I have a composite mirror

Chapter 125 The Turmoil Resurfaces and Seclusion

Gu Shenyan knelt on the prayer mat, his head bowed, looking obedient and submissive.

Opposite him sat an elderly man with white hair and beard.

That was the Grand Elder of the Temple of Worship, whose cultivation had already reached the heavens and the earth, and who was one of the true pillars of this empire.

At this moment, the Grand Elder's eyes, which seemed to see through everything in the world, were quietly scrutinizing Gu Shenyan.

This silent pressure is more terrifying than a thousand troops.

"Gu Shenyan."

After a long silence, the Grand Elder finally spoke, his voice aged and calm.

"When the Questioning Platform stirred today, I noticed that your soul fluctuations were somewhat—abnormal."

Gu Shenyan's heart tightened.

Sure enough, this level of old monster cannot be easily fooled.

But he already had a plan in mind.

"Reporting to the Elder."

Gu Shenyan raised his head, his face showing just the right amount of fear and shame.

"This junior—this junior knows his mistake."

"Recently, I have been practicing the family's Four Elements Breathing Method," and have gained some understanding of it, which has caused my spirit to become somewhat unstable, making me exceptionally sensitive to changes in the external energy.

"I was just now seeing the strangeness of the Dao Inquiry Stone, and out of curiosity, I couldn't help but take a few more glances. Who knew that my spiritual energy would suddenly go astray—"

"This junior truly had no idea he would cause such a commotion; please punish me, Elder!"

These words are seven parts true and three parts false.

His spiritual power is indeed special, and his soul is indeed sensitive.

But the idea that this "strange breath" caused "resonance with the Daoist stone" is pure nonsense.

But he was betting that the Grand Elder wouldn't see through the disguise of his "flawless" spirit core and system panel.

The Grand Elder remained silent for a moment.

A massive divine sense swept over Gu Shenyan's body like a tidal wave.

[System Alert: High-level Divine Sense Scan Detected!]

[Activate "Abyss" Deep Disguise Mode — Simulates the characteristics of a typical Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator —]

A moment later, that divine thought faded away.

The elder withdrew his gaze, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes, but mostly relief.

Indeed, no evil spirits were detected, nor were any extraordinary treasures found.

It seems like it really was just a coincidence?

Or perhaps, this kid's talent has truly reached some kind of threshold?

"That's enough."

The Grand Elder waved his hand, his tone softening slightly.

"Being exceptionally gifted is a good thing."

"But the path of cultivation is like walking on thin ice. The more talented you are, the more carefully you must guard your true nature."

"Remember, do not be misled by external things, and do not go astray."

Gu Shenyan felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly kowtowed, saying, "This junior will remember your teachings!"

"Go."

The moment Gu Shenyan stepped out of the quiet room, he realized that his back was already soaked with cold sweat.

This is like dancing on a knife's edge.

I just got back to the villa and haven't even had a sip of water yet.

"Bang!"

The door was slammed shut.

Lu Banxian's face was ashen, while Liu Wenyuan stood to the side with a solemn expression.

"You little brat, do you have a death wish?!"

Lu Banxian pointed at Gu Shenyan's nose, spitting everywhere.

"What kind of place is the Questioning Platform? It's a national treasure left behind by the founding emperor! How dare you mess with it so carelessly?!"

"If I hadn't risked my reputation to smooth things over for you today, you'd be dissected and studied by now, believe it or not?!"

Gu Shenyan gave a wry smile, not daring to refute.

"Master, what I was doing was—"

"Shut up!"

Lu Banxian rudely interrupted him.

He paced back and forth in the room, the two iron balls in his hands spinning rapidly, making a "click-click" sound.

"No matter what secrets you have, you are still too weak right now."

"Those old fogies at the Gongfeng Temple are all incredibly paranoid. You may have gotten away with it today, but you're already on their radar."

Lu Banxian suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes becoming extremely serious.

"You can't stay in the open in this capital city for the time being."

"Wen Yuan".

"Disciple is here." Liu Wenyuan stepped forward.

"Take this kid to the 'Quiet Void Cave Heaven'."

Gu Shenyan was taken aback: "Jingxu Cave Heaven? Where is that?"

Liu Wenyuan looked at him with a complicated expression: "That is Tingtao Pavilion's biggest secret in the capital, an independent small space built on an underground spiritual vein node."

"There is a powerful array that isolates it, and even the divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator cannot penetrate it."

Lu Banxian snorted coldly: "Throwing you in here is firstly to let you lay low for a while, so that those with ulterior motives won't have a say in you."

"Secondly—"

He gave Gu Shenyan a deep look.

"You've been jumping around too much lately, improving talismans, winning competitions, and now you've even created this strange phenomenon."

"Your foundation is solid, but your mind is in turmoil."

"Go inside and reflect on your actions."

"You can only come out when you've straightened out that 'flawless' spirit core!"

A warm feeling welled up in Gu Shenyan's heart.

He knew that this seemingly severe punishment was actually the greatest protection for him.

"Yes, Your disciple obeys."

Half an hour later.

Gu Shenyan followed Liu Wenyuan through a dark and damp underground passage.

As a heavy stone door slowly opened.

A surge of spiritual energy, so dense it was almost liquefied, rushed towards us.

"This is it."

Liu Wenyuan stopped and turned to hand Gu Shenyan a jade slip.

