After the Immortal Disappeared

Chapter 369: Chapter 368: The Law of Deduction

’So this is what Panlong City looks like from a third-person perspective?’

’A faint, shadowy ancient city on a plateau?’

But as he focused, he realized the ancient city was actually flickering in and out of existence. It was occasionally clear, but most of the time, it was blurry, showing only a rough outline.

He asked the Mirror what was going on.

The Mirror had only one explanation: ”It’s too big, and being big has its difficulties. It requires a staggering amount of energy, so it’s difficult to fully manifest. Furthermore, while this City of the Dead is magnificent, it certainly isn’t complete yet.”

”Complete?”

”Every Soul Village has its own Laws to follow. The more complete the Laws, the more successful the Soul Village is, of course.”

’Laws?’ Hee Lingchuan silently repeated the word in his mind, then asked, ”How does a Soul Village become complete?”

”Either it evolves slowly on its own, or it relies on some external forces,” the Mirror said. ”Take me, for example. I want to learn from and study this City of the Dead; it must have its own ways of evolving.”

Speaking of external forces, Hee Lingchuan was immediately reminded of the things the Divine Bone Necklace had devoured.

The foundation of an Ancient Immortal Cave Mansion, a Celestial Secret Medicine, or the Relic Shell of an Ancient Great Demon like Second Madam Zhu.

’In other words, the Coiling Dragon Illusion Realm inside the Grand Square Pot is also trying to perfect its Laws and evolve?’

The Mirror then asked him, ”Do you enter the City of the Dead often?”

Hee Lingchuan nodded. ”When I sleep at night, I enter the Dream Realm of the Ghost City every few days.”

”A Dream Realm? BWAHAHAHA! I told you, it’s a Soul Village! A Soul Village!” The Mirror laughed uncontrollably. If it could grow a pair of hands, it would be slapping the table right now. ”What kind of monumental idiot mistakes a Soul Village for a Dream Realm! My goodness, are you trying to make me die of laughter?”

Hee Lingchuan grinned at it, baring his teeth, and cracked his knuckles. CRACK, CRACK.

「A few moments later.」

”Normally, your dreams should revolve around you,” the Mirror said sullenly. ”You’ve spent so much time in the Ghost City. Did you ever get the feeling that it revolved around you?”

Hee Lingchuan thought about it and shook his head.

’I’m just one small part of it.’

”But I can only enter when I’m asleep. Why is that?”

”That would be one of the Laws established by the Soul Village. Usually, it’s to prevent others from entering or prying.”

’There really are a lot of people who covet the Grand Square Pot.’

Hee Lingchuan had been wanting to ask for a while. ”What exactly is a Soul Village?”

”Can’t you tell from the name? Soul Villages are havens for Dead Souls who are unwilling to fade away. Most of them form naturally. The majority of the Wandering Souls living in a Soul Village don’t know that they’re already dead and continue to live and act as if they were still alive.”

It paused for a moment. ”A Soul Village doesn’t exist in reality, nor does it belong to the Cyan Netherworld. It’s a self-contained entity, a sanctuary for the undead, so to speak. But no matter what, it’s not a dream! It has nothing to do with your absurd, idiotic dreams! Not one Copper Plate’s worth!”

Hee Lingchuan recalled a book of strange tales he had read in Wenxuan Pavilion. It told a story:

A traveler, beset by vicious wolves in the wilderness, followed a distant light and fled into a small town nestled in a valley. Life there was peaceful and serene, and everyone wore a smile. The warm-hearted townspeople not only helped him drive away the Wolf Pack but also offered him food and lodging. A beautiful young woman even spent time talking with him.

He drifted off to sleep in what felt like a wonderful dream. When he woke the next day, he found himself lying on a large boulder; a few more turns and he would have tumbled into a crevice. All around him were overgrown weeds and wild trees, with not a soul in sight.

He hastily left the valley.

He later learned that a volcano had erupted there ten years prior, wiping out the town at the foot of the mountain and claiming over a thousand lives.

He never knew what he had encountered, and when he told his story, no one believed him.

Some who heard his tale went searching for the valley themselves, but they found nothing.

The ”Ghost Town” never appeared again.

Now, after hearing the Mirror’s explanation, he realized the man might have entered a naturally formed Soul Village.

”So Soul Villages can be either natural or artificial?”

”Soul Villages sometimes form naturally between heaven and earth, usually when too many people die in a short time, their resentment soaring to the heavens. But such Soul Villages are highly unstable; they might just vanish without a trace one day,” the Mirror explained. ”Artificial ones are different. They’re more stable, but they require a vessel.”

The vessel for the Mirror World was, without a doubt, the Mirror itself. So what was the vessel for Panlong City?

’It must be the Grand Square Pot, right?’

”And for that very reason, if the normal state of affairs there is disrupted, the resentment of the dead will erupt violently.”

The Mirror then asked, ”Hey, wait a minute. You changed the causality there, too?”

Hee Lingchuan, of course, nodded. He had already driven reality and the Dream Realm onto completely different paths; how could the causality not have changed?

The Mirror was astonished. ”Then just how chaotic have the Laws of the Ghost City become? Why hasn’t it collapsed?”

”Everything in there is perfectly orderly. It’s fine,” Hee Lingchuan said testily. ”It’s almost no different from the real world. Not like your Mirror World, which is twisted as hell.”

The Mirror huffed. ”The fact that it can withstand your meddling without falling apart means it has a powerful energy source. Ugh, I’m so jealous. But it also needs an even stronger Power of Cause and Effect. Otherwise, if it collapses one day, your Divine Soul will be buried inside, unable to escape. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Hee Lingchuan took its warning very seriously. ”So, you’re saying the greater my influence on the Ghost City, the stronger the Power of Cause and Effect I need to find for it?”

