 93
Chapter 93: Reason
Xiang Haikui wasn’t actually afraid of Jing Ran.
She just couldn’t quite gauge the current situation and felt thoroughly bewildered.
Fearing that Jing Ran might read clues from her gaze or expression, Xiang Haikui did her best to maintain a distant, icy composure.
Raising her head to lock eyes with him, she continued transmitting her voice to Yin Changli through the morning glory flower: “Not only can I see the Emperor, but he can see me too… He seems to be calling me a mirror spirit? The Spirit of the Xuantian Mirror?”
Yin Changli did not answer.
The morning glory flower served as a group chat channel, yet the other three remained silent as though muted, without interrupting with a single word.
Seeing the figure in the mirror standing frozen like a stone statue, Jing Ran asked, “Mirror spirit?”
Xiang Haikui’s worries were completely unfounded. From the mirror light reflected on the ceiling, she could view the entire Palace of Heavenly Deities in crystal-clear high definition.
Jing Ran, on the other hand, couldn’t even see her face clearly through the Xuantian Mirror in front of him, let alone the expression in her eyes.
“Not a mirror spirit?”
At this moment, it wasn’t just Xiang Haikui who was utterly lost; Jing Ran was equally confounded.
He reached out a hand, reaching toward the surface of the mirror.
Xiang Haikui held her breath, terrified that his hand might pass right through it.
If it did, she might not be able to stop herself from drawing her sword and severing his arm.
Ultimately, Jing Ran’s fingertips lightly tapped the surface of the glass without penetrating the Xuantian Mirror.
Jing Ran confirmed that the Xuantian Mirror had indeed activated on its own.
The figure in the mirror probably wasn’t a mirror spirit.
Whenever the Xuantian Mirror offered guidance during a divination, brief and obscure characters usually floated onto its surface.
An “image” had never appeared before, let alone a mirror spirit revealing itself.
Jing Ran withdrew his hand from the glass, placed it behind his back, and scrutinized the Xuantian Mirror.
“Since I acceded to the throne of Emperor, I have only seen you activate on your own twice. Last time was to warn me that Shuluoye might bring total ruin upon our Celestial Clan. What is it for this time?”
What was the deeper meaning behind projecting Xiang Haikui’s image?
It surely wouldn’t be so idle as to mock him on purpose.
Watching Jing Ran knit his brows in deep thought, Xiang Haikui grew increasingly perplexed in her heart.
“Senior?”
“I am here,” Yin Changli answered.
Just as Xiang Haikui was about to speak, the bronze mirror embedded in the floor suddenly lost its luster, and the light reflected above it vanished in an instant.
Everything returned to tranquility.
“It disappeared…?” Xiang Haikui froze for a moment, briefly wondering if she had experienced a hallucination.
She was standing near the door.
A surge of power pulsed through from outside the entrance.
Xiang Haikui’s gaze instantly sharpened.
Before she could draw her sword, the Blood Asura’s voice came through the morning glory flower: “Miss Xiang, it’s me.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, she stepped aside to clear the space behind the door.
The Blood Asura phased through the door, walked briskly to the bronze mirror, and crouched down with his sword in hand to examine it.
“How could this lead to the Upper Realm? That doesn’t make any sense.”
The Blood Asura didn’t know everything about the Upper Realm, but he knew a fair amount.
Those who had a chance to reach Joining the Dao and ascend to the Upper Realm had all been recruited in advance by Han Qi.
Especially given his grudge against Yin Changli, Han Qi certainly wouldn’t pass him up.
It was just that the Blood Asura had refused.
After examining it for a while, he marveled, “What ancient runes! Yin Changli, I reckon even you might not necessarily recognize them.”
Xiang Haikui walked over and crouched down alongside him, first looking up at the ceiling.
“Is this really the passage to the real world?”
The Blood Asura mused, “The Prison of Nightmares exists naturally. Nightmare energy flowing here is like clear qi rising and turbid qi sinking—it’s a natural phenomenon. Why would anyone need to set up an array specifically for it?”
Xiang Haikui pondered, “So according to your guess, this place isn’t naturally connected to the Celestial Clan’s Xuantian Mirror, but rather a companion spirit used some ancient array to forcibly link them together?”
“I’m not just making blind guesses.”
The Blood Asura gave her a look that signaled absolute confidence.
“Little sister, mirrors naturally gather both Yin and Yang energies, and they’re extremely common—nearly every household has one. According to the handwritten notes left by the sword-forging founder inside the Dream Sword, he suspected that human nightmare energy is absorbed through mirrors, slowly gathering before flowing into the Prison of Nightmares.”
