Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 421: Mirror of Self Reflection.

"...take me to the beast."

Just as Ozul uttered those words, he and the old man were wrapped in a blinding light that only vanished as they teleported to another floating island.

This time, it was a small island with nothing but a beat with the appearance of a pale blue tiger chained down in the middle.

The only peculiarity on this island was the apparent absence of Spiritual Essence. Under a small radius surrounding this island, the old man remained the only source of Spiritual Essence.

Smirking, the old man told him, "On this island, you cannot use your Spiritual Essence." He then raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Following that action, the thick chain binding the beast disintegrated into light particles.

"Now, I have others to look after. I wish you good luck, young man."

Wishing him good luck, the old man again disappeared, leaving Ozul alone with the pale blue tiger with prominent canines.

Although he had been following whatever the old man instructed, he held complete distrust for that man as his emotions hid traces of malice. Strangely, the malice only appeared when he had come out of the labyrinth unscathed.

’Oh well, I can only wait and see...’

With his thoughts kept to himself, he faced the blue tiger who took the chance and leaped at him in his moment of distraction.

The tiger was strong enough that it could fight someone at the initial stage of the Nascent Soul Realm and tear apart his opponent effortlessly. But it was a different case when the cultivators were stripped from their Spiritual Essence.

Although their bodies got stronger along the way, the Spiritual Essence still remained the cultivator’s main strength.

Unfortunately for the tiger, although Ozul’s physical strength wasn’t up to par, he had The Purity to make up for everything. The old man, maybe because he was merely a silhouette of the original Sage, couldn’t stop his control over The Purity.

This prompted Ozul to contemplate, ’But maybe the Sages don’t have the answer to my existence either?’

He thought about Ember who was also a Sage, according to her, before her cultivation got destroyed. Even she couldn’t figure out his secrets.

As the tiger’s claws came close to striking his chest, a spike of black emerged from the middle of his breasts and struck the beast’s neck.

All the momentum that the tiger had built was rendered useless as it fell to the ground with a fist-sized hole in its neck, leaving it twitching and writhing to death.

Ignoring the beast, as if it was never there, Ozul turned and walked to the small rocks on the edges of the island and sat there, gazing at the other islands, wondering what the old man could be scheming.

. . .

While Ozul was already done with killing the beast, most of the participants were still struggling in their labyrinths.

The next person to come out of it was someone Ozul and his team would recognize at first glance; it was Kumaou who had hidden himself inside the cave where he had found the gate.

The old man appeared before him and nodded in appreciation after inspecting Kumaou’s body, "You, young man, are very well-built. The next trial shouldn’t be a problem for you."

Kumaou nodded in a smile and hesitated a little before speaking, "I will let you know that I found your writings and that’s how I came to know of this place."

"Hmm, I had hidden many such parchments around the lower region of the continent. Maybe it was fate that brought you here," the old man spoke with a certain gleam in his eyes.

The reason Kumaou could navigate through the labyrinth earlier than the rest was because of his instincts. There were others with animalistic soul manifestations, but he had his instincts honed the most.

"I had found a part of your cultivation technique, ’The Nature’s Spirit’. Without it, I wouldn’t have achieved all of this," Kumaou told the old man in a respectful tone. He needed the complete cultivation manual of ’The Nature’s Spirit’ if he wanted to continue his cultivation journey after the Origin Realm.

This cultivation technique really suited him and he didn’t want to switch to another and in the course of that, mess up the foundation of his strength.

"Haha! Of course, no wonder you have such a physique!" The old man was delighted, "Complete the trials ahead, and I will give you the complete manual that would last you even till the Sage Realm if you so wish to continue with it!"

But just then, the old man looked into the distance as if he had sensed something and cut their conversation short, "We have to hurry up, it seems. Others have begun to find their way out as well."

After that, he briefly explained to Kumaou the next trial and transported him to an island with a different beast, and left him there to struggle it out.

One by one, the old man guided everyone to the next trial as they kept coming out of their labyrinths.

