The Mirror of Startling Beauty: Her courtiers are everywhere

The old Taoist priest's talisman array is still holding up.

The seven golden talismans hung in mid-air, their edges already dimmed, like candles flickering in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.

The old Taoist priest sat cross-legged under the Three Lives Tree, his back against the gnarled old tree roots.

His eyes were closed, and a thin layer of frost covered his gray eyebrows, a sign that his spiritual energy had been depleted to the limit and he could no longer maintain his body temperature.

Tang Xixue squatted down beside him, placed three fingers on his wrist pulse, and frowned upon feeling it.

His pulse was terribly erratic; if it weren't for his strong willpower, he would have collapsed long ago.

"Master, your body can't take this long."

The old Taoist priest opened his eyes and his gaze fell on her face.

He smiled, a tired yet composed smile, as if he had known the answer all along.

"Protecting the Three-Life Tree is the old Taoist's mission."

He coughed, and a trickle of dark blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

"Even if we can't hold on, we have to."

Jiu Fangzhi suddenly spoke, his voice cold and steady: "She hasn't used her full strength yet. That attack just now was merely a test."

His slender fingers rested on the latch of the mechanism box, the dark surface of which gleamed with a cold metallic luster in the morning light.

He wasn't a righteous person, and he didn't actually want to help his senior sister.

But he will take action to protect his junior sister.

"She's waiting for the rune array to run out of power on its own."

Upon hearing this, the old Taoist priest chuckled softly, "Then let her wait."

"This old Taoist priest may not be good at much else, but he's a master at stalling for time."

He leaned closer to the old tree root, shifting to a more effortless position. His cloudy eyes were half-open, as if he were trying to gather his last bit of strength in the short time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

The prayer chimes on the tree trembled uneasily, emitting a series of fine, rapid sounds, like thousands of butterflies fluttering their wings in the rain.

From the distant streets and alleys came the cries of children and the suppressed sobs of adults. Those who had scattered and fled from under the Three Lives Tree were pinned to the spot by an invisible fear, unable to leave or stay.

"This Three-Life Tree cannot be harmed; it is the source of the spiritual essence of Yaoguang City."

The old Taoist priest lowered his voice, as if he were talking to himself, or as if he were giving his final instructions.

"Young lady and young master, you should escape quickly. This female demon's methods are too ruthless; you mustn't suffer because of her."

He could sense that the female demon was very powerful.

She probably didn't use ordinary cultivation methods, but rather took some unorthodox or unorthodox paths.

He had never seen those methods before, only reading snippets in the fragments of his sect's scrolls—making a deal with the Heavenly Dao, exchanging obsession for power.

"Junior Sister, Pavilion Master Fengxiao is indeed very strong."

Jiu Fangzhi's voice was very soft, and only Tang Xixue could hear it.

"If we go head-to-head, we might not have a chance of winning."

He knew very well that many high-ranking Heavenly Dao Apostles were powerful because they had received gifts from the Heavenly Dao.

The Wuchi (Pool of Nothingness) in Guixu Palace can heal injuries and increase cultivation, but most people cannot bear the pain caused by the water of Wuchi.

The deeper the obsession, the more profound the suffering.

The Pavilion Master of Fengxiao Pavilion is the ruthless person who has stayed in Wuchi the longest.

Therefore, the once weak senior sister, who had no martial arts skills, has become a powerful figure with an aura of world-destroying might in every move she makes twenty years later.

"This is the place that the Flowing Cloud Medicine God wants to protect."

Tang Xixue spoke, her voice as steady as a rock.

"She's gone now, but I'm still here."

She paused, her gaze meeting the eyes behind Jiu Fangzhi's mask.

"Even if the Pavilion Master of Fengxiao Pavilion is very powerful, so what? Fengxiao Pavilion and I are mortal enemies. If you want to leave, you can leave first."

Jiu Fangzhi looked at her without saying a word.