”That’s not entirely accurate, but it’s close enough.”

Hee Lingchuan nodded.

’No wonder.’ It all made sense now. He had been cut off after his first two entries into the Dream Realm, remaining dreamless for a long time. It was only after the Divine Bone Necklace devoured the foundation of the Immortal Cave Mansion that the true Panlong City had opened its gates to him.

’Sigh. Even though I understand the concept of a Soul Village now, I’m still more accustomed to calling it the Panlong Dream Realm.’

’So it was because the Grand Square Pot obtained Power of Cause and Effect from the outside world, which helped the Panlong Dream Realm perfect more of its Laws and allowed it to withstand the changes I brought to the entire Dream World.’

The more deeply he became involved in the dream and the more he did, the greater his influence on the Dream Realm. According to the Mirror, a Soul Village was supposed to be unchanging. Yet, because of him, the Panlong Dream Realm had started down a different path, beginning to diverge from actual history.

This required an ever-increasing power of evolution. Otherwise, the inability to keep running would, at best, lead to it getting stuck and, at worst, cause a total collapse.

The Mirror’s warning was no joke.

’It seems that from now on, I’ll have to put some serious thought into anything the Divine Bone Necklace takes a fancy to. I’ll have to get my hands on it, no matter what it takes.’

’Also, the Mirror mentioned that the Coiling Dragon Illusion Realm likely has a powerful energy source.’

’What’s that all about?’

Unfortunately, there was no answer to that question.

He could only return to the present and size up the Mirror. ”So, aside from your duties as a Heart-Protecting Mirror, what else are you good for?”

It hadn’t been easy for him to deal with this Mirror. ’Why do I feel like it’s been useless ever since I subdued it?’

”I can also grow larger to be used as a shield! General Youu used me like this in the past!” the Mirror pitched. ”And if I’m damaged, as long as I’m promptly replenished, I can slowly repair myself.”

”Oh, right! I also have Mirror Reflection. When an attack lands on my mirror or shield surface, as long as it’s not a Magic and Divine Technique, I can reflect a portion of the force back.”

”Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Is that really worth mentioning? Whatever. I guess you are somewhat useful.” Hee Lingchuan asked it, ”What about those Evil Ghosts that follow your commands? Where did they come from?”

”They’re just some lonely, wandering ghosts I took in after I awakened. There are only three left now,” the Mirror said. ”The world isn’t much better than it was two hundred years ago. It’s full of the wandering souls of the newly dead. If I hadn’t taken them in, they would have dissipated after a few days.”

Hee Lingchuan grunted.

”Oh, and even when I’m a shield, my Soul Capture ability still works,” the Mirror added. ”If an opponent stares at me, they might become dazed and confused.”

”Fine.” Hee Lingchuan lifted it to test it out. Sure enough, the thing grew, transforming from a round mirror into a round shield three feet in diameter. Its surface remained polished to a mirror sheen, which was what allowed its Soul Capture ability to work.

In reality, its size had just increased proportionally.

Hee Lingchuan swung it a couple of times. He was quite satisfied with its weight and feel; it was well-suited for use as a one-handed shield. As his offensive options grew, he really did need a piece or two of defensive equipment.

He had already bought a shield in Panlong City, and now he had filled that gap in the real world as well.

The only flaw was an unsightly gash on the shield—the handiwork of the Floating Life Blade.

”How do I fix this gash?”

”The more Resentful Souls I devour, the faster I’ll recover. Otherwise, I’ll just have to repair myself slowly over time,” the Mirror said. ”If you don’t have any of those, Profound Crystals will work. Nightmare Qi will work too.”

”Nightmare Qi?” Hee Lingchuan heard a familiar term. ’Where have I heard that before?’

Seeing his expression, the Mirror knew he was clueless. ”Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi nourishes all living things. Once it enters a creature’s body, it becomes Nightmare Qi, or Nightmare Power, which sustains the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death.”

The explanation was so simple that Hee Lingchuan understood instantly. It was like in his original world, where all things needed sunlight to grow. Plants grew in the sun, cattle and sheep grew fat eating the plants, and humans then consumed them.

No matter how many links were in the chain or how many different names it had, at its core, it was simply ”energy.”

”Ah?” He finally remembered where he’d heard the term. He and his father had caught an enemy spy in Xinhuang. The spy claimed to be an Attendant Disciple of National Preceptor Frost Leaf from the Beiga Kingdom and had been ordered to use a Punishment Dragon Pillar on the battlefield to collect Nightmare Qi!

The Nightmare Qi collected by that Punishment Dragon Pillar was incredibly dense, but only the Attendant Disciple and Hee Lingchuan had been able to see the light it emitted.

The Attendant Disciple claimed to have opened his ”Celestial Eye” and said the National Preceptor had them collect Nightmare Qi to properly appease and pacify the souls of the dead.

”How come I heard that Nightmare Qi is the resentment, indignation, and rage of souls who died in battle?”

The Mirror snorted with laughter. ”Huh?”

”BWAHAHAHA!” It roared with laughter again. ”What kind of moron said that? That’s ridiculous! Absolutely, utterly ridiculous!”

Hee Lingchuan didn’t interrupt. He waited until its boisterous laughter reached its peak before saying softly, ”National Preceptor Frost Leaf of the Beiga Kingdom.”

The Mirror’s laughter died instantly.

”The National Preceptor of Beiga?”

It fell silent for a moment before saying weakly, ”Perhaps... he had other motives.”

’How could the great National Preceptor of Beiga possibly make such a basic mistake?’