Xiang Haikui listened attentively, glancing up at the ceiling every now and then.
It sounded as if there were a pipe running behind every mirror, akin to a natural gas pipeline.
“That’s why there’s a world of skill involved in placing mirrors in a house,” Blood Asura said.
“If the placement aligns with the surrounding feng shui field, it can absorb a person’s negative energy. But if it conflicts with the surrounding energy, far from absorbing anything, the negative energy inside the mirror might even leak out…”
No matter how powerful the Celestial Clan’s Xuantian Mirror was, it was still a mirror at its core.
And so long as it was a mirror, the companion spirit of the Prison of Nightmares saw it as something that could potentially be “breached.”
“Senior Yin…” Xiang Haikui transmitted her voice.
“Could it be that the omens of fortune and calamity predicted by the Xuantian Mirror have nothing to do with the Heavenly Dao, but actually come from the companion spirit?”
“It’s possible,” Yin Changli answered in a heavy voice.
“Do the Celestials themselves know? That their clan’s sacred treasure isn’t a divine mirror, but a demonic one?”
Xiang Haikui doubted they knew.
At least Jing Ran didn’t know.
Whenever he brought up the Celestial Clan or the Xuantian Mirror, the proud look on his face was certainly not an act.
No, her question wasn’t precise enough.
She should ask whether the past six or seven generations of Emperors knew that their “divine mirror” had turned into a “demonic mirror” at some point along the line.
Not long ago, Yin Changli had just told her about Shuluoye’s experience in forging divine artifacts.
He mentioned that Shuluoye believed the Celestial Clan was straying further and further off course.
“Inspiration” had rendered them free of desire, and the ancestors of the Celestial Clan were indeed devoid of earthly wants.
It was only a few generations ago that they began to turn bloodthirsty, holding themselves supreme above all other races.
So there was actually a hidden mastermind driving it all from behind the scenes?
As the power of the Xuantian Mirror waned over time, was it breached by the companion spirit of the Prison of Nightmares, which then began posing as the “Heavenly Dao”?
Whenever the Emperors were indecisive, did it deliberately deliver false omens to push the relations between the various races toward a downward spiral?
Did the companion spirit possess such an ability?
It ought to.
What one thinks by day, one dreams by night. As a Lord of Nightmares that absorbed bad dreams, it could extract countless secrets from the dreams of many.
For instance, back then, Shuluoye’s nightmare had accidentally leaked into this Prison of Nightmares.
At the time, he was forging a divine arrow to construct a spatial corridor. Because he feared the risks of connecting with the greater world, in his nightmare, he became a madman wielding a weapon of mass destruction that wiped out the entire Celestial Clan.
So the companion spirit issued a warning, telling Jing Ran that Shuluoye might be forging an artifact capable of destroying the Celestials.
When Jing Ran investigated and found that Shuluoye had indeed been crafting some sort of treasure lately, he naturally believed it without a second thought.
Coupled with the fact that it was an heirloom left behind by their ancestors, how could he possibly suspect a thing?
“Senior Yin?”
Xiang Haikui had been mulling over this in her head for quite a while, yet she hadn’t heard a response from Yin Changli.
All she heard was the echoing rumble of thunder, traveling over from afar.
“Oh no!” Blood Asura’s brows furrowed. He immediately stood up and looked toward the back row of palaces.
“The companion spirit has awakened. It likely sensed the array being activated here.”
Because Yin Changli was keeping watch over it, he had intercepted it.
“What terrible luck. Judging by the situation, if we want to leave, we’ll just have to hack our way out.”
Xiang Haikui stood up after him. The ground suddenly luridly shook, nearly causing her to bump into Blood Asura.
She could already feel that the palace where the companion spirit retreated for secluded cultivation was like an erupting volcano crater.
The collision of two vast forces was splashing and sweeping across the surroundings.
Yin Changli and the companion spirit were locked in combat.
Even if the companion spirit hadn’t been awakened, Yin Changli couldn’t possibly have just slunk away in secret.
This creature was pushing things behind the scenes to stir up war between the Celestials and the Shanhai Clan, fearing nothing more than a peaceful world.
Furthermore, it was the one that gave the warning about Shuluoye forging divine weapons, making it half an accomplice.
No matter which reason it was, to Yin Changli, these were vendettas of life and death—how could he possibly let it off the hook!
“Come over to my side,” Yin Changli took a moment to transmit his voice.
“Let’s go!” Blood Asura’s body turned ethereal as he phased through the door.
Xiang Haikui used another Invisibility Talisman and phased through as well.
Upon leaving the secret room and entering the corridor, not only did the trembling of the ground grow more intense, but also a dense wave of violent, bloodthirsty aura charged straight toward them.
