Chương 219: Conclusion and New Doubts

Seeing Ji Ying deep in thought, Su Yuqing was unwilling, but she still knew what was important and what was urgent. She pouted and reluctantly let go of the hand that was pinching the other person's soft side, took two steps back, and glared at the other person with a somewhat dissatisfied look.

Ye Zixuan and Luo Bingli also kept quiet, afraid of disturbing Ji Ying's thoughts. For a moment, only the girls' soft breathing could be heard in the room.

Ye Zixuan gazed quietly at the petite figure lost in thought before her, her cheeks flushing slightly uncontrollably, and an irrepressible impulse welled up within her.

At this moment, Ji Ying's delicate eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and her dark red eyes shone with a focused and serious light. Her profile, which appeared particularly serene due to her deep thought, was outlined with a hazy and warm halo under the soft light of the room.

—It's so cute to see Xiaoying thinking so earnestly like this. — I want to go there right now and hold her tightly in my arms.

However, just as she was immersed in this appreciation and affection, a figure silently entered her field of vision, interrupting her reverie.

Ye Zixuan was slightly taken aback and was somewhat surprised to find that Su Yuqing had quietly moved to Jiying's side again at some point.

Under her astonished gaze, Su Yuqing revealed a mischievous smile, slowly bringing her lips close to Ji Ying's fair and delicate cheek, making a gesture as if she was about to kiss her.

She stopped just millimeters from that delicate skin, then defiantly raised her eyes to look at Ye Zixuan opposite her, mouthing silently, word by word, "My~."

"!"

Ye Zixuan's pupils suddenly contracted, and a mixture of shame, annoyance, and anger surged into her heart.

Although by observing Ji Ying's expressionless face, she immediately judged that Su Yuqing had not actually kissed her, but was just provoking her in this extremely childish way.

Even so, Ye Zixuan still couldn't suppress her indignation.

How dare she?!

—11, 000—What if this really disturbs Xiaoying's thinking?!

She immediately glared back angrily, signaling Su Yuqing to stop immediately.

Seeing this, Su Yuqing's smugness deepened. Instead of restraining herself, she intensified her provocation, quietly moving to the other side of Ji Ying's face and making the exact same provocative gesture as before.

—How despicable! This guy is pushing his luck!

At this point, Ye Zixuan really couldn't hold back anymore.

She almost shouted to stop him, but when she saw Ji Ying's focused expression as he remained absorbed in thought, she didn't want to disturb his rationality and ultimately managed to suppress her anger.

She could only cover her mouth tightly to prevent herself from making any sound, and use her eyes, burning with anger, to convey all her dissatisfaction and rage to the other party.

Seeing Ye Zixuan's angry but unable to speak out and her desperately enduring it, Su Yuqing felt that she had won an overwhelming victory in this "silent war," and a smug and bright smile appeared on her face.

Luo Bingli, who had witnessed everything, felt a sense of helplessness towards her two childish companions. She did not participate in this pointless dispute, but simply looked down at the clone in her arms that was identical to her original self, her eyes filled with tenderness.

Since learning that the clone in her arms could share senses with the real Xiaoying, she dared not hold the other person too tightly, especially since Xiaoying was clearly thinking at this moment.

However, this did not prevent her from openly gazing at the other person's adorable appearance, which she found so captivating, and enjoying this tranquil tenderness that belonged only to her, provided that her movements were gentle enough and would not disturb the other person's thinking through sensory sharing.

Lost in thought, Jiying was oblivious to everything happening around her. After some time, when she finally pieced together all the scattered clues in her mind and came to a conclusion, her furrowed brows slowly relaxed.

"Cough cough."

Ji Ying immediately coughed lightly, successfully drawing the attention of the three girls to himself.

Su Yuqing and Ye Zixuan temporarily stopped their silent battle, while Luo Bingli also snapped out of her reverie. The three of them looked at Ji Ying with slightly confused expressions, waiting for her to speak.

