: Spirit Mirror Illumination

Author: Gu Zhenren

Date: 2025-08-08

Thick, congealed blood-red killing intent, like viscous plasma, instantly erupted from Ning Zhuo's entire body.

The crimson radiance, carrying a dense sense of military conflict and slaughter, pierced through the layers of black clouds and slammed into the invisible hub marked by the snowy light.

Simple! Brutal!

Unreasonable! Overpowering skill with brute force!

Time seemed to stall for a ten-thousandth of a second.

Then—everything turned upside down!

BOOOOM...

The entire black cloud space, as if abyssal depths had been thrown into billions of thunderbolts, erupted with an unprecedented, terrifying roar.

Deafening!

It wasn't a single sound, but a symphony of destruction: countless restrictions collapsing, spatial structures twisting, infinite talismans tearing apart, and torrents of energy clashing out of control!

Ning Zhuo's vision suddenly became a kaleidoscope of bizarre colors.

Centered on the invisible hub, snowy literary energy shot out, blood-red killing intent boiled, and spatial ripples of pitch-black and deathly white intertwined, spreading out in concentric circles.

Wherever they reached, the hubs Ning Zhuo had discovered or not discovered were completely exposed. Like fragile soap bubbles, they burst one after another without a sound! The released literary energy, turning into snowy light, was instantly swallowed and twisted by the violent spatial ripples before it could even spread!

Space wrinkled, then tore apart!

Spatial rifts appeared one after another, like hideous scars covering his field of vision! Countless chaotic energy torrents, like wild horses freed from reins, madly clashed, annihilated, and exploded within these rifts and folds!

The entire grand formation collapsed in an unstoppable chain reaction!

Yet, Ning Zhuo remained unaffected. His position was like the eye of a tornado; while catastrophe reigned outside, it was as calm as a lake here.

The young man's expression was as grave as his mood.

He stared intently at the invisible hub before him, astonished to find that although the invisible hub was violently impacted, twisted, and deformed, causing the entire grand formation to tear and collapse, it itself remained tough and resilient, digesting the impact and rapidly restoring itself.

"Invisible hub!" A bolt of lightning seemed to strike Ning Zhuo's mind.

In that instant, he understood without being taught, suddenly realizing a major advantage of the invisible hub—it was intangible!

It could avoid many conventional means of destruction!

It was like the moon's reflection on water. Ning Zhuo had merely stirred the water's surface; although the moon's reflection was distorted, once the water calmed, it would restore itself to the full moon's image.

As for those tangible hubs, even if destroyed beyond recognition, as long as the intangible main hub remained, the true foundation of the grand formation wouldn't be endangered—it would just be left in tatters.

Ning Zhuo gritted his teeth.

His formation attainments were far inferior to the River of Forgetfulness Prefect's. Naturally, he couldn't break the invisible hub head-on.

He could only exert his full strength, spewing military killing intent while also requesting military power reinforcement.

The blood-red military killing intent erupted as if ignited, transforming into vast swathes of bloody light flames that engulfed the invisible hub.

The military power contributed by the Qingjiao Army now bolstered Ning Zhuo alone, making him even more powerful.

Ning Zhuo's painstakingly accumulated military killing intent was consumed recklessly without reservation, soon bottoming out. But the invisible hub remained, not truly damaged!

"Could it be... I made the wrong choice?" Ning Zhuo's resolve wavered inevitably. "Huh? What's that?!"

Amidst the endless waves of black clouds and the tattered spatial storm, he caught a glimpse of a huge silver-gray sphere.

River of Forgetfulness Tributary.

The River of Forgetfulness Prefect's heart sank.

Ning Zhuo didn't know what that silver-gray giant sphere was, but how could the Prefect not know?

It was the result of him casting the Mysterious Dark Water Serpent spell and being forced to use his Prefect's Seal, ultimately successfully sealing the Shadow of the Silent Extinction Buddha.

Originally, he had hidden this silver-gray giant sphere very deeply. But now, the grand formation was severely disrupted by Ning Zhuo, swaying like willow branches in a gale, and the silver-gray sphere was naturally exposed.

"I hope this kid doesn't notice this." The thought had just crossed the Prefect's mind when he saw Ning Zhuo suddenly look up, his hawk-like gaze fixed on the silver-gray sphere, his expression a mix of shock and suspicion, yet sharp and penetrating.

"..." The Prefect's heart sank once more at that moment.

He had never imagined there would be a time when he, a Deity Transformation-level existence, a Prefect of the Underworld, equivalent to a monarch of a country, would pay such close attention to a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator!

"But fate..." The Prefect almost sighed to the heavens. Simultaneously, his sense of foreboding intensified sharply.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted to pinpoints as he thought of another critical point.

The Void Black Sphere!

This was also the work of the Silent Ghost Monk.

The Silent Ghost Monk primarily cultivated the "Silent Extinction Sutra." This move was one of the terrifying killing techniques within it—Void Point!

