At the bottom of a staircase several dozen ters long was a surprisingly luxurious Underground Palace. It also resembled an ancient tomb, because it was filled with coffins.
The coffins were covered with runes that shimred with flowing light. In front of each stood an incense altar with morial tablets. The one closest to Shen Youling had the na "Xi nghan" carved in large characters.
Next to it was one engraved with "Luo Jiaye."
And beside that, "Qin Xianxian."
After that, and then the one after that... they were all female nas. And they all gave Shen Youling a sense of familiarity.
Could they… all be my past lives?
This absurd thought flashed through her mind. The ancient tomb was grim and chilly, the air thick with yin energy. Yet Shen Youling wasn't scared. Instead, she felt increasingly at ease, as if… she had co ho.
She continued walking forward until she reached the end of the hall. There she saw a smooth stone wall engraved with a multitude of bas-reliefs. Many simply drawn human figures were depicted worshipping, dancing, and performing various rituals toward the center.
At the very center was a bronze mirror of ancient, simple design, yet it gave off a sense of infinite variation and profound rhythm. Above the mirror were three powerful characters—Yin Yang Mirror!
Shen Youling murmured its na and unconsciously reached out to touch the mirror's surface.
WHOOSH!
She froze in place as her soul was pulled from her body, plunging into the world within the mirror. There was no sky above, no earth below—only a vast, formless expanse of Qingming Chaos.
Shen Youling looked down and saw that she was translucent and clad in white, the typical image of a female ghost.
Am I dead? she wondered.
"You've arrived!" a voice suddenly rang out.
Shen Youling quickly turned, her guard instantly up, only to see another woman who looked exactly like her.
"Are you Xi nghan?" Shen Youling asked quietly.
The other woman smiled. "Yes, I am Xi nghan. I am also Luo Jiaye and Qin Xianxian… and I am you, Shen Youling. Haven't you already realized that?"
"…"
Shen Youling's heart was a tangle of complex emotions. There was so much she wanted to say, but she didn't know where to begin. She finally managed to force out a single question, "What in the world is going on?"
"It's simple. The Yin Yang Mirror is my dao-protecting treasure, and it possesses many incredible powers. Its greatest function is to help one reincarnate and awaken mories of past lives. As long as nothing goes wrong, each reincarnation will be successful, which is, in a sense, another form of eternal life."
Shen Youling sucked in a sharp breath. This Yin Yang Mirror… was just too incredible!
"Now, your soul has matured, reaching the basic requirent to recover the mories of your past lives. As long as you rge with , you will have a chance to regain all your mories. Then you can resu your cultivation and grow strong quickly. You will be able to do whatever you want. No one will be able to hurt or restrain you ever again!"
"A chance?"
"Yes, just a chance. It is not a hundred percent guaranteed to succeed."
"And what if it fails?"
"In a mild case of failure, you'd beco an imbecile. In a severe case, you'd be forced into another reincarnation."
"Err…" Shen Youling was conflicted. She remained silent for a long ti.
"If I refuse to rge with you, will you let go?"
"Of course. I am you, and you are . I would certainly not force you, nor would I harm you. You are the priority; the choice is entirely yours."
Hearing the other—no, the other "her"—say this, Shen Youling let out a sigh of relief. Her trust in this being increased considerably.
"I've gone through this rger many tis before, haven't I? How many tis did it fail?"
"Zero."
"Hmm?"
"The possibility of failure exists, but in practice, it has never once failed, provided you genuinely wish to rge and don't have regrets halfway through."
"I see!" Shen Youling felt even more reassured. "One last question. Are there any downsides to the rger?"
"There are no downsides. If I had to na one, it would be this: once you obtain the mories of every lifeti, you'll find that the mories of your current life make up only a minuscule portion of the whole. Perhaps your affection for the parents and relatives of this life will diminish."
"Ah?" Shen Youling grew concerned. Although her parents and sister had broken her heart ti and again, leaving her deeply disappointed, she still didn't want to "forget" them. Not to ntion her grandfather, who had always treated her so well.
And besides… there was Lin Tang.
What would her attitude toward him be then? Would she still try to get him out of prison?
Shen Youling voiced these concerns. Her other self was calm until she ntioned Lin Tang's na. Her expression changed instantly.
"Do not ntion that damned thing!"
Shen Youling was speechless. "???" It seed every ti she ntioned Lin Tang, this other self beca particularly furious.
"Of course, I'm angry! In every past life, I preserved my primal yin and never took any man as a Daoist partner. I had clearly severed all my threads of fate regarding marriage. But this lifeti, for so unknown reason, you married that beast so easily! It's simply unforgivable!"
Xi nghan was livid, her cheeks burning red with rage.
In response, Shen Youling's own cheeks twitched slightly. She didn't know what to say.
