Sitting in a chair in the residence courtyard, what Chen Yan held in his hand were two sheets of paper.
Written on the paper were the eerie syllables that Elder Wen Mian would repeat to the air every day at the You hour, which Chen Yan had personally copied down.
The difficulty was immense.
Forget the challenge of restoring the completely inverted syllables and tones; even the statements Chen Yan himself had recorded on the paper might not be entirely accurate.
"Yi, sa, sa, wu..."
Chen Yan furrowed his brow tightly.
It simply wouldn't work.
Trying to decipher the inverted syllables and tones using only this method was far too difficult.
He had to try thinking of other approaches.
Jing Miao's voice came from outside the courtyard.
Chen Yan put down the paper in his hand, stood up, and walked towards the direction of the courtyard gate, reaching out to push it open.
Jing Miao stood just outside the gate, hands on her hips, looking extremely displeased, apparently annoyed at being sent here and there on errands.
Chen Yan, standing inside the gate, lowered his head slightly, glanced at Jing Miao beside him, and then brushed past her.
"Hey, Senior Brother Chen?"
Jing Miao, greatly puzzled by Chen Yan's attitude, caught up to his steps:
"Why are you ignoring me? That's very rude, you know!"
Chen Yan still gave no response, simply continuing to walk forward.
"I'm talking to you, Chen Yan, you..."
Suddenly, Jing Miao's unfinished words cut off abruptly.
Chen Yan stopped walking and glanced slightly back.
Jing Miao's figure had completely vanished from behind him, as if she had never appeared at all.
There was no need to cater to the various developments within this illusion.
It would completely correct any discrepancies.
And what it could correct wasn't limited to the original existences within the illusion.
Chen Yan raised his hand and began to fully activate the Clear Rainbow from the Hidden Immortal Art, using the Great Derivation Art to elevate this Clear Rainbow, which originated from the Hidden Immortal Art.
A wisp of mysterious immortal energy gathered at Chen Yan's fingertip, and in the next instant, he flicked it towards the architectural complex of the Water Mirror Pavilion.
In an instant, the entire Water Mirror Pavilion was vaporized by this trace of immortal energy released by Chen Yan.
This display of power was not an exaggeration in the slightest.
During the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm over sixty thousand years later, Yue Chi, then the Alchemy Hall Elder of Kongyuan Mountain in the Kongshan Sect, also used his Myriad Transformations Realm cultivation to activate his innate true energy, turning over half of the Water Mirror Pavilion into ruins in one fell swoop.
Along with the Water Mirror Pavilion's architectural complex, besides its disciples, Chen Yan's entire body's true qi was also vaporized.
His meridians shattered once again.
Counting all his cycles of reincarnation, this was the fifth time.
Yet, almost in an instant, Chen Yan's meridians began to slowly piece themselves back together, repairing.
Simultaneously, the Water Mirror Pavilion, which had been vaporized moments before, also began to slowly restore itself. Countless tiny particles gathered and fused in the air.
All of this was merely an illusion; everything on Heavenly Summit Mountain was false.
But...
Chen Yan raised his head, looking towards the pure white palace suspended over two thousand zhang above the summit of Heavenly Summit Mountain.
Heavenly Summit Palace.
Currently residing within the Heavenly Summit Palace was the last palace master of Heavenly Summit Mountain and also the last Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator of Heavenly Summit Mountain.
Qinghong Realman.
"An illusion..."
Chen Yan muttered to himself.
He wasn't unfamiliar with great powers of the Immortal Ascension Realm.
Mr. You was an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator, and so was Si Youyou.
But in that era over sixty thousand years later, Mr. You's cultivation could only remain at the peak of the Dao Union Realm; as for Si Youyou, she hadn't even recovered the memories belonging to Pure Dust True Person yet and was just an ordinary little girl.
They couldn't truly be considered Immortal Ascension Realm cultivators in the real sense.
But Qinghong Realman...
Even though it was currently just an illusion, facing a genuine Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator, Chen Yan would ultimately still feel pressure.
But he had to do it.
Thinking this, Chen Yan activated his true qi to fly through the air, heading straight for the Heavenly Summit Palace suspended in the sky.
Landing on the steps before the Heavenly Summit Palace, Chen Yan continued walking towards the direction of the palace's main gate.
He had come to pay his respects to Qinghong Realman.
But the moment Chen Yan stood before the palace gate, it automatically and slowly swung open inwards.
As if welcoming Chen Yan.
Chen Yan hesitated for a brief moment, then continued stepping forward, walking into the Heavenly Summit Palace.
He had prepared himself to face an Immortal Ascension Realm cultivator, even though Chen Yan clearly knew the other was merely an illusion.
Yet, the instant he stepped into the Heavenly Summit Palace, Chen Yan froze completely in place.
He probably wouldn't get to see Qinghong Realman.
Because what he saw was a corpse.
Zhai Yushi's corpse.
Feeling incredulous, Chen Yan took several steps back, returning outside the Heavenly Summit Palace, and looked down towards the direction beneath his feet.
Heavenly Summit Mountain was still the Heavenly Summit Mountain from over sixty thousand years ago.
But the Heavenly Summit Palace was the Heavenly Summit Palace from over sixty thousand years later.
Everything was an illusion, a fact Chen Yan had long known.
He stepped over Zhai Yushi's corpse, continuing further into the Heavenly Summit Palace, all the way into its main hall.
Within the vast, spotlessly clean white space, only in the very center of twelve white jade pillars stood a pure white Dao Platform half a zhang high.
In this pure white main hall of the Heavenly Summit Palace, the bronze fragments discarded on the ground to one side were particularly conspicuous. Chen Yan picked up the fragments of the Heavenly Summit Mirror; his own reflection appeared within the shards.
Then Chen Yan turned and walked back outside the Heavenly Summit Palace.
The Heavenly Summit Mountain beneath his feet remained the illusion from over sixty thousand years ago.
Chen Yan gave a light leap, returning to Heavenly Summit Mountain, and carefully stored the Heavenly Summit Mirror fragments inside the sleeve of his daoist robes.
If the words spoken by Elder Wen Mian were caused by a mirror-like inversion from the Heavenly Summit Mirror's illusion...
Then simply using the Heavenly Summit Mirror to invert them once more should yield the correct, forward-facing speech.
There was still some time before today's You hour.
Chen Yan walked towards the direction of Elder Wen's residence. Standing before Elder Wen's residence door was still Supervisor Zhao.
Seeing Chen Yan walking towards him, Supervisor Zhao immediately revealed a smile:
"Here to see Elder Wen again, Supervisor Chen?"
"Do you remember me killing you, Supervisor Zhao?"
Chen Yan said.
"Supervisor Chen, killed me?"
Supervisor Zhao asked, confused.
"Right here, and then..."
Chen Yan raised his hand, gently placing his finger on Supervisor Zhao's heart position:
"Kongshan Finger."
Supervisor Zhao, his heart completely pierced, fell backward and then collapsed onto the ground, becoming a corpse.
"..."
The crowd outside the courtyard gate simply remained silent.
"All of you, dismissed."
Chen Yan said.
"Yes, Supervisor Chen."
Led by Administrator Li, the members of the Water Mirror Pavilion's Internal Affairs Hall bowed towards Chen Yan's direction.
Chen Yan continued walking into the courtyard of Elder Wen's residence.
The white-haired old man sat within the courtyard.
Everything was merely an illusion. However, hidden within this illusion was the truth of Heavenly Summit Mountain's destruction from over sixty thousand years ago.