Chapter 274: Appearing Truth

"It's not... an illusion?" Even with Jasmine's words, Yun Che still shook his head. "Impossible! I'm absolutely certain that couldn't have been a real world; it was merely an illusion!"

Jasmine said calmly, "While I don't know why you're so convinced it was merely an illusion, I am even more certain that it was a real world. Furthermore, when it comes to distinguishing reality from illusion, I am far more qualified than you! With your current power, you simply don't have the ability to determine if something is an illusion."

Yun Che fell silent.

Indeed, he couldn't determine if it was an illusion. Just like the Phoenix Trial Realm and the Dragon God Trial Realm, those two worlds, apart from being fraught with danger, were no different from the real world to him. If he hadn't entered them as part of a trial but had gone in under other circumstances, he wouldn't have considered them mere illusions either.

Jasmine, however, was different. Her cultivation realm was beyond Yun Che's comprehension. Her understanding and perception of elemental and spatial laws were something Yun Che couldn't possibly achieve. For instance, upon entering the Heavenly Pool Secret Realm, Jasmine immediately knew how long it had existed and that it couldn't have been created by humans from this plane. The Evil God's soul later confirmed that it was indeed a secret realm not made by human power, but by the Evil God himself.

"The place you called the Azure Cloud Continent had incredibly complete and stable elemental, natural, and order laws," Jasmine continued. "These laws absolutely couldn't be fundamental laws temporarily established within an illusion! Furthermore, judging by the completeness of its laws, that was a continent that had existed for at least billions of years! It was not some so-called illusion at all... Even if a true god were alive, they couldn't create an illusory world whose laws were as complete and stable as those of a continent that has existed for billions of years!"

Yun Che was stunned.

"Even the Evil God himself couldn't possibly do that... What's more, that was merely a wisp of the Evil God's remnant soul. When that wisp spoke with you, it was already extremely weak. Its last bit of power was barely enough to complete one spatial round trip; it was the absolute limit. It couldn't possibly have created an illusion! Not even the most basic mental illusion!"

Jasmine's words struck Yun Che like successive bolts of lightning, turning his mind upside down and stirring up immense turmoil.

That wasn't... an illusion?

Was it... a real world? A genuinely existing world? The Azure Cloud Continent he was so familiar with?

So Ling'er... and time...

No! Impossible! Ling'er had clearly passed away; she left in his arms, and he had personally buried her. How could that have been the real her? And the time... the true Azure Cloud Continent shouldn't have had time like that at all...

"Also..." Jasmine's voice continued, "That Azure Cloud Continent not only truly exists, but it shouldn't be too far from this Profound Sky Continent. Its elemental, natural, and order laws share many commonalities with the Profound Sky Continent. It's possible that both continents are on the same planet. However..."

Jasmine paused, a hint of doubt in her voice. "While the fundamental laws of the Azure Cloud Continent are common with the Profound Sky Continent, the time law—which should be the most connected—has a clear discontinuity... Humph! Although interfering with the law of time is basically impossible, my perception for such a lower plane couldn't be wrong! Either the Azure Cloud Continent's time law has been interfered with, or the Profound Sky Continent's time law has been interfered with, or perhaps both have been interfered with!"

Jasmine's voice echoed repeatedly in Yun Che's mind, making his already turbulent thoughts even more chaotic. At that moment, he suddenly looked up, as if a bolt of lightning had struck his mind.

He suddenly recalled a very strange statement the Phoenix Spirit had made to him when he was in the Phoenix Trial Realm...

"...It seems that the girl you call Ling'er is truly important to you. Because of her, a deep regret lingers within your heart. However, you don't need to suppress this regret deep in your soul. You traversed reincarnation with a Profound Sky Treasure, altering the causality of this world. Under the butterfly effect, time, dimensions, and planes all shifted accordingly. Some regrets and debts may not be without a chance for resolution and compensation..."

Profound Sky Treasure...

Traversed reincarnation...

Butterfly effect...

Altering causality...

Interfering with time...

These terms swirled wildly in Yun Che's mind. Slowly, they began to align with his inconceivable rebirth, with Jasmine's words, and with the Azure Cloud Continent and Su Ling'er from what he thought was an "illusion"... bit by bit, everything started to fit together.

Traversed reincarnation... After dying on the Azure Cloud Continent, he had awoken in a dead body on the Profound Sky Continent...

Wasn't that exactly traversing reincarnation? Because after death, a person should have all memories and life experiences erased, entering the next cycle as a completely new life and form. Yet, he had returned to a previous reincarnation with all his memories intact...

If the Azure Cloud Continent he had just visited wasn't an illusion, and the Su Ling'er he encountered wasn't a phantom... then wasn't it... an alteration of causality and time?

His "traversal of reincarnation" was real, as it was his most genuine and bizarre experience. So then... then... the time interference on the Azure Cloud Continent, Ling'er's reappearance... were they real too!?

