The Immortal Palace in the Mirror

The taotie pattern on the bronze box suddenly oozed dark red blood droplets. Shen Yi stepped back half a pace as three poison-coated bone needles whizzed past his ear and embedded into the stone wall.

Ink Feather’s fingertips wrapped in the Nine Nether Mystic Flame illuminated his sharp, sinister eyes. “Daoist Shen, why don’t you guess—does the ancient demon sealed inside this box enjoy feasting on living souls?”

Gao Yao’s Frostmoon Sword clanged as it was drawn, weaving a web of ice to Shen Yi’s left, barely blocking two skeletal talismans tearing through the air.

Seizing the moment, Shen Yi thrust a branch of the Dragonblood Tree into the maw of the taotie. The bronze box trembled violently, spewing dense, inky green mist—the system interface in his mind flickered wildly as his spiritual energy rapidly depleted.

“Keep going!” Shen Yi tossed out three jade-green pea pods, which exploded on the ground into a barrier of thorns.

But Ink Feather’s masked accomplices had anticipated this. One flung out a crimson gourd from which phosphorescent flames spewed, instantly reducing the vines to ash.

Sparks flickered onto Shen Yi’s sleeve, and the dark fabric erupted into eerie indigo flames.

“Watch out for the Netherfire!” Gao Yao’s alarm was woven into the sword’s cry as the Frostmoon Sword flicked a splash of icy water toward him.

Shen Yi rolled under the collapsing altar table; the bronze censer melted into molten gold under the Netherfire, droplets falling by his feet.

Ink Feather’s laughter rasped like sandpaper. “What are you hiding from, Daoist Shen? Where’s the courage you showed teasing my junior sister with those vermilion fruits?” He raised his hand to form a seal; suddenly, thirty-six Nether Lamps appeared beneath the treasury’s dome, each lamp’s wick locking in a wailing vengeful spirit.

Shen Yi wiped blood from his mouth. Inside his system space, the Crimson Flame Rose suddenly shook violently.

Using the shattered screen as cover, he quietly pressed his palm against the storage pouch at his waist.

The Black Tortoise Shell burned intensely but emitted a strange spiritual energy fluctuation—it was resonating with the formation array beneath Ink Feather’s feet.

“Don’t touch the formation eye!” Gao Yao’s sword energy suddenly veered, cleaving through ghostly vine hands reaching for Shen Yi’s ankle.

Taking advantage, Shen Yi feigned exhaustion and charged toward the ink jade formation plate.

Ink Feather fell for the trap, teleporting instantly with a Nether Step, his black robe billowing to reveal a hidden pouch at his waist.

Now was the moment!

Clasping the Decay Bone Grass from the system’s warehouse between his fingers, Shen Yi flicked it into the pouch during his fall.

This poisonous herb devours spiritual energy and sprang to life at the smell of blood, swiftly burrowing fine roots inside Ink Feather’s robe.

By the time Ink Feather sensed something was wrong, blue-black web-like veins had spread over his right leg.

“You’re courting death!” Ink Feather roared in fury, waving his sleeve as the Nine Nether Mystic Flame morphed into three snarling hellhounds lunging forward.

But Shen Yi staggered backward, shaken by the sudden surge from the Black Tortoise Shell, his back slamming hard against a bronze beast-head mechanism.

With the clatter of the mechanism turning, the entire treasury shook violently.

From the southeast corner came Feng Yi’s wild laughter. “Thanks, Daoist Shen, for triggering the mechanism for me!” He waved a battle flag, intent on seizing control of the formation eye amidst the chaos.

Cursing his miscalculation, Shen Yi dodged the falling bronze beams, but sharp pain shot through his calf—a crescent blade slashed open skin and flesh, the wound instantly turning black.

The system warning pierced his mind painfully; his spiritual energy was down to one-tenth.

---

Feeling the bulge at his waist, Shen Yi sensed the Seven-Colored Dodder inside the pouch heating up.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gao Yao cornered by two masked men, the moonlight on her Frostmoon Sword dimming.

Ink Feather swallowed a detox pill and limped forward. “You think these petty tricks...” Before he could finish, blood exploded from his waist.

The Decay Bone Grass had burrowed through his meridians into his dantian as he swallowed the pill, the crimson flower greedily sucking his spiritual energy.

Seizing the moment of stunned silence, Shen Yi bit his tongue and spat his essence blood onto the Black Tortoise Shell.

The star chart on the shell’s surface oddly aligned with the Nether Lamps overhead. A formation pattern twisted—it was the weak spot Feng Yi had secretly arranged in the soul-seizing array!

“Senior Sister Gao! The Kan position!” Shen Yi shouted, flinging the Dragonblood Tree branch.

Gao Yao understood immediately, thrusting the Frostmoon Sword into the ground. Ice spread along the tortoise shell’s star chart, freezing half the Nether Lamps.

Feng Yi’s flag snapped in response, the soul-seizing array backfiring and forcing him to cough up fresh blood.

