The Fairy: From the Traveling Merchant

Chapter 1002 Photo
After putting away "Crane Fairy," Zhao Chen and Ming Hongyue searched the living room carefully again. Seeing that there were no hidden treasures, they walked together along the corridor towards the inner courtyard.

As soon as they left the "corridor" constructed by the array and entered the inner courtyard, they saw broken jade stones scattered all over the ground.

Glancing at the jade "base" in the center of the courtyard, Zhao Chen immediately thought of the statue base in the "Temple of the Goddess of Light" outside Yumen City, because the style was almost identical.

“There should have been a statue of Amaterasu enshrined here…” Ming Hongyue frowned after looking around, “But how did it end up broken like this?”

Such statues likely contain residual "faith power," and the benefits Fei Meng gained during that "historical fog" probably came from these statues, right? That's why they shattered. I can ask her about the specifics next time we meet.

There are some things, especially those involving the secret knowledge of Xuantian, that are risky to communicate through "manifestations" and must be asked in person.

“The statue shattering means that this deity has truly fallen, which is a good thing for us,” Zhao Chen replied evasively, then walked around the rubble and entered the main house in the inner courtyard first.

This is the daily living quarters of the owner of Beppu. The interior has been blessed with a space expansion spell, and its area is estimated to be larger than the entire Beppu.

On the left side of the room were rows of bookshelves, displaying numerous cultivation manuals and legendary tales collected by the manor lord. On the right side was a large cauldron, but its body had a large hole in it, and there were many metal fragments on the ground, as if someone had broken it from the inside.

In the center of the main room floats a mirror, reflecting the scene of the mountain city outside.

Ming Hongyue had no interest in the scenery of the mountain city, nor did she care why the large cauldron was damaged; her attention was entirely focused on the books on the left-hand bookshelf.

Seeing this, Zhao Chen smiled and said, "There's no danger here. Go and look at those books yourself... I have some things to confirm."

Ming Hongyue nodded obediently, without asking what the other person was going to do, and happily ran towards the bookshelves.

Zhao Chen walked straight to the floating mirror, poured the magic power of the Tianyong City lineage into it, and easily gained control of it.

This mirror is actually the control center of this "other dimension". It can not only adjust the magic array of Beppu, but also formulate and modify the "rules" within that mountain castle.

“This mirror…is essentially a replica of the ‘Bagua Mingguang Mirror’…that earth deity with the Taoist name ‘Mingguang’ might really be a ‘candidate’!” As Zhao Chen’s mind raced, he also grasped the function of the mirror and then made it “reflect” the scene of a secret room.

That was the place where the master of Beppu was in seclusion, and it was also the only place that Zhao Chen couldn't see in detail using the "Eight Trigrams Bright Mirror".

And there, he likely finds the "answers" to some of the questions he seeks.

After a moment's thought, Zhao Chen took out the "Hundred Flowers Manual" and summoned Fang Peiniang, the "Lei Ji," to keep watch. He then transformed into light and entered the mirror, stepping into the "secret room" displayed on the mirror.

This secret room is very small, only about 20 square meters, but it is decorated very elegantly, just like a woman's boudoir.

In other words, that terrifying Earthly Demon, a former true disciple of Tianyong City, whose Daoist name was "Mingguang," was most likely a female cultivator.

Zhao Chen's heart stirred slightly, and his divine sense instantly filled the entire room. He quickly found a crystal among a pile of clothing fragments.

"The material of these tattered clothes is actually of the level of a magic weapon... In other words, this senior 'Mingguang' may have undergone an anomaly in this secluded place of cultivation, but she should still have retained her sanity. She may have even gone all the way out of Beppu and only completely lost control when she reached the 'passage' in the mirror space of Tenshukaku. Otherwise, this 'other-dimensional space' should have had problems long ago, and Beppu would not be so intact."

"As for this crystal, it feels somewhat familiar to me..." Zhao Chen muttered to himself as he tried to inject the "Five Immortals' True Qi" into the crystal.

The crystal flickered a few times, then bloomed like a flower, emitting light from a spot resembling the "stamen," gradually condensing into a phantom.

"This is... the fruit of the 'Qionglin Flowing Light Treasure Flower'? It actually has the ability to capture images... no, not just a simple image, but a true 'copy' of the state of the person at that time, only without a spirit, it is still an inanimate object."

"Is this a manifestation of the creative way of the 'Goddess of Flowers'?"

Zhao Chen's eyes flickered as he watched the "figure" that emerged from inside the blooming crystal solidify into a woman dressed in a yellow dress.

She was beautiful and noble, but her eyes were devoid of any spirit, making her more like a puppet than the puppets created by the "Chess of the Jade Pool".

What's even more surprising is that this woman looks somewhat similar to Ming Hongyue!

"It was no accident that Hongyue was able to obtain that 'Summoning Order'!"

Zhao Chen didn't believe it was just a coincidence. It seemed there was a reason why the princess's fate was intertwined with his.

Sighing inwardly, Zhao Chen hesitated for a moment before speaking directly: "Introduce yourself."

— He learned how to use the crystal when he infused it with magic power.

“I am a shadow left behind by ‘Fairy Mingguang’ and ‘Land God of Tianyanhu’, and I have the following three functions…” Upon hearing his instructions, the woman in yellow’s eyes suddenly brightened, as if she had come to life, but her voice remained rigid. “First, I can take action once, but I will inevitably dissipate afterward and cannot be restored.”

"Secondly, I can recreate a video of the original body, but you must possess the 'Eight Trigrams Bright Mirror' to view it."

"Third, it can preach to those who possess the 'true spiritual energy of the Five Immortals' and impart the 'Brahma Sound Without Pride and Joyful Heavenly Chapter - Dharma Image Chapter'."

This...this sounds like it was tailor-made for me. Even though he had expected it, Zhao Chen still felt that the "arrangements" behind it were too "thoughtful".

It seems my supernatural powers are still insufficient... I need to advance to the "Dongxuan" level as soon as possible! Only after becoming a "Dongxuan" and possessing a "rank" that would incur considerable "costs" for those behind me to "arrange" things can I gradually get rid of this situation.

"However, 'go for the flowers'... No matter what scheming is behind it, my first priority now is to get the benefits."

With that thought in mind, Zhao Chen brought the "Eight Trigrams Bright Mirror" back into reality and said to the woman in yellow, "I choose 'two'. Show me the image of your true form."

Upon hearing this, the woman in yellow did not answer, but her expression suddenly changed, and even her temperament became "gloomy," with her magical power fluctuating uncontrollably.

Suddenly, she reached out and covered half of her cheek, speaking in a voice choked with pain and madness:
"According to that bald monk, I have to record this video so that I'll have a chance to regain my rationality in the future..."

(End of this chapter)