People in the Imperial Music Bureau: The Storytelling Demon Child Nezha

Li Qiye leaped onto the bronze pillar, where the broken mirror and the fragments of A Li's jade pendant resonated at the crack at the top of the pillar, forming the incantation "止" (stop) carved by the high priest years ago.

As the last ray of golden light entered the pillar, the bronze pillar suddenly erupted with a soaring crimson light, and the faces formed from sand and mist emitted a deafening shriek before turning into dust.

Ali collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably as she looked at the fading marks on her arm.

Huaiqing took off his outer robe and draped it over her shoulders, but his expression suddenly changed when he touched her collarbone—there was a burn mark there that was identical to the scar on Li Qiye's star ring, shaped like a broken mirror.

(Nuo Lihao)

“This is…” Huaiqing’s fingertips trembled, “the mark of the core of the Primordial Mirror. The High Priest said that only those ‘rejected by the narrative’ would have this kind of scar.”

Zhong Yue used a chain to retrieve half of a mirror-inscribed stele buried in the sand. The inscription recorded the process by which the ancient people of the northern desert signed a "blood mirror pact" with the mirror demon: "Every hundred years, a young girl is offered in exchange for ten years of favorable weather in the northern desert. The mirror demon uses 'rationality' to tame mortals, making them willingly become slaves to the narrative."

Chapter 305 The Intruder

Li Qiye touched the crack at the top of the pillar, where the High Priest's inscription was faintly visible: "By the time you see this text, I will have already planted the Soul-Burning Curse within the Mirror Demon's belly. But remember, the true enemy is not in the mirror, but—"

The writing ended there, deliberately erased by some force. Suddenly, Ali pointed to the distant sandstorm: "Look! There's a city in the sandstorm!"

As everyone looked up, a solitary floating city emerged from the endless yellow sand. The city walls were made up of countless mirrors, each reflecting a different era of the northern desert—bustling trade routes and post stations, ruins buried in the sand, and a blood-red altar where sacrifices were being offered.

“That’s one of the narrative hubs of the Mirror Demon.” Zhong Yue spat out the grass stem, and the 953 single eye reflected the image of the lonely city. “It contains a ‘rational story’ from the northern desert over thousands of years. As long as it is destroyed, we can tear a bigger hole in the narrative network.”

Suddenly, the vines of Su Yueli's Glazed Sword wrapped around Ali's wrist, pulling her towards the sand pit: "The fragments of the Mirror Script form a teleportation array underground, leading directly to the bottom of the Lonely City!"

The sandstorm suddenly shifted, swallowing the bronze pillar like a gigantic maw. Li Qiye gripped his broken sword, giving Huaiqing his usual smile: "Your Majesty, this time, would you like to be the vanguard or the rearguard?"

Huaiqing flicked the sand from his hair and a lightsaber materialized at his fingertips: "Let's make this clear first, if I'm possessed by the Mirror Demon, the first person to cut off my head must be you."

"Deal." Li Qiye pulled A Li into the teleportation array, the fragments of the broken mirror emitting a clear ringing sound amidst the weightlessness. "But I bet we can create an even crazier 'unreasonable' thing this time."

When the light from the teleportation array faded, the group found themselves in the underground tomb of the lonely city.

The walls were inlaid with mirror coffins the size of living people, and in each coffin slept a smiling girl—each with a fragment of a jade pendant with two fish around her neck, and the veins of mirror patterns faintly visible under her skin.

“These are the ‘Sand Brides’ from different generations.” Ali covered her mouth. “They said the brides would become the Sand God’s brides, but it turns out they were just made into specimens for the narrative…”

Zhong Yue smashed the nearest mirror coffin with his chain. Black liquid seeped from the cracks in the mirror, which turned out to be condensed mirror script: "The mirror demon traps the souls of the rebels in the mirror coffin (ahae) and grinds down their will with 'happy endings'. Look at these patterns, they are the same as the pupils of the Imperial Guards."

