Although the Demon Realm Sea was vast and the demonic creatures within were numerous, the distribution of the demonic creatures followed a traceable pattern.
Because the concentration of demonic qi within the Demon Realm Sea decreased layer by layer in concentric rings from the inside out, the distribution of demonic creatures likewise increased layer by layer from the outside in. That was to say, the outer layer was mostly low-tier demonic creatures, and only upon reaching the inner layer did one arrive at the territory of high-tier demonic creatures.
The Little Young Master and the Master of the Earthly Realm had just entered the territory of the succubi, so they were likely situated in the outer perimeters of the Demon Realm Sea. The Little Young Master’s destination, however, was a place called the Mirror Sea located in the middle section of the Demon Realm Sea.
“The Mirror Sea?” The Master of the Earthly Realm had naturally been to the Demon Realm Sea before; it was just that presumably no one had ever explored the Demon Realm Sea as thoroughly as the Little Young Master. Take this Mirror Sea, for instance—he had never heard of it before.
Seeing that he didn’t know, the Little Young Master added a word of explanation: “It’s the territory of the mirror demons, extremely interesting.”
The Little Young Master faced no restrictions in this Demon Realm Sea, though if he carried someone else along to perform teleportation spells, he would be somewhat affected. Minor issues like shortened movement distance or inaccurate positioning were harmless enough.
After walking honestly for a while, the Little Young Master grew bored. Briefly calculating the current distance to the Mirror Sea in his mind, he grabbed the Master of the Earthly Realm, raised his hand, and performed a teleportation spell. Executing a teleportation spell in the Demon Realm Sea consumed quite a bit of energy, and coupled with the fact that he only knew the approximate direction of the Mirror Sea, he didn’t execute a grand teleportation spell, making only short-distance moves while adjusting direction periodically.
After doing this about five or six times, upon performing a short teleportation spell once more, the moment the two stopped this time, they were already situated inside the Mirror Sea.
Although it was called a “sea,” adhering to the usual dark and dreary style of the Demon Realm, there wasn’t much light here either. The Master of the Earthly Realm raised his head to glance around; though it was dim here, it posed no hindrance to him.
Looking as far as the eye could see, this Mirror Sea seemed to have no boundaries. Every single place within sight was covered with mirror surfaces of varying sizes. Due to the lack of light, they didn’t appear very noticeable. Yet if there were light—even just a single ray—under the effect of these mirror surfaces, it could illuminate this whole piece of land.
Thinking of the Little Young Master’s evaluation of this place as “extremely interesting,” the Master of the Earthly Realm suddenly raised his hand, and a speck of bright light shot out from his palm, heading straight toward the center of the Mirror Sea.
It was merely a speck of light no larger than a bean; falling into a pitch-black place, it ought to have been completely swallowed up by the darkness. Yet unexpectedly, before that speck of light even landed, the originally pitch-black Mirror Sea suddenly lit up!
Countless specks of light of the same size swept past from all over. In the blink of an eye, they spread across every single corner of the Mirror Sea. These lights either gathered together or scattered in all directions, actually resembling a spectacular burst of fireworks.
The Little Young Master was in high spirits, smiles filling the corners of his eyes and brows. Waiting until that single bean of light dissipated completely and the entire Mirror Sea restored its calm, he only then turned his head, asking with a smile: “How did you know? When I came back then, I also discovered by chance that in this Mirror Sea, just a tiny bit of light can bring forth a brilliant display of fireworks.”
The Master of the Earthly Realm raised his hand to gently caress the top of his hair, whispering softly: “A guess. Our noble and precious Little Young Master has always liked bright things; since you were full of expectations for this place, there naturally had to be some trick to it.”
Hearing this, the Little Young Master’s face grew even more joyful, not even bothering to argue with the Master of the Earthly Realm over those somewhat teasing four words, “noble and precious.” He reached out and brushed backward, casually catching a bit of the Master of the Earthly Realm’s fingertips, pulling him to walk deeper into the Mirror Sea.
“Then did you guess why I wanted to come here to test the Xuanchu Fruit?”
The Master of the Earthly Realm lowered his eyes to look at his few fingertips being lightly pulled. The Little Young Master seemed tired or lazy; the force used on his hand was almost nonexistent. Rather than saying the Little Young Master was pulling the Master of the Earthly Realm, it was more accurate to say the Master of the Earthly Realm was handing his hand into his grasp on his own initiative.
Maintaining the posture of handing his hand over, the Master of the Earthly Realm thought for a bit and said: “Do these mirrors in this Mirror Sea have something special about them?”
