With this coordinate of the original body in hand, he could now probe further into the workings of these mirror worlds, and only thus could he ever reach this place; otherwise, keen as Wei Zhao's divine sense was, he would never have been able to find any pattern. As the Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus had said a moment ago, the Mirror Flower, Water Moon was in itself insoluble.

Yet for all that it sounds easy in the telling, the process of working out the pattern was in fact no easy matter; for the vast majority of ordinary people, even with the coordinate of the original body known, it would be well-nigh impossible to probe out any pattern at all.

People in this world fall broadly into three kinds. Nine-tenths of nine-tenths need to watch someone count from one to a hundred before they can grasp those hundred numbers—these are ordinary folk. Of the remaining one percent, another nine-tenths of nine-tenths, once they know the number one, can by themselves derive the ninety-nine numbers that follow—these are the able. And the remnant, less than one in ten thousand, can find the number one on their own, and the ninety-nine after it are scarcely worth mentioning—these are the geniuses.

Wei Zhao, without question, belonged in the ranks of genius. Duanmu Yu was a degree inferior, but she was at the very least a thoroughgoing talent; recalling what Wei Zhao had just done, she too could sum up the pattern of the Mirror Flower, Water Moon.

As Wei Zhao had said at the outset, the principle of the Mirror Flower, Water Moon was two mirrors facing one another, and this Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus's original body was hidden away in one of the mirror worlds. Each time Wei Zhao passed through a mirror world, he could gauge the distance to it by the divine-sense mark he had left upon it—whether nearer or farther.

The ordering of these mirror worlds followed a very basic and intuitive rule: they were arrayed in turn upon the left and right sides of the two mirrors. And after a few initial trials, Wei Zhao quickly grasped another elementary regularity.

Advancing straight through the curtain would carry one into the mirror world on the opposite side, whereas moving backward would carry one into a mirror world on the same side. Once this rule was understood, all that remained was ceaseless experiment, edging closer and closer to the final goal.

Such was Wei Zhao's method. It was only that Duanmu Yu had not known of the divine-sense mark before, and so had been left groping in the fog; otherwise she too would long since have understood.

"A detective? What does that mean?" The Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus was briefly taken aback.

"Oh, it's a trade that lives by its wits—no one but a clever sort can make a go of it. Who knows, you might even have a chance at becoming a famous detective." Wei Zhao's tone was one of amusement.

"Hmph. Your little trick is simple enough once one thinks it through. It was only because I was careless for a moment that you got away with it. Had I examined things properly and wiped out that divine-sense mark of yours, you'd be blind as a bat, with nothing to do but wring your hands." The Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus was beginning to regret its lapse.

"Is this what they call hindsight being twenty-twenty?" Wei Zhao shot it a glance.

"Hindsight being twenty-twenty? What devilry is that?" The Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus plainly had no notion who Zhuge Liang was, but neither did it truly care about such trifles, and it went on: "Be that as it may, though the idea behind your trick is simple, for an ordinary person to actually pull it off would be harder than climbing to heaven. Without such quickness of reaction and insight, even if the method occurred to you afterward, you'd have no chance left. And even with the coordinate of the divine-sense mark to go by, an ordinary person would find it next to impossible to probe out the inner pattern of my Mirror Flower, Water Moon. As I said—you are a talent."

"Your lordship flatters me so that I am quite overwhelmed." Wei Zhao spoke indifferently.

"Wrong. I have no habit of flattering anyone; I have always spoken plain truth. I said before that I would trap you here for a lifetime. Now I have changed my mind. I intend to recruit you as my deputy. What say you?" the Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus said suddenly.

"You want to recruit me?" At these words Wei Zhao and Duanmu Yu exchanged a glance, and identical looks of peculiarity came over both their faces.

"Naturally. Special talents receive special treatment. It is rare to meet a kindred spirit with such a nimble mind as yours. If I simply killed you off, what a pity that would be." The look the Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus bent on Wei Zhao now did carry a measure of appreciation, though it was not the appreciation of equals, man to man, but rather more like the appreciation of some antique or curio.

"In that case, ought I to be overwhelmed with favor?" Wei Zhao's expression grew all the more peculiar.

"You ought indeed to be overwhelmed with favor. You were meant to die here, and now I graciously grant you a way to live—and not merely to live, but a broad highway of inexhaustible wealth and honor. You are a clever man; you should know that such good fortune is rarely seen beneath the sky, and once this village is passed, there'll be no such shop again." The Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus delivered its final ultimatum.

"Heh. And if I say no?" Wei Zhao countered.

"Then there is only the one road—death. We are both clever men; surely you are not so senseless?" The Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus's tone gradually turned cold.

"My sincere apologies. As it happens, I've never quite learned how to write the words 'senseless' and 'tactful.'" Wei Zhao spoke calmly, his countenance utterly composed.

At this the Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus regarded him deeply, then sneered: "Surely you are not still nursing some vain hope even now? You think that because you've found my original body, you truly have a chance to escape to the heavens? I can only say, human, you are far too naive. Finding this place is indeed impressive, and yet it is of no damned use whatsoever."

"Is that so?" Wei Zhao only chuckled, wholly unimpressed.

The Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus was taken aback at the sight, and could not help but wonder: could this human still have some other card up his sleeve to preserve his life? It knew well enough that Wei Zhao was no fool. To dare face it with such an attitude at such a moment, he must have something to rely on; he could hardly be so waterlogged of brain as to court death with all his heart.

"What are you laughing at?" For the first time, the Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus knit its brows.

"For no reason at all. Purely because I find it funny." Wei Zhao shrugged. Off to the side, Duanmu Yu could not help but smile. To tell the truth, she had been rather tense from the start until now—facing the original body of the Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus, it was no exaggeration to say the pressure was mountainous. But seeing Wei Zhao like this, she could not help but relax a great deal along with him.

"Funny? Hmph. Do not forget that this place still lies within the bounds of the Mirror Flower, Water Moon. This is my world—I am the sole sovereign!" The Guardian of the Sleeping Lotus sneered without cease.

"Then how about I give it a try?" As Wei Zhao spoke, he suddenly hurled two true-qi dan-fire bombs in quick succession. Since he knew full well that the thing's original body was right here, he had of course long since made his preparations. (To be continued.)