Chapter 423: Chapter 48: Lurking in the Deep World of Tricks
"Heads roll, tumbling thrice..."
A decapitated head opened and closed its jaws, the voice rasping and hoarse beyond belief.
Li Mo scanned his surroundings. Apart from Changqing, who seemed lost in a daze, the rest of the sword cultivators had apparently anticipated this scene. Silently, they all reached for the severed heads.
"The Great Sun Sword Tomb has suffered calamity—how could it possibly stay untouched?"
Li Mo picked up a head, immediately sensing streams of information pouring into his mind. It was all tied to their mission to the Fire Spirit Hall.
[Sealing Sword Ghosts]
The heads would reveal the locations of sword ghost sightings, demanding the sword cultivators to move at once.
"Heh heh heh..."
The head let out a sinister chuckle. It must have sensed fear kindling in the heart of a nearby sword cultivator, for it screeched sharply, "If you play tricks or defy orders, you’ll be dragged into the depths of the [Copper Mirror], left with no grave, no remains!"
In Li Mo’s memory, "Copper Mirror" was a term used among mortals for bronze mirrors. Could it be that the origins of the Fire Spirit Hall’s taboos were somehow tied to mirrors?
"Three-Life Elder, what is the Copper Mirror?"
"No grave, no remains, no grave, no remains!!!"
The head shrieked so violently its jaw nearly dislocated. The assembled sword cultivators showed varied reactions, but they soon resorted to discreet methods to bind the heads into submission.
"Huo Yan, Dongming—City West, at [Jiliang Oil Shop], Five-Li Street."
"Changning, Taishan Yan—City South, on Hexing Road, at [Wanli Escort Agency]."
"Taiyi, Ye Zhuo—City South, at [Beili Riverbank], on Wushan Street."
......
Three-Life Elder paired the sword cultivators into groups of two, his allocations showing a subtle logic. After all, sealing sword ghosts was their mission, not internal strife.
However, Li Mo noticed something strange: the locations Three-Life Elder mentioned were all mortal-world shops, not Daoist temples traditionally used to seal sword ghosts.
"Let’s move."
Li Mo collected the Golden Toad with a somber expression, casually tossing the head to Daoist Ye Zhuo.
"What a pain in the ass."
"If all three hundred thousand sword ghosts from the Fire Spirit Hall escaped into the world, how could the mere two hundred of us possibly seal them all?"
Daoist Ye Zhuo sighed, one end of the Blood Soul tethered to Daoist Bai Shuo, the other to two severed heads as he trailed close behind Li Mo.
Some sword cultivators approached Li Mo, but before they drew near—
"Back off."
Clang.
The Sun Sword Qi severed one cultivator’s arm cleanly. A faint trace of cancer cells clung silently to the surface of the Magic Robe, seeping into the Magic Artifact.
"Feisty, aren’t you."
As the injured cultivator retrieved his arm, Li Mo and Ye Zhuo disappeared into the city shadows.
Two hundred sword cultivators meant nothing to the vast expanse of the Fire Spirit Hall. Li Mo couldn’t figure out the Great Sun Sword Tomb’s intentions and opted to take things step by step.
As soon as they reached a dim area, Daoist Ye Zhuo fidgeted, eager to don the guise of a deceitful person.
"Wait a moment."
"There’s not even a mouse in this part of the Fire Spirit Hall. Where would a sword ghost come from?"
Li Mo double-checked the emptiness behind him, his gaze surveying the street’s buildings. They all appeared to be ordinary shops.
If his eyes weren’t deceiving him, the architectural style seemed to resemble that of ten thousand years ago.
Back then, within a thousand miles of the Heavenly Sword Sect, there had been over a dozen densely populated mortal cities, all swept away by the cataclysms that tore heaven and earth apart.
Lowering his voice, Daoist Ye Zhuo murmured, "Junior brother, I’ve been in the sect for centuries. This is the first time I’ve encountered a disaster caused by the Night Patrol Deities."
Li Mo closed his eyes, sweeping his Cave God’s Eye across the shop interiors.
The furniture inside was meticulously placed, yet void of any signs of daily life.
