My esoteric uncle Jules

Chapter 136 The Mirror Shattered
Jules' eyes flickered slightly, and he raised his hand to signal Ram to be quiet.

At the same time, he listened carefully to the sounds coming from outside.

"...What's there to be afraid of? The adults' lanterns will help us!"

"Yes, yes, if we go out, who knows what kind of beating we'll get..."

The footsteps were getting closer.

There was nowhere to hide in the room, so Jules simply waited patiently for the people outside to approach.

The door was flung open, but instead of the well-equipped adventurers he had imagined, two ragged beggars walked in.

Each of them carried a lantern—which looked very similar to the ones Logan and Cliff had carried before, only a size smaller.

At this moment, they were full of doubt, muttering to themselves:

"There's nothing here... Could it really be a ghost?"

"Could it be that I'm hallucinating?"

The two beggars exchanged words and left the room, leaving Jules and Ram looking at each other in bewilderment.

"They don't seem to see us?" Ram asked uncertainly.

"That's obviously the case."

Jules pondered for a while, then suddenly had some guesses.

Have I also become a kind of "wandering ghost"?

He turned around and, for the first time, took a serious look at the entire room.

Only then did he notice a broken mirror hanging on the wall of the room, reflecting most of the area and objects in the room.

However, his and Ram's figures were not visible in the image.

Seeing Jules staring intently at himself in the mirror, Ramu couldn't help but follow his gaze and was taken aback by what he saw:
"We've become ghosts? Are we dead?"

His expression immediately turned quite sad:

"No way! I've never even had a wife, I'm still a virgin... How am I supposed to carry on the family line if my family is gone!"

Upon hearing this, Jules turned his head and looked at Ram with a strange expression.

"I thought a famous adventurer like you would be quite the ladies' man."

Ram's lips twitched:
"Playing the field my ass! I've used all the money I saved to pay off debts, how can I be a playboy?"

Jules smiled and shook his head—it seems that people's demands are remarkably consistent across all eras.

"Don't worry, we've probably just entered some strange state, not died and become wandering spirits."

He examined the mirror intently, trying to discern something from it.

The mirror was covered in dust, yet it still vaguely reflected everything it could.

Staring at the mirror, Jules couldn't help but furrow his brow slightly.

He didn't feel anything when they were far apart, but now that they were closer, he seemed to see something else.

He moved closer and examined the broken, dusty mirror more closely.

Finally, he saw it—

That familiar starlight.

This is... the scattered starlight that Father Arc Moon transformed into when he died?

Jules paused for a moment, then, following the sensation, reached out and "scooped" it up.

Even though it was through a mirror, he felt as if he were holding the starlight in his hands.

"Smash all the mirrors..."

A muffled voice echoed in his mind, the same voice that had sounded when the mirror world shattered earlier.

It is also consistent with Father Arc Moon.

Ram, who was standing nearby, couldn't see or sense these things, and asked in confusion:

"Mr. Jules, have you discovered something?"

Jules gathered his thoughts and said calmly:
"I need to verify some of my conjectures. Please step back."

Lam paused for a moment, but didn't ask any questions. He obediently stepped aside and waited for Jules's actions.

He knew that at this moment he could only rely on Jules.

Jules didn't rush to follow the voice that sounded like Father Crescent Moon and break the mirror. Instead, he took a few steps outside first.

As he prepared to step out of the room and leave the reflection of the mirror, an invisible force restrained him, preventing him from moving any further.

"As expected, Ram and I are still essentially within the realm of the mirror..."

Seeing this, Jules actually breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, everything is still within our comprehension.

I didn't become a so-called wandering ghost at all; I was just "projected" into reality by the mirror. In essence, I still belong to the person in the mirror.

That's why you can't see your reflection in a mirror at all.

"Shall we break the mirror..." Jules' lips curled slightly as he walked to the mirror and gently made a cut.

The already broken mirror shattered into several pieces after he exerted his strength, crashing to the ground with a loud bang.

"What happened?" Ram exclaimed in shock.

Yule smiled and said:
Do you have any particular feelings?