Li Qiye squatted down and discovered that each corpse had a tiny "妄" (wang, meaning delusion) engraved on its palm—the same code left by the High Priest in the "Mirror Heart Record".

He suddenly remembered the parallel world he saw when the core of the Primordial Mirror shattered. In one of the failed endings, the four of them were also made into such mirror coffin specimens.

“The key to breaking the deadlock lies in the City Lord’s Mansion.” Huaiqing pointed to the ceiling. “According to the records of the Northern Desert, the City Lord has the power to ‘rewrite the memories of the Sand People,’ which is precisely the narrative authority granted by the Mirror Demon.”

Su Yueli used her glass sword to cut through the vines on the ground, revealing a staircase leading to the upper level: "I sensed a living thing on the top floor, its aura is very similar to... the remnant soul of the High Priest."

As soon as everyone stepped onto the steps, all the mirror coffins suddenly trembled violently, and the sleeping brides opened their eyes, their pupils reflecting the golden light of turning pages.

They rose in unison, and the shattered glass from the mirror coffin gathered into sharp swords at their feet, all pointing at the intruder.

"Welcome to 'Happy Ending'," the bride in the front row announced, her voice mingling with the chorus of countless voices. "Your rebellion will become the city's newest entertainment."

Zhao Ling drew his Demon-Slaying Blade, its blade reflecting the empty smiles of the brides: "Senior Zhong, you say the Mirror Demon survives on the 'fear of the onlookers,' then what are these brainwashed, pitiful people?"

Chapter 306 Caravan Scouts

“It’s fuel.” Zhong Yue swung the chains, and the copper bell shattered the three mirror coffins. “Every soul that accepts false happiness becomes a stabilizer in the narrative chain. But an ‘outsider’ like Ali—” He looked at the girl huddled behind Li Qiye, “is the real gunpowder.”

Suddenly, Ali grabbed Li Qiye's wrist. The mirror mark on her palm resonated with the broken mirror, and the mirror coffin in the entire tomb chamber burst out with a strong light at the same time.

She shouted with her eyes closed, "I'm not the bride! My name is Ali, and I'm a scout for the caravan! My father taught me to read star charts, and I... I remember his face!"

As she screamed, the pupils of the brides in the mirror coffins cracked, some began to groan while clutching their heads, and some staggered and knocked over the mirror coffins.

Li Qiye saw a fragment of a jade pendant around the neck of one of the brides light up, revealing a scene that did not belong to the Mirror Demon's narrative—a man teaching a little girl to build a camel out of sand.

"Now!" Huaiqing's light sword shattered the dome. "Ali, use your memories to touch the mirror core of the City Lord's Mansion! That is the core that stores the narrative of the Northern Desert!"

As the group climbed over the shattered mirror coffin to the top floor, they were greeted by a huge mirror pool. At the bottom of the pool lay the city lord, dressed in magnificent robes, with a complete fragment of a double-fish jade pendant embedded between his brows. Scrolls of mirror script recording the thousand-year history of the northern desert floated around him.

"You've finally arrived." The city lord opened his eyes, his voice mirroring the gray-clad figure's. "Unfortunately, Ari's memory corruption only makes the narrative more exciting—what could be a more captivating twist than the 'bride' turning the tables and destroying the altar?"

The Mirror Pool suddenly boiled, and countless mirror-like tentacles entangled everyone.

Li Qiye swung his sword to sever the tentacles that were wrapping around A Li, but saw the fragments of the broken mirror fly out of his palm and embed themselves in the altar in the center of the mirror pool.

The high priest's phantom rose from the pool, this time holding the complete Primordial Mirror in his hand.

"Twenty years ago, what I buried wasn't just a remnant soul, but a 'mistake' in the entire narrative of the Northern Desert." The High Priest's voice boomed like a bell. "The Mirror Demon thought it could tame humanity with 'happiness,' but it forgot—"

"The most tenacious resistance is always hidden in the folds of memory." Ali stepped into the pool, and the fragments of the jade pendant resonated with the altar, causing the entire lonely city to begin to tilt.

