The Cold and Aloof Palace Master's Daily Demon-Slaying Life

Chapter 107 Rock-Paper-Scissors

"You—you cheated!" Xiaobai stammered for a long time, her face flushed red, before finally finding her voice, though it trembled noticeably with grievance. "You, you're all fake! They're illusions! They're conjured up! Mine is real! I can actually eat it!"

She tried to puff out her small chest, attempting to regain her composure regarding "authenticity."

Upon hearing this, You Li gently patted the pastry crumbs off her hands, her crimson eyes flashing with a rational, almost indifferent light.

She shook her head slightly, her tone as calm as if stating an objective fact: "True or false? Miss Yuling, can you really distinguish between what is true and what is false? The concepts of true and false are always relative. For you, what depends on a material entity and can be digested and absorbed is called true; for me, what exists in the spiritual realm, can be perfectly perceived, and can simulate all tastes..."

"Smell, touch, and even a sense of satisfaction can all be called truth."

"Your truth" is built upon the interaction between the physical body and the material world; my "truth" is built upon the operation of the spiritual array and the laws of the virtual realm. Different dimensions, how can they be compared? And on what basis do you assert that "your truth" is necessarily superior to "my truth"?

These words, imbued with philosophical reflection and logical deduction, rained down on Xiaobai like a barrage of bullets.

Xiao Bai's clear, big eyes were instantly filled with confusion.

What is relativity? What is dimension? What is a spiritual array? She seemed to have heard each word before, but put them together, she didn't understand them at all!

She instinctively felt that You Li was being sophistical and bullying her because she was less educated! But she couldn't think of any strong words to refute her! Frustrated, she scratched her head and pawed at the ground with her dragon tail.

"You—you're just making excuses! A fake is always a fake! What's made up will never taste as good as the real thing!" Little White could only repeat her weak accusations, her little fists clenched tightly.

"Oh? Really?" Youli leisurely "conjured" another pastry, held it to her nose, and sniffed it lightly, her expression one of enjoyment. "But the sweetness, satisfaction, and pleasure I feel are very clear and intense~ Isn't that proof that it's delicious?" Or do you think that only when your narrow-minded sense of taste, like that of a little clumsy dragon, perceives something as "delicious" does it qualify as "delicious"?

"I—I—" Little White was speechless, stomping her feet in anger. "I can't argue with you! You annoying mirror spirit! All you do is talk!"

"Thank you for the compliment. Logic and language are indeed among my strengths." You Li nodded slightly, taking it as a compliment, which made Xiao Bai so angry that he almost fainted.

Completely defeated verbally, a nameless anger burned fiercely in Xiaobai's chest.

If you can't win an argument by reasoning, then don't argue!

At heart, Xiaobai was still a proud and somewhat willful brat. In a fit of anger, a "simple" thought came to her mind and she smashed the broken mirror! She wanted to make this annoying mirror spirit, who always spoke incomprehensible words and bullied her, pay the price!

She abruptly put down the food box, rolled up her sleeves to reveal two fair and delicate arms, and her pink face was full of "fierceness" as she made a move to pounce on the Yuan Guang Dong Xuan Mirror!

"I'm going to smash this damn mirror! Let's see how arrogant you'll be then!"

Despite Xiao Bai's attempt to overpower her, You Li in the mirror remained calm and composed, not even raising an eyebrow.

She simply looked calmly at the aggressive Little White with her ruby-red eyes, and spoke softly. Her voice, transmitted through the mirror, remained clear and steady, yet carried a peculiar power that compelled one to remain calm: "Oh? You're going to smash me?"

She even tilted her head slightly, revealing a perfectly timed look of curiosity or doubt.

"Miss Yuling, have you thought this through? I, Youli, am Master's most capable assistant. Deducing cultivation techniques, analyzing restrictions, recording information, assisting cultivation—Master can use me for so many things!"

With each item she mentioned, Xiaobai's body, which was about to pounce, stiffened a little more.

"Ordinary magical artifacts, if damaged, can simply be repaired by a weapon refiner. With the right materials and sufficient skill, they can always be restored to their original state." You Li's tone remained calm, yet it was like a cold hammer gently tapping Xiao Bai's feverish mind. "However, sentient beings, especially a spirit like me with complete intelligence and deeply bound to the artifact's body—once the spirit is damaged, leading to its spirituality becoming obscured, or even dissipating, and ultimately returning to complete silence—"

She paused, her crimson eyes fixed on Xiaobai, who stood frozen in the mirror, her anger slowly replaced by bewilderment. She uttered the most crucial question: "Are you sure you want to bear the consequences? Can you afford to pay the price of losing a capable assistant to your master? Or rather—can you bear the displeasure your master might feel as a result?"

The last few words, spoken softly, were like the sharpest needles, precisely piercing Xiaobai's most sensitive weakness.

Little Baitian is fearless, fearless of the earth, lazy and playful, spoiled and unreasonable, and even occasionally plays small pranks, but her older sister always tolerates it.

But what she feared most was her sister getting angry, causing her trouble, and disappointing her.

My sister probably wouldn't care if I broke an ordinary thing.

But if it's really as this mirror spirit says, that it damaged her consciousness or even caused her to disappear—

Will my sister be very sad?

Do you think Xiaobai is a bad kid who only knows how to cause trouble?

Could it be that... he doesn't like Xiaobai anymore?

This thought terrified Xiaobai more than any threat.

She raised her two small hands high, then let them fall limply to her sides. The anger in her chest seemed to have been extinguished by a bucket of ice water, leaving only a chill and lingering fear.

Reason regained its advantage, but the pent-up frustration of being played, crushed, and unable to retaliate still burned in her chest like embers, making her extremely uncomfortable.

Are we just going to let it go like that? No way! That's too easy on that annoying mirror spirit!

Little Bai bit her lower lip, her big eyes darting around, her little brain working at an unprecedented speed, beginning to use her amazing wisdom.

If force doesn't work, and reasoning doesn't work—what about a softer approach? Like, how about competing with her in something? This mirror spirit seems very clever and calculating—

Suddenly, her eyes lit up!

I remembered a game that was "simple," "fair," and one that I was "very good at"!

She raised her head again, though her imposing manner had weakened considerably, but she forced her chest out and, facing You Li in the mirror, said in a tone that said, "I'm very magnanimous, so I've decided to give you a chance: Hmph! Since you're still useful to my sister, I won't stoop to your level!"

You Li seemed to have anticipated this outcome, and simply waited quietly for her to continue.

Xiao Bai took a deep breath and announced his "duel" method: "However, we can't just let it go like this! We—we'll play rock-paper-scissors! Best two out of three! Whoever wins is the best today! The loser—"

The loser is not allowed to laugh at the other person anymore! They must admit that the other person is better! She thought about it for a while, but couldn't come up with a more threatening bet, but in her opinion, this was serious enough.

In her heart, Xiaobai was already smugly fantasizing: This mirror spirit spends all day holed up in the mirror, she's definitely never played such a "high-level" game with anyone! Later, when she uses her "invincible rock-paper-scissors technique," she'll definitely crush her without knowing what's going on! Then she'll see that shocked and defeated expression on her pretty, smug face! Hmph, she'll get her revenge!

In the mirror, when Youli heard this "suggestion," her delicate, porcelain-doll-like face showed a noticeable change in expression for the first time—the corners of her mouth twitched upwards very slightly, and a complex expression, almost overflowing with a mixture of absurdity, amusement, and pity, flashed across her crimson eyes.