Shang Yang: "? Are your ears broken? I said this thing can't even clearly reflect my appearance, what kind of treasure could it be? It might be something left over from the heart of that giant whale's beloved."
Tang Sui was silent for a moment, selectively ignoring Shang Yang's last sentence. She carefully examined the cold jade prism in her hand. Upon catching the blurry reflection of Shang Yang on it, her heart stirred. She retrieved dried fish from her soul guide device.
Black and red demonic energy lifted the shriveled dried fish and brought it before the cold jade prism.
However, strangely, the surface of the cold jade prism did not display another blurry image; it still only showed Shang Yang's appearance.
"Hmm? This mirror..." Shang Yang's eyesight was keen, and he naturally noticed the peculiarity of the mirror's surface.
A thoughtful look flashed in Tang Sui's eyes. She then put the dried fish and the cold jade prism back into her soul guide device and turned around hastily.
"Uncle Snake, please wait for me here. I'll be back soon."
After quickly saying this, Tang Sui turned and flew deeper into the sea.
Shang Yang, standing with his hands behind his back within the demonic energy barrier, his red eyes flickered slightly, guessing what Tang Sui was going to do.
Not long after, Tang Sui returned, restraining two sea creatures with her demonic energy.
One was an ordinary sturgeon, and the other was an unlucky hundred-year sea soul beast.
"Hoo—"
The purple crystal jade bracelet on Tang Sui's wrist flickered. A wooden comb, dried fish, a folding stool, and the cold jade prism flew out of the purple crystal jade bracelet one by one.
Tang Sui waved her hand. All three items except the cold jade prism flew to its opposite side, along with the hundred-year sea soul beast and the ordinary sturgeon that Tang Sui had captured, all standing opposite it.
The cold jade prism, like an inspector, flew over them from smallest to largest, its speed extremely slow, allowing both Tang Sui and Shang Yang to clearly see the situation on the mirror's surface.
The misty mirror surface only showed a blurry human face when it reached Tang Sui.
With a flash of red light, Shang Yang, who had instantly appeared behind Tang Sui, narrowed his eyes. He reached out, his slender fingertips brushing past Tang Sui's slightly upturned hair. His black fingernails visibly elongated and sharpened, then gently touched the surface of the cold jade prism. Sudancan.com
"Jade..."
Shang Yang murmured. White smoke began to rise where his sharp black fingernails met the mirror, making the already misty surface even more hazy.
It was like the melting reaction after ice meets fire.
Tang Sui snatched the cold jade prism from under Shang Yang's fingernails. Expecting the mirror surface to melt, she was surprised and looked at the intact mirror, exclaiming, "Eh? The mirror surface is completely undamaged?"
Shang Yang lowered his hand, his red eyes instantly transforming into vertical snake pupils, swirling with a layer of crimson mist. He examined the undamaged cold jade prism and said, "Although it's made of cold jade, it felt as cold as solid ice when it came into contact with me."
"I noticed it when we were at the entrance of the underwater passage. The mirror was clearly pointed at the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, but it couldn't reflect his appearance. When I was choosing from his treasure vault, I happened to lift other treasures with my demonic energy, just like now, and they happened to be in the mirror's range," Tang Sui continued Shang Yang's words, elaborating on the mirror's strangeness.
"But what's strange is that the mirror only vaguely reflected my appearance, with no images of other treasures. I thought it was a special rule of this mirror, but I didn't expect..."
Shang Yang let out a snort. "This thing is like the demon-reflecting mirrors used by those Onmyoji. But I didn't see any array formations or spiritual power imprints on it."
Tang Sui pondered for a few seconds and said, "Then, if we think about it differently, this mirror is an item of the demon race?"
Otherwise, there was no way to explain why the mirror only reflected the appearance of them, demons.
"An item of the demon race..." Shang Yang carefully searched through his long-dormant memories, looking for information about similar treasures. His brow furrowed. "Even when I was in Heian-kyō, I never heard of..."
His voice trailed off as he recalled a legend. "Oh, it's not entirely unheard of. It's said that a certain god from Takamagahara possessed three divine artifacts, one of which was a mirror called Yata no Kagami. However, the function of that mirror was related to the power of time. It's said that if one was reflected in the mirror, they would be sealed by it, and time would stop."
"A mirror..." Tang Sui lowered her head and sighed. "Although I don't know what material that god's mirror was made of, its surface definitely wouldn't be so misty, would it? To reflect all things and seal their power of time, the mirror surface must have been clear."
The system also chimed in: "I can tell you definitively, that god's mirror absolutely doesn't look like this. It doesn't even have His signature divine patterns."
Tang Sui let out a shallow breath.
As expected.
Shang Yang was a bit disappointed. "That's true. I didn't feel even a trace of divine power lingering on it."
Given that god's divine power, no matter how weakened or worn, would have left some imprint.
"Why don't you try injecting demonic energy into the mirror?" Shang Yang suggested after some thought. "Since this thing can only reflect demons, try injecting your power."
Tang Sui nodded. With a thought, she put away the miscellaneous items she had taken out of the purple crystal jade bracelet and released the two kidnapped sea creatures.
As soon as the hundred-year-cultivated butterfly-patterned flowing fish was free, it frantically swung its fan-shaped tail, even using its soul power, accelerating with all its might, as if fearing Tang Sui would capture it again.
As for the other ordinary sea fish, it moved its silvery-white body and disappeared into the deep sea.
"Then I'll begin."
Tang Sui flipped her wrist, her slender, fair fingertips drawing streaks of dark red light threads in the air.
More and more light threads materialized out of thin air and were gradually poured by Tang Sui into the cold jade prism.
"Buzz buzz—"
The cold jade prism vibrated.
The hazy mirror surface lit up with a faint fluorescence. Both Tang Sui and Shang Yang's eyes brightened.
"It's reacting! Increase the demonic energy!"
Shang Yang commanded. Tang Sui nodded. The slender demonic energy light threads in the air began to condense into clusters of flowing light, which Tang Sui poured into the cold jade prism all at once.
"Whoosh—!"
Intense indigo light bloomed on the mirror surface.
Tang Sui and Shang Yang's eyes were simultaneously blinded by the light, and they did not see the silhouette slowly forming within the luminous beam.
"Whoosh whoosh—!"
A sudden gust of wind and snow whipped into their faces.
The moment the crystal-clear snowflakes hit their faces, the condensed frost froze their skin and began to spread. However, it was quickly and slowly melted by the intense demonic energy emanating from Shang Yang beside her.
The system's voice sounded, tinged with excitement: "Use your demonic energy to protect your eyes and open them to look carefully!"
The fox masks also shouted excitedly.
'Yes, yes, don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes!'
Tang Sui: "......"
If she hadn't closed her eyes just now, she would have gone blind, right? (→_→)
Tang Sui's closed eyelids twitched slightly, and she slowly opened her dark red-glowing eyes. Shock immediately appeared in her eyes.
"This is..."