The true history of the northern desert emerges in the mirror pool: caravans were massacred by sandstorms created by the mirror demon, the survivors were forced to sign a blood mirror pact, and each generation of brides curses the false happiness in the mirror coffin.

0 ······Requesting flowers 0 ····

The city lord roared, and the mirror-like tentacles pierced through the high priest's phantom, only to see the phantom transform into thousands of points of light and merge into Ali's body.

Golden patterns erupted from the girl's body, echoing the scar on Li Qiye's star ring. She raised her hand and pressed it against the jade pendant fragment between the city lord's eyebrows, crushing it directly.

...... ..... ...

"That's impossible! You're just a pawn whose story has been rewritten—"

"But the chess piece has learned to play chess." Li Qiye swung his sword, beheading the city lord. The moment the broken blade pierced through the afterimage, the entire isolated city began to crumble. The scrolls in the mirror pool burst into flames, and the mirror script recording "Bride of the Sand" twisted into the words "Rebels" in the fire.

Ali stood in the center of the collapsed altar, looking at her transparent palm: "So I died a long time ago... When the caravan was attacked, it was the remnant soul of the high priest who saved me and turned me into an 'other thing' in the narrative."

Huaiqing held her dissipating body, feeling fragments of the Primordial Mirror's core vibrating within her: "You won't disappear, because we need more 'foreign objects' to combat the narrative." IV.

Chapter 307 Restoring Memory

Zhong Yue suddenly pressed the copper bell against Ali's forehead, and densely packed mirror-like chains appeared on the inner wall of the bell: "Before the High Priest's remnant soul dissipated, it sealed its last power into my magical artifact."

Su Yueli's glass sword suddenly pierced the ground, and blood-red vines intertwined to form a cocoon that enveloped Ali: "I will use my life essence to nourish her for three days, which may preserve her spiritual consciousness."

The entire isolated city shook violently, and the mirror-like city walls continued to crumble. Zhao Ling, nicknamed "953," cleaved through the falling boulders and suddenly pointed to the northwest corner: "There's an inactive teleportation array there!"

As everyone rushed toward the teleportation array, Li Qiye noticed that Huaiqing's fingertips were dripping blood—she had secretly cut her palm and used the Empress's bloodline to draw a miniature mirror mark array on Ali's forehead.

"Are you crazy?" Li Qiye grabbed her wrist. "The backlash of the Empress's Blood Curse—"

Huaiqing shook off his hand, his eyes shining brightly with golden light: "Back then, the High Priest was able to seal the Mirror Demon with his bloodline for seven days. I can at least buy three quarters of an hour for Ali to regain her memories."

The instant the teleportation array lit up, the entire isolated city suddenly twisted and deformed. All the shattered mirrors reassembled, forming a gigantic eye in the sky. The pupil reflected the astonished images of everyone, and mirror-inscribed shackles appeared around the neck of each reflection.

"Watch out for the narrative flashback!" Zhong Yue's chains suddenly wrapped around everyone's waists. "The Mirror Demon wants to write us into its story—"

Ali's crimson cocoon suddenly burst open, and the girl floated in mid-air, her body entwined with golden light patterns left by the high priest's phantom. She reached out and pressed her hand against the giant eye in the sky, and the mirror-like markings on her palm and Li Qiye's star ring scar glowed simultaneously.

“I remember now.” Ali’s voice echoed twice. “On the night the caravan was attacked, before the Mirror Demon devoured us, my father used the ancestral jade pendant to cut my palm.”

She flipped her wrist, revealing an old scar deep in her palm—the shape of a broken mirror.

Suddenly, countless bronze pillar phantoms rose from the ground, each topped with a blurry human figure.

Li Qiye recognized that the style of the sword worn by the figure at the front was exactly the same as his own Broken Chapter Sword.

"It's the lingering regret of generations of rebels." Huaiqing's lightsaber suddenly flew automatically toward the bronze pillars. "They left coordinates within the narrative layers!"

