Chapter 286 - 143: Perfect Mirror Image
「Outside the Secret Realm, at the temporary encampment.」
Liu Jingtiao was sitting cross-legged atop the White Jade Treasure Ship, his eyes closed in meditation.
Suddenly, a warm Jade Token in his robes shattered into several pieces with an unprompted "CRACK"!
Liu Jingtiao’s eyes flew open, and a terrifying Sword Intent and aura erupted from him!
BOOM—!
The air within a ten-zhang radius of him seemed to freeze. Dust swirled up from the ground without any wind, and several Martial Artists standing a little too close turned pale and stumbled backward.
The encampment fell into a sudden, deathly silence. Everyone looked toward the Treasure Ship, their expressions filled with shock and uncertainty.
"Envoy Liu, what has angered you so?"
Chen Xuanfeng’s figure flashed, appearing before the ship. He cupped his hands in a fist-and-palm salute and asked, his brows tightly knitted.
Liu Jingtiao slowly opened his hand. In his palm lay several dull, lightless fragments, on which the name "Shi Podang" could be faintly seen.
His voice was ice-cold. "My Penglai Sect disciple, Shi Podang... his Life Token has shattered."
"What?!"
"A prodigy from the Penglai Sect has fallen?"
"What in the world happened inside the Secret Realm?!"
After a brief, deathly silence, the encampment erupted in an uproar!
Exclamations, questions, shock, relief...
All sorts of emotions spread through the crowd.
The factions whose own disciples had been eliminated but had luckily survived now felt a strange sense of lingering fear and relief.
’Being eliminated is better than being dead, after all!’
Liu Jingtiao’s aura gradually receded, but his eyes remained chillingly cold.
He gazed at the slowly rotating Xingxuan at the entrance of the Secret Realm, his mind racing.
The Secret Realm isolated the inside from the out. Even with his power, he couldn’t peer within to see what had happened.
’Did he encounter some irresistible danger within the Secret Realm?’
’Or did he die at the hands of another?’
His gaze swept over the crowd in the encampment before he finally calmed himself.
’For now, all I can do is wait.’
’When the Secret Realm closes, everything will be revealed.’
...
Chen Xuanfeng returned to the Main Courtyard’s camp, his expression grave.
His gaze swept over Lu Zheng and Leng Feng, who were meditating to recover, and he noticed their strange expressions. Their eyes met as if they had something to say.
Without a change in his expression, he sent a subtle voice transmission into their ears. "What do you two know?"
Lu Zheng and Leng Feng exchanged a glance. Lu Zheng gritted his teeth and quickly used a voice transmission to explain how Shi Podang had hunted Liang Cheng in the Secret Realm, resulting in a life-or-death grudge between them.
Chen Xuanfeng’s pupils constricted.
’Liang Cheng killed Shi Podang?’
The thought sent a violent tremor through his heart.
He knew his young disciple’s character: tough, decisive, and one to always repay a grudge. He would never just sit back and wait for death.
’But Shi Podang was a True Gang Late Stage prodigy from the Penglai Sect!’
’And Liang Cheng was only in the True Essence Realm...’
’Could that kid have broken through to the True Gang Realm inside the Secret Realm?’
’A twenty-one-year-old in the True Gang Realm!’
’He’s not the least bit inferior to the Outer Disciples of the Penglai Sect!’
He took a deep breath, suppressing the storm raging in his heart.
Once he had calmed down, his gaze fell coldly on Shi Jun, who was also in a corner, meditating to recover.
’Colluding with an outsider to harm a fellow disciple.’
’This boy must be executed.’
’However, now is not the time to clean house.’
Chen Xuanfeng reined in his killing intent and looked back toward the entrance of the Secret Realm.
’Liang Cheng, Zhiqiu... you must come out safely.’
...
「Inside the Secret Realm, on the White Jade Square.」
Liang Cheng flicked the blood from his Zhenxian Saber and sheathed it.
He strode over to Shi Podang’s headless corpse, squatted down, and expertly began to loot the body.
He found several exquisite Jade Bottles containing Upper Grade Elixirs unique to the Penglai Sect, each one brimming with Spiritual Qi.
Two of the bottles held True Gang Pills, excellent medicine for a True Gang Realm Cultivator to use for Strengthening the Foundation and Nourishing the Essence to advance their Cultivation. They were extremely valuable.
Unfortunately, there was no Cultivation Technique Secret Manual on him. Perhaps the Penglai Sect didn’t allow their disciples to carry them.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Liang Cheng tucked the Elixirs into his robes. He then took out a Small Jade Bottle and dripped a few drops of Corpse-Dissolving Water onto the body.
HISS—
A light smoke rose as flesh and bone rapidly dissolved, turning into pools of murky yellow liquid that seeped into the fine lines of the White Jade Floor, leaving no trace behind.
The prodigy of the Penglai Sect’s Outer Sect had vanished from the world of the living.
Liang Cheng sat down cross-legged, swallowed a Healing Elixir, and closed his eyes to meditate and recover.
He circulated the Fourth Layer of the Broken Wave Technique. The newly formed True Gang surged like a tide, mixing with the Elixir’s power to rapidly restore his condition.
The recovery ability of his body, which had reached Perfection in the Mixed Element Gang Body, was astonishing. In just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, his condition was fully restored. He opened his eyes, the sharp glint within them now retracted.
He stood up and glanced at the empty, silent square, his gaze turning to the long, mist-shrouded corridor ahead.
The Thousand Machines Corridor.
Without the slightest hesitation, Liang Cheng’s figure shot forward like a bolt of lightning into the corridor’s mist, and he was instantly swallowed by it.
...
Liang Cheng took a step into the Thousand Machines Corridor.
The mist closed behind him, and the scene before him suddenly became clear.
He was standing in a straight corridor with no visible end. The walls on both sides were smooth as jade and extended upwards out of sight. The corridor was about three zhang wide, and a faint golden radiance filled the air ahead.
It was utterly silent.
Liang Cheng gripped his Zhenxian Saber and slowly advanced.
He had only taken ten steps when the golden light ahead converged, and a human figure materialized out of thin air.
It was a young man. His Qi Blood surged, and his Cultivation was shockingly at the Bright Force level.
Liang Cheng’s steps came to a halt, and his pupils constricted.
The young man’s features and build were clearly his own from years ago—from the seaside town, when he had just awakened his Mayfly Life Chart and gritted his teeth to step onto the Martial Dao!
"This is..."
Liang Cheng was filled with shock and uncertainty.
But the "Bright Force Liang Cheng" had already let out a low roar and charged forward, unleashing a straight punch imbued with the raw power of the Fierce Bull Force!
The moves, the footwork, the way it exerted force—it was an exact replica of the him from his memories.
A sharp glint appeared in Liang Cheng’s eyes.
’I don’t care if you’re some illusion or incarnation!’
"Break!"
He didn’t even draw his Zhenxian Saber. He simply threw a casual punch, meeting the Fierce Bull Force head-on with his own. He didn’t even unleash his Gang Qi, relying purely on his physical body.
BANG!
The Bright Force incarnation was instantly blasted into pieces, dissolving into motes of golden light.