Without even turning his head, the Little Young Master merely nodded slightly: “They indeed have something special, though this isn’t hard to guess. Why don’t you guess again what this special aspect is?”
This full-of-pride appearance was truly exceedingly cute. Looking at the Little Young Master walking in front of him with a smile, the Master of the Earthly Realm merely shook his head, pretending not to know: “For a moment, I actually can’t guess the secret within. Why doesn’t the Little Young Master tell this Master about it?”
Hearing this, the Little Young Master didn’t stop his feet, though he finally turned his head back, his eyes and brows overflowing with pride: “So there’s actually something our Master of the Earthly Realm can’t guess?”
Without changing his expression, the Master of the Earthly Realm nodded and said: “I ask the Little Young Master to point out the way.”
The Little Young Master was amused into loud laughter by his act, putting a bit of force into the hand holding the Master of the Earthly Realm’s fingertips as he said cheerfully: “Don’t coax me to make me happy either. What you know and what you don’t know, this Young Master is crystal clear in his heart!”
“However, since you say you don’t know and can’t guess, then this Young Master will reluctantly close his eyes and believe it, and tell you about it then.”
Hearing this, the Master of the Earthly Realm gave a mock formal bow with one hand, saying: “Then many thanks to the Little Young Master.”
Seeing him put on such airs, the Little Young Master knew this person was intentionally teasing him. The corners of his lips couldn’t stop themselves from curving upward; turning his thoughts to the serious business at hand, he hastily cleared his throat and said with a solemn expression: “The mirrors in this Mirror Sea are not ordinary mirrors, but sleeping mirror demons.”
Mirror demons were a class of mid-tier demonic creatures born at the Earth Demon level; their path of cultivation was naturally much stronger compared to the likes of succubi. Therefore, among mirror demons, there were plenty who cultivated to the Heavenly Demon rank, and even the highest Divine Demon rank wasn’t without precedent.
Every mirror demon was born carrying a magic mirror. To a mirror demon, the magic mirror was like a cultivator’s natal magical treasure—it was their strongest magical treasure, as well as their most fragile weakness. Therefore, if walking out in the world, a mirror demon would pull its magic mirror into its body, protecting it extremely tightly.
However, the Demon Realm Sea was the most reassuring place for them, and the Mirror Sea of the Demon Realm Sea was their most secure fortress. Thus in the Mirror Sea, every mirror demon would reveal its magic mirror on the outside while hiding itself inside the magic mirror; this way, they could absorb the demonic qi within the Demon Realm Sea to the maximum extent, achieving twice the result with half the effort in their cultivation.
“This magic mirror can block divine consciousness. The higher the mirror demon’s own tier, the stronger the power of this magic mirror. It’s just that their ancestor—that Divine Demon-level mirror demon—doesn’t easily come out. But we are only trying out the Xuanchu Fruit; having Heavenly Demon level should be enough.” After the Little Young Master finished speaking, he raised his finger to point at several magic mirrors in the center of the Mirror Sea that were only about knee-high, signaling the Master of the Earthly Realm to head over there.
The Master of the Earthly Realm looked toward the place the Little Young Master pointed and said: “Those are the ones?”
The Little Young Master nodded: “Yes. Low-tier demonic creatures are simple, like the succubi—those with lower strength look more ordinary, while those with higher strength look better; they can truly be seen through at a single glance. These mirror demons are much smarter and know how to take detours. Among mirror demons, the more powerful one’s strength is, the smaller the size of its magic mirror.”
During their conversation, the two had already walked in front of those few magic mirrors. The Little Young Master asked the Master of the Earthly Realm with a smile: “Do you want to guess the size of the magic mirror of that Divine Demon-level mirror demon?”
The Master of the Earthly Realm smiled: “Is Chushi having me guess all the way to the end today?”
The Little Young Master also looked at him and smiled: “That’s right. Three hundred years, three hundred years—speaking of it, it’s merely three words, yet it was enough for me to do many things, go to many places, and learn many things that you don’t know. From now on, I will make you guess everything. If you guess enough times, perhaps you can empathize with how long these three hundred years were for me.”
Hearing this, the Master of the Earthly Realm only felt his heart tighten. He raised his arm to pull the person into his embrace, lightly patting the Little Young Master’s back soothingly. He had thousands of words in his heart, yet after pondering for a long while, what finally came out were only two low words: “Xiaoshi…”
The Little Young Master buried his head in his chest, his voice slightly muffled when he spoke: “This Young Master is making you guess—don’t think of relying on acting spoiled and shamelessly clinging to me!”