The giant eye's pupils contracted sharply, and the mirror-patterned shackles rained down like a storm. Su Yueli's vines formed a protective net, but it was pierced through one after another... At the critical moment, Ali suddenly pulled off a fragment of the jade pendant from her neck and threw it at Li Qiye.

"Catch! This is the real thing the high priest hid in the caravan all those years ago!"

The fragment was embedded in the groove of the broken hilt, and the blade immediately showed flowing mirror patterns.

Li Qiye swung his sword at Jingwen's shackles, and the sword energy tore open countless tiny spatial cracks—each crack flashing with a different version of the ending of the Northern Desert.

"Now!" Zhong Yue's copper bell shattered the last remaining shackles. "The teleportation array is about to collapse!"

The moment everyone leaped into the light, Ali was suddenly pierced by the red light shot from the giant eye.

Huaiqing turned around to grab her but missed. He saw the girl smile with relief before she disappeared and mouthed something.

With a deafening roar, the group crashed onto the oasis on the edge of the northern desert. The broken blade in Li Qiye's hand suddenly trembled violently, the shards of the hilt reflecting Ah Li's last memory—

Beside the campfire at the caravan camp, young Ali, under her father's guidance, was drawing star maps on the sand with a twig.

And on her father's waist hung a jade pendant with two fish patterns that was exactly the same as the one on the altar of the city lord's mansion.

Chapter 308 The Leader's Descendant

"So Ali's father was..." Zhao Ling's demon-suppressing blade clattered to the ground, "...the previous city lord?"

From the depths of the desert came the Mirror Demon's furious roar, and suddenly, blood-red words appeared on the surface of the oasis's water: "You think you've won? Every grain of sand in the northern desert is a vessel for my narrative."

Zhong Yue narrowed his one eye and used a chain to pull half a broken stele from the sand. The inscription recorded a chilling truth: those who signed the Mirror Demon Contract would forever become sacrifices a hundred years later.

Huaiqing suddenly sneered: "No wonder the city lord has a jade pendant embedded between his eyebrows—07—he is actually a descendant of the caravan leader from a hundred years ago!"

Li Qiye stroked the newly formed mirror patterns on the broken blade, gazing into the depths of the desert. The blade vaguely reflected the outline of a bronze city, with countless engraved "妄" characters visible on the mottled walls.

Su Yueli suddenly pressed her hand to her chest: "My natal vine... has taken root where Ali disappeared..."

The scene reflected by the glass sword made everyone hold their breath: blood-red vines grew wildly in the ruins of the lonely city, transforming the fragments of the Mirror Demon's narrative into a sky full of stars.

And to the due north that the star map points to, there is a stele inscribed with the name "Tai Chu Mirror Casting Pool".

"The Mirror Demon is afraid," Li Qiye suddenly burst into laughter. "It's in a hurry to drive us out because—"

“The true Primordial Mirror lies dormant in the casting pool.” Huaiqing’s fingertips condensed golden light of the same origin as Ali’s. “Or rather, the first ‘unreasonable’ anomaly.”

The desert storm suddenly changed direction, as if an invisible hand was forcibly altering the narrative. Zhong Yue's bronze bell flew north on its own, and the high priest's final handwriting appeared on its surface:

When you see the starry sky reflected in the sea of ​​sand, jump into the reflection.

The desert wind, carrying scorching heat, rushed towards them, but stopped abruptly when it reached them, as if an invisible barrier had blocked out the heat wave.

Li Qiye gripped the Broken Chapter Blade, the newly emerging mirror patterns on its blade shimmering faintly, echoing the distant Bronze City that was faintly visible amidst the sandstorm.

“The forging pool is in the north,” Su Yueli said softly, the blood-red vines wrapped around her glass sword trembling slightly. “My vines can sense a powerful energy fluctuation there, very similar to the residual aura of Ali.”

Huaiqing gazed northward, the golden light at his fingertips illuminating simultaneously with the scar on Li Qiye's star ring, forming a faint chain of light.