"Let’s talk once we reach Beili Riverbank."
Suppressing his Taoist Body’s aura, Li Mo left only the Ghost Tiger lurking in his shadow.
The tattooed beast’s phantom projection from his Great Wilderness Immortal Body could guard him, but any disturbances it caused would likely attract unwanted trouble.
Though the head didn’t explicitly state the location of Beili Riverbank, its rolling eyeballs guided their steps as they moved.
Beili Riverbank was evidently near a river or waterway.
Li Mo observed that there hadn’t been a drop of rain in the Fire Spirit Hall. The so-called Beili Riverbank was nothing more than a dry creek bed.
As their pace quickened, the eyeballs of the head spun wildly.
When Li Mo finally caught sight of Beili Riverbank, the head once again let out an ear-piercing shriek. The sound drilled deep into his mind.
"Bing Zhi Chen, Dragon Tail伏辰, Junfu Zhenzhen, retrieve Guo’s Banner..."
"Deceit lurks, beware, deceit!"
Just as Li Mo’s right foot touched the ground, his perception wavered briefly. The once ordinary street before them suddenly transformed.
The pristine walls grew blotched with mold, while the lanterns hanging at storefronts sagged in tatters. Blackish-brown footprints marked the ground, as if scorched by fire, extending into the distance toward Beili Riverbank.
The characters on signs turned crooked and malformed; even the carved floral patterns on roof beams twisted unnervingly.
Li Mo and Ye Zhuo froze where they stood, their bodies exuding Sword Intent.
"Senior brother, this must be an Illusion Realm, right?"
"It’s not an illusion."
Li Mo’s voice was grave as he unsheathed the Illusion Fish Sword at his waist. Sun Sword Intent coiled around the blade, and his Cave God’s Eye operated at full capacity.
With the Spirit Root Worm, no mortal illusion could manipulate Li Mo’s five senses. At the very least, he could distinguish reality from falsehood.
To be safe, threads of blood writhed densely beneath his skin.
With the Spirit Root Worm connecting to his five senses and the Great Wilderness Immortal Body enhancing him, the scene before his eyes remained stubbornly decrepit and eerie.
"It’s not an illusion," Li Mo repeated, narrowing his eyes as he continued toward Beili Riverbank.
"Ye Zhuo, look closely. Everything here is reversed left to right, as though reflected in a mirror."
"This should be the [Copper Mirror] Elder Three-Life referenced—the mirror’s smaller world, built from a Night Patrol Deity’s taboo, housing tens of thousands of sword ghosts."
"Ye Zhuo, keep an eye on Bai Shuo."
Realizing this, Daoist Ye Zhuo reached out with his awareness to the Black Coffin on his back. Inside, Daoist Bai Shuo had fully awakened, but he only stared fixedly ahead with an unnerving gaze.
"Bai Shuo’s consciousness may well be trapped inside one of the Copper Mirror’s shops."
Li Mo’s tone turned cold. "Even a single drop of rain here can trigger taboos. The Night Patrol Deities are far more terrifying than I imagined."
Daoist Ye Zhuo swallowed hard.
A gust of wind swept through, slamming lanterns against walls with a muffled thud.
Jingle, jingle, jingle～～
The eerie sound of a rattling drum came from one of the nearby shopfronts. Daoist Ye Zhuo’s face turned ghostly pale, his lips spilling curses with every breath.
Clang.
Li Mo drew his sword. The halo behind him radiated ten meters, Ghostly Light Sword Intent wrapping around the blade.
"Most likely, the elders of the Great Sun Sword Tomb and those at the Heavenly Palace Stage are in the Copper Mirror seeking its source. Our duty is to ensure no sword ghosts disrupt the existing balance."
Li Mo approached a noodle shop. Inside lay nothing but mangled remains and chunks of flesh.
A man’s corpse knelt on the floor, his neck grotesquely twisted three hundred and sixty-five degrees, while the body of a pregnant woman hung in the center of the shop, having hanged herself.
The pregnant woman’s abdomen was hollowed out, with her intestines wrapped tightly around the rattle drum.
