66: Mirror Image Theory

Underground Mo City, northwest corner, a temporary martial arts cave.

The cave was spacious, its four walls no longer cold, dark black rocks, but covered with rough, fresh excavation marks, clearly having been hastily expanded by Ironclad Earthworms.

Stone chips were scattered on the ground, not yet cleaned up.

On the ceiling of the cave, over a dozen large underground fluorite stones were forcibly embedded, casting a cold, hard white light that illuminated every inch of space with extreme clarity, leaving no shadows to hide in.

In the center of the cave, Mo Yuan sat cross-legged on a flat, dark green rock, his dark purple Thunder God Arm resting naturally on his lap, with dark gold and Chaos gray light slowly flowing beneath his skin, like a dormant thunderstorm.

He was expressionless, his dark gold pupils like two cold pieces of Colored Glaze, reflecting the scene inside the cave.

In front of him, a small mountain of Low-Grade Spirit Stones was piled up, emitting a faint, mixed, weak Spiritual Light, like cheap fuel.

Beside the pile of Spirit Stones, the constantly wriggling, twisting Mirror Demon, like mercury, was emitting tiny, greedy “sizzle” sounds.

Its translucent liquid body was like a swamp, engulfing and encasing dozens of Spirit Stones, which visibly turned gray and cracked at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually becoming spiritless powder.

With each batch of Spirit Stones consumed, the Mirror Demon's mercury-like body solidified a bit more, the fragmented images reflected on its surface became a bit clearer, and the static in the transmitted Soul link would temporarily subside.

“Energy… abundant… target locked… simulation starting…” After consuming a large amount of Spirit Stones, the Mirror Demon’s chaotic thoughts could finally barely form a complete response.

Mo Yuan’s cold gaze focused on it.

“Target… the green-robed Cultivator…”

“Simulate… his Cultivation Technique’s operation…”

“Analyze… energy trajectory…”

The commands, like a steel stamp, were once again deeply imprinted into the Mirror Demon’s core.

Buzz—!!! The Mirror Demon’s mercury-like body suddenly vibrated violently!

Its surface was like a lake into which a huge stone had been thrown, stirring up intense ripples!

Countless dense silver runes flashed, combined, collapsed, and recombined at an unprecedented speed!

The energy gained from devouring Spirit Stones was burning wildly!

Its form began to struggle to fix itself into Han Li’s green-robed figure, but the process was still full of an uncomfortable sense of distortion: sometimes one arm stretched like rubber, sometimes its face was flat like a polished metal plate, without facial features, only a vague outline.

Finally, it barely condensed into a roughly humanoid mercury statue, shimmering with unstable silver light, its face a smooth mirror surface constantly rippling, barely able to reflect Mo Yuan’s cold face.

But within this crude replica, a strange Qi fluctuation began to emanate!

It was no longer chaotic static, but a… righteous, peaceful, long-lasting, and vibrant rhythm!

This rhythm was extremely faint and intermittent, like a faulty circuit, but it truly and unmistakably began to imitate the basic Heavenly Cycle operation of the Evergreen Skill!

“Sizzle… crackle…” The Mirror Demon’s Incarnation, the “mercury Han Li,” raised its arm, which was constantly dripping silver liquid, and its five fingers laboriously formed an incomplete but ancient and profound hand seal.

With the appearance of this hand seal, the sparse wood-attribute Spiritual Qi permeating the cave was clumsily drawn, as if forcefully pulled by rusty gears, slowly flowing towards its “Dantian” position—a violently boiling silver energy core.

The imitation had begun!

However, this imitation was laughably clumsy.

The Spiritual Qi flow was intermittent, the hand seal’s form was distorted and unstable, and the energy core fluctuated violently, as if it could explode at any moment.

It was even extremely difficult for it to maintain this most basic starting posture; its mercury body constantly rippled, requiring a constant consumption of massive amounts of Spirit Stones to prevent its form from collapsing.

But Mo Yuan’s cold pupils suddenly contracted to the extreme!

His entire mind had already ignored the clumsy appearance; all his perception, like the most precise radar, was firmly locked onto the Evergreen Skill’s energy trajectory within the Mirror Demon’s body, which, though faint and intermittent, was stubbornly operating!

In his “vision,” it was no longer simple energy flow, but a slowly unfolding Dao pattern diagram of life, containing the profound principles of heaven and earth!

That trajectory was smooth and long, like the annual rings of an ancient tree, like the cycle of spring water, carrying a unique Dao rhythm of endless growth and self-renewal.

Every trace of Spiritual Qi drawn, every Heavenly Cycle circulation, perfectly conformed to a certain natural rhythm, exquisite to the extreme!

This formed an extremely strong, almost cruel, contrast with his Thunder Evolution Art, which relied on the magic bottle’s devouring and the Thunder God Arm’s violent driving!

