Chapter 493: Chapter 427: Ambush
"Well, I’m still too inexperienced... There’s no need to continue this topic. Gaining strength isn’t something that happens overnight," Yang Xiao planned to ask something useful instead, after all, the person before him was once a high-ranking member of the Yu Yuan Sect, "Lu Clan... no no, Mr. Lu, what do you know about the Soul-Capturing Mirror?"
"This object is highly valued by the Head of the Wounded Door. I’ve only heard a bit about it. The Head of the Wounded Door tried several times to claim it for his own use but failed each time, paying a steep price for his attempts. It is said that the mirror is very peculiar, and later the Head of the Wounded Door dared not keep it, so he looked for some simple-minded, intelligent children, hoping to use their flesh and blood to cleanse the resentment from the object," Lu Youdao explained.
Yang Xiao knew the rest of the story. Along the way, an accident occurred. The children selected couldn’t withstand the backlash from the Soul-Capturing Mirror, triggering a supernatural event that killed many people, including a Venerable One sent by the Yu Yuan Sect to monitor the situation.
It must be said, although Lu Youdao had never seen the Soul-Capturing Mirror, as the Head of the Upper Three Sects, his insight was substantial. Through Yang Xiao’s introduction, Lu Youdao quickly proposed a hypothesis, "According to what you said, the Mirror Ghost is still in a growth phase. It refuses to face you directly and only dares to play tricks behind your back; it must not be confident enough to kill you yet."
Pausing, Lu Youdao added, "To be precise, it aims to replace you. Its ultimate goal must be to take over your body."
This speculation coincided exactly with what Yang Xiao had in mind. Yang Xiao understood this, hence he had ventured multiple times into the Mirror World, but as his spiritual power increased, the Mirror World also expanded significantly. Now he had no chance of singling out the Mirror Ghost in such a vast space.
"You can set a trap to ensnare it," Lu Youdao lowered his voice, slowly clenching his fist, "Catching a turtle in a jar."
Yang Xiao’s eyes lit up, "I’m eager to hear the details!"
Lu Youdao guessed that the Mirror Ghost was continually trying to mimic and learn from the current holder of the Soul-Capturing Mirror, Yang Xiao. Moreover, based on the information provided by Yang Xiao, it seemed that the ghost, apart from the innate shifting ability of the Soul-Capturing Mirror, had no additional powers, meaning it was a lower-tier version of Yang Xiao who only possessed the mirror’s abilities.
At a crucial moment, Lu Youdao suddenly fell silent, then walked to the wall, opened an iron box embedded in it, took out a notebook and a pencil, sat back down, and stopped talking; he just wrote and drew in the notebook.
Yang Xiao couldn’t help but marvel; the man was meticulous, choosing to communicate via notebook to avoid being overheard by the Mirror Ghost, although the likelihood was very low, it was better to be safe than sorry.
The two communicated through writing, and about half an hour later, Yang Xiao thoroughly understood Lu Youdao’s plan. It must be said, the insight and wisdom of the Head of the Upper Three Sects were indeed extraordinary; Yang Xiao had never even thought of such an idea himself.
After setting down the pencil and paper, Lu Youdao also admitted that the likelihood of success was slim, and even if it succeeded, it was merely a stopgap measure, for it was unlikely that the Mirror Ghost could be killed. As long as the host existed, it would eventually resurface.
"It’s learning from you, imitating you, feeding off the wicked thoughts in your mind. The more evil thoughts you harbor, the faster it grows," Lu Youdao whispered.
"But I’m a good person," Yang Xiao said sincerely, putting down the pencil and paper.
Lu Youdao’s hunched upper body slowly retracted as he stared at Yang Xiao with a strange look. After a moment, he finally sighed, "I’ve been at the Yu Yuan Sect for a long time, but to be honest, the stuff inside you is even more bizarre than that of an Evil Cultivator."
This statement rendered Yang Xiao speechless. He wanted to argue, but after a long thought, he couldn’t find a suitable excuse.
"You should go back now. Don’t share anything we talked about today with a third person, or it will only bring endless trouble for both of us," seeming tired, Lu Youdao waved his hand, indicating for Yang Xiao to leave, while he sat alone on a wooden stool.