"This contains some insights about the Forging Realm, as well as methods of communication with the outside world."

"Junior brother, go into seclusion in peace."

"We'll shield you from the storms outside."

The stone gate slammed shut.

The world fell silent instantly.

Within the Jingxu Cave, only a single enormous luminous pearl emitted a soft glow.

Gu Shenyan took a deep breath and sat down cross-legged.

"Finally—I can calmly sort things out."

He was not in a hurry to start cultivating.

Instead, it opened the system panel.

The string of red alerts has disappeared, replaced by a large amount of data waiting to be processed.

"The first step is to consolidate your realm."

Although the "Flawless" spiritual core is powerful, as Lu Banxian said, he has not yet fully adapted to the surge in spiritual consciousness.

For the next few days, Gu Shenyan remained motionless, like a statue.

He is adapting.

Adapt to the flow of every wisp of spiritual energy, adapt to the resonance of every breath with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Until the seventh day.

When he opened his eyes again, the restlessness in them had completely faded, replaced by a deep, unfathomable calm.

"The second step is to find the fragments of the ancient talisman."

Gu Shenyan took out the yellowed, tattered picture.

After that touch at the Questioning Platform, the incomplete map seemed to have been activated with some kind of spirituality.

The lines above were no longer rigid ink marks, but came to life in Gu Shenyan's eyes, like flowing water.

wave.

"Water is not only soft, nor is it only hard."

"Water can also be ice, fog, clouds, and blood—"

He began to try to deduce the results.

What would happen if the ancient water-based runes on this fragment were combined with one's own "Abyss" life fire?

Perhaps, we can deduce a completely new kind of life force?

such as--

• A "melting ice" power that can control the shape changes of water molecules?

Gu Shenyan's brain began to work at high speed.

Countless rune models were constructed in the sea of ​​consciousness, then collapsed, and then reassembled.

This kind of high-intensity simulation is extremely mentally taxing.

Just two hours later, Gu Shenyan felt a splitting headache, as if someone was drilling his temples with an awl.

"No—the computational load is too large."

"With my current brainpower, I simply cannot process such a complex data model."

Just when he was about to give up.

A golden notification suddenly popped up on the system panel.

[The host's spiritual awareness and information processing needs have reached a critical threshold.]

The system upgrade requirements have been met.

[Attempting to unlock a new module —]

[Unlocked successfully!]

[New feature added: Mind Boost (Basic)]

Note: Consuming a large amount of Source Qi puts the host's brain into an overclocked state, increasing thinking speed by 500% and greatly enhancing logical reasoning ability.

Gu Shenyan was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed.

This is like a pillow delivered just when you're about to fall asleep!

This is the legendary "enlightenment" switch!

"Activate your mind-speed boost!"

Gu Shenyan issued the order without hesitation.

"Buzz!"

At this moment, time seemed to slow down.

The dust floating in the air, the light particles emitted by the luminous pearl, even the sound of his own blood flowing through his body—

Everything became crystal clear.

Those ancient runes that were originally obscure and difficult to understand now automatically decomposed into the most basic lines and logical relationships in his eyes.

"I see----"

"This should be the connection style—"

"The Five Elements in Blends — not only does water nourish wood, but fire can also be introduced —"

Gu Shenyan fell into an extremely mysterious state.

He forgot the time, forgot his hunger, and even forgot where he was.

He frantically absorbed knowledge from the ocean of learning.

I don't know how much time passed.

When Gu Shenyan had to exit the "accelerated thinking" state due to the depletion of his source energy, he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

But the light in his eyes was more dazzling than the stars in the sky.

"It's done."

Although he has not yet fully forged the second life flame, he has found his direction.

Moreover, he has finally completed a stable model for the concept of "Five Elements Overlapping Waves".

"Next, it's all about patience and perseverance."

The days in seclusion were monotonous yet fulfilling.

Although he was underground, Gu Shenyan was not completely isolated from the world.

Through the special communication channels left by Liu Wenyuan, news from the outside world kept coming in.

[Xuanzhengsi reports: The trail regarding "Yingrong" has completely stalled after several scapegoats were found.]

As expected. If the Zhao family were so easy to deal with, they wouldn't be a powerful family in the capital.

[Beijing News: The Four Nations Talisman Exchange Conference is about to begin, and delegations from various countries have begun to arrive.]

[Special Focus: The Northern Yan Kingdom has dispatched a genius named "Tuoba Han," who is said to be practicing the long-lost "Ice Fiend Talisman Dao."]

Gu Shenyan looked at the message thoughtfully.

Ice Fiend?

I wonder which is stronger, the "ice-melting" method I'm currently working on?

Just then.

The jade slip containing the message vibrated slightly.

It was a message from Han Sushuang.

These few words, though brief, made Gu Shenyan's heart tighten slightly.

"Recovered from injury, currently undergoing special training."

"Don't worry about it."

"P.S.: Recently, there have been some unfamiliar eyes in the capital. I feel like someone is watching us in the dark. Please be careful when you leave the city."

Gu Shenyan put down the jade slip and turned his gaze to the heavy stone door.

"It seems this storm has only just begun."

He slowly stood up and stretched his stiff muscles.

Inside his body, the "flawless" spiritual core was pulsating rhythmically, radiating an unprecedentedly powerful aura.

"but----"

"This time, I'm ready too."