Seeing this, Ink Feather crushed his talisman, and the three masked men instantly dissolved into black mist, merging into his body.

The surge of demonic energy scattered stones across the floor, hurling Shen Yi against the wall. His ribs cracked painfully.

Suddenly, the system space stirred—the Crimson Flame Rose, which had remained a bud, bloomed now, releasing golden-red mist from its core...

The moment the rose blossomed, the golden-red mist climbed Shen Yi’s fingertips like a living thing.

He recalled the system’s warning when planting the spirit herb days ago: “Special state trigger conditions unknown.” Now hundreds of ancient runes flooded his mind—fragments from the lost chapters of the Taiyi Qingnang Scripture he had once found at a Daoist temple!

“Kan and Li in harmony, wood and fire illuminate...” Shen Yi murmured, tracing a verdant wood talisman in the air with his bloodied left hand.

The rose mist surged along the talisman’s path. Ink Feather’s Nether Hellhounds convulsed and dissolved into black smoke.

The three masked men emitted strangled cries as if their throats were choked. The black mist around them met the red mist like boiling water meeting snow, dissolving into nothing.

Shen Yi’s eyes brightened. He threw seven Ghostface Mushroom spores from his spirit herb pouch.

The gray-white spores, upon contact with the golden-red mist, instantly swelled into millstone-sized caps, releasing spicy-sweet orange powder.

“Hold your breath!” Gao Yao warned, but too late—the masked man closest to the spores hurled down his curved blade and began frantically tearing at his own mask.

The other two staggered into each other and were entangled like rice dumplings by the jade pea vine Shen Yi had thrown.

Ink Feather clutched the Decay Bone Grass at his dantian. Suddenly, dozens of black centipedes crawled from beneath his robe.

“You think...” His words choked off abruptly as the centipedes, after feeding on the red mist, turned on each other, quickly reducing themselves to scattered limbs.

“Villains die by their own words.” Shen Yi wiped blood from his temple and slipped three vermilion fruits from his sleeve.

These fruits, meant to replenish spiritual energy, had been infused with Reddust Miasma. When shot at Ink Feather, they whistled like arrows.

“Pfft!” The first shattered Ink Feather’s heart-protector mirror; the second exploded in a spray of blood on his shoulder.

As the third was about to strike his forehead, Ink Feather crushed the jade talisman at his waist, transforming into black smoke and escaping underground into the formation.

---

“Beware of possession!” Elder Ling Xian’s voice pierced through the dome.

Shen Yi’s neck hairs stood on end as the Black Tortoise Shell emitted a dazzling green light.

He fell backward, narrowly avoiding a ghostly claw emerging from the formation, then thrust the Crimson Flame Rose into the formation eye.

The entire treasury echoed with the shrieks of countless vengeful souls. Ink Feather’s remnant spirit materialized within the red mist.

“I refuse to accept this! How dare a worthless wretch like you...” His words cut off abruptly as all thirty-six Nether Lamps exploded simultaneously, shredding his soul into fragments.

Gao Yao’s Frostmoon Sword clanged as it fell.

She stared blankly at the wreckage, then suddenly dashed forward.

Shen Yi was about to tease her when a soft, fragrant body collided fully against him.

The icy crystal hairpin at the girl’s temple brushed his neck, sending a subtle shiver through him.

“Your ribs...” Gao Yao suddenly stepped back, as if waking from a trance. Her ears flushed, but she forced calm. “That verdant wood talisman just now—who did you learn it from?”

Clenching his teeth against the pain, Shen Yi quietly hooked her waist tassel with his finger. “Jealous? I traded three acres of purple cloud peas with the village sage to get this...” Before he could finish, a burst of multicolored light exploded from the southeast corner of the treasury.

The bronze beast-head mechanism slowly opened, revealing a secret compartment filled with spirit jade.

Shen Yi was about to step forward when Gao Yao grabbed his sleeve. “Be careful of the trap...”

“I know, Senior Sister Gao,” he smiled, taking her wrist in his hand. “Once we get the treasure, I’ll plant ten acres of snow sight grass to make you a new skirt.”

Within the radiant glow, an octagonal bronze mirror covered in verdigris trembled.

But the reflected image was not their own—it showed a mist-shrouded celestial palace.

The system interface in Shen Yi’s mind flickered wildly. Above the spiritual energy bar appeared a golden exclamation mark never seen before.

“Ding! Time-space waypoint detected. Consume all spiritual energy to mark?” Shen Yi was about to confirm when the entire treasury shook violently.

Cracks spider-webbed across the dome, and stones rained down.

Gao Yao swung her sword to cleave falling debris, shouting sharply, “Run! The ley lines are collapsing!”

“Wait a moment longer!” Shen Yi fixed his gaze on the bronze mirror, watching as the palace gates slowly opened.

A summons from his bloodline made his whole body tremble, as if a secret older than the system itself lay buried there.