THE SAINT IN THE MIRROR

"You have done well yet again, Little Lan." The mellifluous tone rang out yet again. "With the fall of their Grand Elders and a hundred of their Elders, the Tyrant Dragon Hall will eventually bow to our demands. Everyone is to retreat a considerable distance in preparation for the final clash. Do refer that they all may rest, if weary."

The voice was ever kind, hearing it was like listening to a songster's tune, leaving you relaxed and yearning for an encore.

And upon hearing it, Xiao Wu was immediately scared stiff, feeling as if her whole body had been plunged into ice.

Before she could make terms with her situation, Xiao Wu's view had switched to a sky of blood-red clouds, as her host, 'He', had looked up.

"An Elden dynasty of Arrogance and Brutality. Gladly, I shall personally snuff out the kindling of any more abhorrent embers." remarked the golden-robed cultivator, his ethereal voice ringing out across the tall garrison.

As Xiao Wu watched in complete and utter disbelief, the golden-robed man waved his hand. Following a flash of golden light coming from somewhere above, a glimmering blur descended and the earth beneath her feet trembled.

As the dust settled, a comically large sword had embedded itself in the ground. The handle was of ores a pale azure in hue, with exquisite geometric patterns engraved into the cross-guard. As for the blade itself, its surface was devoid of any imperfections and as smooth as a piece of refined jade. It lacked any edge but was so extremely thin an edge wasn't needed to cut. At the same time, of course, the thin blade was unbelievably durable. So much so it had yet to suffer even the slightest trace of a scratch on its smooth surface ever since the day it had been forged!

A blade with no tip, a rectangular slab of celestial ore a third as wide as it was tall.

'Mi-Mirror!'

With but a glance, Xiao Wu had naturally recognized its distinctive shape on the spot.

'Oh Ancestor, give me strength, that's Lord Xu Ling's Mirror!'

Mirror, the pinnacle of all Flying Swords.

Crafted by the Sword Saint countless years ago - and then used by countless legendary figures in the Endless Conflict, Mirror eventually fell in the hands of Lady Jin Fenghuang.

The history of Mirror had until then been one of nonstop slaughter. In the hands of the Golden Phoenix, it came to be even more so, such that it would be hard to find a race in the whole Land of Countless Planes that Mirror had yet to taste the blood of. Nonetheless, even as it endured the passing of the eras, the smooth and polished surface remained untainted.

Its forger, the Sword Saint, had once claimed that Mirror's reflection would never dim, nor would its surface ever show any imperfections.

A blade so thin it didn't need an edge, yet unbreakable and even unchanging.

Even in the eras to come, the Sword Saint would never produce another piece that could surpass it.

Inherently, just as its thinness concealed outlandish robustness, Mirror was incredibly heavy from the density of its ores. So heavy that even an Ageless Realm cultivator could just barely wield its might. Even amongst the countless sword cultivators from all Planes of Existence, with their strength varying from the weakest Mortals to powerful Immortals, nobody ever mastered Mirror in the millions of years after its creation.

Even then, its sheer durability, sharpness, and weight allowed Mirror to be a weapon without peer amongst most Flying Swords! Some even pondered whether a weapon with such conflicting attributes – namely its thinness yet outstanding durability, its gigantic size (As both the blade and the guard were very long and considerably wide) and yet even more gargantuan weight – could even be mastered at all. These same people also surmised that, if a person capable of wielding Mirror as they pleased were to ever appear, then that person would certainly be unparalleled amongst all sword-wielders!

And now, reflected in that legendary blade half-embedded into the ground, was the figure of a tall youth donning golden robes. He had sharp and peculiar, yet handsome features; his long, black hair that fell unrestrained down his back fluttered soundlessly in the wind as the pair of the most beautiful, most mesmerizing eyes fell on the sword's blade: in the depths of a shimmering blue were revolving skies, star oceans filled to the brim with the glimmer of starlight and the wonders of the cosmos.

The blue-eyed youth easily extracted the embedded blade - rumoured to be heavier than any mountain chain - that was exactly as tall as him and stepped forward, his breathtaking starry eyes focusing on a certain point beyond the horizon... As for Xiao Wu, she was in a daze, witnessing those features that had been sculpted into so many engravings, sung in countless poems, and depicted atop even more canvases!

It was only after a full ten breaths, that Xiao Wu finally regained her senses and was finally able to voice out her thoughts in her head, still incapable of fully believing her eyes.