He simply pressed the mechanism box into his palm again, and the shield of the Heavenly Palace Array shone even brighter.

Junior Sister is still here, why would he leave?

"Heh. Old Taoist priest, have you thought this through?"

A lazy laugh, like a splash of ice water on a red-hot iron plate, stirred up a chilling silence.

Fengxiao Pavilion Master opened his eyes.

Those peach blossom eyes were exceptionally beautiful; if they were smiling, they could be described as incredibly charming.

But at this moment, there was not a trace of a smile in his eyes, only pure, cold killing intent, like the surface of a lake in the deep winter—beautiful, but capable of freezing a person to death.

"If you've made me wait this long for nothing, I'll be very angry."

"You monster, stop daydreaming!"

After resting for a while, the old Taoist priest regained some of his energy, but his attitude remained firm.

His hands, resting on his knees, slowly formed a new hand seal, his knuckles turning white and veins becoming visible.

"The old Taoist priest."

When Fengxiao Pavilion Master spoke, his voice was light and airy, as if he were teasing a bird trapped in a cage.

"How long can your rune array last?"

The old Taoist priest did not answer.

He simply straightened his back a little and took another breath.

"Even if you don't say it, I can tell."

The Pavilion Master of Fengxiao stood up, surrounded by a silvery aura. With each step she took, the aura spread out into a thin silver mist beneath her feet.

"Those seven golden talismans were made with your life essence, weren't they? As long as the talisman exists, you live; if the talisman is destroyed, you die."

"You're just risking your life like this, don't you feel any remorse?"

"Feeling sorry for you?"

The old Taoist priest chuckled, a dry, hoarse laugh that carried a sense of unbridled, carefree joy.

"The old Taoist priest only did two things in his life: guard the tree and wait to die."

"By trading one's life for the tree to live a little longer, the old Taoist priest has come out on top no matter how you look at it."

Fengxiao Pavilion Master tilted his head slightly, and a hint of other emotions finally appeared in his peach blossom eyes.

It was a kind of condescending pity mixed with regret.

"It seems the deal is off. Then let me see how much you can hold out."

She raised her hand, fingers spread, palm facing upward.

Countless silvery-white rays of light surged from between her fingers.

They intertwined and entwined in the air, eventually condensing into a fist-sized silver sphere of light above her palm.

The sphere of light was extremely small, yet it was blindingly bright, so bright that the entire Yaoguang City seemed to have suddenly fallen into a silver abyss.

Even the sunlight was suppressed, leaving only a cold, silvery-white expanse between heaven and earth.

"Silver Dust Annihilates Life".

She uttered those four words softly, and with a wave of her hand, pushed the ball of light out.

The next moment, it crashed into the rune array.

"Click."

A very faint cracking sound, like thin ice breaking open in the warmth of spring.

The golden light barrier crumbled inch by inch before the sphere of light, like a glass screen struck by a hammer, with cracks spreading in all directions from the point of impact, each crack oozing a blinding silver light.

"puff--"

The old Taoist priest shuddered, and a mouthful of blood gushed from his throat, splattering onto the bluestone slab in front of his knees—a shocking sight.

Of the seven golden talismans, three exploded simultaneously, turning into fine golden powder that fluttered down onto his shoulders.

"We must protect the Tree of Three Lives!"

He screamed hoarsely, his voice thick with the stickiness of blood and foam.

In the blink of an eye, Tang Xixue had already made her move.

"Whoosh—"

The moment the Longevity Sword was drawn, an incomparably sharp sword light slashed down, precisely striking the ball of light and splitting it in two.

The sword's momentum had not yet dissipated, carving a deep furrow in the ground, sending stones flying and dust billowing.

However, the Pavilion Master of Fengxiao Pavilion merely raised his eyebrows slightly, as if he had seen some interesting little trinket, and even the corners of his lips curved into a very faint arc.

"Interesting little guy, your swordsmanship is quite good."

Her voice carried a hint of lazy laughter.

"Too bad, we couldn't stop them."

