The Legend of the Princess' Counterattack

Chapter 951: Mirror Lake Changes

The surface of Mirror Lake, like an ancient mirror tempered with mercury, reflected Yun Yao, floating on the island in its center. She stepped barefoot upon a jade lotus pedestal, her long black hair cascading like an inky waterfall, the star-shaped stones dotting her hair flickering with her breath—this was the "Star Orbital Foundation" she had spent ten years refining within her small world, each trace of light engraved with fragments of the Three Thousand Laws. At midnight, the mermaid lanterns at the lake's bottom automatically illuminated, drawing twelve swirling rings of law around her. This was the "Zhou Tian Xing Dou Formation" condensed only by cultivators at the Void Realm.

"Today is the time to integrate the 'Law of Time.'" Yun Yao's fingertips slid across the surface of the Mirror Lake, and imperceptible ripples suddenly rippled through it. Ever since she and Chu Mochen retreated to their small world ten years ago, she had immersed herself entirely in the cultivation of the Law. The shifting of the world outside seemed but a mirage within this small world. Yet, at this moment, the water beneath her palms carried a bone-chilling chill, as if an invisible hand were tugging at her soul from within the mirror.

The sudden change came without warning. A spiderweb of golden veins suddenly ripped open in the center of Mirror Lake, and Chu Mochen's figure emerged like a torn scroll. His white robe was stained with blood, and his chest was pierced by nine pitch-black chains, each engraved with golden incantations, consuming the light of his Nascent Soul through the wounds. Even more terrifying, his eyes were completely unfocused, like a puppet forcibly controlled by the laws of heaven. He repeated mechanically, "Yun Yao... The Divine Palace wants to take your divine fetus... Escape..."

"Chu Mochen!" Yun Yao pressed her fingertips into her palm, and the magic ring shattered. Ignoring the backlash from the laws, she forced her spiritual sense to move forward, only to discover that the illusion in the mirror lake was no illusion—the chain was the genuine "Heavenly Dao God Binding Chain," now gnawing along Chu Mochen's spiritual veins and gnawed at his immortal bones. Even more alarming was the fact that Chu Mochen's clothing in the illusion was different from the one he wore ten years ago. His wide sleeves were embroidered with dark patterns she had never seen before: the "Heavenly Dao Cloud Pattern," worn only by Mahayana cultivators.

"System! Check the flow of time outside!" Yun Yao shouted sharply, and the silver bell on her wrist suddenly chimed. The system, which should have responded immediately, froze, and the mechanical tone came out intermittently: "Beep... An abnormal flow of time in the cultivation world has been detected... The time ratio between the small world and the outside world has suddenly changed from 1:1000 to 1:1... During the host's retreat, a hundred years have passed in the outside world..."

A hundred years? Yun Yao felt her fingertips tingle. She clearly remembered entering the small world when Chu Mochen had just broken through to the Void Realm, yet in the illusion, he was clearly already at the peak of the Mahayana stage. The wound on his chest was so severe that even his Nascent Soul was cracking—only direct exposure to the backlash of the laws of Heaven could cause such damage. Even more terrifying, blood-red ripples began to appear on the surface of Mirror Lake. The ten-thousand-foot-long Dao foundation she had condensed was actually oozing golden blood. Every drop of blood that fell into the lake transformed into the phantom of the word "Heavenly Dao."

"This is... a sign of the Heavenly Dao tampering with reality." Yun Yao recalled the ancient texts describing the "poisoning of the divine nature." Only when a cultivator's foundation is eroded by the power of a higher dimension will the golden blood, symbolizing their origin, flow. She suddenly looked up and saw that the sky of her small world had been shrouded in a layer of gray fog. The once clearly visible "Star Map of Creation" was crumbling in pieces, and the stars were dissipating into tiny dots of light like streams of data.

The system's voice suddenly became sharp. "Warning! Energy fluctuations detected at the 'Heavenly Dao Palace'! Liu Yan'er's energy response has surpassed the Mahayana stage and reached the early stages of the 'Rules Realm'! She is slaughtering the Three Thousand Cultivation Realms, targeting the host's divine fetus in the Sea of No Return. Elder Chu Mochen is using his Nascent Soul to resist the laws of Heaven. His remaining spiritual vein strength is currently at 37%!"

