Chapter 364: Illusion Technique

Of course, these two tigers were also possessed by evil spirits.

He Lingchuan kicked the table towards a tiger, and with a raise of his left hand, fired a sleeve arrow. The sleeve arrow's target was not the tiger, but Gan Sanye. After suffering half the night in that broken mirror, He Lingchuan wouldn't let the instigator escape.

Unexpectedly, Gan Sanye suddenly turned and shined the mirror at him.

Seeing the reflection, He Lingchuan instinctively dodged. What if he were trapped in the mirror world again? He probably wouldn't find another flying bird.

However, he wasn't pulled into the mirror. Instead, the sleeve arrow he fired hit the mirror's surface and bounced straight back. Fortunately, he dodged in time; the arrow didn't rebound and hit him, but instead embedded itself in the attacking tiger. Coincidentally, it struck the tiger's eye.

The tiger's momentum didn't falter, and it instantly knocked Gan Sanye down. He Lingchuan, standing nearby, quickly brought down his knife and decapitated the tiger.

At this moment, Wu Jinsong and the other person quickly got up and engaged the second tiger.

A headless tiger corpse lay on top of Gan Sanye, its weight of over three hundred pounds immobilizing him. He Lingchuan didn't waste words with Gan Sanye. He gripped both of Gan Sanye's wrists and twisted gently, hearing two distinct 'crack' sounds as his wrists broke. Gan Sanye couldn't help but shriek in pain.

He Lingchuan reached out and dragged him from under the tiger corpse, then told Wu Jinsong and the other man, "Stand back." They did as they were told.

Just as the second tiger lunged, He Lingchuan grabbed Gan Sanye and used him as a shield, pushing his face towards the tiger's inch-long claws and fangs. Gan Sanye screamed, "Stop!"

Before the fangs could bite down, the tiger's mouth snapped shut instantly, thankfully saving Gan Sanye from becoming faceless. Using his captive, He Lingchuan forced the tiger back into a corner and killed it with one strike, then kicked Gan Sanye's shin.

Amidst a long scream, Gan Sanye's shin broke, twisting at an unnatural angle. Bare bone could be seen where the skin and flesh were torn. He Lingchuan, hating his trickery, disabled the man's limbs, wondering what mischief he could possibly pull now.

Wu Jinsong righted the chair, and He Lingchuan grabbed Gan Sanye by the nape of his neck, forcing him into the seat. Gan Sanye had already fainted from the pain. Wu Jinsong slapped him several times, swelling his face, but he couldn't wake him. Xu Dongdong immediately said, "I'll get some water."

He went into the inner room, found a bucket, filled it with cold water from Lake Mochou, and returned to splash it over Gan Sanye's head. Only then did Gan Sanye slowly come to. Seeing He Lingchuan's expression, he reacted as if seeing a demon, weeping profusely. "Please spare me," he cried, "it was the sorceress who harmed you, I'm innocent!"

"Didn't you mark me with a prominent light beam? Didn't you summon lightning to strike us?" He Lingchuan slapped him after each question.

"It wasn't me, it wasn't me, it has nothing to do with me!"

"Nothing to do with you?" He Lingchuan bared his teeth in a smile. "Don't play the innocent lamb. You made a pact with the sorceress. I'm curious, after signing that pact, are you still human, or are you a demon?" Can humans become demons? He was uneducated and hadn't heard of such a case before. Although the eyeball spider witnessed Gan Sanye's pact-making process, the words on the contract were as tiny as aphids, completely illegible. Most importantly, He Lingchuan could see the evil spirits possessing the tigers, but he detected nothing unusual about Gan Sanye himself. But was he still a normal human?

Gan Sanye hastily replied, "Of course I'm human."

"You're taking over from the sorceress, what should I call you, a charlatan?"

Gan Sanye whimpered and cried, "Young Master He, I was blind. Please don't hold it against me."

"What's in the contract?"

"The sorceress's lifespan was at its end. She chose me as her successor so I could inherit her supernatural abilities, and then she could die in peace."

"Transferring power before death, such a good deal?" He Lingchuan wondered aloud. "What did she want from you? Your unique bone structure or your tyranny over the villagers?"

Gan Sanye's face fell, "I, I don't know either. She chose me!"

"So, are you Gan Sanye, or are you the sorceress?" "I'm still me! The sorceress is dead!"

He Lingchuan searched him thoroughly twice. Besides some gold, silver, and trinkets, he even found a light pink mandarin duck bellyband... But he didn't find what he was looking for, so he asked him, "Where's that mirror?"

The mirror had been there before Gan Sanye was pinned by the tiger corpse, but now it was gone. "It's in the Baijiao Ancestral Temple down the mountain," Gan Sanye swallowed. "What you saw earlier were all reflections. The true mirror, the main body, is enshrined in the Baijiao Ancestral Temple!" Reflections? He Lingchuan recalled that when he first met the sorceress, the mirror on her table could also project henchmen, namely Wu Jinsong and the others. He had created a clone to smash that mirror, but it turned out to be just a trick, and he still ended up mistakenly entering the mirror world. So, the idea of reflections seemed plausible.

Xu Dongdong interjected, "A mere reflection can draw people in?"

"No, no, it was the actual treasure mirror that pulled you in, but the exit was here!" Gan Sanye cried. "Don't kill me, I'll take you to get it!" Seeing that this guy had no other abilities, the sorceress's power probably resided entirely in the mirror. The three exchanged glances and nodded. Wu Jinsong then pulled him out of the bamboo house and put him on horseback.

