Chapter 131: The Black Mirror
The passage Ao Shun led them through descended steeply, contrary to what Grim had expected. Unlike the ornate corridors they’d traversed earlier, this tunnel was perfectly round and smooth, as if bored through the ice by some massive creature.
Ao Shun’s dragon form filled nearly the entire space. Despite his size, he moved silently, scales occasionally scraping against the ice walls with a sound like distant wind.
After several minutes of descent, the tunnel opened into a vast chamber unlike anything Grim had seen before. Where the throne room had been empty and austere, this space was filled with shimmering pools of different sizes, each glowing with a different hue of blue or green. The pools were arranged in concentric circles around a central depression that contained a pool of water so dark it appeared black.
The temperature here was marginally warmer than the throne room, though still well below freezing.
As they entered, Ao Shun reverted to his humanoid form. He gestured toward the central black pool.
"The Deep Mirror," he said without preamble. "It shows me all that occurs within my realm."
He passed his hand over the dark surface, and immediately images appeared—different sections of the North Sea realm, from the frozen surface to the deepest trenches. The images shifted rapidly, as if Ao Shun was searching for something specific.
"Your brother did come into my realm," Ao Shun continued, the images focusing on a particular deep trench. "He did not announce himself, nor did he request an audience."
The water showed an image of Jiaolong in his dragon form, swimming through the darkest depths of the North Sea.
"Directly to the eastern boundary of my realm, where the North Sea meets the Abyssal Trench."
"The Abyssal Trench?" Grim asked. "Is that significant?"