Until Yang Xiao walked out the door, he looked back to find Lu Youdao still maintaining the same pose, emotionless, lost in a daze for a long time.
After leaving the Patrol Defense Office, it was already very late. Yang Xiao visited many supermarkets in succession and finally managed to buy everything he needed. He purchased the widest tape available, a coarse brush with ink, and a very large, adorable greeting card, along with a string of small colorful lights. After he had gathered everything, he took a taxi back to his apartment.
The Mirror Ghost had to be eliminated before he could find peace, so Yang Xiao decided to act that night, success or failure notwithstanding. He wanted at least to try.
Following Lu Youdao’s plan, he first taped over the reflective surfaces in his bedroom, such as the window glass and refrigerator door, without completely sealing them off—just to the extent that it disabled his ability to traverse using the Soul-Capturing Mirror. Then he decorated them with greeting cards and colorful lights to create a festive and warm atmosphere.
Soon, all the potential passages in the room were dealt with, leaving only the mirror behind the wardrobe door and the mirror in the bathroom as the remaining crossing points.
Yang Xiao commenced his operation. He donned a Drama Robe, carelessly wrapped a red cloth around his drinking cup, took out the Soul-Capturing Mirror, entered the bathroom, and stepped into the Mirror World.
He walked into the bedroom of the Mirror World. It was as usual—empty, abandoned, with a suffocating stillness in the air and the shape of a person indented in the bed, along with the traces he had left from last time.
Yang Xiao quickly approached the wardrobe, opened it, and found several silver boxes neatly arranged. At first, he pretended to place the cup wrapped in red cloth into one of the Silver Boxes but paused, pulled out the Ghost Lantern, and examined the bedroom carefully. After finding no issues, he returned to the wardrobe and cautiously placed the wrapped cup into the box. He then wrapped the box with three layers of silver paper inside and out and tucked it into the deepest part of the wardrobe.
After everything was done, Yang Xiao reluctantly left. Of course, he double-checked the entire bedroom before leaving, even going as far as to lock the bedroom door from the inside.
But no sooner had Yang Xiao returned in front of the bathroom mirror and his figure disappeared from the Mirror World, than the Mirror World fell silent again. Before long, however, a blurred figure swiftly appeared in the bedroom and dashed straight for the wardrobe.
Back in the real world, Yang Xiao acted as if nothing had happened, sitting at his desk and playing with his cellphone, scrolling through short videos. After a while, he stood up to stretch, then naturally picked up the ink box on the desk and walked toward the half-open wardrobe as if intending to place the ink box inside. But in the next second, he opened the lid and splashed most of the ink onto the mirror.
Without any hesitation, he spun around and dashed into the bathroom at top speed, grabbing the Soul-Capturing Mirror with one hand while dumping the remaining ink into the toilet with the other. The water immediately turned turbid with the ink, and as the Soul-Capturing Mirror was activated, Yang Xiao immediately found himself in the Mirror World, where, due to the interconnected rules of the two worlds, the water in the toilet was also muddy, preventing it from being used as an escape route.
Yang Xiao had blocked all other escape routes in the room, leaving only the mirror behind him—effectively trapping the quarry in a jar.
The door was an option, but it had been locked by him during his last visit. He knew the Mirror Ghost never used doors, so it wouldn’t care about the door, and being inherently suspicious, it would definitely check the wardrobe.
As expected, no sooner had Yang Xiao arrived in this world than he heard the sound of rapid footsteps running outward.
"Where do you think you’re running!" Yang Xiao gritted his teeth with hatred, old grievances and new combining. Today everything would be settled. He led with the Ghost Lantern in one hand and clutched the Ghost Duster in the other, chasing after the figure without intending to capture it alive. Once caught, he would perform a cleansing ritual immediately.
However, after pursuing the figure out of the bedroom, Yang Xiao only caught sight of a silhouette, one identical to his own. The silhouette pushed open the door and "whooshed" disappeared into the hallway. Yang Xiao didn’t have time to wonder how it had opened the door so swiftly and just whipped his horsetail whisk in its direction, unfortunately missing.
By the time he reached the hallway, he saw another version of himself standing by a door not far away, pushing it open. In a critical moment, Yang Xiao switched his Ghost Duster for the Human Bone Staff, swung it, and struck the other version of himself, knocking it over.
