Cultivating in Reverse: My Sign-In System Wants Me Dead

Chapter 161: Chapter 161 - The Broken Mirror and the Voices Within

Su Bai moved slowly toward the collapsed structure.

The others followed in silence.

No one touched the broken star-metal weapons yet.

The treasure could wait.

The way Su Bai looked ahead made everyone understand one thing.

This place was not simple.

Soon, the red mist thinned.

It did not vanish completely, but the pressure loosened. The cold miasma no longer pressed against their barrier as heavily as before.

Thin strands of red mist still followed from behind, but the area ahead was strangely clear.

The ravine widened into a sunken platform.

Broken pillars leaned against cracked walls. Half-buried steps led downward on both sides. Farther ahead, the structure sank into the ground and connected with a larger underground complex.

At the center of the platform stood a large vertical circular frame.

It looked like a mirror without a surface.

The frame was made from dark stone mixed with dull silver-blue metal. Several parts had cracked. Some sections had already fallen away.

Ancient characters were carved into the platform beneath it.

Most had faded.

Lin Weiyang’s eyes brightened.

She stepped forward carefully and released several bronze mechanisms.

The mechanisms hovered above the platform and scanned the damaged characters.

No one disturbed her.

A moment later, Lin Weiyang frowned.

"I can only read part of it."

Chen Feng asked, "What does it say?"

Lin Weiyang looked at the broken characters again.

Then she said slowly, "Star-Soul Verification Mirror."

The group fell silent.

Just the name made people uncomfortable.

"Verification?" Qiao Wen asked.

Lin Weiyang nodded, but her expression remained uncertain.

"That is all I can confirm for now. The rest of the characters are too damaged."

A cultivator asked cautiously, "Can it still be used?"

Lin Weiyang looked at the broken mirror frame.

Then at the missing center.

Then at the cracked formation lines beneath the platform.

"No."

Several people relaxed.

Lin Weiyang added, "But broken things are sometimes more dangerous than complete ones. Do not touch it."

The people who had relaxed immediately became tense again.

Su Bai did not speak.

The name had stirred something in him.

Star-Soul Verification Mirror.

The warning from the dead soldier’s memory surfaced again.

Those who return from the red side must be verified.

This should be the place.

Or at least part of it.

But Su Bai still did not know enough.

The memory fragments from the infirmary soldiers were too incomplete.

They had only shown fear, orders, and broken warnings. Not the full purpose of this structure.

Su Bai looked beyond the circular frame.

"Keep moving, but stay behind me."

No one objected.

Past the broken mirror platform, the structure widened into a half-collapsed underground area.

Rows of chambers lined both sides.

Some doors had broken.

Some locks had rusted into dust.

Some still held star-metal chains fixed to the wall.

The moment the group saw the chains, several eyes brightened.

Star-metal.

More of it.

Then they saw what stood inside several chambers.

Human-shaped shells. Made from overlapping star-metal plates.

Each shell stood upright against the back wall, locked by heavy chains connected to the stone floor and wall.

They looked almost like armor.

But no one would wear armor like this.

There were no eye holes, no breathing gaps, and no joints meant for movement.

Only sealed seams crossing the surface like closed wounds.

Some shells were cracked.

Many were intact.

A lot had dark stains spreading from the inside.

The excitement in the group faded quickly.

No one stepped forward.

Treasure was one thing.

Treasure shaped like a coffin was another.

Su Bai stopped.

His spiritual sense touched the nearest intact shell.

Something inside reacted. Like a sleeping thing shifting in a dream.

Su Bai’s face became still.

That feeling...

It was not exactly the same as the flesh fragment in the Root Formation Chamber.

But it was close enough.

There was something inside.

Ji Ruyue looked at him.

"Junior Brother, is something wrong?"

Su Bai nodded.

"There is something inside those shells."

The group immediately stepped back.

Tang Ziyan’s eyes narrowed.

"Alive?"

Su Bai paused.

Then said, "Not in a way I like."

That answer was enough.

Lin Weiyang also stared at the shells, but this time she did not rush forward.

Her bronze mechanisms hovered cautiously near the boundary of the chamber.

"I can feel formation lines under the floor," she said. "The chains are connected to them."

"That means?" Chen Feng asked.

"It means the chains are not only chains," Lin Weiyang replied. "They are part of the structure."

That was all she said.

She did not guess further. No one wanted her to.

Su Bai looked around the chamber.

There were skeletons near the walls.

Some wore broken armor.

Some had fallen near the sealed shells.

One sat with its back against a pillar, skull tilted downward as if it had died while guarding this place.

Su Bai’s eyes paused.

A skull rune.

This one was clearer than the ones in the infirmary.

Su Bai now had a way to learn more.

He turned to the group.

"Collect the star-metal fragments outside first."

Several cultivators looked at him.

Su Bai continued, "Do not touch the mirror platform. Do not touch the shells. Do not touch the chains. Not yet."

A young cultivator swallowed.

"That is a lot of things not to touch."

Tang Ziyan said, "Then touch nothing. You look suited for it."

The young cultivator immediately lowered his hand.

Su Bai looked at Zhao Heng.

"Guard the victims."

