Chương 588: Chapter 583: Ke Yin - The Bully

"Master," Azure said in my mind.

"There is something wrong with the spiritual pressure of the other Hou." I kept my expression neutral on the outside, but in reality, I was fully focused on what he was saying.

"The signature appears inconsistent," Azure continued.

"The red sun, blue sun, and qi energies are not manifesting with the proper resonance patterns that you'd expect from higher tier energy." Ah. I took another look at the other Hou, this time using my spiritual sense to do a deeper analysis. Azure was right; there was something wrong with the pressure in this clone's aura. While it was indeed of an Oneiric Sovereign level, its qi, along with the suns, was hollow.

The qi in particular felt like the dream qi used to fake my power and intimidate me into thinking that I could not beat it. This trial was a classical heart demon test. That's what the Hall of Shattered Reflections was designed for, it showed cultivators their fears, their doubts, their potential failures made manifest. The heart demon cultivators faced here had power, sure. They were legitimate threats with real cultivation abilities drawn from the cultivator's own spiritual energy.

But they couldn't actually have powers the original cultivator didn't bring into the trial. This version of me had access to my dream cultivation because that's what I was using in this body. It could manifest as an Oneiric Sovereign because I was an Oneiric Sovereign in the Dream World. But the red sun energy, the blue sun energy, the regular qi? Those existed in my inner world, connected through a channel. The heart demon couldn't access them because they weren't actually present in this body right now.

They were in a different reality altogether. So, the only way that it could win was if I believed that I had lost and fell into despair. The heart demon's power always stemmed from the test-taker's doubt and despair. They would grow stronger as those negative emotions grew until the demon had drained the person's willpower and took over. I decided to play its game.

"How…" I said, taking a step back as my spiritual pressure trembled slightly.

"You have all my powers. How am I supposed to defeat you?" The clone of me smiled. It took another step forward.

"You can't," it said.

"This battle is over. You just haven't accepted it yet."

"But I put in so much effort," I said as I took another step back. The mirrors on both sides showed countless reflections of me retreating, multiplying the image of defeat.

"I came all this way. Lu Chenyang needs the Celestial Dream Lotus."

"Lu Chenyang is only a stranger that helped you," the other me replied.

"Why should you risk your life for him? Surrender to me, and I will get the lotus for you. I will live the life that was meant for us. I will become the Dream God King we were destined to be. The Dream God King I was destined to be!" It was really trying to convince me, wasn't it? Using selfishness, using the lack of emotional connection, telling me to give up like that was the reasonable choice.

"Think about it," the other me continued.

"You're not even from this world originally. You have no real ties here. Why die for people who would forget you in a week?" I took another step back. And another. The other me matched my pace, closing the distance between us. Its spiritual pressure continued building, the fake energies swirling more dramatically to add to the intimidation effect.

"You are scared," the other me smiled.

"Good. That is the first step to wisdom. You know when to run, when to retreat, when to surrender. That is the way of the cultivator. Accept your loss, and it will not be as bitter. There's no shame in recognising superior strength." My heel met something solid. It took me a second to realize that I was against the glass. The other me stopped five feet in front of me, savouring the moment.

"This is it," it said.

"Your final chance to surrender willingly. I swear that it will be quick. You will simply disappear, returning to your world, and I will take your place. No one will know the difference. It is the best choice for everybody." Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. I looked down and gave it my best look of defeat. Just as it released a laugh of victory, I used the Blink Step to teleport right in front of the other me. I was inside of its guard before it had time to react.

My transformation technique had activated, causing my arm to morph into a massive appendage made up of several vines as thick as my arm that were covered in cruel, serrated thorns. I swung. The massive red arm smashed into the alternate Hou's face with the full power of the red sun. I felt bone shatter, felt spiritual channels rupture, felt the entire construct of the alternate me's physical form collapse under the overwhelming aggression of my attack.

The other Hou exploded, its body literally burst apart from the force, fragments scattering across the corridor. I stood there, my large arm still extended in front of me. The hall was silent, except for the soft clinking of the other Hou's remains hitting the ground and vanishing. It was over surprisingly quickly. I started to retract the transformation, my arm shrinking back down to my natural size as the vines shrivelled and died.