But even Jasmine said that interfering with time was basically impossible... And he didn't possess any Profound Sky Treasure capable of "traversing reincarnation" as mentioned by the Phoenix Spirit. While the Sky Poison Pearl he owned was a Profound Sky Treasure, its abilities were focused on poison, medicine, smelting, containment, and detection, completely unrelated to "traversing reincarnation." Besides the Sky Poison Pearl, he had no other Profound Sky Treasures. If he truly had one without realizing it, how could Jasmine not have noticed?

"Jasmine..." Yun Che took a deep breath and quietly asked, "Among the Profound Sky Treasures, is there one... that can traverse reincarnation and alter causality?"

"...I said earlier that the law of time is *basically* impossible to interfere with, not *absolutely* impossible. That's because among the Seven Profound Sky Treasures, there exists a heaven-defying item that can cause time to flow backward. It is the 'Mirror of Samsara,' ranked seventh among the Seven Profound Sky Treasures! The Mirror of Samsara's ability is to 'alter causality and traverse reincarnation'! With the complete annihilation of the true gods, there is no longer any power in this world capable of interfering with time and dimensions, except for the 'Mirror of Samsara' which can interfere with time, and the 'Universe Needle,' ranked sixth among the Profound Sky Treasures, which can interfere with dimensions."

"The anomaly in the Azure Cloud Continent's time law led me to think that someone might have used the 'Mirror of Samsara'... This is an extremely interesting discovery, as it at least indicates that the 'Mirror of Samsara' once appeared on the Azure Cloud Continent! If 'those people' were to learn about this, this plane would likely be plunged into a bloody storm!"

Mirror of Samsara... a mirror?

Yun Che's heart pounded. His hand instinctively gripped the pendant he always wore around his neck.

Could it be...

"Jasmine," Yun Che said in a calm voice, "If the Mirror of Samsara truly appeared in the world, with your abilities, you should be able to sense its presence, right?"

"No," Jasmine denied. "Among the Seven Profound Sky Treasures, the Mirror of Samsara's ability is the most heaven-defying, yet it is ranked last. That's because every time its power is activated, it falls dormant for a full twenty years. During these twenty years, it will be utterly powerless, no different from an ordinary mirror."

Yun Che's heart rate accelerated wildly. He tightly gripped the pendant... In his memories from the Azure Wind Empire, he had worn it around his neck since childhood, never taking it off. On the Azure Cloud Continent, he had also always worn it. Two different continents, two different lives, yet this one pendant had always been with him.

When the pendant was opened, it revealed a small mirror... a mirror that looked utterly ordinary.

And according to Xiao Lie's account, his biological parents were hunted down because of an item called... a "Profound Sky Treasure"!

Could it be... the Mirror of Samsara, one of the Seven Profound Sky Treasures?

If it truly was the Mirror of Samsara, then it could explain why he had traveled from the Profound Sky Continent to the Azure Cloud Continent, and then from the Azure Cloud Continent back to the Profound Sky Continent... His memories and life experiences had been seamlessly continuous, with no gaps! All his questions could then be answered.

If it really was the Mirror of Samsara's interference, then... then... the Azure Cloud Continent he had just visited... the Su Ling'er he had embraced...

They were real!!!

His entire life on the Azure Cloud Continent, the disruption of reincarnation, the confusion of time and space... everything was real!!

Su Ling'er... was still in this world! Still on the Azure Cloud Continent where he had grown up and was familiar with!

And his master... perhaps also still existed due to the reverse flow of time! After all, when Su Ling'er was ten, he was only twelve, and at that time, he was still wandering the world with his master!

"That was Ling'er... that was Ling'er... that was truly Ling'er... She didn't die... She was the real Ling'er..."

This sudden truth made Yun Che's mind explode. His blood nearly boiled throughout his body. He looked at his hands, his body trembling violently... He had seen and embraced Ling'er, who was so close, yet he had naively believed it was merely an illusion created by the Evil God's soul. Jasmine's words, combined with his own experiences and the Phoenix Spirit's voice, struck him like a revelation. His Ling'er had been right before him, by his side, but he had dismissed her as an illusion and simply left...

Yun Che let out a low growl from his throat, then abruptly reached up and slammed his fist against his own head. He was sometimes deliriously happy, sometimes so regretful he was on the verge of a mental breakdown... He was ecstatic that Ling'er was still alive, yet furious with himself for treating her as an illusion and not bringing her back...

Yun Che's unusual behavior finally made Jasmine understand something. Looking at the pendant he was clutching, she suddenly said, "So that's it. No wonder you lost control of your emotions when you went to that continent and saw that little girl... And no wonder the Sky Poison Pearl would even merge with your body..."

"The person who triggered the Mirror of Samsara's power... could it be you!?"