Zhao Heng nodded.

"Understood."

He looked at Qiao Wen and Mu Qing.

"Stay with the wounded."

The two nodded.

Then Su Bai looked at Lin Weiyang.

"Can you mark a boundary?"

Lin Weiyang immediately understood.

Several bronze markers flew out and formed a faint line across the stone floor.

"If anyone crosses without warning, it will ring," she said.

Tang Ziyan glanced at her.

"Only ring?"

Lin Weiyang paused.

"Also shock them lightly."

Tang Ziyan nodded.

"Better."

Several cultivators silently moved farther away from the line.

Su Bai said, "I will examine this place first."

Chen Feng frowned.

"Alone?"

Su Bai looked at the sealed shells.

"No one else should come close yet."

Chen Feng wanted to say something, but after glancing at the shells, he held it back.

No one liked this place.

Even standing outside the boundary made them feel as if something behind the metal shells was listening.

Soon, the group withdrew slightly.

They returned to the outer ledge to collect the loose star-metal weapon fragments.

Lin Weiyang sent mechanisms to supervise from a distance.

Tang Ziyan followed the collectors, mostly to ensure no one became stupid in front of treasure.

Ji Ruyue remained near the boundary.

Chen Feng stood not far away.

This time, he was not staring at Ji Ruyue.

He was staring at the shells.

Su Bai waited until the area quieted.

Then he walked toward the skeleton sitting against the pillar.

He crouched.

The Vanguard’s Entropy-Detonator appeared in his palm.

He did not explain.

Those who saw him only thought he was praying for the dead again.

Su Bai touched the skull.

Then he sent a trace of will into the Detonator.

The curse-rune responded.

Su Bai closed his eyes. Then activated it.

The rune unfolded. A silent detonation erupted into his mind.

This time, the memory fragments were sharper.

Su Bai sat cross-legged beside the pillar and let the broken memories enter.

The ruined chamber vanished.

The platform became whole.

The circular mirror frame stood complete, filled with cold silver-blue light.

Cultivators lined up before it.

One by one, they stepped before the mirror.

A soldier spoke his name.

The mirror light fell on him.

For a breath, the light reflected something that was not his face.

A soul shape.

He was allowed through.

Another stepped forward.

The mirror flickered red.

The soldiers nearby raised their weapons.

But the commander did not give the order to kill.

A voice in the memory said, "Corrupted, but self remains. Send him to treatment."

The wounded man was bound and taken away.

Another fragment struck.

A smiling cultivator stepped onto the platform.

His face was familiar. Even his memories seemed correct.

But when the mirror light touched him, the reflection was wrong.

The soul shape did not match the body.

The smile vanished.

The false returnee tried to speak.

Weapons pierced him before he finished the first word.

The memory cracked.

Another scene.

Too many wounded returned.

Too many were marked red.

The Treatment-and-Containment Hall could no longer take them all.

There were simply too many of them.

The healers shouted.

Soldiers argued.

The mirror rang again and again.

Some corrupted cultivators still knew who they were.

Some begged to be saved.

Some begged to be killed before they changed.

The enemy took advantage of the chaos.

The scene changed again.

At first, false returnees were killed the moment the mirror exposed them.

That was the correct order.

For a time, it worked.

Then the enemy changed.

A borrowed face stood beneath the Star-Soul Verification Mirror.

Its smile was exposed.

Its soul reflection did not match its body.

The soldiers killed it before it could speak.

But this time, death did not end it.

The false body split open.

Dozens of voices burst from within.

Some called the soldiers by name.

Some cried for help.

Some spoke with the voices of the dead.

The mirror flickered.

For one breath, the platform reflected too many soul shapes at once.

Then red mist spilled from the corpse and crawled toward the wounded.

The commander shouted for fire.

But even when the body burned, the voices continued for several breaths.

It caused irreversible damages.

After that day, the order changed.

Normal false returnees were still killed.

But special ones were not.

The enemy had made traps out of borrowed faces.

They filled some false bodies with stolen names, memories, voices, and soul fragments.

If such a body passed the mirror, it could infiltrate.

If it failed and was killed, it would bloom.

The defenders called them Soul-Bloom Returnees.

The memory shifted again.

Su Bai saw the star-metal shells.

There were not many.

Only a few.

Each one had been built for a special false returnee that could not be safely destroyed.

Star-metal plates closed around the thing inside.

Chains locked the shell to the formation below.

The purpose was not imprisonment.

It was containment.

Contain first. Erase later.

One shell closed around a familiar-looking man.

He smiled gently and spoke with a woman’s voice.

"Senior Brother, why are you afraid of me?"

The soldier fastening the chain trembled.

The commander said coldly, "Do not answer."

The shell shut.

Another followed.

Then another.

From inside the sealed shells came soft voices.

Some begged.

Some laughed.

Some called people by names they should not know.

After that, no guard stood close to the shells unless ordered.

The final fragment became clearer.

A commander stood before the sealed chamber.

His armor was broken.

Blood covered half his face.

"No shell is to be opened."

"No chain is to be removed."

"No voice from within is to be trusted."

The memory trembled.

The last words shattered into red light and ringing metal.