Chapter 72: Shattered Mirror, Dreams Dispersed, Inevitable Fate

  Deer!

  "It's that deer!"

  Two voices, in unison, one was Shu Bailin's surprise and the other was Jing Gongzi's terror.

  The two people reacted at the same time.

  The gentle breeze rippled the surface of the lake, reflecting the golden light on her face. Her robes fluttered around her as if a sun god temple appeared behind her head, slowly opening its mouth:

  "I feed the deer for half a day, only with dry grass, without giving them water. After half a day, I release them. The deer are thirsty and will necessarily look for a source of water."

  "After a day and a half of sunshine, the puddles formed by three days of rain had already dried up. The only water source nearby is Yuantan."

  "The deer has no choice but to go to Riyuetan."

  Ning Feng's words were devoid of emotion, but others didn't know that. However, Shu Bailin, who had been following him all along, was well aware of it.

  He recalled the time when Ning Feng went hunting, sparing the young deer and the pregnant doe, only to realize now that it was all for this moment.

  "Moreover, due to the continuous rain, in recent days, all beasts could easily drink water from puddles, so they wouldn't need to go to the Moon Pond. The crocodiles have been hungry for several days, when they see a deer coming, how can they not eat it?"

  As they spoke, the rotten wood that was originally floating on the edge of the Moon Pond churned and howled, struggling under the power of the Sun God Symbol, until every last one of them had lost all signs of life.

  They're all crocodiles!

  "You put the sun god symbol in the deer's belly!"

  Jing Gongzi was furious and had reached this point, where he didn't know that he had fallen into a trap.

  Deer enters alligator's belly, zodiac enters lunar pond.

  "I refuse to accept this calculation! I refuse to accept it!"

  Ning Feng glanced at his mouth and said lightly: "Why should I need you to obey?"

  He smiled and his smile was as clean and clear as sunlight. He tilted his head and said, "I told you. I put a lot of thought into it."

  "I've said it before. You're not going anywhere today."

  As they spoke, Ning Feng stretched out his arms, facing the moon pond, as if embracing the great day.

  "Rumble, rumble, rumble~~~~~"

  Under Ning Feng's guidance, the last Sun God Symbol's power burst out in full force. Columns of water shot up into the sky and dispersed, transforming into a rainbow that appeared in all directions.

  Even the most beautiful rainbow will eventually dissolve in the brilliant light of the sun.

  The vast Moon Lake. Now it's an ocean of light, a world of fire, infinite light and heat merged into one lake, as if a whole red sun had fallen into the lake.

  "Ahhh~~~~~~"

  Jing Gongzi let out a miserable cry, at first it was still Ning Feng's voice, but later it became sharp and gloomy, like an old mouse hiding in the dark suddenly exposed to sunlight, making a panicked cry.

  "Hahaha~~~~~~~"

  The moon pond is steaming non-stop in the scorching heat, with thick fog swirling down. It was immediately evaporated by the scorching heat and rose up to form a cloud of misty clouds shrouded in the high air.

  "Is this really the legendary Cloud Dream Marsh?"

  Shu Bailin couldn't help but praise, occasionally stealing glances at Ning Feng who was half a step in front of him, looking at his arms raised upwards, making him appear even taller.

  "Ahh... I won't die, how can I die here?"

  "It should be you who dies, you are the first opponent of Ben Gongzi's debut, you are my whetstone, it should be you who dies."

  Jing Gongzi let out a heart-wrenching and lung-splitting scream, while the moonlit lake occasionally flashed with a dim light, as if it was about to condense the entire pool of water into a mirror. In an instant, it dissolved in the warm light.

  As time goes by, Yuantan is undergoing subtle changes.

  From a full moon at the beginning, to being bitten by a heavenly dog and having a mouthful taken away, then to a curved half-moon, gradually becoming a slender crescent moon...

  The name of Yuè Tán is well-deserved.

  The water of the Moon Pond is being evaporated continuously, getting less and less. The mist on the lake is getting thicker and thicker, emitting a crimson color under the sunset, reflecting thousands of purples and reds, with a unique beauty.

  On the shore of the Moon Pond, Ning Feng relaxed his arms, his breathing was short and shallow, and beads of sweat as big as beans rolled down from his forehead. Even he himself couldn't tell whether this sweat was due to exhausting all his Taiyang skills, fully activating the Taiyang symbol, or because... he was nervous!

  He leaned his ear sideways to listen for Mirror Gongzi's shouts, but got nothing.

  Behind Ning Feng, Shu Baili clenched her fists tightly, her fingernails digging into her palms without feeling any pain.

  He is also nervous.

  "Is he dead?"

  "If the power of the divine talisman is exhausted, the Moon Pond has not been evaporated dry, and Mirror Young Master has not died, then escaping like this will be troublesome."

  Shu Bailin stole a glance at Ning Feng, seeing the unmistakable fatigue on his face, but only a pair of eyes remained clear as ever, gazing at the lake, and couldn't help but feel admiration.

  "How can he be so calm? In the end, he can still chat with Mirror Gongzi, this demon king."

  "In the past few days, Ning Gongzi's methods were indeed ruthless, but there is a saying that 'a thief can't be on guard for a thousand days', we can't avoid mirrors, water, rivers and lakes forever, sooner or later he will take advantage of us."

  Thinking of this, Shu Bailin shivered with a chill and thought: "Such a scourge, it's better to die early and be clean."

