Daoqi Huangcheng

Chapter 5.5. The Mirror of Illusion and Reality
A few hours later, the light entered the capital and landed in front of a vast temple with countless pavilions and towers.

This is the Imperial City Temple.

Then, Song Chen was taken to a side room outside the Imperial City Temple.

The middle-aged cultivator said, "Song Chen, we know about your situation. Stay here for a few days. The second test will be in seven days."

After saying that, he was about to leave.

Song Chen hurriedly asked, "May I ask your esteemed name, Immortal Master?"

The middle-aged cultivator said calmly, "Han Xian."

Song Chen clutched his stomach, embarrassed, and said, "Master Han, I don't know what's happened these past seven days."

The middle-aged cultivator paused for a moment, then reached into his pocket and, finding no silver, said, "I will give the order for you to have a meal in the outer sect's dining hall."

Song Chen said gratefully, "Thank you."

Now, he is dirt poor, so poor that he can't even afford a steamed bun. If the Imperial City Temple doesn't care about him and abandons him on the street, he will just be another homeless man who can only sleep under the bridge.

Han left first.

The door is closed.

The room suddenly became quiet.

The light was soft, and the surroundings were quiet. Even though it was just a corner room outside the gate, it was dozens of times better than the environment of the previous cannon fodder camp.

Looking at the antique wooden display shelf, desk, and chair, as well as the soft white bed, Song Chen felt a sense of peace, as if he had survived a catastrophe.

He glanced at the [Mirror of Illusion and Reality] in his mind, feeling both horrified and excited.

Even though this [Mirror of Illusion and Reality] is extremely damaged, the supernatural powers it displays are still terrifying.

After using it once, a lot of information flooded into his mind, and he vaguely knew what this [Mirror of Illusion and Reality] was.

According to the principle of the "Mirror of Illusion and Reality," there exists a "real world" and a "real world" in this world, with the real and the illusory giving rise to each other, and something arising from nothing.

But nothingness is not truly "nothingness," but a mysterious and profound world that he cannot comprehend or touch at his level. It is the place where the great beings who have lived through 9,997 previous lives have been active.

Everything in the real world is rooted in the virtual world and also reflects back into the virtual world.

The function of the [Mirror of Reality and Illusion] is to clear all the power of a being in the real world after its death through the illusory world, and then make a copy of it and store it in the mirror for the mirror's owner to use at any time.

The power of the Void Realm is mysterious and profound. Even though Song Chen is an ordinary person, he can use the power it grants without missing a single bit, just like a small piece of code in a game copying a stronger piece of code from the source code area and pasting it behind him.

Previously, Que Shenyun died. He took out the [Mirror of Illusion and Reality], copied Que Shenyun's power, and then used Que Shenyun's power to kill the wounded and careless Devouring Crane Demon with all his might.

This created the illusion that Que Shenyun and the marrow-eating crane demon had both been severely injured and perished together.

Clearly, the marrow-eating crane demon is stronger than Que Shenyun.

Therefore, after killing the Marrow-Eating Crane Demon, he used the [Mirror of Illusion and Reality] to capture the Marrow-Eating Crane Demon in the mirror, replacing the original Que Shenyun.

This feeling is somewhat like "a player in the beginner village suddenly obtaining a treasure from a max-level dungeon".

In the mirror, the face of the eerie and ferocious demon was contorted with rage.

Song Chen recalled the nightmarish image of how he silently lured Lin Ge and his two companions into a horrific massacre in the rain.

现在
This power belongs to him.

He used the [Mirror of Illusion and Reality] to replicate the power of the Marrow-Eating Crane Demon.

He can use the power of the marrow-eating crane demon anytime, anywhere.

However, when he pulled the Mirror of Illusion from the Book of Three Lifetimes, he also felt a faint but great terror. Although the terror was far away, he could clearly feel it.

Clearly, this is trouble that originally belonged to [Xiao Fan].

Five treasures remain in the Book of Three Lifetimes. Apart from three marked with question marks, there is one more: the Treasure Box of Time. Song Chen vaguely senses that the Treasure Box of Time holds even more trouble than the Mirror of Illusion.