The cleaved sphere of light did not dissipate; instead, it exploded into millions of silver rays, like a meteor shower flying in reverse, rushing towards the canopy of the Three Lives Tree from all directions.

Jiu Fangzhi moved at the very moment the light sphere exploded.

"Heavenly Palace Defense Formation, activate!"

His mechanism box unfolded in his palm, and sixty-four black iron shields shot out simultaneously, piecing together in mid-air to form a huge arc-shaped barrier, firmly protecting the main trunk of the Three Lives Tree, along with the old Taoist priest and Tang Xixue.

The silver spirit patterns on the shield surface lit up layer by layer, as dense as a spider web; it was the strongest defensive mechanism he had brought from the Thousand Machine Mystic Kingdom.

The silver light crashed into the shield, emitting a piercing shriek, like thousands of steel needles simultaneously piercing an iron plate.

The first wave was blocked.

As the second wave crashed in, the outermost layer of the shield's runes began to crack, with fine cracks spreading outwards like a spider web.

When the third wave crashed in, Jiu Fangzhi felt a tremor in his palm.

That was the pulsation that only occurred when the core of the mechanism was operating at its limit, like some ancient warning: if you keep going, it will break.

He pressed down the other mechanism box without any expression.

The two Heavenly Arrays overlapped, and the spiritual light on the shield surface surged for a moment, barely keeping the silver tide of death three feet away.

But he couldn't protect the tree canopy.

The Three Lives Tree was too large; its mechanical shield could only protect a small area.

His defenses were like an open umbrella in front of the Pavilion Master Fengxiao, shielding the person beneath but not the entire sky.

Above their heads, silver light began to spread outward from the heart of the tree.

"Damn it, the Three-Life Tree! We couldn't stop it after all!"

Tang Xixue looked anxious; there were just too many of those Silver Dust Gu.

The ancient lines on the tree trunk faded one after another, like charcoal marks being erased bit by bit with an eraser.

The prayer wind chimes shattered in clusters, and the silver bell fragments fell like rain.

Thousands of leaves fell at the same time, and a silvery-gray rain fell, covering the entire square.

The Three Lives Tree is burning.

The fire was silvery-white, silent, yet more despairing than any raging flame.

"It's over, it's over."

The old Taoist priest's face was ashen, and the last glimmer of light in his cloudy eyes had been extinguished.

The tree he had guarded his whole life died before his eyes, bit by bit, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He could only watch.

The azure river of spiritual essence that had flowed for thousands of years lost its source at the very moment the Three Lives Tree vanished.

Beside the Spirit Essence Pool, a little girl held a bamboo tube, her face upturned, waiting for the spirit essence to flow down from the fingertips of the statue as usual.

But after waiting for a while, nothing happened.

Those jade-like fingertips were dry, without a single drop.

She looked up, bewildered, at the white jade statue in the square.

The statue still has a kind and benevolent face, looking down at the city she has protected for thousands of years.

But the white jade flower between her fingers will never shine again.

The girl's bamboo tube slipped from her hand and rolled a long way away.

"What happened?"

Someone shouted in panic.

"The spiritual essence has disappeared?"

Another voice followed, choked with sobs.

"Without spiritual essence, what will we do with the lamps tonight? What will we do when the black mist arrives?"

Cries and screams rose and fell, spreading from the square to the main street, and from the main street to every narrow alley and every household.

This city, which had lived in the shadow of the erosion moth for thousands of years, felt a fear deeper than the darkness of night for the first time at dawn.

Tang Xixue stood under the Three Lives Tree, her clothes covered with silver-gray ash.

She looked up at the dying tree.

The silvery-blue light on the tree trunks was gradually dimming, as if someone was turning off the last lights of the city one by one.

She gripped the Longevity Sword tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"Junior Sister".

Jiu Fangzhi's voice came from behind her, low and restrained.

"The Three-Life Tree is about to collapse. If we leave now, it's still not too late."