'Ancestor bows to him in reverence as his Boss'

'He holds The Mirror'

'And that appearance and... Oh, Ancestor, those eyes!'

'What I am watching aren't just a few scenes from the past...'

'These are the memories of the Evil Saint!'

'I am witnessing Lord Xu Ling's past life through his very eyes!'

- Bingo. A watered-down one, of course, lest your poor mind explode.

'Excuse you?'

- You don't have yet the capacity to take in the entirety of an Ageless' experience, so of course I had to limit it to the five senses.

Xiao Wu's interest was piqued, but again, the Will's automated responses stopped there.

Right then, Xiao Lan's amused voice reached Xiao Wu's ears from her side.

"Surely you jest, Boss!" at some point, the purple-haired man had stepped to Xu Ling's right, "Having to act at the appearance of mere Saint stage and a pair of Faux Amaranthines... isn't it this servant's job to take care of such nuisances?"

'..."Mere" Amaranthine stage?'

-Little Lan always was quite an Irregular.

'Hey! That's Lord Xiao Lan for you!'

-I am a Will. I can't quite converse, but...

'Tch. Still, to look down on an Immortal Realm being...'

As Xiao Wu quietly pondered on that unscientific notion, on the blade's surface, Xu Ling's reflection could be seen smiling bitterly. The thin lips opened as if he were about to protest Xiao Lan's words-

CLANG!

'!!!'

Xiao Wu could only see a bright flash of white light and a loud clanging sound, and finally, the enraged roar of a terrifying beast... before everything went black and all noise ceased.

At that moment, the Will's voice reached her ears.

-That was in real-time. It's only to be expected you wouldn't be able to make out what happened, given your level of cultivation... That's why I made sure to rewind and then slow it down in order for you to see better. Watch carefully now, I'll show what exactly happened."

The blackness dispersed and Xiao Wu found herself in Xu Ling's perspective once again.

"Having to act at the appearance of mere Saint stage and a pair of Faux Amaranthines... isn't it this servant's job to take care of such nuisances?" she heard Xiao Lan's questioning yet again and saw Xu Ling smiling bitterly for the second time. As soon as he did so, however, all sound distorted, and time seemed to grind to a standstill. The fluttering of Xiao Lan's clothes had become incredibly slow, his whole figure seemed to have turned into a statue as every movement of his had been slowed down to the point they had become nigh imperceptible without a long, focused glance. It was as if the entire world was stuck in amber. Even the hair fluttering in the wind was moving in slow motion.

Flutter, flutter, flutter, a black strand of hair appeared before her eyes... Temporarily blocking her and Xu Ling's view.

And as soon as that strand began to fall back down in slow motion...

'Ah!!!'

Xiao Wu cried out in alarm as the figure of two gigantic, serpentine dragons suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the corners of her peripheral vision.

In the world that had stopped, only their gnarly claws were inching forward.

...

It was clear the two beasts had been waiting for an opportunity, as they had only made their move after the Evil Saint's view had been blocked for that one fraction of a second. Their eyes were red with anger at the sight of their comrades' broken corpses, lying on the ground, and their two sets of talons were extended, clawing in the direction of Xu Ling's chest and head, as if wishing to pounce upon the blue-eyed youth's heart and brain, tearing them both apart...

The two dragons had serpentine bodies, with one being silver-scaled and the other golden-scaled. The fully released pressure emitted from both their humongous bodies caused the earth below to visibly sink as they passed by!

This was the might only a Heavenly Beast at the last stage of the Ageless Realm could release.

The might of a Saint Stage Dragon!

'Dodge!'

Xiao Wu could only watch as the talons inched closer and closer, without any sign of Xu Ling having noticed them: ever since the two's appearance there hadn't been the slightest change in his disposition, nor had his vision shifted in any way. In no time, she looked on in horror as the tips of the silver claws were mere palms away from the blue-eyed youth's left temple, while the golden claws were similarly en route to his chest!

Just as the blows were about to land, Xiao Lan's emerald eyes shone a bright violet in the reflection of Mirror. Just as the attacks were on the verge of landing, Xiao Lan moved as usual in a world that had slowed down. He leisurely walked in front of Xu Ling sported a delighted smirk, at which Xu Ling could only step to the side while rolling his eyes, leaving the spot to his trusted aide.

Xiao Lan raised his hand, and with that, an unmistakeable pressure radiated outwards as a faint outline rapidly took form before his extended palm;

Aegis of the White Oak!

CLANG!

Without a moment's notice, the dragons were repelled by a gigantic white shield!