Before them lay a vast open clearing, surrounded on all sides by peaks that reached high into the clouds. Sunlight spilled through the gaps in the cloud layer, bathing the ground in an unusually brilliant glow.
Yun Feng let out a sigh of relief. Having entered secret realms before, he was in high spirits upon leading the group here without any trouble. “Do you see that stone platform over there?”
In the middle of the open ground stood an ancient, mysterious stone platform, embedded with a massive, primitive stone mirror.
“Is that the Enlightenment Mirror?”
“It's huge...”
Among the group, many were entering a secret realm for the first time. Seeing a stone mirror nearly half the size of a mountain, they couldn't help but marvel in astonishment.
Facing the stone mirror, everyone's mind involuntarily grew calm. A strange force permeated the air, as if isolating them entirely from the mundane world.
“This is the core of this Nightmare-corrupted secret realm—the Enlightenment Mirror. Miss Shi, if you sit before the stone platform and gaze into the mirror, you'll see a unique vision. Pondering it carefully can yield immense benefits.”
Yun Feng looked up at the stone mirror and offered his enthusiastic explanation, but after waiting a while without receiving a response from Shi Yu, he turned around. “Miss Shi?”
There was no sign of Shi Yu anywhere in the crowd.
Yun Ran stood holding a severed section of her red ribbon, staring blankly in a daze.
Realizing something was wrong, Yun Feng rushed forward and barked at Yun Ran, “Where is Miss Shi?”
Already unsettled, Yun Ran panicked at his sharp tone. She looked up, stammering, “I-I don't know... When I stepped out, the Soft Red Silk was already severed. I didn't see Miss Shi.”
The red ribbon in her hands was severed, its restrictions shattered one by one, and all of its radiant spiritual glow had vanished. Yun Ran's eyes stung, widening in helpless dismay.
“Weren't the two of you tethered together?!” Yun Feng's chest heaved as he glared furiously at Yun Ran. “That red ribbon is a Tier-2 artifact! How could it just snap out of nowhere?!”
“I don't know either... How could this happen...”
“I explicitly warned everyone not to get separated in this secret realm, or dire consequences would follow.” Yun Feng sneered, a look of realization dawning on his face. “No wonder. You stopped me from walking with Miss Shi and took the task upon yourself. You had this kind of scheme in mind all along!”
Hearing the implication in his words, Yun Ran looked up in disbelief. “Cousin, do you think I deliberately cut the Soft Red Silk?”
Yun Feng frowned at her with a scoff. “Could it have severed itself?”
Yun Ran took two steps back, her throat working as she fought back a sob. “Why would I ever do that?”
Yun Feng met her gaze with cold disapproval, looking at her with an expression that said, You know full well why.
“Don't tell me... Cousin believes that because I admire you, I would resort to such vicious means to harm Miss Shi?” Yun Ran let out a bitter chuckle, unable to hold back a single tear that fell straight down without touching her cheek. “Do not look down on me so.”
As she uttered those words, a twisting pain in her chest made it almost impossible to breathe.
Setting aside the fact that she had already developed a faint, warm fondness for Shi Yu and would never harm her, even if she truly loathed Shi Yu, she would never resort to such despicable means.
Yun Feng paid no mind to his cousin's words. Accustomed to women jealous and vying for his favor through underhanded schemes, he felt both complacent and contemptuous about it.
Naturally, he dismissed Yun Ran's words as mere self-serving excuses.
Meanwhile, the surrounding crowd began whispering among themselves, casting strange looks at her.
“To think Cousin Ran'er would do such a thing.”
“Isn't that how she always is? By the way, what actually happens if someone gets separated in the secret realm? Miss Shi won't be in danger, right?”
“When a few people got separated before, one inexplicably lost decades of lifespan. By the time they were found, their hair and beard had turned completely white.”
“And a few others encountered powerful demon beasts—their soul lamps went out instantly.”
“I heard someone else lost their mind and became an idiot. None of them met a good end... Miss Shi couldn't have...”
Yun Feng glared at them. “Stop blabbering about useless things! We need to find Miss Shi quickly!”
Yun Ran knew how arrogant her cousin was and hadn't expected him to believe her. Women in this world who lacked self-reliance and depended on others rarely escaped scrutiny and suspicion.
