Chapter 202 : The Beginning of the Mutation
Chapter 202: The Beginning of the Mutation
Just as Long Tao wanted to transmit the situation here to Saintess Yaxi, he discovered that the pink crystal on the mirror had already dimmed rapidly, and the connection between the two sides had been cut off again.
At this moment, he could not make a judgment. He did not know whether the flow of time had suddenly become different, or whether the mastermind behind this place had exerted force, causing the already fragile connection to become even more difficult to maintain. However, this Xiangjianhuan Mirror was truly powerful—such an unstable environment had still barely allowed a connection, and it had even enabled him to obtain a crucial piece of intelligence.
Now, trying to completely figure out the situation behind the scenes felt nearly impossible. But one thing could be confirmed: in real time, three months had indeed passed. It was just that, for some unknown reason, people like them had only felt that ten days had passed.
Even stranger was that they had all ignored the fact that True Person Mingzhu had been pregnant for three months, until just now—after the Village Chief’s “reminder”—when they had “noticed” the obviously bulging abdomen for the first time.
That Village Chief… that reminder just now… could it be that he was helping them?
Long Tao did not dare to be certain. Aside from his own self-awareness, he did not dare to confirm anything—perhaps even everything, including True Person Mingzhu, might be fake.
But that thought only lingered for a moment before he immediately suppressed it. At a time like this, if he began to doubt that “everything was illusory,” it would become even easier for him to be manipulated by Spirit Speech or illusion techniques. He remembered this piece of experience very clearly from the sect’s grand lectures.
After calming down, he sat at the dining table and began to think about the possible explanations for the current situation.
The first possibility was that their memories reset roughly once every ten days. So even though three months had passed, they only believed ten days had gone by.
The second possibility was that the mastermind behind the scenes had simultaneously altered the timing of sunrise and sunset, as well as their perception of the flow of time. In that way, even if three months had actually passed, they would still only feel as though ten days had elapsed.
Of course… if time manipulation was involved, there should be other methods as well. Just as he was thinking about what other techniques might exist, the voice of True Person Mingzhu suddenly called out from the neighboring room.
“Long Tao! Come look outside!”
He hurried back to the Bridal Chamber and saw that she was standing behind the door looking at the sky. He quickly walked over to her side and raised his head as well.
At this moment, the midday sun that should have been directly overhead had somehow already moved to the western sky—and was sinking continuously, at a speed clearly visible to the naked eye.
The two of them hurried out of the courtyard and went to the Banyan Tree at the center of the village. They discovered that the group of young people led by Shi Wenyuan were also staring at the sky with shocked expressions, clearly still unable to understand what was happening.
“Hey! You all—go back quickly! The flow of time here has become abnormal. It’ll probably get dark very soon.”
These people had managed to survive here for quite a long time, and their vigilance was far greater than that of ordinary people. Upon hearing Long Tao’s warning, they did not hesitate at all and immediately ran toward their respective houses.
Just as Long Tao and True Person Mingzhu were about to return as well, they discovered that the Nameplate at their door had somehow been flipped over again without their noticing.
The two of them hurriedly turned the side with their names written on it back outward before quickly entering the house.
“True Person… your stomach… is it alright?”
At this moment, Long Tao did not concern himself with those bizarre and supernatural matters. The first thing he did was care about True Person Mingzhu’s condition.
She simply nodded with a red face and then sat back down on the bed by herself.
“Haa… what exactly is going on? It feels like there’s no clue at all.”
Long Tao knew that some things could no longer be concealed, so he spoke.
“True Person, actually… since arriving here, through a certain magical artifact, I’ve occasionally been able to contact someone outside. So… there are some things I need to tell you.”
“Oh? What clues do you have?”
True Person Mingzhu did not ask about the magical artifact or the person outside. Instead, she directly inquired about the situation.
“The situation is… when we first arrived, the flow of time here was the same as outside. But ever since our… first night, during these roughly ten days, a sudden drastic change occurred. Outside, three months have already passed.”
“Three months… three months, huh.”
After hearing this news, True Person Mingzhu first widened her eyes. Then she touched her pregnant belly and closed her eyes, thinking for a moment.
“So that’s how it is…” She slowly opened her eyes, a trace of understanding flashing in them. “It seems I truly have been pregnant for more than three months. I think the sun outside is not accelerating toward the west, but rather returning to its normal movement. Instead, it is us… our perception of time that has been slowed down several times over without us realizing it.”
Her judgment coincided perfectly with Long Tao’s thoughts. But even though they had uncovered this layer of truth, they still had no solution at the moment.
“If that is the case,” True Person Mingzhu said as she gently stroked her abdomen, her tone heavy, “then this child of ours is probably a factor of utmost importance to the person behind this place.”
While the two were talking, the sky visibly darkened. The state of dusk lasted only a brief moment before rapidly turning into night, and the howls of beasts outside also arrived right on schedule.
“Based on this… if we round three months to one hundred days, and we only feel that ten days have passed, that means our perception of time has slowed down tenfold. If this situation does not change, the time we can move outside during the day… will probably only be about half a shichen.”
Long Tao made a quick calculation and felt it should be roughly correct. Each day’s daylight would only be a little over an hour—an extremely tight window.
But True Person Mingzhu continued to analyze calmly.
“But this also proves one thing. The mastermind behind the scenes does not have complete control over this place. When, under the Village Chief’s reminder, we realized the contradiction between ten days and three months of pregnancy, he could no longer simultaneously control the day–night time flow here and our perception. That is why this current abnormal situation has appeared.”
Long Tao nodded in agreement, but another question suddenly occurred to him.
“True Person, putting aside the fact that our perception of time has slowed and even our bodies may have been affected—your fetus should have grown to this stage only under a normal flow of time, right? But during this period… the food you consumed was still only the amount for ten days. That should not be enough for the fetus to grow this big. So what exactly… has it been eating?”
True Person Mingzhu could only shake her head. But a mother’s instinct and intuition told her that the fetus in her belly was not some abnormal monster—it was her child. And now, some existence seemed to have designs and intentions toward this child.
Too weak. Her realm and cultivation were far too weak.
This was not a thought caused by being suppressed into a mortal state. Even if she were still in the Golden Core Realm, she still felt that she would not be able to protect the child in her womb at this moment.
This familiar sense of helplessness reminded her of when Nan Yuchen had obtained the Yaoguang Azure Phoenix. What had she thought at that time?
True Person Mingzhu recalled it.
Nascent Soul.
That was right—back then she had thought that only by breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage could she protect her disciple. And now, the same thought surfaced once again.
After that, the two did not say anything further. Both of them felt that the night would pass quickly, just like the abnormal daytime earlier.
However, events once again turned out differently than expected.
Time seemed to return to normal.
Outside the window, the night was pitch-black like ink. The moon slowly moved between the clouds, its speed completely normal.