65: Sequence 014: Mirror Monster

Underground Mo City was as silent as a cold abyss.

The Nine Heavens Thunder Hell Formation's light had completely vanished, and the thunderous runes on the rock walls were dim, as if the world-destroying power from before was merely an illusion.

The lingering scent of ozone and static in the air, mixed with a faint, yet chillingly sharp, herbal fragrance, silently narrated the brief but cognition- subversioning 'misdirection' that had just occurred.

Oppression and humiliation, like tangible ice water, soaked the Soul of every sequential being in the city.

Vajra Battalion warriors stood at their posts, muscles taut beneath their demonic gold armor, and deep within their crimson eyes, fanaticism was covered by a deeper dread.

Worker Bee swarms lurked in the shadows, even their wing beats becoming cautious.

The Stone-skinned Turtle lowered its head, emitting a muffled whimper.

Wang Linger's face was pale, her nails dug deep into her palms; the green-robed figure's effortless coming and going was more despair-inducing than any violent attack.

Mo Yuan still sat cross-legged atop the Formation core in the Central Plaza.

His aura was as dead and silent as if frozen, only his deep-purple Thunder God Arm had its five fingers dug firmly into the cold Formation runes below, and at the edges where his fingertips met the runes, extremely suppressed, fragmented, and violent dark purplish-gold electric arcs leaped, emitting a grating 'sizzle' sound.

He lowered his head, his fringe covering his eyes, making his expression unreadable.

But within him, beneath that cold mask, his Sea of Consciousness had already churned up monstrous waves!

Han Li's plain words, every single one, were like red-hot steel needles, repeatedly piercing his pride and self-confidence.

"Not a dead object..."

"Lacking the Heavenly Dao's completeness..."

"The rigid breaks easily..."

"Flaws reveal themselves..."

Especially that last drop of emerald green dew!

That incredibly precise drop! It didn't contain terrifying energy, yet it precisely landed on the most subtle, most unstable intermittent node in the Formation's energy flow after he had integrated the power of Chaos, a node that even he hadn't fully understood!

It was like a master butcher dismembering an ox, using no thickness to enter a gap, moving with effortless ease!

This wasn't an overwhelming defeat on the power level.

This was a complete and utter... humiliation on the cognitive level, on the level of understanding the Laws of the Great Dao!

His Nine Heavens Thunder Hell Formation, in the opponent's eyes, was actually a flawed, unrefined product?!

An extremely cold rage, almost freezing his Soul, mixed with an unprecedented, hungry thirst for knowledge and desire to devour, burned fiercely in his chest!

He wanted to obtain it!

To obtain that ability to discern the minutest details and see the truth in the subtle!

To obtain that extremely precise control and understanding of energy, of rules, of 'Dao patterns'!

Han Li's 'Dao patterns' must become his nourishment!

"Bottle..."

Mo Yuan slowly raised his head, and deep within his dark golden pupils, there was no longer any anger, only a coldness and obsession bordering on absolute zero.

He communicated with the magic bottle, which was on the verge of shattering, in his embrace.

Buzz... The magic bottle responded weakly but with a hint of excitement.

Han Li's power aura also aroused the greed of this Chaos creation.

"Analyze... that drop of dew... its remnant..."

"Reproduce... that Dao pattern... its trajectory..."

"Return his own methods... back to him..."

Cold intent, like program instructions, was input into the magic bottle's core.

The magic bottle's body trembled slightly, and along the edge of the massive Chaos crack, viscous dark-grey Qi slowly seeped out, probing into the Void Realm like tentacles, frantically absorbing, capturing, and analyzing the faint residual aura of Han Li's dewdrop, which was about to completely dissipate in the air.

At the same time, Mo Yuan's Thunder God Arm also lit up slightly, transmitting without reservation to the magic bottle the subtle energy fluctuation trajectory of the 'green smoke' as it passed through the Formation, which had been recorded earlier, and the flaw in the Dao pattern at the node that was finally broken.

This was an extremely difficult task.

Han Li's power level was too high, leaving behind minuscule traces, and these traces contained an elusive life and the rhythm of the Law.

The magic bottle's hum became intermittent, sometimes sharp, sometimes low, and the cracks on its body seemed to widen further under the frantic deduction.

The Chaos Qi within its internal Small World, which was on the verge of collapse, surged even more violently.

Time passed bit by bit.

Mo Yuan, like a cold sculpture, waited patiently.

Finally!

Buzz—!!!

The magic bottle emitted a sharp, prolonged cry mixed with pain and success!

The dark vortex at the bottle's mouth spun wildly, and a completely new, viscous liquid, exhibiting a strange flowing silver-grey color, was laboriously 'spit' out, suspended before Mo Yuan.

There wasn't much of this liquid, only a pigeon egg-sized mass, yet it weighed over a thousand jin!

It wasn't as vibrant and poisonous as the Emerald Demonic Liquid, nor as sacred and silent as the Buddha Light demonic liquid.

Its entire body presented a cold, mercury-like texture, its surface smooth as a mirror, yet constantly twisting and flowing, reflecting the surrounding scene, but the reflected images were fragmented and bizarre, as if containing countless possibilities!

A strange aura emanated—not an energy fluctuation, but a Law rhyme of extreme simulation, replication, and mapping!