After a long, long period of deliberation, Shen Youling finally made her decision. She would agree to the rger and recover her mories.
To ensure she would still act according to her plans after regaining her mories, Shen Youling even made a special vow. She swore she would remain as filial to her grandfather as she had always been. She would also fulfill her duty to support her parents and care for them in their old age. And she would rescue Lin Tang from prison, helping him regain his freedom.
"If I break this oath, may my reincarnation in my next life fail!"
Seeing this, Xi nghan was both speechless and helpless. "Why must you burden yourself like this…"
Parents and relatives are one thing, but that bastard Lin Tang? Why bother with him?
Since Shen Youling had made her choice, Xi nghan proceeded to explain the process for the mory fusion.
Imdiately after…
WHOOSH!
Shen Youling's soul returned to her body, back in reality. She quickly walked to the coffin belonging to Xi nghan. The lid was heavy and sealed with a talisman; with her current strength, she naturally couldn't open it. But Xi nghan had prepared a chanism in her previous life. As soon as Shen Youling pressed it, the lid would open on its own.
Shen Youling had been harboring a strange curiosity, wanting to see the corpse of her past self. But her other self had told her that none of the coffins actually contained a body. They held only funerary garnts or personal belongings. At the mont of each reincarnation, the previous body would dissolve into nothingness. This left Shen Youling feeling a tiny bit disappointed, for reasons her strange tastes couldn't quite explain.
According to Xi nghan, the physical Yin Yang Mirror was inside her coffin. Once she had it, she could use her blood as a catalyst and an incantation as the key to begin the fusion.
However… an accident had occurred.
Shen Youling pressed the chanism, and the coffin lid opened. She looked inside. It was completely empty. Nothing at all!
"Eh?"
Shen Youling was stunned. She proceeded to open the other coffins in succession. They were all just as empty. Even the other burial goods were gone.
My god, has this place been robbed?
She pressed her hand on the mirror relief again, and her soul entered it once more.
"What???"
Xi nghan was so enraged she nearly ascended on the spot. The surrounding expanse of Qingming Chaos also collapsed with a bang, repeatedly imploding and reforming. Shen Youling's soul, like a tiny candle in a sudden storm, was nearly extinguished.
"Who? Who was it? Who dared to take my treasure?! I will kill them! I must kill them!"
"Uh, you… haven't you been guarding this place the whole ti? How could you not know who ca here?"
"I am only awakened when you co here personally. Normally, I have no consciousness," Xi nghan said, her face extrely grim. "This won't do. The Yin Yang Mirror must be retrieved at all costs. I will repeat all the steps to restore your mories. You must morize them perfectly, without forgetting or making a mistake. In a mont, I will burn myself to forcefully summon the mirror back. I won't be able to give you any more guidance after that."
"Ah? Will you die?" Shen Youling asked, nervous and unwilling to let her go.
"I was only ever a fragnt of consciousness you left behind in a past life, ant to guide you. Once my task is complete, I disappear. I am not a living being, so how can we speak of life and death?" the other replied indifferently.
Not wanting to waste any more ti with Shen Youling, she explained the steps one more ti before casting her back to reality.
The next mont, Xi nghan began to burn, her form immolating without hesitation. As she burned, she chanted loudly:
"Mirror Flower Water Moon, separate paths to a single destiny! Mirror turns yin and yang, flower blooms in reincarnation, water births all things, moon guides the nine provinces! From the Celestial Palace above to the Netherworld below… Yin Yang Mirror, return at once!"
"Return at once!"
"Return at once!"
As she vanished, the moon in the cosmos seed to accelerate by the barest fraction.
「On the dark side of the moon.」
In a deep, bottomless abyss, a pair of lantern-like, crimson eyes snapped open.
"The Yin Yang Mirror… is about to reappear in the world…"
「At the sa ti, in another mysterious space.」
A massive, lake-sized mirror, which had been sealed and suppressed by outrageously thick, specialized chains, suddenly trembled violently. The chains instantly turned to dust.
WHOOSH!
The mirror shrank, tore through space, and shot into the rift.
The next mont, a giant hand ripped the closing spatial fissure back open and began grabbing around inside it, as if trying to catch a fish.
「Atop the Heavenly Pond.」
The Mystic Maiden, who had been about to kill Lin Tang, felt the disturbance in that sa instant. She imdiately dropped everything and gave chase at top speed.
It was as if all hell broke loose. A number of hidden, powerful experts were all alerted and spurred into action. They all wanted to claim the mirror for themselves, even fighting each other across vast distances. They fought tooth and nail for it.
「Fengqi Mountain.」
Within the Underground Palace Ancient Tomb, Shen Youling stood in a daze. A long, long ti passed, but the Yin Yang Mirror never appeared.
Was it… stolen by soone? What am I supposed to do now?
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