"The High Priest's handwriting says to jump into the sea of ​​sand reflecting the starry sky, but where is the starry sky in this desert?" Zhao Ling frowned, and the Demon-Suppressing Blade drew a deep mark on the sand.

Zhong Yue suddenly raised his hand, and the copper bell rang out with a clear and melodious sound. The desert in front of everyone suddenly distorted, and the sand grains seemed to be given life, rising up and gathering in mid-air to form a dazzling starry sky.

"The Mirror Demon wanted to change the narrative, but it forgot that the real Starry Sky 953 will always remain in people's memories." The old monk grinned, his single eye reflecting the illusory star map.

The words Ah Li uttered before disappearing suddenly became clear in Li Qiye's mind—"Look at the stars." A thought struck him, and he gripped his broken blade, walking towards the starry sky composed of sand grains. "Follow me," he said in a deep voice. "Ah Li was right, this is the entrance."

Huaiqing reached out and pressed his shoulder. "Wait. The Mirror Demon won't let us into the forging pool easily. There must be a trap in this starry sky."

The golden light at her fingertips transformed into patterns, outlining a complex mirror-like array on the sand. "I've used the Empress's bloodline to create a barrier that can temporarily resist the Mirror Demon's narrative erosion."

Chapter 309 The High Priest's Backup Plan

The group followed Li Qiye into the starry sky, and in an instant, the world spun around them. When they regained their footing, they found themselves in a strange space.

All around was an endless sea of ​​sand, and in the sky above, countless stars slowly rotated, each emitting a faint mirror-like glow.

“This is the narrative interlayer,” Zhong Yue said in a low voice. “It was here that the High Priest sowed the seeds of rebellion.” He suddenly pointed into the distance, “Look, that’s the casting pool!”

As everyone looked up, they saw a huge bronze casting pool standing in the sea of ​​sand ahead, its walls engraved with ancient mirror inscriptions and star maps.

The pool was filled with black liquid, and countless broken mirrors floated on its surface, each reflecting a different scene—a bustling ancient city in the northern desert, a tragic sacrificial ceremony, and the heroic battle of the rebels.

“Those are fragments of the Primordial Mirror,” Su Yueli said softly. Suddenly, the vines on the glass sword grew wildly, entangling a piece of the mirror that was about to sink to the bottom of the pool. The mirror reflected the figure of a girl, who bore a resemblance to Ali. “This is the first generation of rebels. She used a fragment of her soul to seal a part of the Mirror Demon’s power.”

Li Qiye walked to the edge of the casting pool, and suddenly the fragments from the Broken Chapter Blade flew up and merged into the black liquid in the pool.

The pool water immediately boiled, and countless bubbles rose from the bottom of the pool, each bubble reflecting the face of a rebel.

"The High Priest said the real enemy isn't in the mirror," he murmured to himself. "Could it be that the Mirror Demon's true form is actually..."

Before the words were even finished, the entire casting pool trembled violently. Suddenly, a huge eyeball emerged from the bottom of the pool, its pupil filled with densely packed mirror-like patterns.

"You think you can find my true form?" The Mirror Demon's voice came from all directions. "The Primordial Mirror has long been shattered, and I am the narrative of this entire desert!"

The black pool water transformed into countless tentacles, sweeping towards the crowd. Huaiqing's lightsaber and Zhaoling's demon-suppressing blade were drawn simultaneously. Amidst the flashing blades, the mirror-patterned tentacles shattered, only to instantly reform.

Su Yueli's vines wrapped around the edge of the casting pool, and the crimson light illuminated the entire space: "Li Qiye, look at the bottom of the pool!"

In the glow of the crimson vines, the scene at the bottom of the pool was clearly visible. There lay a colossal skeleton, its chest inlaid with a complete mirror—the very essence of the Primordial Mirror. Countless chains of mirror runes coiled around the mirror, tightly linking the skeleton to the narrative of the entire desert.

"I see." Zhong Yue suddenly realized, "The Mirror Demon used the power of the Primordial Mirror to control the narrative of the Northern Desert, and its true form was actually the first rebel to be corrupted by the Mirror Script!"