After shattering the mirror, he felt a fleeting call.

Its origins seem to lie within this monastery.

Ram nodded and said:
"I felt a strange mix of comfort and discomfort just now... like some kind of barrier had been broken, but I also lost some kind of protection."

“This is normal,” Jules chuckled.

He now fully understands the current situation: they exist not only in the mirror, but also in the "inner world" of rituals that have enveloped the monastery for perhaps hundreds of years.

Therefore, even after the mirror was broken, they still exist here.

Ram hesitated for a moment:

"Then what do we do next?"

Jules raised his head, his deep gaze fixed on the distance, and said leisurely:
“Break all the mirrors in the monastery.”

……

Uriel sat expressionless on a simple chair at the entrance of the monastery.

Logan and Cliff were responsible for checking and questioning the beggars who returned alive, and collecting the bodies of those who had died nearby.

"...We heard a sound coming from inside, but when we went in, there was nothing there except a broken mirror."

Huh? Uriel's ears perked up immediately, and he turned his head to stare at the beggar who had spoken.

The beggar noticed Uriel's actions and suddenly became stammering.

Cliff, who was in charge of the questioning, frowned, about to reprimand the beggar for his disrespect, when Logan nudged his waist.

Only after being poked did he subconsciously follow the beggar's gaze and immediately shudder.

"Mr. Uriel?"

Uriel slowly rose, walked to the beggar's side, and said calmly:
Tell me in detail what you saw at the time.

"Honored!"

The beggar seemed a little excited. He knew that although Mr. Uriel in front of him was unpredictable and short-tempered, he was genuinely generous when he had money!

He quickly began to recount what he had seen, and as Uriel listened, he couldn't help but ponder.

Do you remember that place? Take me there.

"I remember, I remember! But sir, it seems there's something... "A ghost?" The beggar hesitated.

Uriel shook his head and said calmly:
"Don't worry, I have a way." Although it was inconvenient for him to take action himself, his master had taken this into consideration and specially allowed him to take away a lot of lamp oil.

With the help of this lamp oil, those wandering spirits couldn't cause him too much trouble—but it was still far from enough to get rid of all of them.

The lamp can only burn their eyes and bodies, but it can hardly burn through their essence.

The beggar nodded, and said tremblingly, whether out of fear or excitement, he continued:
"My lord, please come with me."

Uriel turned around and gave the order:

"Logan, Cliff, you two stay here and keep watch. I'll go in and take a look."

"Okay," the two readily agreed.

They certainly wouldn't want to go to a monastery to die if they could avoid it.

They had encountered so many dangers before, with lanterns in hand and Jules leading the way, so naturally they would avoid going in if possible.

Fortunately, although Uriel had half-coerced them into coming to work, he hadn't forgotten to offer incentives—to say nothing of anything else, Mr. Uriel was simply the most generous benefactor they had ever encountered.

……

Following the two beggars who had witnessed the strange occurrence, Uriel gradually ventured deeper into the monastery.

He didn't call anyone else, but only had these two people lead the way.

The two beggars were still lost in their dreams of getting rich, completely unaware that Lord Uriel behind them had already sentenced them to death in his heart.

"The mirror's secret must not be revealed..."

Uriel narrowed his eyes, his gaze chilling.

Even if it's only possibly related to the secret of the bronze mirror, he won't allow any information to leak out.

He only told Logan and Cliff the news, and only mentioned the term "bronze mirror"; the rest of them knew nothing about it.

As they walked, the two beggars suddenly stopped, turned around, and called out:
"Sir, we've arrived. The place where we heard the noise is just ahead."

Uriel looked up and saw that the door to the room was half-open, and a musty, decaying smell wafted out from inside.

He took a deep breath, gripped the lantern tightly, and walked steadily toward the room.

Two beggars followed behind, their steps becoming somewhat sluggish and their eyes looking somewhat vacant.

They had initially thought it was just an illusion, but since Lord Uriel took it so seriously, they were now unsure.

What if there really is a ghost?

