Ask the Mirror
Chapter 173: The Pit

"The mental image commands the Physical Form…"

Yu Ci grinned. In the Primordial Origin Qi Method, "materialized image" refers to the form and spirit—bones, blood, essence, and soul. The "mental image," on the other hand, is an abstraction born from one's own form and spirit, a simplified and intuitive representation shaped by self-awareness. It symbolizes the materialized image and naturally governs it.

In the cultivation method outlined in the Primordial Origin Qi Method, sketching the mental image roughly corresponds to the mid-stage of Divine Connectivity, when one begins refining the Yin Spirit. Previously, Yu Ci had relied on structural deduction to cleverly determine the location of his mental image. With that shortcut, he achieved his Yin Spirit. However, the mental image had never truly taken form, which meant his cultivation had a flaw.

Now, that flaw was gone.

Yu Ci still hadn’t genuinely sketched his mental image—at least not in the traditional sense. This sort of refinement was meant to be a long, drawn-out process. Without sudden enlightenment, it wasn’t unusual to take three to five years. But Yu Ci had another opportunity.

His opportunity lay in the Innate Qi of the Heavenly Dragon within his "Void Within the Mind— Inner Void".

From the moment the Innate Qi of the Heavenly Dragon invaded his inner void, it forcefully supplanted the nascent mental image with its overwhelming Heavenly Dragon intent. It became the new core of the “inner void,” essentially devouring the original mental image. Normally, such a forceful intrusion would have been catastrophic. However, the Innate Qi of the Heavenly Dragon lacked a conscious will and possessed only primal instinct. In the end, it couldn’t withstand Yu Ci’s resilient spirit and was subdued by him instead.

So whether it was a case of “switching the cage for the bird” or “reviving through a borrowed form,” one way or another, the Innate Qi of the Heavenly Dragon took the seat of the mental image. In an instant, the once formless mental image was made tangible—nearly complete in one stroke.

Still, being an outsider, it needed to acclimate. Hence, the months-long “drizzle” within Yu Ci’s inner void. That gentle rainfall was the process of the Heavenly Dragon's essence blending with Yu Ci’s own form and spirit until they became one. During this time, the Innate Qi of the Heavenly Dragon reshaped Yu Ci, while Yu Ci, in turn, tempered it with his will and habits.

It was a profoundly mysterious experience. Before, Yu Ci couldn’t manifest his mental image because he didn’t know where to start. Now, with the Heavenly Dragon as a foundation, he finally had something to hold on to—making everything naturally fall into place.

When the rain ceased and the clouds parted, the process had come to fruition, and his mental image finally took form.

With the mental image formed, he automatically advanced past the mid-stage of Divine Connectivity. His Yin Spirit was now refined and only needed time to be nurtured before he could attempt a spiritual projection… but that wasn’t all.

The Primordial Origin Qi Method was inducted into the “Prominent Virtue Hall” the moment it appeared, a testament to its uniqueness. Its method of constructing the mental image from the materialized image, then using the mental image to control the material one, was completely distinct from ordinary innate Qi techniques. By relying on the simplified and intuitive mental image to guide the complex and esoteric materialized image, the practitioner could achieve true mastery through simplicity. Beyond refining the Yin Spirit, it had other wonders too.

Yu Ci held his Pure Yang Talisman Sword, focusing on its tip. Immediately, innate Qi surged and swirled around it, cold and menacing like frost. The sword’s killing intent was the ultimate edge he had been striving for lately. At the same time, with a single thought, he could infuse his essence, qi, and spirit into the sword. His control had reached the state where the mind guided the sword—he was now scratching the surface of the true art of the flying sword.

This was essentially the same principle as channeling essence, qi, and spirit through his nameless finger—a technique and a state of being.

Cultivators, unless practicing a uniquely specialized method, always moved toward the integration of spirit, soul, and qi—merging them gradually to form the Core Refinement stage. This process involved three phases: “Resonance,” “Fusion,” and “Unification,” which correspond to how well spirit, soul, and qi are integrated.

Yu Ci had achieved the first phase back when he reached the Enlightened Spirit stage. He later gained sudden insight through the technique of using the soul to control the sword, thereby reaching the second phase. From there, he honed his skill and worked toward “Unification.” Now, he had succeeded.

His spirit, soul, and qi had fused layer by layer into a single point, flowing wherever his intent led. The next step would be the stage where “spirit and qi embrace, setting the central pivot”—which was part of the Core Refinement realm. In other words, in terms of qi cultivation alone, Yu Ci had already reached the peak of what was possible in the Divine Connectivity stage!

Now the only thing left was confirming whether his Yin Spirit had been sufficiently nurtured. Yu Ci was admittedly tempted—he wanted to test what spiritual projection would feel like.

