Chapter 159

Chapter 159: Breaking Through the Illusion

Just as Liu Hao Tian’s words faded, a dark staff appeared in Yun Xi’s hand. Even without her channeling any spiritual energy, flickering purple sparks danced along the surface of the Seven Stars Life-Ending Staff. Its threatening presence made the Yin family members, who were still tangled in their brawl, instinctively step backward.

With one hand, Yun Xi drove the Life-Ending Staff powerfully into the ground. Instantly, its fierce energy burst outward, tearing apart everything around her. The once warm and peaceful Peach Source Village now revealed its true, dilapidated appearance.

Yu Qing Cheng gave a cold smile and turned to the village chief, saying scornfully, “Do you see it clearly now? This is the real Peach Source Village—nothing but a dead village. Your stubborn blindness allowed that wicked artifact to control this place, preventing anyone from seeing the truth. Every unfortunate soul who wandered in was probably sacrificed by you, forced to join this cursed village forever!”

The village chief stared at the shattered walls and crumbling ruins before him, at the unburied white bones scattered across the earth, and seemed to awaken from a long nightmare. Gripping his head in agony, he cried, “I tried to stop them! But they all went mad, making wishes on that copper mirror! One by one, the villagers died, until no one could ever leave Peach Source Village again. As the village chief, it’s all my fault. I sacrificed myself to restore the village to its former peace, but it’s all fake! Everything here is fake!”

The village chief’s anguished wails had finally broken the illusion surrounding Peach Source Village. The villagers who had just been screaming turned into drifting souls floating aimlessly above the village, remembering their tragic past.

Without hesitation, Liu Hao Tian gripped his sword, slashing out a golden light that shattered the village chief’s ghostly form into pieces. This violent act sparked panic among the other wandering spirits, who, fearing the same fate, began fleeing wildly in all directions.

At this critical moment, a copper mirror slowly rose from beneath the earth, instantly absorbing the fleeing souls into itself. Then, it shot out a golden beam of light toward Yun Xi and her companions, attempting to pull them into the mirror as well.

Xia You felt her body freeze and exclaimed, “This mirror wants to drain our souls!”

“Hmph! Let it dream!” Yun Xi snorted coldly, for she despised artifacts that stole souls above all else.

The next instant, she rose swiftly into the air. The Seven Stars Life-Ending Staff, filled with her lightning spiritual power, blazed brightly with purple radiance. Holding the glowing staff firmly, Yun Xi thrust forward forcefully, aiming directly at the mirror’s polished surface.

A faint cracking sound reached Yun Xi’s ears. The mirror’s previous fractures reappeared, deepening visibly. Its radiance dimmed completely, and it fell from the air, vanishing swiftly into the ground.

When Yun Xi landed softly, the other three immediately gathered around her. Although the clash had lasted but moments, they clearly saw Yun Xi had emerged victorious.

Xia You swiftly extended her divine sense, frowning as she reported, “The copper mirror escaped. I can’t sense it anywhere.”

“Look!” Yu Qing Cheng suddenly called out.

At her shout, everything around them began rapidly assembling itself like puzzle pieces. Soon, they found themselves standing once again in the original Peach Source Village they had first entered. However, this time, the village was utterly silent, devoid of any other life except for them.

Liu Hao Tian frowned deeply, concluding, “We’re trapped inside the copper mirror.”

“But we clearly weren’t pulled in just now,” Xia You argued confidently.

Yun Xi offered her bold guess, “From the very moment we entered Peach Source Village, we probably stepped inside the mirror’s domain. It arranged for those absorbed souls to act with us, hoping to keep us trapped here forever, slowly draining our strength bit by bit.”

Liu Hao Tian added thoughtfully, “The one that appeared just now was likely the mirror’s spirit. It restored itself partially by consuming the souls of the villagers, but still couldn’t fully escape this realm. Since we’re cultivators with far stronger souls, we’d be perfect nourishment for it. After Fellow Daoist Wei defeated it, it decided instead to keep us here indefinitely, slowly weakening us over time.”

Yu Qing Cheng declared decisively, “Then we’ll simply destroy this entire realm. If we break it down, the mirror will surely be damaged as well. Let’s see how it tries to keep us trapped then!”

Xia You nodded approvingly, and Yun Xi again slammed her staff fiercely against the ground—wrecking things was indeed her strong suit.

Suddenly, Yun Xi’s forehead shimmered softly, and the flower-marked immortal artifact slowly emerged. A panicked voice quickly rang in her ears, “Esteemed elder sister, please show mercy! I’ll release you right away, just don’t destroy my real body!”

Feeling the flower artifact’s reaction, Yun Xi realized the mirror spirit had been secretly trying to drain their souls. Otherwise, her immortal treasure wouldn’t have awakened automatically to defend its master.

With icy calmness, she replied, “Have you heard the saying?”

Confused by this sudden question, the mirror spirit hesitantly asked, “What saying?”

“It’s easy to invite a deity, but hard to send one away!”

As Yun Xi finished speaking, she fully summoned the flower-marked artifact on her forehead. At its appearance, immense pressure spread out instantly, shattering the illusionary realm into chaos.

“No, please! Spare me!” the mirror spirit cried desperately.

Another cracking sound echoed, and Yun Xi and her companions felt darkness engulf them. When the world returned, they stood once again in Peach Source Village, now under a night sky filled with twinkling stars. The distant cries of wild animals and the thin, sparse spiritual energy assured them they were finally back in reality.

In Yun Xi’s hand was the badly cracked copper mirror, now shrunken to the size of a palm. Her flower artifact had already vanished once more.

Yu Qing Cheng and Xia You moved closer, observing the damaged mirror curiously, clearly eager to identify its origin.

Yu Qing Cheng wondered aloud, “The mirror is badly damaged; is the spirit dead now?”

Xia You answered confidently, “Even if it survived, it’s probably fallen into a deep sleep. It deserves punishment for daring to trick us. Only after leaving that realm did I notice that our souls were being slowly drawn from our bodies. Because we were inside the mirror’s space, we didn’t realize immediately.”

Liu Hao Tian turned gratefully to Yun Xi, “Thankfully, Daoist Master Wei had a protective artifact, or the longer we stayed inside, the worse off we’d have become.”

“Mm, it’s something my master gifted me for protection,” Yun Xi answered vaguely. She guessed only the mirror spirit would know it had been defeated by a genuine immortal treasure, something that should never appear in the mortal world.

With the mirror spirit scattered, the trapped souls of the villagers floated free from the copper mirror. They drifted around confused, uncertain of their surroundings.

Liu Hao Tian frowned, stating, “These souls shouldn’t linger here; they should be quickly sent to reincarnation.”

Uncertain, Yun Xi asked hesitantly, “How do we send them off? Should we take them to a temple and have monks recite prayers for their afterlife?”

Liu Hao Tian’s eyebrows twitched slightly before responding, “We probably don’t have to intervene—someone’s here to take care of them already.”

As he spoke, a black hole opened above Peach Source Village, and two figures, one dressed in black and one in white, emerged slowly.

The black-robed figure spoke irritably, “Who’s so bold as to summon souls without authorization?”

The white-robed figure calmly withdrew a ledger from his waist pouch and spoke leisurely, “Their lifespans aren’t exhausted, yet their souls have been separated from their bodies for too long, their mortal shells have already decayed and cannot return.”

Thus, the soul collectors had arrived to perform their duty.