Under the watchful eyes of the three, Ji Ying didn't waste any time or preamble, directly dropping the seemingly startling conclusion: "I have a deduction—the previously missing Yue Xi and the others—are very likely still alive."

After he finished speaking, the room fell into a brief silence.

Su Yuqing and Luo Bingli both stared wide-eyed, their faces showing disbelief. Even Ye Zixuan, who was usually calm and composed, could not maintain her usual composure at this moment, her eyes flashing with surprise.

"Xiaoying—" Su Yuqing's voice trembled slightly as she stammered, "Are you—are you telling the truth? The seniors—are they really still alive?"

Faced with the shocked gazes of the crowd, Ji Ying nodded solemnly: "To explain this matter clearly, I need to tell you some information first—the information that my partner, Xing Shuang, obtained in the previous battle with Jing Jue."

Upon hearing the title "Star Frost," Ye Zixuan's expression tightened slightly, but she didn't say anything more and continued to listen attentively to Ji Ying's explanation.

"During that battle, Lord Mirror admitted to Starfrost that the disappearance of the Crescent Moon-level magical girls was indeed his doing."

"According to him at the time, in order to silently erase them from this world," he chose to launch a sneak attack the moment they lowered their guard, so that they didn't even have time to resist before—entering what he called eternal silence.

"So, both Starfrost and I initially judged, just like you, that those Crescent Moon-level magical girls had most likely already met with misfortune."

"but----"

"In my subsequent encounters with Mirror Lord, especially in that mirrored maze, after combining the information Zi Xuan told me about the Mirror's Authority—that it can replicate unique spells—I discovered some discrepancies that contradicted Mirror Lord's initial statement."

"Especially, Zixuan, what you just inadvertently repeated was what Yijingjue told you: to use your abilities and status for his benefit," just like Yuexi and the others did.

Ji Ying paused, giving the three girls ample time to process this crucial information, before continuing his analysis in a calm voice: "What does 'being used by him' really mean? If they have truly sacrificed themselves, then at most Mirror Lord can only replicate their images. This can be called 'using,' but it's hard to call it 'making them truly useful to him.'"

"Moreover, there is an even more crucial and fundamental issue here."

"As an apostle of the Void Realm, Mirror Lord's power originates from Void Energy, so he is absolutely unable to directly absorb and control magic power."

"But as you all know, magical girls need to consume a lot of magic power to maintain their transformation, defend, or launch attacks. Especially since Yuexi and the others are New Moon level, the consumption of their unique spells is even more astonishing."

"And the mirror images of those magical girls he created, although they could perfectly replicate the original's form and abilities, were still essentially fakes constructed from illusory energy."

"These mirror images constructed from ethereal energy have the ability to replicate Star Tears," and absorb magical energy from the environment to replenish their own consumption, just like a true magical girl. I—are skeptical of this."

"Based on this, I've made a deduction—in order for the four Crescent-level mirror images to have the ability to fight for extended periods, especially since 'they' need to use unique spells that consume enormous amounts of energy, Mirror Lord likely imprisoned their original bodies, using them as a living energy source to continuously supply magic power."

"An energy source?!"

Su Yuqing and Luo Bingli both gasped, their faces showing disbelief.

Using living magical girls as "batteries" to maintain mirror battles—just thinking about it sends chills down their spines.

"Furthermore, there is another fact that proves my point."

Jiying did not stop there, but continued to present her second, more convincing argument in a calm and powerful voice.

Her gaze swept across the faces of the three girls one by one, then she slowly raised her hand and pointed to the two shadow clones that still existed in the center of the room.

"My Shadow Authority" and "The Mirror Lord's Mirror Authority" share many similarities in their specific manifestations.

"We can both create clones that are indistinguishable from the original. My own shadow can replicate all my abilities, and Mirror Lord's mirror puppet can obviously do the same. It can jump freely between mirrors, while I can move freely in the shadows."

"Judging from these examples, our underlying logic of authority should be very similar, a point you should agree with, right?"

