Yu Ci's gaze swept back and forth between the mirror surface and the sky, finally confirming without a doubt. He took a deep breath, stopped his wandering thoughts, and leapt up like a monkey, using both hands and feet. In no time, he had climbed up the cliff and stood at the highest point of the mountain.
From this position, his view was even broader. The vast jungle stretched out in all directions, its edge invisible to the eye. Yu Ci strained his eyes, not towards the sky, but following an earlier intuition, he parted the sea of trees, searching for his target among the foliage.
It was still that invisible pointer, moving as his heart willed, pointing out the exact direction for him. This was the effect of the Five-orientation Telepathizing Talisman, but its range was more than ten times that under normal circumstances.
However, even with a clear direction, Yu Ci's eyesight was not enough to penetrate the obstruction of the branches and leaves. He didn't intend to do so either. After confirming the general location, he lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the bronze mirror surface that still emitted a green light. The image in the mirror was clear and discernible, the faint sound of inhalation was like music to his ears, and Yu Ci couldn't tell if he was intentionally exaggerating his posture to express his excitement.
In the mirror, a gray hare appeared, running at its maximum speed through the forest and grass, constantly changing direction to escape the deadly threat from the sky.
This was the scene displayed by the Divine Bronze Mirror, incredibly clear and incredibly real.
As Yu Ci's thoughts changed, the close-up view of the hare in the mirror suddenly shifted as if the Demon's eye had moved away from it. The range of heaven and earth shown in the mirror expanded rapidly until the soaring hawk in the sky, the hare running in the forest, and even the mountain forest world that contained them were all included.
The green light was intense, and Yu Ci distinctly felt a force stirring within the Divine Bronze Mirror. Then he saw that all the situations displayed in the mirror stood up!
Yes, they stood up!
If the original image in the mirror was a spread-out landscape painting, then now, this landscape painting shook, and the mountains came alive, as did the water. The towering mountains were only an inch high, and the flowing water was as thin as hair. Whether it was the hawk circling in the sky ready to strike or the hare scurrying on the ground, they all became as small as lice but were as lively as their original forms. They changed synchronously with the movements of living creatures in the outside world without any delay.
At this moment, all the living creatures in front of him had shrunk by hundreds of times and were cast into the smoky green light above the mirror surface.
Looking at this lifelike miniature world, Yu Ci's mind inevitably immersed itself in it. When he did so, something miraculous happened again. He seemed to merge with that invisible "Demon Eye" in the void, floating in this world. As his thoughts changed, he kept changing positions and angles, not only observing the hawk and the hare but also taking in all the creatures' activities.
He could see a yellow sparrow hopping between branches, a venomous snake drooling under a tree trunk, even a mole poking its head out of the fallen leaves, and ants burrowing in and out of the soil.
What he saw was even more. He could see the cracked bark on the trunk of a pine tree, the delicate texture on the exposed rock, even the clouds floating leisurely in the high sky, and the twisted root system of a giant tree under the ground.
Yu Ci held the Divine Bronze Mirror like a fool, with only one thought in his mind:
A treasure, a real treasure.
After staring for a while, he suddenly started running like mad, choosing a random direction. He climbed mountains and crossed rivers, changing his route several times. Eventually, he found himself lost in the vast mountains, surrounded by towering trees. The disturbed creatures were chirping and chattering, and it seemed as if the forest had come alive.
The tiny world within the Divine Bronze Mirror was also alive.
Mountains and streams, forests and meadows, snakes and sparrows, hawks and wolves - everything was in flux, shifting like flowing water in the green light as he surged forward.
Suddenly, he stopped without warning. In the green light, the tiny world also came to a halt. But this stillness was relative; the creatures within were still darting and galloping, presenting a myriad of scenes from the jungle. In the center of this world, his own figure appeared.
He stared at this tiny world, completely engrossed.
This was a vast area centered around him, with a radius of fifty miles, reaching up to ten miles high and down to a hundred feet deep. If the displayed area was expanded to its limit, floating above the Divine Bronze Mirror, the light and shadow would resemble an inverted sea bowl. It was predominantly green, symbolizing the vast forest, with countless intricate patterns in the middle representing the rich colors presented by innumerable species.