"The divine fetus?" Yun Yao's pupils shrank. She finally remembered what Chu Mochen had said ten years ago: her soul carried a trace of the "chaos godhead" during her journey, and that she must immerse her body in the "Creation Spirit Spring" of the Wuhui Sea to nourish it and prevent its shattering. Now that a century had passed in the outside world, her body had probably long since become the focus of contention among various factions.

Suddenly, a sound of shattering glass rang out from the Mirror Lake, and Chu Mochen's illusion turned into thousands of fragments, each of which reflected a different bloody scene: the mountain protection formations of the famous and upright sects in the world of cultivation collapsed one after another, an upside-down golden tower fell from the sky, and the top of the tower was strung with the natal magic weapons of several Mahayana cultivators; Liu Yan'er's figure stood on the top of the tower, and her face had undergone a strange change. The left face still had the delicate facial features of a human, but the right face showed metallic divine patterns, and behind it were twelve gear-shaped "laws of order".

"Impossible... Her spiritual roots were clearly destroyed back then!" Yun Yao gripped the edge of the lotus pedestal tightly, the golden blood seeping from between her fingernails drawing a chaotic pattern in the air. She clearly remembered that in the final battle in the cultivation world, she had personally severed Liu Yan'er's spiritual veins, yet now, not only had her cultivation skyrocketed, she also controlled the legendary "Heavenly Dao Palace." Even more shocking was that the gear laws behind Liu Yan'er were exactly the same as the "Rules Realm" interface she had seen in the system space.

The system suddenly emitted an electric hum: "Host, please note that Liu Yan'er's energy source is not obtained through natural cultivation, but... a blessing from the 'Heavenly Dao Palace'. According to the remaining information in the database, the Heavenly Dao Palace is the center of laws that transcends the three thousand worlds. Its master..." Before the words fell, snowflakes suddenly flashed across the system interface, and the mechanical sound turned into the sigh of an old woman: "Yao'er, do you remember the 'Chaos Sutra' you found in the palace? That is not a cultivation method that can be practiced by mortals. It was deliberately scattered by the Palace..."

"Enough!" Yun Yao waved her hand, shattering the Mirror Lake. The water transformed into countless water droplets that hovered in the air, each reflecting her pale face. She could sense that the barrier of her small world was being eroded by some force. The distant Spiritual Vein Mountains began to collapse pixelatedly, a sign that the rules of the world were being rewritten by an external force. Chu Mochen's words echoed in her ears: "If one day I fall into madness, remember to pierce my Danzhong point with the Hongmeng Sword—there lies the last heart-protecting amulet I have left for you."

But now, she didn't even know Chu Mochen's exact location. Yun Yao forcibly activated the "Against Heaven's Way Art," attempting to sink her chaotic consciousness into the core of the small world. However, she discovered something unusual deep within the spiritual sea: the "Divine Embryo Mark" she had planted before her retreat was vibrating violently. Liu Yan'er's face suddenly appeared in the center of the mark, and the curve of her lips was exactly the same as when she had framed her in the cold palace ten years ago.

"I see..." Yun Yao suddenly remembered Chu Mochen's words that the divine fetal mark not only located the original body, but also shared pain. The tearing sensation in her heart at that moment was exactly the same as Chu Mochen's feeling when he was pierced by the chains of the Heavenly Dao. Even more terrifying, the "stellar orbital foundation" she had condensed was disintegrating at a visible speed. Golden blood flowed along the lotus platform in a river of blood. With every step, she could hear the laws of the Heavenly Dao whispering in her ear: "Return to your place, Chaos Saint. Your escape has long been recorded by the Divine Palace."

No, this isn't an escape! Yun Yao bit her tongue, the sharp pain briefly sobering her. Ten years ago, she and Chu Mochen had retired to a secluded world, intent on comprehending the "Laws of Creation" within the small world and completely freeing themselves from the system's control. But now it seemed the Heavenly Dao Divine Palace had already laid the game—from her journey to the palace and the discovery of the "Chaos Sutra" to her condensing her divine fetus and entering the small world, every move had been a pawn on the enemy's chessboard.

"System, bring up the map of the outside world!" Yun Yao shouted sharply, and the silver bell on her wrist finally lit up, projecting a fragmented map of the cultivation world into the void. She saw the Creation Spirit Spring in the center of the Wuhui Sea freezing. A massive chain rose from the seabed, securing an inverted golden pagoda above it. Chu Mochen knelt beneath the pagoda, a dense web of Heavenly Dao runes behind him.