The guards patrolling outside the palace had received orders from the companion spirit and were rushing inside.
Judging by the concentration of the violent aura, their numbers were considerably sizable.
There were strong ones and weak ones; the weaker ones spearheaded the charge while the stronger ones followed behind.
“You take the lead; I’ll conserve my strength,” Blood Asura, who was originally charging in front, abruptly came to a halt and turned around to stand behind Xiang Haikui.
Xiang Haikui stopped as well.
Blood Asura gave the sword casket on her back a light nudge.
“I’m not trying to screw you over. This companion spirit dared to trick even the Celestial Clan, so its strength has likely crossed well beyond the territory of ‘not to be underestimated.’ Yin Changli might not even be able to beat it. Out of our group, I’m the only one who can still lend a hand.”
Xiang Haikui nodded.
“I understand. I’m analyzing the terrain.”
Exiting the corridor would lead right into the spacious main hall. When fighting against a crowd, a narrower space worked to her advantage, eliminating the need to worry about being encircled, ambushed, or managing complex footwork.
“We’ll wait right here for them to charge into the corridor, then we’ll spring out.”
She slapped her chest like a show of bravado.
“As the saying goes, ‘When two rivals meet on a narrow path, the valiant one wins!'”
Blood Asura’s mouth twitched slightly.
“You really do love using crude, brute force to solve problems.”
Xiang Haikui raised her eyebrows.
“Your logic is flawed. Why waste brainpower on a simple problem that can be solved with brute force?”
Blood Asura stroked his chin, thinking that actually sounded rather reasonable.
While they spoke, those monster guards had already rushed into the corridor.
The beast charging at the very front looked like a hybrid of a scorpion and a centipede, holding a massive axe high in the air as purple electric arcs flashed across it, exuding a fierce momentum as if ready to cleave through mountains to clear a path.
Xiang Haikui opened her sword casket. Tian Kuang didn’t even leave its sheath; its sword aura alone came erupting forth.
The first time Xiang Haikui had tried to manipulate sword aura was after dual-cultivating with Yin Changli.
Back then, she could barely control a single strand of sword aura.
The normal process was to practice until she became proficient with one, then attempt to manipulate two strands simultaneously.
Going from one strand to two didn’t seem like much of a difference, but it required dividing one’s divine sense into two halves—a massive challenge.
Xiang Haikui, however, had skipped controlling two strands altogether, directly shattering Tian Kuang’s sword aura into dozens of distinct streams.
Ever since Yin Changli brought her into this world, the growth of her abilities had always been forged under intense pressure.
So much so that she had developed a habit of taking extreme risks and seeking survival in desperate situations.
This wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
As she was dispersing her divine sense, the Blood Asura glanced at the corroded rust on his Dream Sword with considerable worry.
He patted her on the shoulder and said, “Forget it, step back and let me handle this. Though the violent aura on these monsters isn’t individually heavy, it’ll still be terrifying if it erupts all at once…”
Xiang Haikui replied, “It’s fine, I can handle it. You should save your strength.”
The Blood Asura said, “I’m worried you won’t be able to control Tian Kuang. All this violence will affect your state of mind…”
Previous masters of the Tian Kuang Sword whose cultivation surpassed the sword’s own level were still prone to being overcome by its frenzy, driving them mad.
To say nothing of Xiang Haikui, whose Tian Kuang was already maxed out in level.
“I don’t want to end up having to control you after you lose your mind killing these beasts. That would defeat the whole purpose.”
“It really won’t be a problem,” Xiang Haikui said with certainty.
“Don’t worry, Senior. There definitely won’t be any issues.”
“Where do you get off being so confident?” The Blood Asura’s brows furrowed.
This generation’s Tian Kuang master truly seemed a bit different.
Xiang Haikui said, “It’s not confidence—I’m the master of Tian Kuang, so I have to be this mad!”
The Blood Asura: …
Different my foot. Exactly the same.
Whoosh…!
Under Xiang Haikui’s control, dozens of strands of sword aura surged forward as one, like fine needles penetrating every gap, piercing straight into the monsters’ bodies.
The mad intent expanded inside them—bang, bang, bang—exploding them into clouds of blood-red mist.
There was no smell of blood in the air. Just as the Blood Asura had said, they possessed no physical bodies; they were merely dark energy condensed from nightmares.
Once the sword aura in her sword casket was exhausted, Xiang Haikui charged forward, transforming into a dragon.
Opening her massive jaws wide, she let out a roar, spraying a torrent of sword aura from her mouth that wiped out another massive swarm.