As soon as Uriel stepped into the room, a chilly wind swept over him, causing the flame of the lantern to flicker violently.

Broken mirror shards were scattered on the ground, shimmering eerily in the dim light.

Uriel crouched down and examined the fragments closely, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

After a long pause, he turned his head, his face grim.

"Is this what the mirror you saw before looked like?"

He held a shard of mirror in his hand, still covered in fresh dust.

The two beggars were taken aback and said:
"When we saw it just now, the mirror was a little broken, but it was still intact. How could it be..."

Before he could finish speaking, Uriel's face turned extremely sour.

As if realizing something, the two beggars quickly shut their mouths.

Uriel stood up, his gaze sweeping across the room, where a suffocating silence filled the air.

He understood that the mirror's shattering was no accident, but must be related to the mysterious ritual and the secrets hidden within the monastery.

Perhaps it is related to the bronze mirror they have been searching for.

Suddenly, a slight creaking sound came from the corner of the room, like the groaning of an old wooden plank that could no longer bear the weight.

The two beggars trembled with fear, huddled together, and looked in terror toward the source of the sound.

Uriel quickly raised his lantern, but all he could see in the light was a dilapidated wooden door, swaying gently in the wind and making the same sound as before.

However, his brows did not relax; instead, they furrowed even more.

He crouched down, moved closer, and stared intently at an area on the ground that had been rubbed clean of most of the dust.

“Someone has been here.” His words were icy cold.

The footprints of the two beggars were very clear, so it was impossible for them to have walked this far.

So why would there be dust in this place that was inexplicably wiped away? Considering the inexplicable breakage of the mirror, it's quite obvious.

Could it be that someone is secretly vying with them for the bronze mirror?
Uriel slowly rose to his feet, silently calculating in his mind.

This person in the shadows not only acts mysteriously, but can also break the mirror silently without him noticing, so their strength must not be underestimated.

He gripped the lantern tightly, its light swaying in the trembling air, casting long, distorted shadows of the three men.

The two beggars licked their lips, looking somewhat expectant, and said:

"Then, sir, our reward..."

Uriel glanced at the two of them and sneered:
"Go back to the Void Realm."

The two were taken aback, not understanding what it meant.

But then, with expressions of astonishment, they were decapitated, their intact heads instantly shredded into minced meat.

After silencing the witnesses, he didn't even bother to clean up the bodies. He simply walked back to the monastery entrance with his hands behind his back.

Logan and Cliff saw Uriel returning from afar and quickly stood up, saying respectfully:

"Mr. Uriel, how was the harvest?"

"It's alright, there might be some new progress. I need to study it for a while," Uriel said casually.

Upon hearing this, Cliff nodded without asking any further questions.

Logan noticed the disappearance of the two beggars and asked with some confusion:

"Then they..."

Uriel glanced at Logan without any emotion, then looked away and said:

"They encountered wandering spirits and died."

Logan's eyes flickered:

"Is that so? Then they're really unlucky."

Uriel had no intention of arguing with them any further, so he left with a similar order as before.

He needs to go back to retrieve a treasure that can be used for tracking.

But at that moment, a crisp sound of a mirror shattering rang out again from the monastery.

Because of the close proximity, everyone heard it, including Uriel.

Uriel turned around quickly and rushed into the monastery at a speed that was beyond the imagination of the crowd, which terrified everyone who saw it.

"So... Lord Uriel is not an ordinary person?!" The beggars were both surprised and frightened, and some were even plotting how they could get money from Uriel.

Cliff didn't seem to care, but Logan looked at Uriel's retreating figure with an envious expression.

"I really want to become like that..."

His expression quickly turned somewhat somber.

Forget it, I can't even be a decent ordinary person, let alone become someone like Mr. Uriel.

After a while, Uriel returned, his face even more pale than before.

Anyone with eyes could see that Uriel had once again come up empty-handed, unable to find the reason behind it all.

No one dared to provoke Uriel at this moment.

Everyone watched Uriel leave until Logan called out:

"What are you standing there for? Keep searching the monastery!"

(End of this chapter)