Among the trio, Raven was the first to come out, followed by Zier, and at last, it was Blaze.

Raven had figured out a few uses of her Soul Manifestation, which included improved hearing and a keen vision that allowed her to focus on even the tiniest details in her surroundings. Using these advantages, she navigated through the labyrinth faster than most.

Meanwhile, Zier only got lucky between him and Blaze. Otherwise, both of them blindly picked their paths at the crossroads.

In the 2nd trial, a few participants with weaker physical builds didn’t have the courage to face off against the beast. The old man wordlessly transported them out of the realm, seemingly respecting their wishes.

An hour or so later, when everyone had gotten out of the labyrinth, the old man finally teleported to Ozul’s island.

"It seems like I underestimated you," he uttered with unwillingness. The indifference of this young man irked him, but he had to admit his capabilities.

He sat there without even a hint of scratch on his body while the beast had a hole punctured through his neck.

"You have strong-..." he was about to compliment Ozul’s fists, being able to pierce the beast’s thick hide so easily, but he was forced to pause in the middle.

There was no blood on that young man’s hands or even any stains on his sleeves. Something was amiss and he wouldn’t expose his ignorance of the situation, "*Cough!* So, are you ready for the third trial?"

"What is it?" asked Ozul, without any of the enthusiasm or arrogance that he expected from someone with such capabilities.

Meanwhile, Ozul became even more vigilant. The malice directed at him pricked at his consciousness, disturbing his peace. In addition to the malice, there was even greed mixed within that old man’s emotions.

*sigh...*

Seeing him sigh audibly, the old man frowned in displeasure, assuming that Ozul found these trials unworthy, ’Just you wait, brat...’

"The next trial is the most important one. It will test how you improve and adapt to your circumstances. You... will fight yourself."

Ozul had a strong urge to tell him to get to the point, but he managed to hold himself back.

"There is only one mirror, so it’s better to hurry up..." the old man muttered and for the theatrics, he once again snapped his fingers in the air.

Following his actions, a mirror appeared at the place where previously the beast was tied to the ground. At the same time, Spiritual Essence eased into the space as if the invisible barrier blocking it had disappeared.

The mirror looked ancient and exuded a dense amount of Spiritual Essence; an intensity that he had only felt from Origin Realm cultivators. The frame of the mirror was carved into unique styles on each corner, and the dull grey color only added to its aged look.

"This is the Mirror of Self Reflection. This artifact holds the power to peer deep into your mind, read your thoughts, and create a perfect resemblance of you before giving it life... though short-lived.

...A pity it only works on Origin cultivators and below." He muttered the last part to himself.

For a second, Ozul didn’t know what to do. He had expected many things, but not an artifact that could read the thoughts of another person.

The secrets of his uncanny existence would all be revealed if someone read his thoughts. Still, he could have taken the risk if only the old man’s emotions didn’t betray him and revealed the malevolence behind his friendly facade.

But the next words from the old man dispelled his worries,

"Also, do not be worried. The Mirror of Self Reflection is not sentient, nor can it show your memories to anyone else."

From his emotions, Ozul could tell that the old man was speaking the truth.

Taking a deep breath and moving in front of the mirror, Ozul wondered if it would be able to replicate The Purity.

After he walked in front of the mirror, the reflection was blurry and nothing could be seen inside. But the reflection became clearer as seconds passed.

’...’

Ozul knew it wasn’t going to work the moment he felt a strange wisp of energy invading his mind since it was instantly dispelled by his body without him even trying.

Still, the reflection kept refining until a solid minute later, there was a perfect reflection of him inside the mirror.

The old man didn’t realize anything was wrong and this time, he even stayed to watch how it would proceed.

Under his watchful eyes, Ozul’s reflection inside the mirror suddenly began to move differently from him.

’Hurry up...’ Ozul urged in his mind. He wouldn’t allow the old man to realize that the artifact had failed to create an exact doppelganger of him.

It didn’t take long when the reflection suddenly sharpened its eyes at Ozul and began walking toward him until at last it creepily stepped out of the mirror...