The rock and soil layers that went down to a hundred feet only occupied a thin layer at the bottom, dark in color. The uppermost layer was pale blue to nearly colorless, symbolizing the sky. These vastly different colors combined weren't particularly pleasing to the eye, but they presented a detailed world that one could hold in their hand. It might not be more solid than a bubble. This collision of reality and illusion hit Yu Ci so hard that he felt on the verge of madness.
"Calm down, calm down!"
He indeed needed to calm down. This mysterious function of the Divine Bronze Mirror seemed to have fallen from the sky and hit him on the head, leaving him dazed and unable to see its origin.
Was this divine power of manifesting Heaven and Earth within a square inch inherent to the Divine Bronze Mirror, or was it attached from an external source? If it was inherent, why hadn't it appeared before? If it had always been there and he had just accidentally activated it, how had he done so? Was there a time limit after activation? Could it be repeated? Could it be canceled?
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A series of questions bombarded him, almost causing his already confused mind to freeze. He had to temporarily clear his mind, take a few deep breaths, close his eyes and calm himself down to return his state of mind to normal.
Once his breathing steadied, he held the Divine Bronze Mirror in his hand. His fingers probed into the hazy green mist inside, his fingertips touching the mirror surface, moving bit by bit in search of any abnormalities.
If there was an abnormality, the first one would probably be that the mirror surface was too smooth to have been polished. His sensitive fingertips could only feel the bone-chilling metallic coolness on it, entirely devoid of burrs or textures. The more this was the case, the more changes on the mirror surface couldn't escape Yu Ci's perception.
The coolness was flowing!
It might just be a slight temperature difference, but this temperature difference was constantly changing. It had nothing to do with Yu Ci's body temperature but was the alternating warm and cool of the Bronze Mirror itself. There was a faint sense of the rising and setting of the sun and moon. If there was a rise and fall, there would be Yin and Yang. If there was Yin and Yang, there would be changes. Perhaps the cause and effect among these three weren't so simple, but Yu Ci didn't need to care about that. As long as he grasped the change of Yin and Yang, it would be like grabbing the end of a tangled thread. All that was needed afterward was patience and carefulness.
His fingertips continued to caress the mirror surface. In no time, his hand paused. Yu Ci was certain that he had caught a familiar fragment of Rune Patterns, which was not beyond his expectation.
Indeed, it was the Five-orientation Telepathizing Talisman!
He had touched the most typical pattern within the talisman, hidden within the Misted Green Glow emitted by the Divine Bronze Mirror. It was as elusive as a dragon in the mist, appearing and disappearing intermittently. Following this clue, Yu Ci quickly pieced together the full picture of the Five-orientation Telepathizing Talisman.
However, he could also feel that under such circumstances, the talisman was inevitably tainted by the green light. With the seemingly sentient "breathing" of the Divine Bronze Mirror, unpredictable changes occurred. In this regard, while the Five-orientation Telepathizing Talisman served as a lead, the crux still lay with the Bronze Mirror itself.
Yu Ci wanted to continue his investigation, but this was not a place where one could concentrate. After hearing several roars of wild beasts, he simply gave up on the idea of experimenting in tranquility.
Being temporarily confused wasn't so bad. He laughed heartily, feeling increasingly cheerful. He then pondered, "Such an extraordinary and miraculous power deserves a resounding name... This mirror is called the Divine Bronze Mirror, so its ability to reflect the world should be named 'Divine Map'."
The name might not be entirely appropriate, but it followed the naming convention of the mirror. After repeating it a few times and finding it pleasing to the ear, he decided on it.
At this point, Yu Ci was quite satisfied. After identifying his direction, he set off holding the Divine Bronze Mirror. However, after walking for a few miles, he still found the situation rather bizarre. Holding the Divine Bronze Mirror with its Divine Map emitting brilliant light and displaying the surrounding landscape, it looked like a divine artifact, dazzling in appearance. Yet, revealing it to others would be an act of utter foolishness.