Besides, she had indeed engaged in her fair share of jealous squabbles in the past.
Clenching the severed red ribbon in her hand, Yun Ran thought of Shi Yu, who had freed her from the spider web earlier and whose safety was now uncertain. Her eyelashes grew moist with tears.
Unsure of whom to tell, she murmured under her breath, “The Soft Red Silk was a relic left behind by my parents.”
Yun Feng failed to hear her murmur, as someone nearby suddenly pointed at the Enlightenment Mirror and shouted, “The mirror! Miss Shi is inside the mirror!”
At those words, everyone rushed around the stone mirror, looking up at its surface.
The Enlightenment Mirror began to shift. The dull gray surface, which had previously shown nothing, slowly emitted bursts of multicolored light. The glow grew increasingly brilliant as delicate patterns flowed across it, as if etching profound runes into the stone.
These rays of light gradually condensed into a hazy image. Everyone held their breath, watching intently.
Before their eyes, the blurry scenery grew clearer and clearer, until the scene displayed felt as vivid as if it were right before them.
It was a cave with an entrance hidden amidst a lush grove of ancient trees, where a hazy mist drifted softly. Looking deeper inside, dim sunlight streamed through cracks, casting a faint, quiet green glow over the interior.
Reclining on a pile of dry grass inside the cave was a young girl. She wore a spirit robe as radiant as glowing clouds, while her long hair, smooth as black silk, spilled over the side of her face like a waterfall.
Though her hair obscured her features, judging by the Flowing Radiance spirit robe and her silhouette, it was undeniably Shi Yu.
“What's going on?”
“How did Miss Shi end up inside the Enlightenment Mirror?!”
“Miss Shi! Miss Shi!” Someone rushed up to the mirror and shouted loudly, attempting to wake her up.
But the two were clearly in entirely different spaces; not a single shout reached the ears of the person inside the mirror.
Helpless, the crowd gathered together and turned their gazes toward Yun Feng.
Having never encountered such a situation before, Yun Feng was at a loss and could only say, “Let's wait and see for now.”
Thus, everyone sat around the Enlightenment Mirror, watching the girl within.
“Miss Shi couldn't have already...” someone speculated in a low voice.
“Don't talk nonsense. Her fingers just moved a second ago. I think she's just asleep.”
Listening to the chatter around her while gazing at the person inside, Yun Ran prayed silently in her heart: Please don't let anything happen to her...
Under the gaze of a dozen pairs of eyes, a sudden gust of wind blew into the cave, fluttering Shi Yu's spilled black hair.
The hair veiling her face slid to the side with the breeze, allowing everyone to clearly see her face.
A sudden hush fell over the crowd. All discussion ceased instantly as everyone stared in utter bewilderment.
This uncanny silence persisted for quite some time.
Only after a long while did someone mutter uncertainly, “Is that... Miss Shi...?”
Yun Feng felt a loud roaring in his ears. He could hear nothing and see nothing except the woman in the mirror. She possessed an absolute beauty the likes of which he had never witnessed in his life, instilling in him an instant sense of self-abasement.
The sleeping girl had the exact same build and wore the exact same attire as Shi Yu, yet her face was entirely different.
Utterly distinct from her previous face—which could only be described as pleasant—she was now a peerless beauty in the flesh, one who left onlookers dazed, momentarily forgetting where they were.
It was difficult to find concrete words to describe her brows, her eyes, or her lips, as if any attempt to capture them in speech would only diminish her grace and reduce her to the mundane.
Everyone felt that her sleeping visage was like an unbloomed spiritual flower, possessing a beauty that transcended the ordinary realm. In the quiet, dim light of the cave, she seemed like the very embodiment of world essence, like an immortal descended from a realm above.
This was Shi Yu's true appearance.
Within the Enlightenment Mirror, the illusion art of the Scarlet Glass Flower ceased to function, stripping away her disguised appearance.
Outside the mirror, no one dared to make a sound, fearing they might disturb the sleep of the maiden within.
Yet the girl inside the mirror shifted slightly as if waking. Letting out a soft groan, she slowly opened her eyes.
Rate on N.U.