"The host's divine fetus is located on the seventh floor of the Golden Pagoda. Elder Chu Mochen is currently using the power of his Nascent Soul to prop open the tower gate." The System's voice trembled with a rare tremor. "According to calculations, if the host fails to break through the small world within thirty breaths, the divine fetus will be stripped of its godhead, and Elder Chu Mochen's Nascent Soul... will be refined into lamp oil for the Heavenly Dao Palace."

Thirty breaths? Yun Yao looked at her reflection in the lake and discovered that the same divine pattern as Liu Yan'er's had appeared in the corner of her right eye—a sign of the erosion of her godhood. She suddenly remembered what Chu Mochen had said: "If one day you remember your past life, remember not to trust the self in the mirror. It is just an illusion created by the Divine Palace."

An illusion? Yun Yao suddenly looked up and saw twelve star tracks suddenly appearing above Mirror Lake, each corresponding to the laws she had cultivated. At the center of the tracks hovered half a blood-stained jade slip, the very "Divine Embryo Key" Chu Mochen had given her ten years earlier. She finally understood that her so-called small world retreat was a trap set by the Heavenly Dao Divine Palace to retrieve her godhood. While she was condensing the laws, she had unknowingly returned fragments of her godhood to the Divine Palace.

"Bang!" Yun Yao slammed her palms against the lotus platform, and the jade instantly shattered into dust. She stopped practicing any other techniques and instead poured all her spiritual energy into her Dao foundation, allowing the golden blood to stain her red sleeves—for she suddenly remembered what Chu Mochen had said while she was unconscious: "The golden blood that flows out when the divine nature is shattered can temporarily paralyze the laws of heaven."

The lake boiled beneath her feet, and countless water droplets transformed into sharp blades, piercing the small world's sky. With every step forward, Yun Yao's foundation crumbled a little, but her eyes focused only on the distant golden pagoda and Chu Mochen's shattered Nascent Soul. When the thousandth crack appeared in the sky, she heard Liu Yan'er's laughter, mingled with the coldness of the laws of heaven, seeping through the cracks. "Yun Yao, do you think you can avoid the Divine Palace's reckoning by hiding in this small world of your own creation? Don't forget, your Divine Embryo was, from the very beginning, the bait I planted in the Sea of No Return."

Bait? Yun Yao's heart ached as she finally remembered the neglected reminder in the system space: "The Divine Embryo's development progress is 99%, and the remaining 1% must be completed in the outside world." It turned out that her self-righteous retreat was just a process of fattening up the Divine Embryo for the Divine Palace. And Chu Mochen, this fool, had actually spent a hundred years using the Nascent Soul as bait to delay the time for the Divine Palace to close the net.

"Chu Mochen, I'm coming!" Yun Yao let out a nearly piercing roar. Her foundations of Taoism shattered completely at that moment, transforming into thousands of strands of chaotic energy that enveloped her. The sky of her small world collapsed, and she finally saw the outside world—a blood-red sky divided by twelve inverted golden pagodas. Each tower hung the flags of the major sects of the cultivation world, and strung on the flagpoles were the heads of several Mahayana cultivators.

At the top of the golden pagoda in the center, Liu Yan'er looked down at her, a mechanical glint in her eyes. "Chaos Saint, you've finally come out. Look at you now. Your foundation is shattered, your godhead is incomplete, and even the system you rely on most..." She raised her hand, and the silver bell on Yun Yao's wrist suddenly exploded, revealing the "Heavenly Dao Divine Seal" embedded within. "I have long since transformed it into a surveillance camera for the Divine Palace."

Yun Yao looked at the falling silver bell fragments and suddenly laughed. It wasn't a laugh of despair, but relief—because she finally understood why the system always froze at crucial moments, and why Chu Mochen resolutely refused to enter the small world to cultivate. It turned out that from the beginning to the end, she was the only one who had been kept in the dark, thinking that she could use the small world to avoid the laws of nature, but she didn't know that she had already been on a larger chessboard.

"Liu Yan'er, are the divine patterns on your face a reward from the Divine Palace?" Yun Yao wiped the golden blood from the corner of her mouth, and the chaotic energy condensed into a translucent Dharma image behind her. "But don't forget, back in the cold palace, who taught you to use the self-torture trick to deceive Chu Mochen's sympathy. Now that you have become a dog of the Divine Palace, did they tell you that your spiritual roots were actually a flaw I deliberately left?"

For the first time, a crack appeared on Liu Yan'er's face: "You...you knew this a long time ago?"