His Thunder Dao was violent! Fierce! Swift! Destructive to everything! Like an unbridled Vicious Beast, it pursued ultimate destructive power and control, but it was too rigid, lacked variation, and each operation caused a considerable burden on his Meridians and Physical Body, with no nourishing or restorative effect whatsoever.

It was like a wicked Cultivation Technique with only bursts and no recovery time.

However, the trajectory of the Evergreen Skill showed him another possibility: another form of energy, another more efficient, more lasting, and more closely aligned with the Origin of life’s operation method!

“So… that’s how it is…” Mo Yuan unconsciously murmured, and in the depths of his dark gold pupils, the Chaos gray light frantically deduced and calculated at an unprecedented speed!

The clumsy, intermittent energy trajectory imitated within the Mirror Demon’s body was instantly disassembled, analyzed, and reconstructed under the enhancement of his extraordinary Comprehension Ability and Chaos Lightning Body!

He saw it! He saw how that endless cycle minimized energy loss!

He saw how that smooth Dao pattern better protected the Meridians to bear power!

He saw how the contained life rhythm could subtly nourish the Physical Body and Soul!

More importantly, he saw another form of “resilience” and “endurance” contained within this gentle power! This was not entirely opposed to the “violence” and “fierceness” of lightning; on the contrary… could they be complementary?

“Thunder… is not only destruction…”

“Life and death… are inherently one…”

“Wood attribute… nourishment… can also… aid thunder…” One cold thought after another collided and erupted like lightning in his Sea of Consciousness!

He suddenly raised his dark purple Thunder God Arm!

Palm facing up, dark gold lightning patterns and Chaos gray light suddenly lit up!

But this time, what condensed was no longer a destructive lightning talisman or lightning ball!

Sizzle—!!! A faint electric arc, only as thick as a finger and displaying a strange cyan-gold bicolor, struggled to jump in his palm!

This electric arc was no longer pure; the cyan part was filled with a weak, imitated life aura, attempting cyclic nourishment, while the golden part was his Origin’s destructive lightning!

The two violently twisted together, extremely unstable, emitting painful crackling sounds, as if they could be annihilated at any moment!

Failure! Energy conflict! Trajectory error!

Mo Yuan’s eyes showed no fluctuation; he immediately dispersed the electric arc.

His gaze once again firmly locked onto the intermittent Evergreen Skill trajectory within the Mirror Demon’s body.

Due to continuous high-load simulation, the Mirror Demon’s form began to become unstable again, and the edges of its mercury-like body began to dissipate as if evaporating.

“Spirit Stones!” Mo Yuan said coldly.

Wang Linger immediately directed two Vajra Battalion warriors, who laboriously carried and poured another small pile of Spirit Stones forward.

The Mirror Demon greedily pounced, its form temporarily stabilized again, and the imitated Evergreen Skill trajectory within its body became a bit clearer.

Mo Yuan raised his hand again! Sizzle! The cyan-gold bicolor electric arc reappeared!

This time, the cyan part representing life nourishment had a slightly smoother trajectory, and its conflict with the golden lightning was slightly reduced!

The duration extended by one breath!

Disperse again! Observe again! Condense again! Inside the cave, only Mo Yuan repeatedly raised his hand, condensing the extremely unstable but subtly improving cyan-gold electric arc, and the “sizzle” sound of the Mirror Demon continuously devouring Spirit Stones to maintain the simulation.

This was an extremely extravagant process! Every tiny improvement was built on the burning of massive amounts of Spirit Stones!

Piles of Spirit Stones turned into powder at a speed visible to the naked eye!

But Mo Yuan was completely immersed in it.

The passage of external time lost its meaning.

He was like a cold sponge, frantically absorbing the most basic, yet most fundamental, operational mysteries of Han Li’s Cultivation Technique from the Mirror Demon’s clumsy imitation, then using his terrifying Comprehension Ability to understand, digest, and forcefully fuse and transform it with his own Dao of Thunder!

Who knows how much time passed, how many Spirit Stones were consumed.

When the Mirror Demon’s form once again dispersed due to imminent energy depletion.

Mo Yuan slowly raised his Thunder God Arm’s palm.

An electric arc, about a foot long, incredibly condensed, and displaying a harmonious and stable cyan-gold color throughout, like a living spirit snake, joyfully and smoothly coiled and circled!

Within the electric arc, destructive lightning power and vibrant wood-attribute nourishing power coexisted perfectly, cycling back and forth, endlessly renewing!

The aura it emitted was no longer purely destructive, but carried a strange, magnificent Dao rhythm of new life being conceived within destruction!

Although far from Han Li’s vast, ocean-like life Dao rhythm, this was undoubtedly a brand new beginning!

Mo Yuan looked at the stable cyan-gold electric arc in his palm, and a faint, yet enough to freeze everything, curve finally appeared at the corner of his cold mouth.

The most crucial puzzle piece of the Thunder Evolution Art’s flaw had been completed.

The innovation of Thunder Dao… was accomplished!

“This technique… shall be named—Thunder Evolution Evergreen Force!”