To counter the effects of the Void Point, the Prefect had spared no effort, channeling the River of Forgetfulness tributary and employing his ultimate power, yet could only achieve a stalemate and mutual depletion. To completely destroy the Void Black Sphere would take far more than a day.

Therefore, the Prefect had directed the River of Forgetfulness's soul current to push both the Void Black Sphere and the Mysterious Dark Silver Sphere away from the altar, hiding them deep within the heavy gloomy clouds and concealing them deep inside the grand formation.

"The Mysterious Dark Water Serpents entwined, combined with my Prefect's Seal, sealed the Shadow of the Silent Extinction Buddha—this was transformed from the Silent Ghost Monk's Life Buddha Wheel."

"But the Void Black Sphere is also the Silent Ghost Monk's handiwork. If the two were to connect and their auras interact, it would inevitably lead to disastrous consequences!"

The Prefect could already imagine the two spheres colliding, the Void Point dissolving and devouring the surface sealing power, releasing the Buddha's shadow.

He absolutely could not let this happen!

The Prefect gritted his teeth.

Currently, what he could rely on, besides himself, was only his split soul.

But the split soul was locked in a fierce battle with Luo Si and, more importantly, was tightly linked to the Earth Phase formation, unable to control the Heaven Phase formation.

The grand formation outside the altar constituted most of the Heaven Phase formation.

Therefore, the Prefect had to act with his main body!

He had been hoping to take the risk to enter dormancy, seizing every second to catch his breath and accumulate a bit more combat power. The current situation left him no choice but to exhaust his spirit and control the Heaven Phase formation.

The silver-gray giant sphere was already exposed, but the Void Black Sphere was not.

He had to try his best to hide this black sphere and exert all his effort to prevent the two spheres from meeting.

After just a few breaths of attempting to control the Heaven Phase formation, fatigue was already evident on the Prefect's face.

It was too difficult!

Ning Zhuo was wreaking havoc on the invisible hub. The entire Heaven Phase formation was like a runaway carriage, and the Prefect had to struggle to maintain its balance.

He felt as weak as an infant.

His spirit was depleting rapidly!

At this moment, the Prefect squeezed out his reserves, displaying experience far surpassing Ning Zhuo's. He actually managed to temporarily stabilize the situation and hide the black sphere.

It was incredibly difficult!

Like walking a tightrope over a cliff during a violent storm.

Ning Zhuo was completely unaware of all this.

He didn't know he was, in a subtle way, arm-wrestling with a Prefect, a Deity Transformation-level existence.

How would he know anything about a Void Black Sphere?

He didn't even know the origins of the silver-gray giant sphere before him.

Ning Zhuo stared at the silver-gray giant sphere, his thoughts racing: "The guest star should shine upon the Literary Hub's north... North? Could it mean further north from the invisible hub?"

At this very moment, the silver-gray giant sphere was directly north of the invisible hub.

Ning Zhuo didn't know if this guess was the correct interpretation of the prophetic poem, but even if he wanted to target this silver-gray sphere now, he was powerless.

The reason was simple.

He was currently at the invisible hub, in the eye of the tornado. The surroundings were extremely dangerous, but here it was relatively safe.

For Ning Zhuo to approach the silver-gray giant sphere, he would have to traverse the hurricane-like battlefield—that was practically suicide.

Long-range attack?

Ning Zhuo resolved to try.

While maintaining the Confucian art [Scholar Meets Soldiers], he activated a Five Elements spell.

Fortunately, [Scholar Meets Soldiers] was relatively simple, allowing Ning Zhuo to multitask.

However, his usually proficient Five Elements spells, even with the Inner Temple Spirit God Technique and military power reinforcement, were destroyed mid-way, with no hope of reaching the silver-gray sphere.

Seeing this, the Prefect sneered inwardly: "This kid still wants to try a long-range attack to break the seal? Wishful thinking."

After a few attempts, Ning Zhuo immediately stopped.

His mana wasn't abundant either. Multitasking and simultaneous spellcasting consumed his spirit fiercely.

This wasn't the time for indiscriminate bombardment. A Foundation Establishment cultivator's power was inherently insufficient; every bit of strength needed to be used sparingly.

"What should I do?!"

Ning Zhuo knew he couldn't act recklessly. He racked his brains,苦苦思索 a way to break the deadlock.

"The guest star should shine upon the Literary Hub's north..."

"The guest star should shine upon the Literary Hub's north..."

"North... North..."

"Shine?"

"Shine?!"

In that instant, a spark of inspiration struck him, like lightning illuminating his mind and dispelling the confusion in his heart.

His eyes shone with sharp light, his spirit suddenly振奋!

Seeing the change in Ning Zhuo's expression, the Prefect's heart sank again, his sense of foreboding intensifying.

"So, the character 'shine' in that line of poetry has a second meaning."

"I understand!"

Ning Zhuo took out a mechanism treasure mirror.

This was his life-bound magical treasure—the Spirit Mirror!