He Lingchuan rummaged around the house for a bit, then came out. Just as he was about to mount his horse, his divine bone necklace suddenly became hot. His movement halted abruptly. A reaction from the divine bone at this moment meant...

"Brother He?" Wu Jinsong waited for him.

"Let's go." He Lingchuan swung onto his horse, and the three of them, with Gan Sanye, galloped towards the Baijiao Ancestral Temple down the mountain.

But after riding for over a hundred feet, he stopped and said, "You two go on ahead. I'll just step into the woods for a moment and catch up." When nature calls, you can't delay. Wu Jinsong nodded and continued riding forward.

They rode along the winding mountain road, and soon heard hoofbeats from above, though a bit distant and at a leisurely pace. It was clear He Lingchuan was following but not rushing.

Wu Jinsong and the other man didn't wait for him, pressing straight ahead. Their mission in Wuze County was to retrieve Young Master Sha's lost soul, which should be in the mirror, so they had no time to dally.

After rushing for over half an hour, sure enough, a small ancestral temple appeared by the roadside ahead. Its gates were wide open, with no light at all, appearing somewhat dilapidated in the night. "Is this the Baijiao Ancestral Temple?" Wu Jinsong felt something was off. Would such a valuable treasure be carelessly hidden in a dilapidated shrine or wild temple?

Gan Sanye stated emphatically, "It's inside!"

But before the trio reached the temple, Wu Jinsong suddenly sensed something amiss:

Gan Sanye's body suddenly collapsed, becoming limp. He looked down and saw that Gan Sanye had shriveled, as if all the sand had leaked out of a sandbag, leaving only the skin of the bag. When he squeezed harder, Gan Sanye turned to ash and vanished with a puff into the air. "Damn, it was a trap."

The two exchanged glances. Without expressing anger, they quickly turned their horses around and galloped back towards Lake Mochou.

After the four had left, the banks of Lake Mochou returned to quiet. The drizzle had just stopped, and the sounds of frogs and insects once again filled the area.

After another few minutes, a faint glimmer suddenly flashed in the water weeds beneath the stilt house. With a splash, someone emerged from the water—it was Gan Sanye!

He looked around to confirm no one was there before retrieving a mirror from the water weeds and clutching it tightly. Then he whistled.

From the nearby bushes came a rustle, and a large deer bounded out, also possessed by an evil spirit. As long as he escaped far away, he would be safe.

Gan Sanye quickly got ashore and was about to climb onto the deer's back when he heard someone nearby say, "There truly is a ghost."

The shock was immense. Then Gan Sanye felt someone grab his neck. By the faint light reflected on the lake, he saw He Lingchuan's face.

"How did you..." The lakeside was open; where could this person have been hiding earlier?

He Lingchuan smiled at him, as if about to speak, then suddenly tossed him into the air and, with a swing of his blade, cut him in half! It was so sudden that Gan Sanye didn't even react before turning to ash upon hitting the ground. A bronze mirror fell from his embrace, about to plunge into the lake.

He Lingchuan produced a snakeskin slough, immediately used it to cover the mirror, and grasped it. The deer turned and fled, but He Lingchuan didn't pursue it. Only then did he let out a long breath.

Earlier, he had excused himself to relieve himself, ducked into the woods, created a clone, which then continued riding on horseback past the bend. He himself, cloaked in Lord Boshan's snakeskin slough, quietly crept to the side of the bamboo house and waited silently.

This snakeskin slough could blend perfectly with its surroundings. Combined with his 'Ignorance' divine ability, which had previously fooled Madam Zhu Er, it could now conceal him from whatever lurked here—if there was indeed something here.

He had already been suspicious, and with the hint from his divine bone necklace, He Lingchuan was fairly certain that his target was still nearby and hadn't gone far. So, Gan Sanye's words were nothing but lies!

Sure enough, He Lingchuan's waiting game paid off. Everything he had just witnessed firsthand proved once again that the one secretly controlling everything was not Gan Sanye, nor even the sorceress, but this very mirror! The mirror-wielder was merely a diversion. "Trying to trick us twice, eh?"

The mirror actually retorted, "You humans are foolish and greedy. Who can you blame?"

He Lingchuan thought for a moment, then turned the mirror's face outwards, with its back facing him. Only then did he remove the snakeskin slough and stab it with his Wandering Life Blade. He stabbed from the mirror's back towards its face. He remembered the mirror's ability to reflect attacks, so he decided to be cunning and approach it from behind.

The bronze mirror was exceptionally tough. The Wandering Life Blade struck it three or four times but failed to break it. The bronze mirror let out a mocking laugh, in Gan Sanye's voice: "Fool, you think you can deal with my true form with a broken blade?"

He Lingchuan wasn't in a hurry. He continued stabbing diligently. This precious blade had the 'Army Breaker' attribute, even if the chance of it activating was small, but... he wasn't pressed for time anyway. Stab it a dozen more times, or a few dozen, and it would eventually break through its defenses.

As he stabbed, the mirror continued to scoff, "I, Mirror Lord, am the treasure of an ancient immortal sect! You lowly mortals, you unwashed wretches, truly don't know the height of the sky or the depth of the earth... Ouch!" With a crisp 'crack,' the Wandering Life Blade pierced through the mirror, entering from the back and exiting the front. "It's cracked, it's cracking!" The mirror shrieked, "Stop, stop, stop! Stop, quickly! You win, I surrender!"