Su Yuqing, Luo Bingli, and Ye Zixuan all nodded subconsciously. They could indeed hear the commonalities between the two powers from Ji Ying's description.

"However," Ji Ying's tone turned slightly somber and became serious, "this is where the most crucial point of conflict arises."

"Also an authority, my Shadow Authority," currently can only create a single shadow that can completely replicate all my own abilities. The shadows of others I create, as you can see—do not contain any supernatural power.

"Although this may be related to the fact that I have just mastered this power and have not yet developed it in depth, Mirror Lord can not only have multiple mirror images of himself, but also perfectly replicate the unique spells and magical equipment that are deeply bound to the souls of those magical girls."

"Putting aside the fact that there is a huge gap between our powers, I believe that his seemingly heaven-defying mirror-making ability must have some kind of limitation or prerequisite that we are unaware of."

"For example, he needs those Crescent Moon-class magical girls who served as his 'prototypes' to be alive."

"Um—" After a brief silence, Su Yuqing hesitated before raising her hand and asking her question, "Xiaoying, it's not that I'm trying to boost others' morale while belittling our own—"

"What if—that bastard Jingjue wields more power than you? After all, he's a direct subordinate of the Void Realm Monarch, while you—awakened on your own."

"How could you be so certain that you ruled out the point that the gap between authorities is too large?"'

This question perfectly reflects Su Yuqing's current mood. She certainly hopes that Jiying's deduction is correct, but she is also afraid that this hard-won hope will eventually be shattered again due to some unpredictable factors.

"Yuqing is right," Ye Zixuan immediately chimed in, her expression also showing some seriousness.

"I said before that the extent to which the power held by the Void Realm Apostles can be depends on how much authority the corresponding Void Realm Monarch has granted them."

"In Jingjue's case, this is still uncertain, but Xiaoying, you are an unprecedented special case. It's unclear exactly how much power you can possess—" At this point, she paused slightly, and a hint of obvious hesitation appeared in her gaze as she looked at Ji Ying.

She really wanted to say that a "wild" apostle who awakens authority solely through his own power without the backing of a monarch might not be able to match the upper limit of authority of those orthodox Void Realm apostles.

But how could she possibly utter such words that would damage the morale of her comrades and potentially harm Xiaoying?

"You—" Seeing the identical worried expressions on Su Yuqing and Ye Zixuan's faces, Ji Ying shook his head with amusement. He then walked to Su Yuqing's side and gently tapped her smooth forehead.

"Thump!"

"Ouch! What did you do!" Su Yuqing cried out in exaggerated pain, clutching her forehead and pouting in dissatisfaction.

Ji Ying then turned her gaze to Ye Zixuan, who was standing to the side. To her surprise, after seeing that she had tapped Su Yuqing on the head, Ye Zixuan seemed to have been inspired by something, and her eyes lit up instantly.

The next moment, under Ji Ying's astonished gaze, Ye Zixuan silently closed her eyes and stretched her head in front of her, looking as if she was looking forward to being "punished".

What is this guy doing?!

Seeing Ye Zixuan's unexpected attitude, Ji Ying felt a mix of amusement and exasperation. She had never intended to do the same thing to Ye Zixuan.

But looking at the other person's slightly trembling eyelashes and the cute expression on their face that was a mixture of nervousness and anticipation, she felt that if she withdrew her hand now, it would seem to be a bit too unromantic.

In the end, Ji Ying could only let out a helpless sigh in his heart, and awkwardly raised his hand to symbolically tap her forehead with much less force than before.

"Thump."

With a barely audible click, accompanied by the slight contact between knuckles and smooth skin, Ye Zixuan's body trembled slightly, and a satisfied smile appeared on her face.

However, just as she was feeling satisfied, a certain jealous person who saw this scene immediately became unhappy.

"Hey! Xiaoying!" Su Yuqing jumped up, pointing at Jiying and protesting, "Why did you play Zixuan so lightly? Are you being gentle with her and not wanting to use your strength?!"