Though no wind stirred within the shop, the intestines gently shook the rattle drum.
Li Mo felt his chest tighten.
Chances were strong that the Night Patrol Deities were ancient cultivators twisted into deceitful objects. Everything in the Copper Mirror could well have once occurred within the ancient cultivation world.
Jingle, jingle.
Once again, their surroundings wavered. The noodle shop altered its form.
The doors and windows shut tight.
The man’s expression shifted from despair to elation, his posture changing to one of embrace, as though whispering fondly to invisible loved ones.
The hanged pregnant woman had disappeared, leaving only a blood-streaked rope and a single length of intestine, still tirelessly shaking the rattle drum.
Li Mo quietly reminded, "It seems we’ve been drawn deeper into the Copper Mirror. This sword ghost’s power is considerable."
"Yes."
Daoist Ye Zhuo released the severed head, the Blood Soul trailing out in all directions.
Jingle, jingle.
Li Mo had it figured out, pointing his blade at the drum. "The sword ghost is using the rattle drum to ensnare us. If we destroy it, we can escape the Copper Mirror. That said..."
"The sword ghost has already set its sights on us. If we don’t eradicate it, it’ll only return later."
He flicked the edge of his blade, producing a crisp ring that reverberated through the shop.
"Heh heh, junior brother, I’ve spotted the flaw too."
Steeling himself, Daoist Ye Zhuo quickly retrieved a mass of rotting flesh from his Storage Bag and, without hesitation, pressed it to his abdomen.
The flesh squirmed before merging seamlessly into his body.
His stomach began to swell, faint signs of vitality stirring within. Veins bulged grotesquely across his skin, as if he were ten months pregnant.
Breathing heavily, bloodied handprints emerged around his navel.
Inside, a twisted, deformed infant clawed at his organs, playing with his Five Internal Organs like toys.
"I’ll command the Blood Soul to seal—"
Before he could finish speaking, Li Mo’s blade shot forward.
The Illusion Fish Sword, wrapped in Spirit Root Worms, sliced through his flesh effortlessly, silencing the rattle drum, which stopped immediately. The infant fell unconscious.
Li Mo withdrew the sword, the tip piercing the infant’s forehead.
Daoist Ye Zhuo drew a hissing breath of pain.
The blade had narrowly missed his internal organs. While the injury wouldn’t disrupt his cultivation foundation, the lingering damage left his body vulnerable to the Copper Mirror’s taboos.
Li Mo examined the infant closely. "For an ordinary Little Night Wander, this rank pales against the Residual Body Stage, yet in the Copper Mirror, it still posed a threat to us."
Still mending his wound, Daoist Ye Zhuo replied apprehensively, "Had the rattle drum sounded any longer, we’d both have been dragged into the third layer of the Copper Mirror. The Little Night Wander would have grown more troublesome."
Li Mo chose not to use the trapped sword platform spell, instead pulling out a gourd-shaped Hundred Refinement Magical Artifact.
After trapping the infant inside, the two immediately exited the Copper Mirror. The street reverted to normal, save for the rattle drum lying where they had stood.
Li Mo tossed the gourd to Daoist Ye Zhuo, who wore an expression of delight.
"The Sealing Demon Gourd can hold up to eight Little Night Wanders. If things get dire, release the sword ghosts inside as a distraction. We’ll escape in the chaos."
"Understood, understood."
Li Mo found Daoist Ye Zhuo to be reliable, particularly due to his pragmatism. They often ended up on the same wavelength.
Daoist Ye Zhuo grinned from ear to ear. Though merely a Hundred Refinement Magical Artifact, its quality surpassed most of its peers.
Noticing Li Mo picking up the rattle drum, he asked curiously, "Senior brother, what’s that?"
"A twisted artifact born of the Night Patrol Deity’s corruption of the Sword Platform. Shaking it allows access to the deeper layers of the Copper Mirror."
Li Mo ran his fingers along the drum’s fractured surface. "It’s nearing its end. A shame."
"The Fire Spirit Hall’s sword ghosts all carry similar tools, though their activation methods vary. This sound-based engagement is rather convenient."
"Let’s keep it. It may prove useful."