Forged using treasures like cold iron, flowing cloud sand, Great White Gold Essence, sky crystal, thick earth, and others, and utilizing a mechanism base to form its shape, Ning Zhuo finally imprinted his Spirit Mirror spell talisman into its core array heart to complete it.

The Spirit Mirror could be used to project people and objects.

Back when Sun Lingtong was trapped in the Longqiu Hidden Scale Dojo, Ning Zhuo used a two-pronged approach, employing the Life Thread and the Spirit Mirror to rescue her.

Projecting Sun Lingtong was a bit mismatched, but projecting mechanism constructs was just right.

This wasn't strange.

Because the Spirit Mirror, this life-bound treasure, originated from the Mirror Platform Spirit诀, which is one of the Three Supreme Methods and is among the world's top-tier mechanism cultivation techniques.

While maintaining the Confucian art [Scholar Meets Soldiers], Ning Zhuo took out the Spirit Mirror, holding it with one hand.

He aimed the mirror surface at the silver-gray giant sphere, holding back from activating it.

Just this simple action made the Prefect extremely nervous.

Ning Zhuo waited quietly for the right moment. Seeing a relatively calm path at one point, he suddenly activated the Spirit Mirror, shooting out a beam of mirror light.

The mirror light, like a pillar, although struck mid-way, still managed to land partially on the silver-gray giant sphere.

The next moment, the Shadow Blade · Night Tiger materialized out of thin air, clinging to the silver-gray giant sphere.

This was a new Meng Yehu!

After the war between the two Zhu countries, Ning Zhuo realized he needed to replace Meng Yehu's materials with entirely new ones.

The current Meng Yehu was even more robust than before. But even so, compared to the current silver-gray giant sphere, the mighty Meng Yehu was like a small mouse beside an elephant's foot.

Mechanism—Shadow Slaughter Claws!

Dull, non-reflective sharp blades suddenly extended from Meng Yehu's hands, then stabbed viciously at the silver-gray giant sphere before it.

Clang! Clang! Clang!...

Sparks flew first, then the Shadow Slaughter Claws snapped completely.

Ning Zhuo's pupils contracted, surprised by the silver-gray sphere's incredibly strong defense.要知道, his newly materialized Meng Yehu was entirely made of treasure-grade materials!

After all, Ning Zhuo had made a fortune from the war between the two Zhu countries.

Even so, the Shadow Slaughter Claws only created some scratches on the surface of the silver-gray sphere.

"Is that all?" The Prefect's eyebrow twitched slightly, then settled. "Was I overreacting just now?"

But the next moment, a crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the silver-gray sphere, from which a burst of watery mist sprayed out.

Within the mist was a trace of desolate Buddhist light.

This result wasn't caused by the Shadow Slaughter Claws, but by the turbulent, tearing space of the formation.

However, under Ning Zhuo's expectant gaze, the crack on the silver-gray sphere quickly healed on its own.

The main force sealing the Shadow of the Silent Extinction Buddha was the Prefect's Seal, a national treasure! Moreover, with the assistance of several Mysterious Dark Water Serpents, the sealing power itself was very substantial.

The Prefect felt slightly relieved.

But Ning Zhuo saw the clue and directly activated the Spirit Mirror, retrieving Meng Yehu.

"This is the power of the Water element. I can't reach it personally. In that case, I can only rely on the fire seed!"

Wood Within Fire!

When decisive action was needed, Ning Zhuo never hesitated.

He took out the fire seed, cast a spell, and placed it into Meng Yehu's mouth.

This scene made the Prefect nervous again.

"This kid is only at the Foundation Establishment stage, yet he possesses a fire seed?!"

"Wood Within Fire!"

"Alone, it can't break through the Mysterious Dark Water Serpents' blockade."

"But what Fire element spell is he casting?"

This question was crucial!

Fundamentally, spells are methods of utilizing power. This power could be the cultivator's own mana, certain precious materials, or magical instruments/treasures.

Although Wood Within Fire couldn't directly counter the water serpent seal, if there was a spell specifically designed to target it, it could achieve the effect.

This was the wisdom of cultivation.

"How could this kid have learned a spell specifically targeting my Mysterious Dark Water Serpents?" The Prefect tried to comfort himself with this thought, but it was futile, only making him more tense.

The other party was the human calamity chosen by the Yang World's Azure Heaven's fate!

Haven't there been plenty of strange occurrences and tricks associated with him already?

What the Prefect didn't know was that Ning Zhuo hadn't learned any targeted spell. But the reality was worse than he imagined—Ning Zhuo's own Five Elements attainments were very profound, and he directly created one on the spot!

The Spirit Mirror flashed, projecting Meng Yehu onto the silver-gray giant sphere once more.

Meng Yehu moved with full effort, climbing to the crack, and spat out a fireball directly into the interior of the silver sphere.

The Fire element spell, released with the fire seed as its core, possessed boundless power!

(End of )