"I didn't—" Ji Ying suddenly felt overwhelmed and tried to defend herself.

Before she could finish her sentence, Ye Zixuan, with a calm smile, slowly said, "I do hope—Xiaoying could hit me harder."

"Because wouldn't that prove even more—that her relationship with me is closer than her relationship with you?"

"Ugh————" This incredibly accurate reverse check left Su Yuqing speechless. Her face turned red with embarrassment, but she couldn't think of any effective words to refute it. She could only glare angrily at Ye Zixuan.

Seeing all of this unfold, Luo Bingli's lips curled into a slight smile as she watched her friend's adorable, yet once again, frustration.

But then, a small pang of regret welled up inside her.

If I had known this earlier, I should have said something like, "I don't really trust Xiaoying," earlier.

Seeing that Su Yuqing had finally calmed down, Ji Ying silently gave Ye Zixuan a thumbs up in his heart for always accurately hitting the other person's sore spot.

She then cleared her throat, steered the conversation back on track, and began to explain her earlier deduction in more detail.

"Alright, stop fooling around, Yuqing. The reason I ruled out that possibility so confidently is because it's a deduction I made based on my own experience."

"As I said before, the primary prerequisite for creating the shadow of a living being is—I have seen the other party."

"And this 'seeing' is not seeing with the eyes in the ordinary sense. Otherwise, after seeing someone's image or picture on television or in a book, I should theoretically be able to create that person's shadow, but the truth is—I can't."

"In fact, this seeing contains some supernatural element, requiring me to use my own authority to conduct an extremely detailed analysis of the object before me in order to replicate a clone that is indistinguishable from the original on a physical level."

"Detailed analysis?"

Su Yuqing silently recited the word in her mind, and a possibility that made her scalp tingle and feel extremely ashamed and indignant instantly surfaced in her mind.

Could it be that...?

—When Xiaoying first created my shadow, she had already—analyzed me completely, inside and out?!

Her cheeks flushed bright red instantly, as if steam were rising from her head.

"Skip this part!" she practically screamed, waving her hands wildly, trying to forcefully interrupt Ji Ying.

"Xiao Ying, continue with the rest, hurry up!"

Ji Ying was somewhat puzzled by this, but Ye Zixuan, seeing Su Yuqing's reaction, immediately understood what was going on.

With a faint smile, she subtly cast her gaze upon a part of the other person's body that, while not extravagantly large, was certainly beautifully curved, and then silently mouthed, "All blue—?"

"!"

Su Yuqing's body stiffened abruptly, her hair standing on end. She instinctively covered the neckline of her pajamas tightly, then glared fiercely at Ye Zixuan, who was silently teasing her, too embarrassed and angry to speak.

But before she could react, Ji Ying continued, "In short, I think that if Jing Jue wants to create a mirror image that replicates his own abilities, he must also have the same limitations as me, namely, he needs to perform extremely time-consuming and laborious analysis of the target." This is also one of the limitations that his authority will be subject to.

"Another, even stronger piece of evidence is," Ji Ying turned his gaze to Ye Zixuan, his tone becoming serious, "Although Jing Jue manipulated Xing Xian's mirror image to launch an attack on me and successfully tested my true stance."

"However, that mirror image was later erased by Mirror Lord and did not participate in the subsequent siege against me."

"Zixuan, although Jingjue controlled your mirror image to launch an attack on me and thus successfully tested my true stance."

"If Mirror Lord really has the ability to perfectly replicate that powerful magical armor that can interfere with time and make it work for him, then in the battle against me later, he will have absolutely no reason not to use this powerful trump card."

"The only explanation is that he didn't have time to analyze and copy it."

"After all, the time laws you comprehend are on the same level of power as the authority he wields. Even if he can truly replicate them, it's definitely not something he can do easily in a short time."

