At these words Duanmu Yu fixed her eyes on Wei Zhao and looked him up and down without blinking, until she had stared him into thorough discomfort, and only then did she give a sudden bitter laugh: "I always used to think that the likes of Ling Tianyou were the very limit a genius could reach. Turns out I was a frog at the bottom of a well after all. You—you really are a monster."

Had Wei Zhao merely been powerful, she could have accepted it. But for his insight to be this insane as well—that was genuinely disheartening. Duanmu Yu had never been one to concede defeat easily; even monstrously gifted figures like Leng Leng and Ling Tianyou had at most made her feel pressure. But facing Wei Zhao now, she truly felt she could not begin to catch up.

"You flatter me, you flatter me." Wei Zhao gave a sheepish laugh.

"Not in the least." Duanmu Yu shook her head—and then froze, saying in astonishment: "Eh? Why is there an echo?"

"It's not an echo. That voice just now was the Water Lily Guardian, wasn't it?" Wei Zhao said, surveying their surroundings.

"Splendid. Quite splendid. To deduce your own situation so quickly—you really are no ordinary human. The first of your kind in all history, I'd say." The Water Lily Guardian's voice rang out again, but it came from every direction at once, so that for the moment neither its position nor its bearing could be judged.

"It's still alive?" Duanmu Yu was startled.

Wei Zhao, however, was not the least surprised. Ever since he had discovered the second mirror world, he had in fact already concluded that this thing must still be alive; he had simply never said so outright.

"Of course I'm alive. You're far too naive, madam. I am, after all, the illustrious Water Lily Guardian—did you think I'd be finished off so easily? Though come to think of it, that sneak attack of this human's really was flawless. If not for my peculiar abilities, he might well have succeeded." The Water Lily Guardian smiled a smile that was not quite a smile.

"From the sound of it, you seem rather pleased with yourself," Wei Zhao said.

"You're wrong, human. This isn't smugness—it's excitement. It's been far too long since I met an opponent who knows quality when he sees it. All those other worthless fools revealed their true colors the moment they came in and crumbled at a touch—what a waste of my exquisite flowers in the mirror and moon in the water. Playing the lute to a cow is no pleasant thing." The Water Lily Guardian spoke with feigned lament.

Wei Zhao could not help but be amused. "By that logic, am I to take it I qualify as something of a kindred spirit?"

"Naturally. There is no sorrow in this world like that of the lofty tune with few to match it. All my profound and wondrous power, and not a soul to appreciate it—don't you think that's a shocking waste of treasure?" The Water Lily Guardian's tone carried a note of self-satisfaction.

Hearing this, Wei Zhao and Duanmu Yu exchanged a speechless glance. They had not realized before that this thing was so fond of self-pity.

"Human, to be honest, I've rather taken a liking to you. I had originally planned to kill the pair of you adulterers, but now I've changed my mind. I'm going to leave you trapped just like this, so that you can spend your whole life properly admiring my flowers in the mirror and moon in the water," said the Water Lily Guardian.

Wei Zhao was briefly taken aback; he ignored the latter half of the thing's speech and hurriedly turned to exchange a look with Duanmu Yu: "We're adulterers?"

Duanmu Yu thought back over what had just happened, and gave a bitter, indescribably wry smile: "By the standards of the world, even if we aren't adulterers, I'm afraid we don't fall far short."

Indeed—setting everything else aside, what with Wei Zhao's hurried embrace and Duanmu Yu standing there in nothing but her undergarments, the great label of "adulterers" was not entirely unjust.

"Er—my apologies for ruining your reputation," Wei Zhao said.

"It's nothing. Desperate times call for desperate measures; if anything, I ought to thank you properly." Duanmu Yu gave a slight bow.

As the two of them stood there being courteous to each other, the Water Lily Guardian could bear it no longer, and said in a rage: "Hey, hey, hey—have you two still not grasped your own situation?"

"Oh, I have. Didn't you just confirm my guess a moment ago?" Wei Zhao replied mildly.

"True enough, human—you did guess the principle behind the flowers in the mirror and moon in the water. But what good does that do you? You don't imagine you can find a way to break it, do you?" The Water Lily Guardian spoke with the confidence of one who had nothing to fear.

"Not yet, I'm afraid." Wei Zhao was perfectly candid; it was the plain truth. Even if he had guessed that this was formed by two mirrors facing each other, actually finding his way back to the original real world was far easier said than done—it was all but an insoluble proposition.

"So because you know it can't be broken, and there's nothing to be done, you've simply decided to give up? Tsk, tsk. Still, I suppose that's a sensible choice." The Water Lily Guardian was mocking.

"Heh. And which of your eyes saw me giving up?" The smile still hung on Wei Zhao's face.

"Apart from giving up, is there anything else you could possibly do?" The Water Lily Guardian sneered.

"Who knows? It isn't really such a difficult thing to begin with. If I'm lucky, the blind cat might just stumble on a dead rat." Wei Zhao spoke lightly.

"Not such a difficult thing? Hahahaha! I really am coming to admire you more and more, human. Very well—idle as I am, boredom is still boredom. I'll have a good look at just how your blind cat stumbles on a dead rat." The Water Lily Guardian laughed and laughed.

"Rest assured, you won't be bored." Before Wei Zhao's voice had even faded, he vanished from where he stood, giving Duanmu Yu a severe fright; she thought the Water Lily Guardian had made its move, when in fact it was precisely the opposite.

In the next instant Wei Zhao's figure abruptly appeared atop the great tent, and there before him stood the Water Lily Guardian in human form, no more than a single step away.

The Water Lily Guardian was briefly stunned, and only then did it finally realize that all Wei Zhao's idle chatter had been precisely so that he could use the chance to pin down its location and launch another sneak attack. Utterly cunning!

"Wishful thinking!" The Water Lily Guardian laughed aloud. That earlier sneak attack succeeding was excusable—it had not been certain of Wei Zhao's existence before, and so had been wholly unprepared. This time, however, it had long since been on its guard; if Wei Zhao could still land a sneak attack under these conditions, that would be too absurd for words.

The Water Lily Guardian at once darted forward. This was the mirror world it had built with its own hands; here it was like a fish in water, its strength a good deal greater than outside, and its speed more than doubled.

Yet what greatly exceeded its expectations was this: it was fast, but Wei Zhao was faster still. Before it had darted forward even two body-lengths, a true-qi elixir-fire bomb was already pressed firmly against the back of its skull. (To be continued.)