But after a bit of thought, he gave up on the idea. Projecting the Yin Spirit was a perilous trial. If his cultivation wasn’t mature enough and his protections were incomplete, he could trigger a violent reaction with the surrounding natural energies, leading to internal combustion and the utter annihilation of his soul. During previous lessons with Yu Zhou and Xie Liang, they had repeatedly warned him—no matter what—never to attempt projection without a guardian present, even if he reached the upper stage of Divine Connectivity. Otherwise, the consequences would be irreversible.

He didn’t need their warnings, though. Back in Cliff City, Yu Ci had already had one traumatic brush with such danger. He still shuddered at the memory and wasn’t foolish enough to make the same mistake twice.

He shook his head, suppressing the leftover excitement, and refocused on the real world.

Lifting his head, he looked into the mist above. He didn’t know whether the ghost beast had completed its transformation. If that thing still held a grudge and came chasing after him, he’d have to rely on the terrain here to outmaneuver it. Even if it didn’t come, he still needed to find a way out of this fog and fly back.

Either way, understanding the surroundings came first.

He lowered his head and studied the solid rock beneath his feet.

From the moment of his safe landing, Yu Ci had been curious about this place. The ground beneath him wasn’t like the sloped terrain and rocky ledges he’d seen on past visits to Sky Rift Valley. Instead, it seemed to be a proper mountain peak, rising tall and alone. From what he could see, it didn’t appear to be connected to the valley’s cliff walls at all.

Yu Ci knew how vast the Sky Rift Valley was—spanning tens of thousands of miles east to west. It wasn’t just filled with clouds. According to Rifting Earth Sect records, many mountain peaks of varying heights rose within the valley, some even stretching from the valley floor all the way above the clouds, looking like floating islands.

Some of these “islands” were even inhabited, serving as temporary outposts for cultivators. The mountain Yu Ci stood on was still far below the cloud ceiling—so far that the Divine Illumination Bronze Mirror’s divine star rays couldn’t reach this depth.

That meant it was at least ten miles below the surface.

Since using his Yin Spirit to control the treasure mirror, Yu Ci had spent months studying its current capabilities.

Though it now had the divine star ray technique—which was incredibly useful—it still fell short of the old “Divine Map” which could scan fifty miles. When naturally projected, the divine rays could only lock onto targets within ten miles, about double what his spirit could normally sense. Of course, if he actively controlled it or anchored it to a creature like a dragon fish, that range could vary.

Yu Ci suspected this limit had to do with him gaining partial control over the mirror after binding it with his Yin Spirit. Without understanding the mirror’s divine origin, its power would naturally be limited by his cultivation.

Still, ten miles was usually enough. It was just that the fragmented perspectives were frustrating, making it hard to get a complete visual of the area. He tried stitching the views together but gave up. During the attempt, however, he did notice something odd.

At the very edge of the mirror’s sensing range—likely the edge of this peak—on his left side, things were different. There were noticeably fewer living creatures, and the divine rays couldn’t find many targets. Large parts of the view were completely blank, and toward the outer edge, there was nothing but void.

Curious, Yu Ci headed that way. Ten miles wasn’t far.

No wonder the sensing showed nothing—it really was a dead zone!

As far as the eye could see, there was no sign of life. No birds, no beasts, not even a patch of moss. Standing there, he heard nothing but the wind and his own breathing.

At the cliff’s edge, Yu Ci looked down at the swirling clouds. It felt strange. This seemed to be the mountain’s edge, but about a mile across from here, there was a dark shadow—another peak.

Not just there. Shifting his angle slightly, he saw another mountain in the opposite direction. Yu Ci counted at least five peaks surrounding the area, distributed evenly, almost symmetrically. In the middle was a small “valley” roughly one mile wide—far too small compared to the surrounding peaks. When Yu Ci dropped a stone, he quickly heard it hit the bottom.

Depth… twenty zhang?

With his current cultivation, he could easily jump down.

Still, Yu Ci took a cautious approach and climbed down instead. There was no danger along the way, but he noticed something odd—the cliff walls were unnaturally smooth, as if carved by a craftsman’s blade.

When he reached the bottom, he was stunned. Unlike the smooth cliff walls, the “valley floor” was rough and broken.

Looking down, he saw signs of a massive upheaval—cracks everywhere. Some long enough to split the valley in two, others just a few inches, but all were unfathomably deep. Yu Ci suspected the entire mountain base had been shaken loose. A bit more pressure, and it might all collapse.

But how could the surrounding walls remain so smooth?

Yu Ci circled the area, increasingly convinced that this wasn’t a natural valley at all—but rather a pit carved into the mountain’s midsection. How exactly it had been carved remained a mystery. Still, the fractures on the valley floor seemed to radiate outward from the center in a pattern.

He walked over to the center and found a protruding stone—a half-man-tall slab of greenish rock. It had a slight curve and felt strangely smooth.

Yu Ci reached out to touch it, but jerked his hand back with a hiss.

“So hot!”