This also temporarily made him abandon the idea of ​​taking out the [Treasure Box of Time]. On the other hand, he had not forgotten Que Shenyun's strange, enigmatic gaze earlier, nor had he forgotten his "abnormal good fortune" and "abnormal sudden comprehension."
He has no established background, so everyone can suspect he has had some extraordinary encounter and can investigate him.

Therefore, he had to repay the favor.

He was determined to repay Mr. Shenyun for saving his life.

Isn't repaying a debt of gratitude just asking for trouble?
However, this favor cannot be repaid casually; if things go wrong, it could be a death sentence.

Therefore, he needs to find out the situation first and see if he has a chance to repay the kindness.

'Let's go find out some information after we finish eating.'

Time is running out for me; the sooner the better.

As evening fell, Song Chen dragged his tired body back to his dormitory.

Today, nothing was gained!
Finding out news from General Que's residence is too difficult.

This was especially true when General Que was about to set off for the northern frontier.

He witnessed passersby who approached General Que's mansion being driven away, with the guards shouting, "If you're not a spy from another race, what are you doing here? What do you want to know? Leave now, or we'll arrest you."

Song Chen couldn't help but smile bitterly, then started to come up with another idea: 'I can only listen to news from General Que's mansion, I can't ask about it. I don't even have any money in my pocket, so I can't go to teahouses or restaurants.'

Perhaps I should take a stroll around the city gates tomorrow, gather some information about the wilderness, and learn as much as possible. If things really don't look good, then I'll have no choice but to risk escaping into the wild and becoming a savage.

In the cannon fodder camp, he had actually heard quite a bit about what was happening in the wild.

Simply put: there are all sorts of strange and supernatural tales, but when it comes to whether they are true or false, no one can say for sure.

This time, however, Song Chen had already experienced the dangers of the wild.

He was reluctant to go into the wilderness easily.

Besides, who would want to live like a savage when they can live like a human being?

However, when he used Que Shenyun's power, he also knew that Huangcheng Temple had the Soul Searching Technique. However, the Soul Searching Technique came with a price, which would cause permanent damage to the person whose soul was searched. Therefore, logically speaking, Huangcheng Temple would not use it on its disciples.

But he's not a disciple yet.

Moreover, he hadn't even settled in yet.

After taking a bath, Song Chen tossed and turned on the couch, but the fragrant and soft bed soon lulled him into a dream.

Beside General Que's mansion, by the lake, there are eight sizable mansions, one of which, on the corner, hangs a plaque that reads "Shenyun Mansion".

This area is off-limits to unauthorized personnel and is also considered part of General Que's residence.

In fact, General Que's mansion and these eight mansions are completely independent, and General Que's mansion occupies a larger area than the eight mansions combined.

These eight prefectures were in fact also the Que family.

The Que family has many branches. The Que General's Mansion is the main branch, while the rest are collateral branches scattered around.

Those who wanted to secure a place next to General Que's mansion and hang up a plaque were considered to be from well-off collateral branches.

at this time
In Shenyunzhai.

A maidservant hurried in from outside, passed through the winding viewing corridor, and arrived at the door of the master's bedroom.

The candlelight inside was still bright, and the oil paper reflected the beautiful figure of a woman.

The maid entered the room, her previously calm expression suddenly turning panicked. She blurted out, "Madam, Madam, it's all been found out! Master is dead! Master is dead! Master went to the wilderness yesterday for testing and encountered a promising talent. He said that in order to save him, he perished together with a ferocious demon called the Marrow-Eating Crane. I've inquired about it; the Marrow-Eating Crane is a very terrifying demon that never usually appears around our capital. But somehow, Master ran into it. Waaaaah, Madam, what can we do? What can we do?"

Upon hearing this, the beautiful woman closed her eyes for a long time. Then, she suddenly clenched her hands, her nails, stained with bright red flower juice, digging into her palms. She uttered the three words "Que Shenyun" fiercely, then her expression turned gloomy, reflecting the candlelight. She took a few deep breaths, and then calmly asked, "How wonderful?"

The maid, not yet understanding, asked, "Madam, what?"

The beautiful woman said calmly, "I asked the master how good the potential of the promising young talents he rescued was."

(End of this chapter)