The Master of the Earthly Realm hadn’t expected him to say this. After being slightly stunned for a moment, he couldn’t help chuckling out loud. He naturally had to go along with him, so after thinking for a bit, he retreated slightly backward. Flipping his hand, he held up the Little Young Master’s hand that was holding him, using his other hand to lightly trace a shape over it, saying: “I guess it’s roughly this size?”
The Little Young Master, however, shook his head gently. Learning from him, he flipped his hand to place the Master of the Earthly Realm’s hand on top, raising his other hand to trace a shape over the Master of the Earthly Realm’s hand, saying with a beaming smile: “Guessed wrong! It should be this size.” Afraid he wouldn’t believe it, he paused and added: “Don’t you think this Young Master is tricking you; this Young Master has indeed seen it with his own eyes.”
The Master of the Earthly Realm nodded gently, saying in a low voice: “Naturally I believe you.”
The Little Young Master’s gaze fell on their joined hands, his eyelashes trembling extremely lightly. Afterward, he released his hand, turning around to point at a magic mirror: “The magic mirror has the effect of blocking divine consciousness. You and I will each pick one to enter, testing the efficacy of the Xuanchu Fruit without the interference of divine consciousness.”
The Master of the Earthly Realm nodded: “Regardless of the result, one quarter-hour limit—how about it?”
The Little Young Master naturally had no objection: “Yes. After one quarter-hour, no matter what, you and I must leave this magic mirror so as not to disturb their cultivation.”
The two reached an agreement. The Little Young Master raised his hand to tap lightly across two magic mirrors; the mirror surfaces swayed slightly in response, indicating the agreement of the mirror demons within. Thus, the two spoke no further. Performing a spell with a slight movement, their body sizes abruptly shrank, and then leaping together, they jumped into the magic mirrors.
Just upon entering the magic mirror, an old man dressed in black robes was waiting attentively, bowing. Seeing the visitors, he hastily bowed in greeting: “Little Demon Mirror Nine pays respects to the Master.”
“Mirror Nine? Why are you here?” The Master of the Earthly Realm hadn’t expected that jumping into any random mirror would lead to meeting an acquaintance. During the past three hundred years when he acted together with the Master of the Demon Realm, this Mirror Nine was one of the Master of the Demon Realm’s personal guards.
Mirror Nine also hadn’t expected that having only been back for a few days, he would meet this Master again. He hastily replied: “Reporting to the Master, after returning to the Demon Realm, we each went back to our respective homes. The Demon Master instructed us to cultivate well to await a future day.”
Hearing this, the Master of the Earthly Realm nodded slightly. Just as he was about to speak further, the Xuanchu Fruit within his body vibrated slightly, subsequently beginning to spin slowly. He simply spoke no more, merely letting Mirror Nine leave on his own: “Go on and cultivate on your own; this Master will leave after one quarter-hour.”
“Yes.” Mirror Nine immediately took the order and left.
After Mirror Nine left, the Master of the Earthly Realm opened his palm, seeing a dark black little sphere about the size of a fingernail spinning rapidly in his palm—it was precisely the Xuanchu Fruit.
The Xuanchu Fruit spun on its own for a while when suddenly black light flashed faintly upon it. Afterward, a crisp voice transmitted out from within: “How is it, how is it? Can you hear me?”
The Master of the Earthly Realm was slightly stunned, unable to help laughing as he looked at the Xuanchu Fruit: “This can actually transmit sound?”
The moment he replied on his end, the Little Young Master on the other end was naturally unable to contain his excitement: “Just now I tried, and divine consciousness was indeed useless, so I thought it would be great if this Xuanchu Fruit could transmit messages. Never expected that I actually recalled the method to use the Xuanchu Fruit for message transmission! It’s just a pity that it can only transmit sound—wouldn’t it be even better if I could directly see the scene on your end?”
The Master of the Earthly Realm deeply agreed: “Why doesn’t the Little Young Master think about it quickly right now? Perhaps it will work too.”
After these words fell, there was no response from the Little Young Master’s end for a good while. The Master of the Earthly Realm subsequently called out to him twice, neither receiving a reply. Fearing something had happened to him, the Master of the Earthly Realm was about to leave the mirror on the spot. Just as he was about to cast a spell, the Xuanchu Fruit in his hand flashed lightly once more. Afterward, the space before the Master of the Earthly Realm’s eyes lit up slightly, and a face belonging to the Little Young Master—half the size of a palm—popped out.
The Little Young Master showed his little white teeth, smiling brightly: “How about it? Pretty good, right?”
The Master of the Earthly Realm: “…”
Having a faintly glowing face pop out in the pitch black… was really quite good…