It was better to keep it hidden for now. Yu Ci intended to store the mirror in his Storage Ring, but as he had only had the ring for a few days and was unfamiliar with its properties, he feared it might affect the current state of the Divine Bronze Mirror. So he simply placed the mirror in his sleeve as he used to.
Strangely enough, as soon as the Divine Bronze Mirror entered his sleeve, both the light and image disappeared instantly, startling Yu Ci. Thankfully, when he focused again, a green mist spread out and a fifty-mile radius of forests and landscapes appeared before his eyes as if they were fairy mountains shrouded in clouds. At this moment, with the Divine Bronze Mirror still in his sleeve, this Azure Mist fairy mountain seemed to emerge from thin air.
Faced with this scene, he could only exclaim once more:
"What a treasure!"
The Divine Bronze Mirror was indeed a treasure with an extraordinary origin. It was said to have been snatched by Purple Thunder Immortal during a chaotic battle involving more than ten sects in the Northland. The name Divine Bronze Mirror originated from there.
However, after many years in their possession, apart from discovering superficial abilities like Mirror Light Spirit Guide, the Twin Immortals made no further gains. They concluded that the mirror had been damaged in the great battle, with the missing Mirror Button and other structures serving as evidence. Therefore, they put the item aside. Since Purple Thunder found the craftsmanship of the Divine Bronze Mirror superior, he placed it in his palace as a decorative item.
On that day, Yu Ci took advantage of the Twin Immortals' fierce battle with their enemy and broke into the blazing palace of Purple Thunder Immortal. He saw this mirror under the rumbling aftereffects of the aerial battle, its green light flickering chaotically, quite mystical. Thinking of how talisman cultivation required a Spirit Guide, he chose this as his first item. As it turned out, this choice was the most correct one.
Everything is tied to the word "fate," and Yu Ci felt that he and the Divine Bronze Mirror were destined to meet!
Moved by his feelings, he glanced at the Divine Map, intending to stow it away for now, but his gaze faltered.
In the short distance he had traveled, a white line had spread along the lower left edge of the small world, spanning the entire Divine Map. Even though it was thousands of times smaller than in reality, it was still quite spectacular. Moreover, as the white line spread, the left half of the Divine Map clearly showed no obstruction from rock layers, continuously extending downward.
Seeing this situation parallel to the ground, Yu Ci quickly understood:
"Is that... Sky Rift Valley?"
Yu Ci had been traveling hundreds of miles in the past day or so, which seemed like a long distance, but he was still moving along the edge of Sky Rift Valley. As he approached the cliff at the top of the valley, the Divine Map also constantly changed.
You see, in Sky Rift Valley, there is an endless void. Without the obstruction of the ground or the invisible barrier of the sky, the Divine Map's strange power can be fully utilized. When Yu Ci came to the edge of the cliff and faced the longest canyon in this world, except for the limited height of the sky, the curvature of the lower half of the Divine Map was perfectly displayed.
The world of clouds fifty miles ahead and fifty miles below was completely under Yu Ci's control. Although it was white and not very clear, it was still much stronger than the "perspective" range of only a hundred feet below ground.
However, what surprised Yu Ci was another matter: "Fifty miles... and still no bottom?"
Yu Ci had never understood the interior of Sky Rift Valley as deeply as he did now. But the more he understood, the more he felt that the reality in front of him was challenging his common sense.
Fifty miles... that's over eight thousand feet high. Yu Ci had been wandering around for twelve years and had seen countless mountains and ridges, but he had never seen such a staggering scale. Moreover, this was just the part shown by the "Divine Map". There was still a deeper world hidden in the layers of clouds.
"Could it be... does this really lead to the Underworld?"
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Who polished this flying mirror? It illuminates the universe and reflects mountains and rivers. Brother Fishbone's treasure finally reveals its full appearance. I sincerely ask my readers to encourage me with your bookmarks and votes.
I have also posted the following more chapters [All free] on: https://www.readgates.com/article/74a39e