The red sun energy was withdrawn back into my channel, and I was surprised to find that I barely used any of it. A single strike had been all it took. But something was wrong. I felt a spiritual pressure coming from behind me, it was the same signature as before. I turned around quickly, prepared to strike again. The other me was standing behind one of the other mirrors, the ones to my left. It didn't look as solid as it had before. It seemed to flicker, as though I was only seeing its ghost.

"You tricked me!" It was angry this time, and not nearly as confident.

"You were never scared! You were lying to me!" I didn't bother to reply, not this time, instead I simply used the Blink Step again, closing the distance between us. The other me barely had time to react, and this time I sent my right arm into its chest, making the imposter shoot backwards into the mirror. Once again, it shattered, and the other me's body dissolved into silver filaments of dream qi. I turned around, looking to see if it returned. It appeared for the third time, but now it was even more transparent.

I could even see the flickering mirror behind it. This time, I didn't even give it time to speak. Blink Step, transform, strike. The pattern repeated over and over again. Each time it reformed, it looked less real. The fourth version was barely visible, a ghost made of dream qi and fading conviction. The fifth version couldn't even maintain a stable form, its body flickering like a candle flame in wind. By the seventh or eighth reformation, the alternate Hou had changed strategies.

Instead of trying to fight or intimidate, it was trying to escape. It emerged from a mirror far down the corridor and immediately started running in the opposite direction. I watched it flee for about two seconds. Then I activated Blink Step and appeared directly in its path. The alternate Hou skidded to a stop, its translucent form showing clear panic now. It tried to dive into a nearby mirror to reform somewhere else, but it couldn't. The energy required to manifest was too depleted.

It bounced off the mirror's surface like it had hit a solid wall. It turned around, trying to run the other way, and put some of its dream qi into its legs to increase its speed. The silver energy surrounded its legs, letting it sprint down the hallway faster than before. I followed it casually, appearing a few feet behind it every time it got too far. The other Hou was incredibly fast, but it couldn't get away from me, not with me using Blink Step.

Every few seconds, I would appear right behind it, and it would desperately change direction, fleeing down different corridors as they branched off from the main passage. I followed it like this for what felt like a minute, until finally its speed began to wane. The other Hou had begun to flicker rapidly, its form growing more transparent every second. It was barely able to keep together, its dream qi flickering in and out of existence with every step. Finally, it stumbled.

The energy in its legs failed it completely, and it crashed onto the ground, sliding forward for a few seconds before finally stopping against the wall. I walked up to it slowly, my right arm transforming one last time. The other Hou looked up at me as my arm grew, and I could see the fear in its eyes.

"Wait," it said. The voice was thin, barely audible.

"We can negotiate. I can help you. I know things about Hou's past that you don't remember. I can—" Knowing that this was just another trap, I closed the vine arm around it, forming a cage that trapped it. The thorns pierced through the insubstantial form, and the alternate me screamed with a burst of spiritual pressure that radiated pure anguish. Then it was gone, its dream qi dissipating across the room in individual grains of silver light. I waited for ten seconds. Then twenty. Then thirty.

The heart demon didn't return. It was over. I had won. I took a look around and saw that the hallway had changed slightly in the time that I had fought the other me. The endless reflections had condensed, and now I could see a distinct end to the hallway. At the very end was a mirror, and it glowed with silver energy. That was my exit. I deactivated the transformation, my arm shrinking back down to a normal size. The vines died, and the red sun energy was pulled back into my channel once more.

My red sun reserves were not as full as I would have liked, but I was still relatively safe, dangerous even, if I needed to be. I began to walk towards the glowing mirror, and as I passed the other mirrors, their reflections stopped showing me alternate versions of my past and future. They instead simply showed the real me walking down the hallway. Good, just the way I liked it. When I reached the glowing mirror at the end of the hallway, I took a breath and stepped through.

It was like walking through water, and I found myself on the other side of the mirror in no time. Behind me, the mirror's glow faded. The Hall of Shattered Reflections was complete. I'd faced my alternate self, my potential failures, my heart demon, and I'd won. The second trial was done.