Mysterious mirror hanging high

Jing Yu's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly followed the maids forward.

He followed the procession of maids through winding corridors and arrived at a quiet and elegant courtyard.

Ancient trees tower in the courtyard, their green canopy providing shelter from the outside world's hustle and bustle, yet exuding a depressing and chilling atmosphere.

The maids tiptoed open the carved wooden door, revealing a scene of utter chaos in the bedroom—the celadon vase and jade tea set were all shattered and scattered all over the floor.

A beautiful woman dressed in magnificent palace attire stood with her back to the crowd, her slender fingers tightly clutching a half-broken glass cup.

"Madam, we'll tidy up..."

The leading maid cautiously stepped forward, but before she could finish speaking, the woman in palace attire suddenly turned around, her stunningly beautiful face covered in frost, and her eyes blazing with fury.

"Get out!" she shouted, throwing the half-empty glass cup in her hand at the maid who had spoken.

With a muffled thud, blood streamed down the maid's forehead. She staggered back several steps but dared not cry out in pain.

The woman in palace attire was still not satisfied. Suddenly, she raised her hand, and a sharp burst of true energy gathered in her palm. Without warning, she struck another maid who was bending down to pick up the broken pieces.

Before the maid could even scream, her heart meridian was shattered by a single palm strike, and she collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, and died.

The other maids were so frightened that they knelt down in unison, trembling and not daring to breathe.

Jing Yu also lay prone on the ground, but he secretly glanced at the woman.

This person had beautiful features and should have had a gentle and quiet temperament, but at this moment his face was filled with violence and madness.

"Wait...that's not right!"

Jing Yu's eyes widened: "This person is already in a state of rampant delusions and tormented by inner demons... her Dao heart is on the verge of collapse!"

The head maid clearly noticed the woman in palace attire's unusual behavior, and her expression changed drastically: "Oh no, Madam..."

The leading maid was quite skilled. While Jing Yu and the others were only at the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages, she was a Cave Heaven Realm expert, and her cultivation was even similar to that of the woman in palace attire.

She retreated rapidly, sending away a communication talisman.

The violent look in the palace-dressed woman's eyes intensified. Her true energy surged and the power of laws raged around her as she indiscriminately attacked the maids inside the room!

"what!"

In an instant, only Xiao Huan, possessed by Jing Yu, remained standing in the room—the violent true essence and the power of the law of killing vanished silently the moment they touched the hem of her clothes.

The woman in palace attire's crimson pupils suddenly contracted. Before she could react, a sharp shout suddenly came from outside the courtyard: "How dare you, you poisonous woman!"

Wearing a bright, radiant Daoist robe that fluttered in the wind, Mingxiao, the leader of the Tianmang Sect, arrived with Mingyutai, who was still in the Nascent Soul stage and not very old.

The young Ming Yutai, his face deathly pale, still clutching a half-read jade slip containing a cultivation technique, spoke in a trembling voice to the woman in palace attire:

"mother……"

At this moment, the woman in palace attire seemed to have completely lost her mind. Her gaze toward Ming Yutai was filled with disgust and hatred. She recklessly rushed toward Ming Yutai!

"presumptuous!"

Mingxiao's jade ruler suddenly transformed into a hundred-zhang-long blue light, and the pressure of the Mahayana realm crushed all the bricks and stones in the courtyard into dust.

When the jade ruler pierced through the woman's body, countless twisted black wisps burst forth from her shattered cave, vaguely condensing into dozens of wailing demonic figures.

Young Ming Yutai suddenly broke free from his father's hand and rushed forward, only to have his face splattered with blood.

He stared blankly at the woman's slowly collapsing body, letting out a low sob.

"mother……"

Mingxiao's face was cold, and he said almost without any emotion, "Yutai, your mother's soul has been completely possessed by inner demons. She has become a puppet controlled by delusions... She is no longer your mother."

Ming Yutai trembled and wept as he said, “Father! The Tianmang Sect has produced many eminent cultivators, and our ancestor is even a True Immortal... Can’t we find a way to remove the inner demons of a mere Cave Heaven Realm cultivator?”

“It’s too late.” Mingxiao’s cold expression softened slightly. He sighed, “If we had discovered it in time, there might have been a chance to save him… but at this point, even a Golden Immortal would be powerless to reverse the situation.”

“You and your mother have always been at odds. Although you are in the same small space, you have not seen each other for thousands of years. How could you possibly notice that something is wrong with her!”

Ming Yutai burst into tears: "My cultivation level is too low, and I lack the vision to see this way, which has led me to this state!"

"The invasion of inner demons is the most insidious. Even a Golden Immortal cannot see it. People usually just think of it as her having a bad temper. Who would have thought of this until the very end?"

Mingxiao said coldly, "It's clearly because she lacks willpower and her Dao heart is weak... She has no one to blame but herself!"

"Yutai, today's events should serve as a warning to you. From now on, you must focus on tempering your Dao heart and not follow in your mother's footsteps..."

"As for you..."

Mingxiao turned to look at the two surviving maids, his eyes blazing with murderous intent: "I will treat your relatives well..."

At the last moment, Jing Yu only felt a flash of blue light before her eyes, and then her consciousness faded away.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

He suddenly opened his eyes, his face somewhat pale. Turning his head, he saw that Ming Yutai was still fast asleep and unconscious, but at some point, two tears were streaming down his face.

"you're awake?"

Ling Qishuang leaned closer and asked curiously, "What happened in your dream? Why do you look so pale... And why was that stupid donkey crying...?"

Jing Yuping calmed his mind and recovered before slowly asking, "Fellow Daoist Ling, the name of Mingxiao, the sect leader of the Tianmang Sect, is renowned and he is a very important figure in the entire Tianmang Star Region. How come I have never heard of his Daoist partner?"

Ling Qishuang was taken aback and said, "Sect Leader Ming is exceptionally talented and is one of the most outstanding geniuses in the Tianmang Sect. He advanced to the Heavenly Immortal realm at just over 40,000 years old and has no fixed Daoist partner."

"If we're talking about wives and concubines, she has quite a few..."

Jing Yu suddenly realized what Ling Qishuang meant.

The so-called Daoist partners are companions who work together to pursue the Great Dao, not in the narrow sense of a husband and wife relationship... A pair of Daoist partners are most likely to be husband and wife, but a husband and wife are not necessarily Daoist partners.

According to Ling Qishuang, Mingxiao has a wife and concubines, but he has no close friends with whom he can discuss metaphysics and have a deep understanding.

“Mingyutai’s birth mother…”

Ling Qishuang pondered and said, "Ming Yutai's birth mother is the wife of Sect Leader Mingxiao. She comes from the True Immortal lineage of the [Muluojia Star Region]. It is said that her marriage to Sect Leader Mingxiao was also a political alliance."

"However, it is said that a long time ago, this person went astray during his cultivation, his heart was corrupted by a demon, and he perished when he was in the Cave Heaven Realm."

Jing Yu suddenly realized: "So that's how it is..."

Why did you suddenly bring this up?

Jing Yu said knowingly, "I didn't expect there to be such a story. No wonder Ming Yutai himself had such an ambiguous attitude towards this marriage. He must be unwilling..."