Chapter 286: Mirror Mirror On The Wall, Who’s The Most Problematic Of Them All?

A disgruntled chuckle sounded right behind his ears, making his scalp tingle.

This world of cultivation was truly unforgiving, truly deceitful. Hundreds of thousands of people in one city, almost entirely populated by mortals, and he somehow ended up running into a cultivator stronger than himself the moment he went outside?

Teeth gnashing, he crushed a talisman hidden above his sleeves before striking his elbow at the man’s ribs decisively.

His third phase martial strength, although not boosted with vital energy, could absolutely crush the bones and lungs of an ordinary man. Even a martial cultivator at the first or second phase would not want to take it head-on.

But even as the strike landed, it didn’t seem to have the slightest effect on the opponent. The man spoke without a reaction.

"I think I can slowly pick apart what my instincts are screaming at me to do. Quite bizarre, they are."

Bang! Han Xuhan hit the man’s outstretched arm with a fully vital energy imbued strike. He had mastered this new offensive move only a couple of days ago, and at this critical moment, being able to execute it perfectly brought a wave of satisfaction and relief.

However, watching the man’s grip on his shoulder not even go slack for a moment, Han Xuhan lost all confidence in his martial prowess.

He couldn’t beat this person. This opponent was far, far stronger than Chen Yan, perhaps even approaching the peak of the Physique Transformation realm purely by his martial cultivation!

Facing him, he could do nothing but despair!

"My strongest instinctive reaction upon seeing you was to... to beat you to death," the man said calmly, smiling at Han Xuhan’s panic-stricken countenance.

"I want to see your body reduced to bits and pieces of flesh and bones. I want to do it with my own hands, enjoy the process; the more painful, the better."

Han Xuhan opened and closed his mouth several times before finally managing to say, "You should ignore that kind of violent instinct. You’ll end up in prison."

"Really?" The man looked thoughtful. "I somehow doubt that. Do you know any prison that can hold me?"

Han Xuhan felt a shiver in his spine.

"There’s another instinctive desire in me," the man said again. "I want to cut you up carefully and see what’s inside. Will I see red blood and white flesh? What do you think?"

Han Xuhan felt that answering that question would not end well for him, regardless of what his answer was. He could only croak, "Aren’t there any other instinctive desires? Just these two?"

At this point, he’d take anything.

The man nodded slowly in response to his question. "I do feel another urge. I want to make you stop existing. Erase you from this world, with not even ashes and bones left behind."

Han Xuhan: "..."

"Heaven knows, these urges are so hard to keep down! I want to fulfill them all one by one, or go all out at the same time. I can’t even tell what I want to do at this point. It’s so hard to navigate through my thoughts these days..."

As the man continued to ramble, the qi around them began to pulse under an immense spiritual pressure. Han Xuhan could feel something building, coiling up for an explosion of power that had not a trace of friendliness in it.

"What if I poked holes through you? One, two, maybe two hundred... Would that be effective?"

Han Xuhan wanted to ask what specific effect the man was looking to achieve, but at that moment, the terrifying spiritual phenomena around him were his biggest concern.

Under their feet, on the brick road, threads of unknown, green energy were forming a massive network. It seemed to be something akin to a formation, but how it was being created was beyond his understanding.

Right above the man’s head, a vague silhouette was flickering in and out of view. It resembled a gray crown, but the sharp needles and thorns embedded around its rim gave it a gnarly appearance.

But right when the silhouette seemed a step away from solidifying, it disappeared. So did the ethereal formation of green energy beneath them!

The man suddenly let go of Han Xuhan’s shoulder, fell to his knees, head bowed, wailing like a child in pain.

"Ever since my toys were taken away, I haven’t been able to think straight anymore. I miss my toys! I miss having clear thoughts!"

Then he inexplicably started sobbing. Han Xuhan stood there, frozen, utterly confused by this development.

What the hell was happening? Who was this man? What was he even talking about?

Should he run away? Could he even run away?

Suddenly, the lively fire on the torch-bracket hung at the side of their street died. At first, Han Xuhan didn’t think much of it. But when the second and the third street torch went out like candles being snuffed, a sense of impending doom enveloped his heart.

He looked down, watching the wailing man be submerged under increasingly dense layers of shadows. More and more torches disappeared around them, even the lights inside house, sinking the entire street into a sudden, silent shroud of darkness.

Even the faint voices nearby, the noises inside the houses by the street fell silent.

Very slowly, Han Xuhan started backing away. He had no other choice. He couldn’t just wait there to be slaughtered.

To his shock, the man didn’t look up once as the distance between them increased. Nothing stopped him from breaking into a run this time. Thanks to his enhanced vision, Han Xuhan could still stumble his way out of the narrow street despite the darkness.

Soon, he found himself at a familiar intersection, connecting several major roads. The torches here were larger, many of them fueled with qi, lighting up the world. People were walking back and forth, busy with their own business, completely unaware of the bizarre phenomenon barely a hundred meters away, where a small world had been cut off from all light.

Han Xuhan cast a terrified look at the mouth of that dark street before continuing his run. This time, he didn’t stop until he was at the door of the familiar inn.

Senior Brother Lin, accompanied by several anxious disciples, was just about to head out, fully armed and ready to kill. Seeing Han Xuhan rush inside the inn, he let out a long sigh of relief.

"Are you alright? When I sensed the emergency signal talisman light up..."

Han Xuhan grabbed a jug of water, drank a long mouthful, paused for an uncomfortably long time before saying, "I ran into an unfriendly expert. But he didn’t seem to be in a good mental state.

He kept me immobilized for a minute or so before letting me leave. It’s a little suspicious, isn’t it? I’m not even sure why he did all that..."

Reporting the matter truthfully could just save his life. Who could guarantee that the man hadn’t left anything on Han Xuhan to track him down later? Or perhaps plant something deadly inside his body or soul?

Judging by the grim look on Senior Brother Lin’s face after hearing the story, he definitely had similar suspicions. He whispered something to one of the members of their group, who went into his room and then returned with a gauze-covered shard of mirror.

Another older disciple held up her hand near the mirror and silently cast a Mystic Art technique, summoning a ball of blue fire in her palm. The disciple holding the mirror checked something on its surface, cast Han Xuhan a scrutinizing look, and then shook his head at everyone else.

The next moment, the ball of fire in the hand of the female disciple turned green. But the same set of actions repeated itself. After green fire, it turned orange, then purple, and finally pale gold.

A tense breath left the entire group once it came to an end.

"What were you looking for?" Han Xuhan asked.

Senior Brother Lin hesitated, as if he wasn’t supposed to reveal the information. But he also knew how paranoid Han Xuhan was.

Feeling resigned, he explained, "This mirror is a powerful Mystic Artifact. Under specific types of alchemic fire, it can unravel illusions, Mystic Art based mechanisms, active and dormant spells, formation lines, invisible phenomena caused by spiritual involvement, and a whole lot of information that you wouldn’t yet understand.

Rest assured, if that expert left anything unusual on you, the mirror would reveal it."

Han Xuhan doubtfully asked, "What if that expert’s cultivation is high enough to mask his methods from artifacts like this mirror?"

Senior Brother Lin scoffed. "This mirror can reveal the handiwork of an expert at the peak of the Dao Genesis realm. If the expert happens to be above that realm of cultivation... heh."

There was no need to explain. Someone at that level could probably rival their sect master himself. If they wanted to harm you, just settle your business and pray for a quick death.