After a conversation, Shui Miao gained a lot of insight.
At the very least, he now understood that many deities in this world used money as bait to recruit disciples.
In fact, there were also many people who willingly became pawns in others’ games in pursuit of transcendence.
It wasn’t long before the higher-ups arrived.
Director Zhang came to invite Cai Enkang to act as a witness.
Cai Enkang wasn’t only very familiar with Director Zhang, but also well-acquainted with the senior leaders. With Cai Enkang’s presence to vouch for him, the higher-ups wouldn’t suspect Director Zhang of any underhanded dealings. While Cai Enkang dealt with the leaders, Shui Miao let his mind wander freely, integrating all the issues he had encountered for some deep thinking.
“If everything before was just a dream, then all I’ve experienced was simply my father’s well-intentioned planning. However, there’s also this mysterious female ghost from a thousand years ago involved! Her magical abilities are profound, and her actions are secretive. She gave me a mirror that seems ordinary, yet it absolutely cannot be ordinary. A thousand-year-old ghost—what immense cultivation she must possess! And she even took revenge in the celestial realm… But today, her behavior was also quite abnormal, wasn’t it? If she didn’t want the bronze coffin to be revealed, then why did she allow it to be unearthed in the first place?”
Doubts once again troubled Shui Miao.
As he pondered, Shui Miao suddenly felt that everything he was experiencing now might be another dream—he might be under the control of this thousand-year-old ghost!
It was a bold and thrilling idea.
Despite how real everything in this world seemed.
Shui Miao took out the bronze mirror and gazed at it…
Suddenly, a terrifying realization struck him.
“This thousand-year-old ghost is extremely powerful. My father alone shouldn’t have been able to make me dream of so many things. It’s very likely that this ghost has been manipulating my thoughts! If that’s not the case, then it proves that what came before wasn’t a dream, and the current reality is the dream! This ghost is too mysterious—who exactly is she, friend or foe? If what my mother said is true, my father was doing business successfully before suddenly becoming obsessed with cultivation. What caused this sudden obsession with Daoist practices that cost him his life? Could it be… could it be that my father was also harmed by this thousand-year-old ghost?”
As Shui Miao’s thoughts expanded, the more suspicious he became.
“The Queen of the Nine Heavens was fake, the Supreme Immortal was fake too. Perhaps all of this is also fake. Previously, the thousand-year-old ghost went to the celestial realm, so I was free to do as I pleased. Now she’s returned and has once again taken control of my thoughts, trapping me in this illusory realm that feels half-real, half-illusory. If that’s truly the case, how did she manage to control me so easily? What value do I have to her? The cultivators I met earlier, like the white-robed scholar, always urged me to calm down and focus on cultivation. Now my current situation seems exactly what the white-robed scholar hoped for—and perhaps also what the thousand-year-old ghost desired… Wait, could it be that she tampered with my birth chart?”
Suddenly, Shui Miao was struck by a shocking realization.
“I get it now! It must be that the thousand-year-old ghost wanted revenge, so she needed an accomplice. My father was thus controlled by her! My hatred toward Chen Jianguo, my resentment toward a few old figures in the Zhonghai Guild—these feelings of hatred resonated with the thousand-year-old ghost. Therefore, she wanted to recruit and control me, guiding me to cultivate slowly according to her methods, possibly even making me grateful to her. She went to the celestial realm seeking revenge but failed, realizing that I had escaped her control and brought everyone to the Realm of Rakshasas, so she became furious. Immediately, she conjured up the entire charade with the Supreme Immortal and the Queen of the Nine Heavens to confuse me, trying to eliminate my hatred and bring me back to her side, continuing to cultivate according to her teachings so that I could serve her!”
“No wonder everything has gone so smoothly since I woke up!”
“No way!”
“I must verify this theory!”
“Illusions are controlled by spiritual power. The thousand-year-old ghost went to the celestial realm for revenge, undoubtedly sustaining serious injuries, which is why she needs time to recover her strength. That’s why I was able to realize all this. The way to break free from the illusion is to enhance my spiritual power! The thousand-year-old ghost wants me to cultivate peacefully, so I’ll do the opposite. If she really is behind all this manipulation, she’ll do everything possible to suppress me. But if she’s severely injured and unable to focus on me, I’ll have the chance to break free from the illusion and escape her grasp! If she could drag me back from the Realm of Rakshasas, then I’ll go to the celestial realm—the very place she just escaped from—where she definitely won’t be able to capture me again, and then I can be completely free!”
This entire line of thinking raced through Shui Miao’s mind.
Immediately, Shui Miao practiced the mental cultivation techniques of Zhuge Suanpan and Sima Zongheng to enhance his intellect.