Then, using the pair of imposing dragon horns on her head, she gored her way straight through, skewering a whole wave of them like hawthorn berries on a stick, stringing them into two neat rows.
Watching from behind, the Blood Asura’s eyelids twitched incessantly.
He was immensely grateful that Yin Changli had given him the Dream Sword back then instead of Tian Kuang.
Stepping over the corpses of monsters all the way, they hacked their way out of the corridor. The monsters that could arrive on short notice were basically all slain.
After escaping the palace, they met up outside with the two ultimate masters, making the fighting much easier.
However, the numbers were simply overwhelming, so they fought as they fled toward the palace where the companion spirit resided.
Floating in midair above that palace was Yin Changli, his robes fluttering, his expression icy and stern.
Xiang Haikui cast a few extra glances at him.
Learning that a proud, arrogant person like Jing Ran had been deceived by a nightmare companion spirit all along gave her a vengeful sense of satisfaction, making her want to laugh out loud for a moment.
Yet, remembering the disaster this had brought upon Yin Changli, how could she bring herself to laugh?
As for that companion spirit, it was currently about twenty zhang away from Yin Changli.
This creature had the shape of a head and face but no features.
Its skin was transparent and thin, looking as though it would pop at a touch, with faint blood vessels and meridians visible beneath, making it look remarkably like a humanoid jellyfish.
Neither of them appeared to be moving, facing each other from a distance, yet the air around them had already been stirred into a raging torrent by their heavy presence.
If you closed your eyes, you could almost hear the sound of the ocean crashing against jagged rocks.
When Xiang Haikui extended her divine sense toward them while still far away, it felt as if her antennae had touched a red-hot iron, causing her to shudder violently.
This was precisely why Yin Changli had called them over.
Regular monsters couldn’t even get close to the energy generated by the duel between him and the companion spirit.
“Yin Changli, how many times must I say it before you believe me?”
The companion spirit spoke, its voice entirely neutral, making it impossible to tell if it was male or female.
“I connected with the Xuantian Mirror simply to harvest the essence, spirit, and energy released when the Celestial Emperor activates it. That power allows me to evolve from a spiritual body into a physical entity—it is as simple as that.”
Yin Changli remained coldly aloof.
His surrounding field of power did not wane, suppressing the companion spirit entirely.
However, it could only suppress it; he couldn’t advance any further.
The companion spirit neither struggled nor yielded, allowing their two forces to engage in a tug-of-war between them.
“The Celestial Clan’s Xuantian Mirror is ancient and long ago lost its spiritual energy. If I wanted them to trust me, I naturally had to proactively deliver a few predictions.”
“Take Shuluoye forging a divine weapon, for instance—did I not speak the truth? His death was the Emperor’s own choice, not my command. If you just think about it, you should know: if I were posing as the Heavenly Dao and wrote something like ‘kill your brother’ on the Xuantian Mirror, wouldn’t he have suspected something?”
Yin Changli asked in a deep voice, “Then back when the Celestial Clan went to war with my Shanhai Clan, why did you foretell that ‘war is viable’?”
The companion spirit sneered, “How do you know I said ‘war is viable’? When the former Emperor performed that divination, he came to the divine hall alone. The question he asked was what the outcome would be if the Celestial Clan went to war with the Shanhai Clan, and the answer I gave was four words: ‘Endless trouble ahead.’ But do you know how he interpreted it? He claimed the Xuantian Mirror meant that leaving the Shanhai Clan alive would bring endless trouble ahead, so they had to be eradicated as soon as possible.”
“When I learned of this, I risked exposure to open the Xuantian Mirror on my own accord and gave him the word ‘Omen of Calamity.’ Yet he was so clever as to interpret it as ‘the calamitous beast must be eliminated.’ Tell me, what choice did I have?”
Yin Changli’s eyelashes drooped slightly, as if lost in thought.
The companion spirit’s tentacle-like hair danced in the wind.
“When power is in hand and desire expands, no one can halt their steps. They will find any reason and any excuse to fool everyone—including themselves.”
Yin Changli still remained silent.
“Furthermore, as for the change in the Celestial Clan’s ways, what does that have to do with me?” the companion spirit said.
“Since ancient times, the cycle of life has never stopped, and dynasties rise and fall—what ever stays constant? Initially, the Celestial Clan was free of desire, but that was because the world was still wild and primeval. What about now? When even the rustic Human Clan has begun intrigue and infighting, do you still expect the high-and-mighty Celestial Clan to remain true to their original aspirations forever?”
At this moment, the Blood Asura interrupted hesitantly, “Yin Changli, do you suspect that it stirred up war among the clans to generate more violent aura to use for its cultivation? Did I tell you before that the Prison of Nightmares has an endurance limit? If the incoming flow of nightmares exceeds that limit, this Prison of Nightmares will collapse and be wiped out entirely.”