"Know what? Do you know that the Divine Palace has planted the 'Seal of Order' in every generation of Saint Maidens? Do you know that you're just a puppet they've created to replace you? Or do you know..." Yun Yao suddenly coughed up a mouthful of black blood, but her smile became even more wanton. "Does Chu Mochen hold back every time he does this to convince the Divine Palace that he still cherishes the bond between master and servant?"

These words hit Liu Yan'er like a hammer. She stumbled half a step, and cracks appeared in the gears behind her. "Impossible... I am the Divine Palace's chosen Messenger of Order. Chu Mochen... he clearly destroyed my spiritual roots with his own hands!"

"Waste your spiritual roots?" Yun Yao condensed a stream of chaotic sword energy at her fingertips. "Do you think that with his strength, destroying your spiritual roots would take three moves? He simply planted a fake death curse in your spiritual veins to trick the Divine Palace into thinking you've lost your usefulness. Otherwise, do you think that with this little trick of yours, you could stir up trouble in the world of cultivation for a hundred years?"

Liu Yan'er's eyes were completely panicked. She had obviously never considered that her self-righteous counterattack was just a trap set by Chu Mochen. At this moment, Yun Yao could clearly feel that as Liu Yan'er's principles wavered, the chains on the distant golden pagoda were loosening - Chu Mochen's Nascent Soul was still alive.

"Now, it's my turn to ask you." Yun Yao stepped into the air, the chaotic energy condensed into a sword in her palm, "Where is Chu Mochen? Where did you hide the divine fetus?"

Liu Yan'er suddenly let out a sharp laugh, her face turning completely metallic. "You think you can resist by destroying your little world? The laws of the Divine Palace have long since seeped into your soul. Look at your hand—" She pointed at Yun Yao's arm, which was becoming transparent. "The Chaos Godhead is crumbling. You will soon become a puppet of the Heavenly Dao, just like me!"

A sharp pain shot through her fingertips, and Yun Yao saw her arm dissipating into a stream of data. But she didn't stop, instead she quickened her pace—for she heard Chu Mochen's voice, faint but resolute, emanating from the depths of the golden pagoda: "Yao'er, use the energy of chaos to attack the divine seal. That was the foreshadowing we laid back then in the palace!"

Prince's Palace? Yun Yao suddenly remembered that ten years ago, when Chu Mochen retired, he had planted a "Reincarnation Curse" within her divine fetal mark. Using mortal blood as a lure, it specifically countered the Heavenly Dao Divine Seal. She looked down at her chest, where a blood-red incantation emerged. It was the heart-protecting talisman Chu Mochen had drawn for her by slashing his wrist.

"I see..." Yun Yao's lips curled into a smile as she let her arm completely dissipate, letting the chaotic energy run rampant. She sketched Chu Mochen's birth date in mid-air, and the scene of their love by the ancient well in the palace suddenly resurfaced—back then, he was still a tsundere prince pretending to be cold, yet he would secretly add spiritual spring water to her ointment.

As her memories returned, Yun Yao's spirit suddenly surged several times over. Her transparent arm recondensed, this time not as a stream of data, but as a solid body of chaos. She saw Liu Yan'er's horrified eyes, saw the golden pagoda crumbling, and even saw herself on the seventh floor, floating in the Spirit Spring of Creation, the last fragment of her godhead glimmering at her heart.

"Liu Yan'er, you lose." Yun Yao grasped the Hongmeng Sword that condensed from the void. This was Chu Mochen's life-saving magic weapon, and now it obeyed her call. "Because you will never understand, the most powerful power of mortals is not godhood, not system, but... the courage to trample even the way of heaven for the sake of important people."

A flash of sword light passed, and Liu Yan'er's metallic body exploded, disintegrating into countless gears that scattered through the air. Yun Yao, not bothering to pursue, rushed straight towards the golden pagoda. Just as she was about to touch the spiritual spring, she saw Chu Mochen falling from the tower's base. His white clothes had turned to blood, and his Nascent Soul floated across his chest, almost transparent. But the moment he saw her, a smile crossed his eyes: "I knew... you would come."

Yun Yao caught him and felt his weak heartbeat: "Fool, why didn't you tell me the conspiracy of the Divine Palace?"

Chu Mochen coughed up black blood, but reached out to wipe the golden blood off her face. "Because you died protecting me back then... This time... it's my turn to be the bait." He looked down at the divine fetus in the spiritual spring. "Yao'er, the Divine Palace is targeting your Chaos Godhead. As long as you can..."

“Stop talking.