When a surge of spiritual energy gathered in his brain, Shui Miao’s mind suddenly became clear, and he had another profound realization. For someone trapped in an illusion, their thoughts were controlled by an illusory formation, meaning that the thousand-year-old ghost wasn’t directly controlling Shui Miao’s thoughts, but rather the formation was operating on its own.
Shui Miao was very familiar with the laws governing such illusory formations.
At once, an idea came to him—he could test whether he was trapped in an illusion.
By focusing all his mental energy on imagining he was doing something, he could trick the illusion into reacting.
Inside the car, Zhang Hanya was sleeping. Shui Miao concentrated and imagined he was tapping her shoulder…
Time passed second by second as Shui Miao fully immersed himself in the act.
But nothing happened.
Disappointed, Shui Miao stopped the visualization. Suddenly, by accident, he noticed a stream of black qi retreating from the mirror.
Could this be the culprit?
Yes! It must be! This wasn’t a gift from the thousand-year-old ghost—it was a tool for surveillance and control!
Inside it must be hiding those spirits who had previously possessed Zhang Shanren and others.
Realizing this, Shui Miao quickly grabbed the mirror and got out of the car, retrieving a hammer from the trunk and smashing the mirror repeatedly!
“Bang!”
“Bang!”
The mirror rang out under the hammer blows. Soon it was flattened and curled up, and streams of black qi emerged from it, forming the shapes of four spirits…
“Stop! Stop!”
“You brat! Are you crazy? You actually smashed the Reincarnation Mirror given to you by the Lady?”
“It’s useless now, the Reincarnation Mirror is broken.”
“Now what do we do…”
“Be quiet! Let me speak. Brat, what the hell got into you to smash the Lady’s gift?”
The four spirits spoke with human voices, one middle-aged male spirit particularly furious.
Shui Miao picked up the hammer, smirking coldly at the four spirits: “You four just said it yourselves—it was a gift from the Lady. Since she gave it to me, it’s mine. If it’s mine, I can smash it if I want. But I’d like to ask you, how did you end up inside my mirror?”
“This… what’s the big deal? The Lady sent us to protect you!”
The middle-aged spirit clearly wasn’t being honest.
The other three spirits looked at each other, their awkward expressions already revealing the truth.
Shui Miao furrowed his brow, feigning surprise: “Really! The Lady sent you venerable elders to protect me, yet you didn’t even tell me? I thought there was some evil lurking inside the mirror, so I smashed it. Oh no! What have I done?” Shui Miao could tell that aside from the middle-aged spirit who was speaking to him, the other three were honest souls.
“Evil? He actually thought we were evil!”
“We should’ve told him earlier…”
“Exactly…”
The middle-aged spirit waved his hand furiously: “All of you shut up! Kid, you can’t fool me. You smashed the Reincarnation Mirror because you figured something out!”
As soon as the middle-aged spirit spoke these words, Shui Miao immediately realized that this fellow wasn’t exactly eloquent.
So Shui Miao pretended to be confused and asked: “Ghost Uncle, didn’t I just say I thought there was some evil inside the mirror, so I smashed it. Now you say I figured something out? What exactly do you mean? Could it be… could it be that you have some sinister plot!?”
“N-no-no-no-no…”
“No plot at all!”
“…”
The four spirits frantically waved their hands in denial, clearly terrified.
In such a situation, even a fool could see something was off.
But Shui Miao pretended to believe them, scratching his head and saying: “Ghost Uncles, since you say it was the Lady who sent you to protect me, and since the Lady is now injured, could you tell me what abilities you have? Can you fight against the celestial immortals in the heavens?”
Shui Miao spoke casually, but his words were carefully chosen, subtly probing and trying to make the spirits reveal their secrets.
“How do you know the Lady is injured?”
The middle-aged spirit was momentarily stunned, looking at Shui Miao in astonishment.
This response wasn’t too clever, but certainly not sharp either.
“Sigh!”
Just as I suspected! A realization struck Shui Miao, who nodded solemnly and sighed deeply: “You all think I’m stupid and stubborn, but I’ve actually known about the Lady’s good intentions all along. She’s been through so much, her plight has broken my heart. I’ve been striving to improve my cultivation to help and repay her kindness. But the Lady has been too kind to me, urging me to cultivate patiently and diligently, yet I just can’t calm myself. I’m a hot-headed person—I want to help the Lady seek revenge, even if it costs me my life, I won’t regret it!”
Shui Miao was definitely a master of deception.
With his convincing performance, the four spirits were momentarily stunned.
They looked at each other, puzzled.
One naive, talkative spirit blurted out in surprise: “So he already knew everything!”
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