"My actions were clearly unexpected by him, and the mirror image he hastily created to test me didn't even have the most basic ability to manipulate magic; it was merely an empty shell with your appearance."

"How is it?" She finally looked at Su Yuqing, a confident smile on her face, and asked, "Doesn't it resemble the shadows of you I created?"

After Ji Ying's reasoned and progressive analysis, Su Yuqing and Ye Zixuan, who had previously harbored doubts, were now completely convinced.

"So, the seniors—are they really still alive?" Luo Bingli's voice trembled uncontrollably. She subconsciously hugged the clone in her arms tighter and then asked softly.

"Yes," Ji Ying nodded heavily, "Although it's just speculation right now, I believe they are still alive."

"I understand—" After a brief silence, Ye Zixuan spoke, her gaze towards Ji Ying filled with undisguised admiration and respect.

"Xiaoying, your reasoning makes a lot of sense. I think our previous conclusion that 'Yuexi and the others have all perished' definitely needs to be revised."

"Moreover, the Moonlit Mirror that was used to lure me back then fell out of a mirror without any warning."

"Now that I think about it, it's very likely that the real them were imprisoned in those mirrors by Mirror Lord in this way."

"Then—are we going to rescue our seniors next?!" Su Yuqing asked excitedly.

"Don't rush."

Ji Ying raised his hand, signaling Su Yuqing, who was getting agitated, to calm down.

"Xiaoying, now that our predecessors are still alive, we really need to change our strategy," Ye Zixuan asked.

"What's your opinion?"

Facing the expectant gazes of the three girls, Ji Ying did not lose her composure. She took a deep breath and said slowly in a calm tone, "Although we are now extremely confident that they are still alive, this is still just speculation. We cannot let this hope cloud our judgment before we obtain conclusive evidence."

"Therefore, our operational strategy will remain unchanged for the time being. Our primary task is to continue searching for Jingjue's whereabouts while ensuring our own safety."

"We can only act after we have confirmed their exact location and method of imprisonment and developed a foolproof rescue plan."

Ji Ying's self-illumination swept over the three of them in turn, his tone becoming extremely serious: "I absolutely will not allow any of you to act rashly or impulsively because of this news. Do you understand?"

"Compared to those whose specific information we cannot yet ascertain, the three of you are more important. I absolutely do not want something like what happened to Zixuan today to happen again."

"I'm sorry, Xiaoying." Upon hearing the last sentence, Ye Zixuan lowered her head and solemnly apologized again for her previous recklessness and the danger she had brought to everyone.

"I'm sorry," Ji Ying said, realizing her words might have been a bit harsh after seeing her self-reproachful expression. She quickly tried to comfort her, "I didn't mean to emphasize this to blame you—"

"Mmm—" Ye Zixuan blushed and responded softly, burying her head even lower.

Su Yuqing and Luo Bingli also calmed down. They looked at each other and then nodded solemnly, indicating that they fully understood.

After establishing the overall action plan, another deeper mystery immediately surfaced in Ji Ying's mind, and his gaze subconsciously fell on Luo Bingli.

"However—there is one more thing."

Ji Ying's voice drew everyone's attention back to her. Su Yuqing and Ye Zixuan followed her gaze and looked at Luo Bingli with some curiosity.

"We still don't know what kind of conspiracy Jingjue is plotting in this city, but," Xiaoli, my intuition tells me that his plan—is very likely to have a significant connection to you."

"Desire? Related to Xiao Li?" Su Yuqing immediately looked incredulous and asked in surprise, "Are you kidding me, Xiao Ying?"

"Xiaoying," Ye Zixuan, standing beside her, immediately asked with a serious expression, "Can you tell me why you said that?"

In stark contrast to the surprised and confused reactions of the two women, Luo Bingli herself, who was being watched by everyone, showed no surprise whatsoever.

She simply raised her head quietly, meeting Ji Ying's dark red eyes, which were filled with inquiry and concern. Under their somewhat doubtful gazes, she calmly nodded and softly replied, "Mm."