A-Mu, having a deep impression of this, couldn’t wait to nod.
“You did say that.”
Xiang Haikui remembered as well—the Blood Asura had wanted to tell Yin Changli that inciting war among the various clans brought no benefit to the companion spirit, only harm.
Once a war was ignited, accompanied by large-scale slaughter and death, more and more nightmare energy would pour in, which would instead accelerate the collapse of the nightmare prison, and the companion spirit would perish right along with it.
With this piece of evidence laid right in front of them, Xiang Haikui could hardly find any reason to refute the companion spirit’s defense.
Not that she needed to think too deeply about it anyway; Yin Changli was sure to make the right judgment.
“Exactly. I wouldn’t dig my own grave, now would I?” The companion spirit nodded.
“As for other matters, I have a clear conscience… Regarding Shuluoye’s death, I do bear some responsibility. If you insist on avenging him, I’ll gladly keep you company.”
Having said that, it added another line, “Yin Changli, you are indeed a terrifying opponent. I finally understand why the Emperor, who looks down on everyone, would treat you like a mortal enemy. But if I hadn’t already suffered damage to my vital energy, you wouldn’t necessarily have had the strength to take me on…”
“That’s enough.” Yin Changli looked as though he didn’t care to listen to its nonsense.
The power he released began to flow back.
He stopped going toe-to-toe with it.
Yin Changli said, “Send us out, and we’ll pretend nothing ever happened.”
“Sending you out is no problem,” the companion spirit replied, “but I used that passage to forcibly bind with the Xuantian Mirror. If you want to leave, that is the only exit.”
Xiang Haikui muttered, “That’s not an exit; that’s a funeral procession, isn’t it?”
Leading straight to the Palace of Heavenly Deities in the Upper Realm, with the Emperor standing guard right there—it was no different from going to one’s death.
Back when Xiang Haikui fought him with her life on the line, she couldn’t rule out the fact that her anger had gotten the better of her.
After cooling down, though she felt no regret, she understood that she had indeed been a bit impulsive.
She didn’t want to lose her life over that scumbag now.
The Blood Asura was the first to disbelieve it, “There’s no way that’s the only path.”
“If you don’t believe me, feel free to search.”
The companion spirit spread its arms, gesturing for them to go ahead.
The Blood Asura actually went off to look.
Jueshi Gaoshou and A-Mu went to search as well.
Though neither knew who “the Emperor” was, after eavesdropping for a while, they gathered that he was a formidable character.
“I have an idea.”
While Yin Changli was confronting the companion spirit, she hadn’t been able to transmit her voice.
Now that the conflict between the two had diminished significantly, she tried sending a message to Yin Changli: “I have an extremely bold idea.”
Yin Changli seemed to be lost in thought, taking a moment to reply: “Hmm?”
Xiang Haikui said, “Didn’t the Emperor mistake me for the Spirit of the Xuantian Mirror? Why don’t we play along with the mistake? Have the companion spirit send me out, and I’ll pretend to be the mirror spirit…”
Yin Changli immediately cut her off: “No. The Palace of Heavenly Deities is heavily guarded by hidden shadow sentries. Even if you can fool the Emperor, we will still be discovered the moment we step out. Escaping on my own is no problem, but I have no absolute certainty if I’m taking you with me…”
Xiang Haikui interrupted, “I don’t plan on escaping.”
Yin Changli looked down at her from above, his eyes filled with questions.
Xiang Haikui had just opened her mouth.
He asked, “You want to use the identity of the mirror spirit to go to the Emperor’s Listening To Heaven Palace and steal your master’s formation disc?”
Xiang Haikui gave him a “you’re so smart” look by way of reward.
The seal formation discs for those trapped powerhouses of the Shanhai Clan were all kept inside the Listening To Heaven Palace, guarded either by the Emperor or Dugu He, the number one sword of the Celestial Clan.
Even without the formation discs, Yin Changli could still rescue them, but he would have to break the formations one by one at each place of imprisonment.
That would be a long and arduous process.
The reason Yin Changli hadn’t started yet was that he wanted to wait until his cultivation had fully recovered.
If she could steal those formation discs, it would settle everything once and for all.
Yin Changli did not agree: “Setting the Emperor aside for a moment… Little Kui, given how much you despise him, could you really remain calm and composed in his presence?”
“Of course I can.”
Just thinking about it made Xiang Haikui happy—what despise?
“I’m not going in front of him to act like a nobody this time—I’m posing as his Heavenly Dao daddy!”
