Chapter 236 - 235: Third Floor

Lin Yuan stepped through the sapphire-blue vortex and onto the third floor.

The heat of the second floor vanished instantly, replaced by a chilling stillness.

He stood upon an endless, mirror-like salt flat. The ground was perfectly flat, covered in a thin layer of water that perfectly reflected the sky above. But the sky was not filled with stars or smoke. It was illuminated entirely by a massive, bloated, blood-red moon hanging directly overhead, casting the entire realm in a crimson, twilight hue.

A gentle, freezing rain began to fall. But the raindrops did not splash when they hit the mirrored surface; they simply merged into it, creating endless, rippling circles that expanded into infinity.

A domain of reflection and water, Lin Yuan observed, his deep purple eyes scanning the horizon. A fitting stage.

About a hundred paces away, standing perfectly still upon the mirrored water, was the third Phantom Guardian.

This entity was neither a flawless beauty nor a hulking warlord. It was a slender, androgynous figure dressed entirely in rain-slicked, grey bamboo armor. A wide-brimmed bamboo hat completely obscured its upper face. In its right hand, it held a thin, unadorned rapier, the blade resting lightly against the surface of the water, generating not a single ripple.

Lin Yuan’s Divine Sense expanded, sweeping over the figure.

Unshaken Stage, Lin Yuan confirmed, a cold thrill of genuine anticipation racing through his veins. The Fifth Step of Dao Resolve.

For the first time since he had consumed the Nine Essence Genesis Pill, Lin Yuan was facing an entity that stood upon the exact same plateau as his own foundation. This Guardian possessed a Dao Heart that was perfectly still, utterly immune to fear, intimidation, or the chaotic fluctuations of the battlefield. In theory, it was an equal.

The Phantom Guardian did not roar or charge.

It simply raised its head slightly. The shadows beneath the bamboo hat shifted.

"The mirror reflects only the truth," a simulated, dual-toned voice echoed across the salt flat. It was not a battle cry; it was a statement of intent.

The Guardian vanished.

It did not use a movement technique. It stepped directly into its own reflection on the mirrored water and instantly ceased to exist in the physical plane.

Lin Yuan’s mind flared.

Shadow and Mirror Dao, Lin Yuan analyzed rapidly. It uses the ambient reflection of the environment to traverse space. A lethal domain!

Lin Yuan did not panic. He closed his eyes.

Relying on eyesight against a Mirror Dao practitioner was a death sentence. He expanded his Unshaken Divine Sense to its absolute maximum radius, allowing it to blanket the entire salt flat. He felt the freezing rain. He felt the faint ripples on the water’s surface.

Directly behind him, the mirrored water rippled violently.

The Guardian erupted from the reflection, thrusting the thin rapier directly toward the back of Lin Yuan’s neck. The strike was completely silent, devoid of any wind resistance, carrying the dense, lethal, and perfectly focused spiritual might of the Unshaken Stage.

Lin Yuan did not turn around.

He activated the Thunder Step.

A deafening crack of thunder shattered the absolute stillness of the realm. Lin Yuan’s body transformed into a streak of golden-purple lightning, instantly displacing himself ten yards to the right.

The rapier pierced the empty air, the force of the thrust parting the rainfall for twenty yards ahead.

"You possess speed," the Guardian’s dual-toned voice echoed from all directions at once. "But speed is merely a reflection of panic."

The Guardian blurred, shattering into dozens of identical reflections that surrounded Lin Yuan in a perfect circle. All fifty reflections raised their rapiers simultaneously.

"Now this is more like it!" Ling Xi cheered in his mind, her voice ringing with competitive delight. "Draw me! Let us shatter some glass!"

Lin Yuan raised his right hand.

The Primordial Sovereign Sword materialized with a heavy, ancient hum. The runes along the fuller burned brightly in the blood-red moonlight.

"Panic is for mortals," Lin Yuan replied softly, his voice carrying the immense, crushing weight of his Dao Intent.

He unleashed the mist. It exploded outward, a localized storm of crackling lightning, heavy, torrential rain, and rebirth essence that clashed directly against the Guardian’s domain of absolute stillness.

The fifty reflections lunged simultaneously, a flawless dome of lethal strikes aimed at completely skewering him from every conceivable angle.

Lin Yuan gripped the hilt of the Primordial Sovereign Sword and executed a profound, spinning horizontal slash.

But he did not just swing the sword; he integrated the [Shatter Illusion, See Truth] divine skill directly into the blade’s trajectory.

The sword arc expanded, a massive ring of golden-purple lightning that carried the conceptual weight of absolute truth. As the arc struck the fifty descending rapiers, the Mirror Dao shattered.

Forty-nine of the reflections instantly dissolved into harmless grey mist, their artificial reality deleted by Lin Yuan.

Only one blade remained solid.

Lin Yuan’s sword clashed against the true rapier.

CLANG!

The impact was monolithic. The shockwave of two Unshaken Stage foundations colliding violently dispersed the freezing rain, creating a massive, dry vacuum in a hundred-yard radius around them. The mirrored water beneath their boots cratered, revealing the dark, starry void of the artifact’s foundational matrix below.

The Guardian did not stagger. Its Unshaken stage might held firm against Lin Yuan’s Ancient Beast Body strength.

It twisted its wrist, sliding the rapier down the length of Lin Yuan’s blade in a shower of brilliant orange sparks, attempting to sever his fingers.

Lin Yuan released his grip on the sword entirely.

The Guardian’s rapier slid harmlessly into empty air. Before the sword could fall, Lin Yuan’s left hand shot out, catching the hilt in a reverse grip. Utilizing the momentum, he spun his body, delivering a devastating backhand slash aimed at the Guardian’s bamboo-armored torso.

The Guardian bent backward at an impossible angle, its spine perfectly parallel to the mirrored floor, narrowly avoiding decapitation. The tip of Lin Yuan’s sword severed the bamboo hat, sending it flying into the rain and revealing the Guardian’s face—a blank, featureless mask of grey porcelain with pitch-black eyes.

The Guardian kicked upward from its bent position, aiming a lethal, Qi-infused strike at Lin Yuan’s jaw.

Lin Yuan brought his forearm down, blocking the kick with the density of his Rank 10 physique. The impact rattled his bones, but his foundation held flawlessly.

The two Unshaken entities separated, sliding backward across the water.

They did not pause to boast. They clashed again.

And again.

And again.