"Nothing. Let's go." The handsome man glanced at her, deciding he had probably been overthinking it. This was his own stronghold, after all—who would have the nerve to hide here and play at ghosts and spirits?

Watching this unfold, Wei Zhao felt a lingering chill of fright. The thing was indeed no easy mark to fool. He had been as careful as he could with that earlier divine-sense transmission, yet it had still nearly been detected—had Duanmu Yu not reacted quickly enough, it might well have caught them out.

The tent was not large, after all. Even though Wei Zhao had taken the form of a primordial spirit, and even though by virtue of his true body's strength his spirit was far above the other's in grade, if the other truly searched carefully, bit by bit, the odds of slipping past his perception entirely were honestly not great.

The handsome man led the way through the hall, striding straight toward the very back of the tent. Duanmu Yu was startled—there was no way out ahead at all, only a sealed wall of tent fabric. What was he doing?

Yet when they reached the tent wall, the handsome man's steps did not falter in the least, nor did he make any move to draw the curtain aside. He simply walked straight through, as though vanishing into thin air.

"Come in." The handsome man's voice drifted over from nowhere. Duanmu Yu frowned slightly, but did as he had done and walked forward—and sure enough, met no obstruction at all. Her whole body passed directly through the tent fabric.

"This is..." Duanmu Yu was stunned. The scene before her was exactly as it had been, save that the directions were reversed—the spatial arrangement, every sight and object, all identical to the tent she had just left. Not the slightest difference could be discerned.

"Welcome to another world," the handsome man said with a smile.

"Another world? What do you mean?" Duanmu Yu did not understand.

"Heh heh, step outside and take a look, and you'll understand." The handsome man chuckled, then personally led Duanmu Yu forward until they stepped outside the tent. At the sight before her, Duanmu Yu was utterly astonished.

She was certain she had not doubled back, and yet she saw a scene entirely consistent with the side they had come from—just like the tent. Not the least bit different, only the directions reversed.

If there was any other difference to speak of, it was that this side was utterly empty—no trace of any spirit beast's activity at all.

"I don't understand..." Duanmu Yu shook her head. Anyone in her position would not have grasped it all at once. She was certain none of this was an illusion, nor some painstakingly crafted replica of the same scene—perhaps it was just as the handsome man had said: another world, a twin world.

"That's all right. You'll understand in time." The handsome man had no intention of explaining further; instead, with a trace of impatience, he said, "There's only the two of us here. No one will come to disturb us. We can begin the dual cultivation now."

Duanmu Yu hesitated, but at the memory of Wei Zhao's words she gritted her teeth inwardly and steeled herself to play along with him.

Meanwhile, Wei Zhao, concealed in the shadows and following after them, had more or less caught on to something. This space did indeed feel profoundly mysterious; every arrangement was identical to the world outside, only with the directions reversed. In all his knowledge, there was only one explanation for what he was seeing—a mirror.

If he was not mistaken, this was a world existing within a mirror!

It was the only reasonable inference, yet it still gave Wei Zhao quite a shock—because from the moment he entered until now, he had found no mirror at all, nor any object resembling one. And by ordinary reasoning, the place where a mirror world connects to the real world must be where the mirror itself is—which meant the mirror could only be that seemingly ordinary stretch of tent fabric.

Could it be that the root of all this lay in that tent fabric? Could that fabric be a spatial artifact akin to the jade pendant?

If this matter were not cleared up, it would inevitably have a tremendous impact on what came next—perhaps even leading directly to utter failure. It could not be ignored no matter what. At this thought, Wei Zhao hurried back to verify. The result proved that the tent fabric itself was entirely unremarkable—truly nothing but an ordinary piece of tent cloth.

Since it was not the doing of the tent fabric, only two explanations remained: either the artifact capable of creating the mirror world was on the handsome man's person, or it was simply the handsome man's own ability. If it were only the former, that would be one thing—but if it were the latter, then this creature's strength was genuinely a bit too formidable!

For a moment, Wei Zhao could not help but feel a trace of regret. This Guardian's troublesome nature might well surpass even that of the Brain-Eating Worm. He had suddenly taken it into his head to do away with such a thing—but how easy was that?

When he had spoken with Duanmu Yu earlier, he had said that so long as she cooperated, there would be a one-in-ten chance of success. Now, looking at it, that had probably been somewhat too optimistic.

Fortunately, apart from being highly consistent with the outside world, Wei Zhao had found nothing else amiss in this mirror world. He felt no discomfort himself, and there were no signs that his strength was restricted. Most importantly, he could still pass freely in and out on either side of the tent fabric—meaning that, so far, this mirror world had shown no harmful properties whatsoever.

This point was crucial, for it bore directly on the life and death of both himself and Duanmu Yu. Wei Zhao dared not be the least bit careless; only after testing it several times in succession did he finally set his mind at ease. No matter what, he absolutely could not lose the only exit back to the real world.

Yet just as Wei Zhao was running his repeated tests, the handsome man—who had already led Duanmu Yu out of the tent—suddenly turned back, a smug, cold smile on his face as though everything had gone exactly as expected: "Come out. Since you've entered my Mirror Flowers and Water Moon, don't imagine you can escape my perception. There's no use in struggling—no matter how you struggle, it's all wasted effort."

Behind him, Duanmu Yu was greatly alarmed at these words. Though she still did not know where Wei Zhao was hiding, there was no doubt that the creature had clearly discovered his trail!

Once discovered, Wei Zhao was doomed—of this, even with the highest opinion of Wei Zhao, Duanmu Yu was utterly convinced. After all, the gap in their strength was too vast; they were simply not on the same level.

Unfortunately, Wei Zhao did not obediently show himself. There was not a stir from the surroundings at all.

"Hmph, you won't shed tears until you see the coffin, eh? There's really no need to cling to false hope. In fact, I already sensed it when we first entered the tent—that Blastfire Fruit earlier was your doing too, wasn't it? Am I wrong?" The handsome man continued with a cold laugh. (To be continued.)