333: Light-tracing prism

After Huang Chen waited for Tie Shengnan to arrange the three armies to clean up the battlefield and rest in place, he led All the women straight toward the cloud-piercing Mirror Shadow Tower.

The entire Mirror Shadow Tower was constructed from an unknown black crystal, its surface smooth as a mirror, yet it did not reflect light; instead, it seemed capable of absorbing all light rays.

Upon the tower body, countless complex and ancient Runes were carved. These Runes slowly circulated, emitting an aura of vastness and immensity.

The nine layers of eaves were stacked one upon another, and a Bronze Wind Chime hung from the corner of the roof on each level. They rang without wind, producing bursts of clear, pleasant, and strange sounds that reached deep into the soul.

The entire tower was magnificent and mysterious, standing silently as if it had existed since antiquity.

Huang Chen led Tie Shengnan, Liu Ruyan, and other core members of the Harem, stepping into the first level of the Mirror Shadow Tower first.

Viewed from outside the tower, the first level's diameter was only twenty to thirty meters.

But upon stepping inside, the space before them suddenly widened, revealing a circular hall with a diameter exceeding a hundred meters.

On the walls of the hall, approximately every ten meters, a crystal ball the size of a human head and emitting a soft white light was embedded.

Strangely, the moment everyone stepped in, their figures were clearly reflected on every crystal ball.

Liu Ruyan curiously approached a crystal ball, only to find that her reflection was surrounded by burning orange-red flames, and faintly within the flames, the phantom of Yamata no Orochi coiled.

"What's going on with these reflections?" Xie Chunyan also noticed the peculiarity. Her reflection in the crystal ball also burned with orange-red flames, though the flames seemed significantly weaker than Liu Ruyan's.

As Xie Chunyan's voice fell, everyone curiously walked toward the crystal balls, followed by a chorus of feminine gasps of astonishment.

Huang Chen's understanding of the Mirror Shadow Tower in his previous life was shallow; the information he knew was limited to the fact that the Mirror Shadow Tower could help improve skill levels and serve as an early hub for inter-district communication, but he knew nothing else.

He curiously walked toward the nearest crystal ball. His reflection was surrounded by five elements: fire, lightning, frost... The intensity of the elements was several times stronger than any of the women, and behind his figure, the phantom of the imperial seal of china flickered, radiating an oppressive aura that was immeasurably stronger than Liu Ruyan's Yamata no Orochi phantom.

"These... are all light tracing prism crystals!!! Star Abyss has truly made a huge investment!"

Just as Huang Chen was seriously studying the phantom in the crystal, Zi Han's surprised voice rang out in his mind.

"light tracing prism crystal? What is that?" Huang Chen asked doubtfully.

Since Zi Han could name these crystals, it was reasonable to assume she also knew their function.

"light tracing prism crystal! That is something that can drive even the great powers of the universe mad!"

Zi Han's excited voice came again, "Even a piece the size of a fist can cause an entire race to fight until heads bleed!"

"Oh?"

Hearing Zi Han's words, a burst of ecstasy appeared on Huang Chen's face.

According to Zi Han, there was a head-sized piece every ten meters inside the tower, and the radius here was a full hundred meters. How many must there be?

And there were eight more floors above. How many would that be?

Regardless of what this thing was used for, a treasure was always safest in his own hands.

His eyes gleamed. Instead of immediately asking about the function of the light tracing prism crystal, he directly wrapped both hands around a crystal and gently tried to pry it downward.

However, the crystal seemed to be an integral part of the tower wall, remaining absolutely motionless.

Huang Chen, refusing to believe it, increased his force, then increased it again... "Ah!!"

Huang Chen yelled, suddenly exerting all his strength, planting both feet against the tower wall. His posture looked like a monkey hanging upside down... "Huh??"

Tie Shengnan looked strangely at Huang Chen, who was hanging upside down on the tower wall, and asked, "Husband... what are you doing??"

Huang Chen: "..."

Seeing the women's eyes focused on him, Huang Chen pretended to brush off non-existent dust from his body before slowly saying, "I was just inspecting the engineering quality..."

Everyone: "..."

Xie Chunyan and the others stifled their laughter and tacitly shifted their gaze, pretending not to have seen Huang Chen's actions. However, Zi Han's unrestrained laughter exploded directly in Huang Chen's mind: "Hahaha! You idiot! You actually tried to pry off the light tracing prism crystal with your bare hands?!"

Huang Chen's face darkened, and he asked grumpily in his mind, "So why don't you tell me, what exactly is this light tracing prism crystal?"

Zi Han laughed for a while longer before catching her breath: "You didn't know what it was and yet you dared to try prying it off? Forget that you can't pry it loose; if you actually managed to break off a piece this big, it could crush you into meat paste!" She paused, her tone finally becoming a bit serious. "Legend says that the light tracing prism crystal is formed from the condensation of Spacetime Laws that shattered during the expansion of the universe. In terms of weight, a piece the size of a fist is rumored to weigh tens of millions of catties. Weapons and equipment made from it naturally possess Spacetime attributes—for example, your void holy armor likely contains trace amounts of light tracing prism crystal."

"But its greatest use has never been as a material for weapons," Zi Han continued, "but rather, by engraving Runes onto it, turning it into a detection tool. This tool can read the information on a creature's body, then synthesize its age, bone structure, and various other potentials, deducing the creature's evolutionary process of life levels, up to the highest realm it can possibly reach, and finally displaying it on the mirror surface."

Although Huang Chen was shocked after listening, he was still somewhat confused: "If that's all it does, it doesn't seem to have that much use?"

Zi Han sneered: "For a skyscraper that has already been built, even if you later discover its flaws, fixing them requires a huge cost. But if you eliminate all flaws in the original plan before construction, wouldn't you be able to remedy them ahead of time?" She paused, her tone becoming profound. "Now, do you still think this thing is not very useful?"

After hearing Zi Han's explanation, Huang Chen suddenly realized, and his eyes grew a little more fervent.

"What a pity..."

He touched the cold light tracing prism crystal, wishing he could put all of them into his backpack.

But then he gave a self-deprecating smile. If something this precious could be taken away, how could it have remained here until now?

While everyone was talking, an altar suddenly rose in the center of the Mirror Shadow Tower. A vertical stele stood there, with the three large characters "Mirror Shadow Tower" written on it in Seal Script.

Everyone stopped talking immediately upon seeing the sudden appearance of the altar.

Huang Chen slowly stepped forward, reached out his hand, and gently pressed it onto the vertical stele.

A cold sensation was transmitted, followed immediately by a grand System Prompt sounding directly in his mind.

[Ding! Welcome to the Mirror Shadow Tower.]

[Mirror Shadow Tower challenges will not result in death, but each person only has three opportunities to participate. The team that first passes all nine levels of the Mirror Shadow Tower will obtain the right to use the Mirror Shadow Tower and establish a city using it as the foundation.]

[The number of people in a team challenging the Mirror Shadow Tower must not exceed 8. Please confirm your team before starting the challenge.]

[Do you wish to participate in the challenge?]

[Yes/No!]

Huang Chen's eyes flickered.

Establishing a city... His original plan was to first go to the Demon Sealing Land, and only return to tackle the Mirror Shadow Tower after his strength had increased again.

But the preciousness of the light tracing prism crystal gave rise to a sense of urgency in his heart.

Perhaps if he completed the Mirror Shadow Tower challenge first, the matter of establishing the city could wait until he returned from the Demon Sealing Land.

He then sent a message to Lan Yufei: "Miss Lan, the trip to the Demon Sealing Land will likely have to be postponed for a few more days."