Duanmu Yu had no idea what he was talking about; the more she watched Wei Zhao's receding back, the more inscrutable he seemed, and she could not help muttering inwardly that this man was truly unfathomable.

Duanmu Yu did not dare speak up and disturb Wei Zhao. She simply watched as he stood there musing for a moment, then suddenly strode forward, and the two of them passed straight through the curtain into the mirror world on the other side.

"Hm? This much farther?" Wei Zhao frowned slightly, then turned and passed through the curtain again—this time not straight into the mirror world opposite, but waiting for Duanmu Yu to follow him out, then stepping back the way he had come.

"A little farther still." Wei Zhao was lost in thought, then without another word crossed again into the mirror world opposite. Once he had come to a stop, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "Just as I thought—much closer."

Duanmu Yu, following behind him, was still utterly bewildered; far from working out the thread of it, she was only turned round the more by all this coming and going. Back and forth like this—what on earth was going on?

Unfortunately, however her curiosity itched at her now, she did not dare rashly open her mouth to ask. She could only trail mechanically after Wei Zhao; her sole task was to keep from falling behind. She needed only to know that Wei Zhao had grasped a certain pattern and was drawing ever closer to their goal.

After that, Wei Zhao's movements grew all the more impossible to fathom. He simply led Duanmu Yu out and back, out and back, repeating it no one knew how many times, until Duanmu Yu was nearly dizzy from turning—and only then did he finally come to a halt.

"Are we not going on?" Duanmu Yu asked cautiously. If before she had felt only a simple admiration for Wei Zhao, now she plainly regarded him with something like reverence—the sort of reverence a hopeless student feels before a top scholar.

"No need to go on. We've arrived." Wei Zhao turned and smiled at her.

"You mean..." Duanmu Yu was startled at his words, then, understanding, gave a shudder of fright. "You mean you've found its true body?"

Wei Zhao nodded and stepped straight out of the great tent, Duanmu Yu close behind. She glanced at the familiar scene ahead. "This doesn't look any different from those other mirror worlds."

"Of course it doesn't—because this is simply one of the many mirror worlds to begin with. Its only peculiarity is that the thing's true body is hidden here," Wei Zhao said with the confidence of one who knows.

"Really?" Duanmu Yu looked and looked again, yet never discovered anything out of the ordinary, and could not help saying half in doubt, "How do you know its true body is here?"

"Just watch and you'll see." Wei Zhao smiled enigmatically. With that he led Duanmu Yu beneath the giant hollow in the tree where the heavenly ladder stood; here lay a pool of no small size, and he pointed at a tiny water lily floating on its surface. "There. That's it."

"This is that thing's true body?" Duanmu Yu nearly popped her eyes out. The water lily before her was astonishingly small—no bigger than the palm of an ordinary person's hand, the sort of thing one would not even notice if it were set right in front of one. This was the true body of that Water Lily Guardian?

"That's right, it is." Seeing that Duanmu Yu was somewhat unconvinced, Wei Zhao casually loosed a lance of five-element killing qi at the water lily. It landed without inflicting the slightest harm; a faint ripple could plainly be seen blocking it and dissolving it with ease.

Though she still found it somewhat incredible, Duanmu Yu now believed him: this unremarkable little water lily must indeed be the Water Lily Guardian's true body.

Sure enough. A figure suddenly emerged above the tiny water lily—none other than the Water Lily Guardian in human form. Across the pool it gave Wei Zhao a thumbs-up. "Impressive! Impressive! To think you actually found your way here. It seems my praise of you before was far too modest—of all who have ever come this far, you are the one and only. Truly a talent."

"You flatter me." Wei Zhao smiled faintly.

The Water Lily Guardian did not strike at once. Instead it settled itself at leisure upon its tiny lily pad and regarded Wei Zhao with keen interest. "I'm most curious how exactly you found me. How did you know my true body was here?"

"Take a guess." Wei Zhao had no interest in explaining the ins and outs to him. To get out of here today, this Water Lily Guardian was a formidable foe that had to be overcome; keeping him guessing now and letting him think Wei Zhao unfathomable could only help, not hurt, the duel to come.

In truth, Duanmu Yu was curious about this question as well. It was only a pity that even after following Wei Zhao the whole way, she was still completely in the dark about it.

"Let me guess? Very well, then I'll have a guess." The Water Lily Guardian showed not the least sign of anger. It mused aloud: "My Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water has no flaw at all. If you had only yourself to rely on, you ought never to find me in this lifetime."

"So confident?" Wei Zhao's mouth quirked. He said so, but even he had to admit this much: whether or not the thing's Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water was as flawless as it claimed, it was indeed a most unsolvable sort of illusion-construct, and to simply pick out its flaw was all but impossible.

"Naturally. If I hadn't even that much confidence, how would I ever have caught that lord's eye?" The Water Lily Guardian grinned, then went on with its analysis: "Since Flowers in the Mirror, Moon in the Water itself has no flaw, then there is only one place the problem could arise—it must have been in me. You must have found some trace on my person and followed it all the way here, no?"

"Oh?" Wei Zhao gave it a look that was half smile, half something else.

"My flaw must lie with those two clones I sent out—more precisely, with the second clone..." The Water Lily Guardian paused there, then its eyes lit up. "You made use of my Lotus Root, Broken Silk Still Joining!"

Wei Zhao's heart skipped. This Water Lily Guardian was truly no simple thing—in a few words it had actually reasoned its way to this point.

Duanmu Yu, however, had not yet caught up. Wei Zhao had indeed spoken of Lotus Root, Broken Silk Still Joining before, and she knew he was making use of it, but she did not know just how he had done so.

Soon the Water Lily Guardian revealed the answer: "A divine-sense mark! You actually planted a divine-sense mark on my clone's corpse!"

"Splendid. With insight that sharp, it's a great pity you didn't become a detective." Wei Zhao spoke coolly; this was no mere jest, for the thing had managed in a few short moments to reverse-engineer the truth on its own—most could never have done it.

"So it was a divine-sense mark!" Duanmu Yu finally understood. No wonder she had been unable to work it out no matter how she tried—a divine-sense mark was a technique only an expert of the Golden Core stage or above could perform, and she had not yet reached that level. (To be continued.)