[silver vein demon liquid]! A special sequential base liquid forcefully deduced by integrating the residual Dao rhyme of Han Li's dewdrop, the magic bottle's Chaos Origin, and the ashes formed after a large number of Spirit Stones were instantly drained of energy!

"Carrier..." Mo Yuan's gaze swept across Underground Mo City.

He needed a base that was naturally extremely malleable, perceptive, and even possessed a certain talent for illusion.

His thought instantly locked onto a secluded cave in the city—where dozens of subservient, lowest-grade Phantasmagoric Moss Demons resided.

These moss demons were extremely weak, capable of creating only insignificant visual illusions.

The next moment, a trembling Phantasmagoric Moss Demon was drawn over by an invisible force.

It resembled a puddle of slime, its surface shimmering with faint, chaotic colored light spots.

Without hesitation.

Mo Yuan's Thunder God Arm pointed!

The flowing mass of silver vein demon liquid, constantly reflecting fragmented scenes, instantly enveloped the Phantasmagoric Moss Demon like living liquid metal!

"Screech—!"

A piercing, distorted shriek rang out!

The Phantasmagoric Moss Demon twisted and deformed wildly within the silver vein demon liquid!

Its structure was completely shattered and decomposed!

The simulation and replication Laws contained within the silver vein demon liquid frantically invaded its most fundamental consciousness and structure!

The magic bottle's power and Mo Yuan's will, like the highest-pressure forging hammer, struck down hard!

"Shape! Pattern! Empower!"

The silver vein demon liquid boiled and contracted violently!

The countless fragmented scenes reflected within it began to frantically combine and collapse!

Gradually condensing into a blurry, constantly changing humanoid form!

Mo Yuan's eyes flashed with chaotic grey light, frantically imprinting into it Han Li's ordinary yet unfathomable figure from his memory, the Dao rhyme trajectory contained in that dewdrop, and even the most subtle characteristics of his aura!

The silver-grey liquid writhed frantically, its surface covered with countless extremely fine, constantly appearing and disappearing silver runes; these runes attempted to combine into Han Li's appearance, and even imitate his Dao rhyme, but failed, disintegrated, and reassembled again and again!

Each failure consumed a massive amount of energy—beside Mo Yuan, mountains of Spirit Stones visibly turned greyish-white, shattered, and crumbled into dust!

The consumption was astonishing!

The process lasted for a full hour!

When the last batch of Spirit Stones turned to ashes, the silver-grey liquid suddenly solidified!

The light dissipated.

A strange creature floated in the air.

Its entire body presented a translucent, flowing mercury-like texture, with no fixed form; its surface was like the smoothest mirror, constantly reflecting the surrounding scene, yet distorting and blurring the images.

It roughly maintained a vague humanoid outline, but its facial and limb details were constantly undergoing tiny fluctuations and changes, as if countless faces and countless forms struggled within it, trying to find a stable 'template'.

A faint but extremely peculiar spiritual fluctuation emanated, full of imitation and uncertainty.

[Sequence 014: Mirror Demon]! Born!

Its mercury-like 'head' turned towards Mo Yuan, its surface writhing, attempting to reflect Mo Yuan's appearance, but the resulting mirror image was distorted and broken, full of chaotic color blocks.

The Soul link it transmitted was also extremely chaotic, filled with static and fragmented desires to imitate.

Mo Yuan's cold gaze swept over the Mirror Demon.

"Simulate... the intruder... from just now..." He directly issued the core command, and once again intensely input Han Li's image and aura characteristics!

The Mirror Demon's mercury-like body fluctuated violently!

Countless silver runes on its surface flashed and combined frantically!

It tried to solidify into Han Li's appearance, but with each attempt, its form would twist violently; sometimes parts of its body would turn into a green robe, sometimes its face would be blurry, sometimes a phantom, extremely unstable dewdrop would condense on its fingertips, only to instantly dissipate!

The aura it emitted was also chaotic, sometimes as weak as a Mortal, sometimes leaking a hint of a vast, heart-pounding fluctuation, but more often it was a mixture of various chaotic energies!

Clearly, with its current power and the profoundness of Han Li's Dao rhyme, it was impossible to perfectly replicate, or even maintain a stable form!

"Mirror... existence... requires... energy support..." Mo Yuan instantly grasped the key.

The Mirror Demon's Heaven-Defying ability, but each simulation, especially simulating an existence far beyond itself, required a terrifying amount of energy to maintain its form's stability and Dao rhyme's imitation!

The mountains of Spirit Stones just now, most of them were consumed in these failed simulation attempts!

The cost... consumed Spirit Stones!

The Mirror Demon's mercury-like body became increasingly transparent and ethereal after another failed simulation, transmitting strong weakness and a craving for energy.

Mo Yuan's face was expressionless; with a wave of his hand, another small pile of Spirit Stones appeared beneath the Mirror Demon.

The Mirror Demon pounced like a hungry wolf; its mercury-like body instantly enveloped the Spirit Stones, which visibly dimmed, and only then did its form stabilize slightly.

Though imperfect, though consuming vast amounts, though only capable of brief simulation... but... Mo Yuan looked at the mercury-like object constantly twisting and attempting to imitate Han Li's Dao rhyme trajectory, and a cold, emotionless curve finally appeared at the corner of his lips.

A 'mirror' capable of peering into and even temporarily replicating the opponent's Cultivation Technique mysteries... was now in his hand.

Han Li... your Dao... will ultimately become my stepping stone to the summit!