Heaven and earth reflected within the mirror.
The world was shrouded in gloom. Moon-white buildings lined up in neat rows, nestled among the rocky terrain. These jade-like palaces were mostly curved and gleaming, with massive stone beasts crouching along the cliffs. All of it appeared silver-white under the moonlight.
Lu Jiangxian sat quietly before the jade table, a faint azure glow emerging in front of him.
The moment Chi Buzi appeared on Zongquan Island, Lu Jiangxian was jolted awake. The contingency he had left within Chi Buzi’s soul quickly transmitted everything back. Various scenes of the Eastern Sea flickered through his pupils.
Two seconds later, Lu Jiangxian once again sat properly at the jade table.
Chi Buzi.
Back then, Lu Jiangxian implanted a hidden trick in Chi Buzi’s soul. It was partly to steal memories and partly to suppress him. Now, having obtained the Immortal Official’s memories, he immediately sensed something was wrong.
If memories were transmitted back... then the contingency within the soul must still be active.
Lu Jiangxian frowned and reviewed the memories. Sure enough, over the years, Chi Buzi had engaged in a battle of wits with the Immortal Official from the Water Mansion, wandering all across the Four Seas in search of traces of the so-called Immortal Court.
Those memories had been hastily fabricated by Lu Jiangxian to explain the Immortal Official’s origins. How could they match reality? After circling the Four Seas, both man and soul realized something was amiss.
Yet, this realm’s Daoist traditions resembled those of their previous life while differing in many ways. Various Dao Seed techniques had real foundations. After a brief quarrel, the split soul had to admit that the Immortal Court had indeed collapsed and vanished during some ancient immortal-devil war.
The Immortal Official’s soul was originally a fragment of Maha Jinlian Maha, a being of strange and demonic origin. Upon realizing the Immortal Court was gone, it immediately developed wicked intentions and sought to seize Chi Buzi’s body and live again.
The two battled endlessly. One was a Purple Mansion Realm Daoist Master, an old devil from Azure Pond Sect. The other fancied himself a man of the righteous path, yet was equally cunning. They schemed against each other for over a decade.
In the end, Chi Buzi succeeded in assimilating the talisman qi, and the Immortal Official was devoured. Yet the radiance in Lu Jiangxian’s hand clearly confirmed that the Immortal Official had, over the years, mastered the soul arts of this path and might still be hiding somewhere deep in Chi Buzi’s soul.
That restriction within Chi Buzi’s soul still shimmered faintly. Despite their bitter battle of cunning and betrayal, neither Chi Buzi nor the Immortal Official had touched that seal. It was as if they had a mutual, unspoken agreement.
Lu Jiangxian sat silently upon the jade throne for a while. He was no longer the same man he once was. In his heart, he speculated, Chi Buzi might very well know the Immortal Official isn’t dead. Perhaps he doesn’t dare kill someone connected to me... deliberately handing over leverage to make me think he’s under control.
As for joining forces against Pristine Water...
Lu Jiangxian naturally had no impulse to confront Pristine Water now. The more he understood this world, the more cautious he became. All he wanted was to focus on restoring the mirror, why would he provoke Pristine Water?
I can’t even step out of the mirror, how could I possibly drag him down from his Fruition Attainment? thought Lu Jiangxian.
Those figures were still fighting beyond the Outer Heavens. His true body was hidden in the great void and he could faintly sense its tremors. If he revealed even the slightest trace, he feared he’d be immediately perceived.
Shangyuan has ascended to become a True Monarch...
Lu Jiangxian set aside the numerous techniques and spell arts in those memories for now. He stirred his divine senses and indeed found that the various Shamanic Talisman Dao arts he’d previously developed had all changed. There was an added ingredient of Jade True Essence Catalyst that made them quite different.
He sat quietly before the stone table, calculating inwardly, Over the past century, I’ve come to gradually understand this world. Not only the Purple Mansion Realm cultivators, but even many Golden Core Realm cultivators are now familiar to me...