  Soon, the water of the Moon Pond evaporated completely.

  The bottom of the Moon Pond was originally a deposit of silt, but now it is completely dry and cracked. Even the spring eyes are weakly bubbling up water, only to have it evaporate immediately.

  On the bottom of the cracked pool, a seal mark as large as the original Moon Pool was branded.

  The mysterious and profound lines are clearly visible, as if a pair of skilled hands had tapped them out one by one on the ground.

  "Slap!"

  In the last moment of stillness in the pool, whether it was Ning Feng or Shu Baili, they suddenly heard a strange noise in their hearts, as if something had shattered.

  The next moment, the wind suddenly rose, sweeping across the dry pond bottom, and countless dust and smoke were raised, covering the mark of the Sun God's seal, which gradually became invisible.

  "Finally... died."

  Shu Bailin let out a sigh of relief, finally at ease. His eyebrows danced with excitement as he thought about it - an existence that could mirror travel thousands of miles, omnipresent yet invisible, was truly too terrifying to contemplate. And yet, such an existence had died at Ning Feng's hands, which made him feel even more honored.

  Look at his expression, his joy and pride are even more than Ning Feng's.

  "Are you saved?"

  The tightly wound muscles relaxed, forcing himself not to think about the out-of-reach Cat Plague Town, but to think about those children whose souls were trapped in the mirror realm, whether they were saved with the shattering of the mirror.

  At this moment, standing by the Moon Pond, watching the sunset as if it had seen enough of the hustle and bustle, willing to fall down the mountain. Watching the spring water that was suppressed by the power of the lost divine symbol re-emerge with clear springs. Ning Feng and Shu Bai Ling did not know that when the sound of the mirror shattering came, there were continuous movements within a radius of over ten miles.

  Whether it was grass and trees or insects and beasts, whether they were flying birds or walking animals, they all looked in the direction of the Moon Pond under the drive of instinct.

  They would not know that in a distant city, in the best brothel of the city, the most popular courtesan suddenly screamed. The crowd rushed into the room and saw a young man in black clothes with a pale face dying on the spot.

  He held a mirror in his arms.

  Ning Feng and his companions could hardly have imagined that in a far-off polar region, where the sun never rises, there was a great city ablaze with lights, music and dance.

  Suddenly——

  First, the city's lights all went out, then no matter whether they were singing and dancing, or sleeping soundly, or quarreling, or fighting, people just stopped moving as if time had been frozen.

  In an instant, the great city and the multitude of people all vanished like a dream or a bubble.

  In the place where Da Cheng originally was, an old man in a black robe, who had been lying on the black ice, suddenly woke up from his dream.

  The grand city is resplendent, with lights shining brightly everywhere; the people are full of life and energy, but it all turns out to be just a dream of an old man in black robes.

  "Mirror!!!"

  The old man in black was shocked and angry, let out a loud roar, within a hundred miles, countless black ice rivers collapsed, countless icy storms formed and dissipated.

  He stood up tall and loudly shouted: "Who is it?! Whoever it is, I want you to pay for Mirror's life!"

  "With a whoosh, the black robe billowed out, and the old man sprang up from the ground, transforming into a streak of black light that flashed by in an instant, shattering everything in its path, whether it was ice mountains or raging winds."

  All the way, straight to the East!

  ……

  To the east of Moon Pond, gentle breeze and soft dew watched as the spring water gushed out again, forming a thin layer at the bottom of the pond, reflecting a bright sheen.

  It won't be long before it can reflect the bright moon in the sky again; it will only take a few years for fish to swim and play in it once more.

  It's as if nothing had ever happened, leaving no trace behind.

  "Ah, Lord Ning."

  Shu Bailin suddenly remembered something and asked as the two were about to turn around and leave: "What if the Lu Cang Shen symbol's plan to re-enter the alligator's belly doesn't succeed?"

  In addition to admiration, he also felt that heaven was still gracious, otherwise there would be too many unexpected events.

  Like a deer exhausted, never ran to the lake shore; like a person with itchy hands, halfway through killing and sacrificing at the Temple of Five Organs; again like an alligator reporting for a meal, didn't take a liking to that bit of meat...

  What's to be done?

  "What should I do?"

  Ning Feng turned his head, tilted it slightly, and then said in a very matter-of-fact and confident tone: "Of course, I was shouting for help."

  "Shout...shout for help...shout for life..."

  Shu felt like something was wrong with her whole body.

  He was expecting a meticulous plan, a step-by-step strategy, a foolproof scheme, a series of backup plans, but in the end... it's just a cry for help?!

  "What else can be done?"

  Ning Feng spread out his hands and said, "In my heart, I am still just a bookworm. I myself am only a young cultivator who has just left the mountain, with only insignificant cultivation, lacking in methods, and having only one divine talisman."

  "This is all I can do."

  "But... but..." Shu Bailin hesitated for a long time, thinking that it would be better not to come. Using the divine symbol as intimidation, and considering what Ning Feng had accomplished in the past few days, he decided to take a detour, being cautious and avoiding some places, enduring until he returned to the Taiyang God Palace, who would dare to come after him?

  "I know what you want to say?"

  As they spoke, Ning Feng had already taken steps towards the east, where the sun shines eternally.

  His back figure, a firm voice came:

  "It's just..."

  "Not everything in this world can be escaped or hidden."

  "Some things must be done."