In Yue State, there’s Azure Pond Sect’s Pristine Water, Golden Feather Sect’s Taiyuan, and Yue Cultivating Sect’s Taiyue. That makes three True Monarchs. Wu State is similar in size to Yue, and I only know about Changhuai’s Taiyi. There are probably two or three there as well. So Jiangnan should have around six True Monarchs.
The Eastern Sea has two dragon kin. I've heard Valley Water is among them. The Northern Sea reportedly has two, and the Southern Sea is about the same size as the East. Altogether, the Four Seas should have about nine.
And then there are the Wang and Xie Families, Mount Luoxia, the Underworld... there’s quite a number overall.
By his calculations, the Immortal Dao alone had ten True Monarchs, clearly dominant. No wonder the Northern Buddhists had kept their heads down all this time...
And as for ancient True Monarchs, there must be even more of them!
From the Immortal Official’s memories, Lu Jiangxian had gathered much information. What he desired most, however, was to trace his own origins. For it was very possible that he had a previous life, and had been the lord of the Moonlight Origin Mansion.
After reviewing everything, he still felt that the identity of Yingze was the most likely.
First, his mirror was a treasure of moonlight origin. It was said the Moonlight Origin Mansion possessed the Sun-Moon Profound Light, possibly formed from both the Supreme Yin Profound Light and Supreme Yang Profound Light. It was a perfect match for Yingze, which symbolized both yin and yang.
Second, Yingze belonged to Green Pine Temple, and the Sun Seeker Ring bore the inscription Green Pine Temple Lu Jiangxian . This was another match.
But most importantly, Green Pine Temple’s grotto heaven reflected itself above and below, wasn’t that exactly like a mirror? And that grotto heaven had been forged by Yingze.
With these three clues aligning, Yingze seemed the most likely identity.
The Golden Feather Sect’s Taiyuan called Yingze ‘senior,’ so Yingze must have been at least a True Monarch, possibly even a Dao Embryo...
But things weren’t so easily concluded. Two matters still left him uncertain, he thought, The Lord of Moonlight Origin Mansion was said to be an Immortal Lord, Yingze might fall short of that. And Li Jiangqun has seen me, which means I was still active in the more recent ancient times, while Yingze seems to have perished long ago.
So he could only list Yingze as a suspect for now. He continued thinking, In any case, at least five True Monarchs are lying in wait for this Yingze. Mount Luoxia has a Dao Embryo and so does the Underworld. Exposure must be avoided at all costs.
He hadn’t even considered Chi Buzi’s suggestion as he only found the man troublesome. With a sigh, he muttered, “At the very least, Pristine Water is in a bad spot, he’s bound to suffer injuries this time and will have no energy to manage those beneath him.”
He conjured those memories into form, and soon a collection of ancient texts that were all stored within azure jade slips appeared before him.
Chi Buzi had been cautious, only allowing him to see the Foundation Establishment Realm chapters of Azure Pond Sect techniques... but Pristine Water’s five Daos were all complete.
He specially selected these five paths, which were Dark Floating Compliant Cloud Sutra, Lucid Marsh Profound Cave Sutra, Ugly Sunflower Water-Seeking Method, Clear Serenity Dusk Sutra, and Dew Tribulation Falling Petal Art.
These corresponded to Pristine Water’s five techniques, Heavy Murk, Spring’s Echo, Sunflower Concealment, Clear Dusk Rain, and Purging Dew.
Lu Jiangxian set them aside for now. Naturally, he wouldn't allow the Li Family to cultivate these techniques. They would serve only as references for his own spell art and the study materials related to the Pristine Water Origin Talisman Essence.
After all, the path of Pristine Water was closely tied to talismans. In Jiangnan, talismans were easily refined, perhaps this connection would offer some inspiration, thought Lu Jiangxian.