Chapter 121 Yin Peach Blossom (51) "Which one of him do you really care about...?"
"I anticipated the time coordinates you locked, and I was more inclined to think that you would choose to return to the time near her death. But I also felt that even if her existence could shake your rationality, if everything you planned was for her, how could you let yourself sink into depravity for a moment?"
"No one understands better than the eye of observation that struggling on a single worldline is futile. No one can guarantee that the world we live in and everything we experience will ultimately be nothing more than a mirage that will be discarded."
Jiang Linji's fingers, which were turning the pages, paused, as if recalling something: "And you really do understand her. For my senior, even falling from the sky, she felt it was the most exhilarating flight she had ever experienced."
Xie Tan found himself enjoying hearing about her from others, as if chasing after her past that he couldn't know, picking up the glittering fragments she had shaken off like little birds.
It seemed more beautiful than a gemstone, allowing him to admire and caress it endlessly.
He thought that even without the comic book and the character development system, even if she wasn't his benefactor from another world, and they just met in this world in an ordinary way, he would still become friends with her.
So he didn't even notice that he smiled very faintly.
“You will not back down on this step, and the Order respects your wishes. Therefore, the most urgent task is to think about how to deal with our enemies,” Jiang Linji said.
After hearing her words, Xie Tan was certain that his guess was correct.
Then a new problem arose.
If he truly possesses the ability to determine the trajectory, then there is an even more extreme possibility: extinguishing the flames and deducing the trajectory of the inability of a god to be born within the smoke mirror. Once this point is determined, all trajectories will no longer need to cross it, because the "countless world lines" may cease to exist, leaving only this world line where "god does not exist," which will naturally be the only reality.
The likely outcome is that the Smoke Mirror will become Black Goat's energy tool, allowing Black Goat to dominate, expand continuously, and become the ruler of the dark world.
But at least it wasn't as complicated as it is now. After all, there are no immortal dynasties in the world. Even without the Smoke Mirror, the cycle of death and rebirth is the fundamental rule of the world.
But now, the world itself is a castle in the air, and all the fighting may just be chasing bubbles.
Therefore, eliminating the existence of the Mirror God might actually be the best outcome.
But he didn't. He made it inevitable that "Xiao Liu would give birth to the god in the mirror," not only making it inevitable that Xiao Liu would escape, but also making it inevitable that the god would be born in the mirror.
He eliminated the only possibility among countless possibilities: "no god in the mirror".
Therefore, one more thing became inevitable.
It's the same black goat that made a wish upon the smoke mirror, wishing for immortality.
Their goal was to eliminate the Black Goat, but his actions instead crushed the enemy's biggest buff, which was also their greatest obstacle.
So Xie Tan pondered Jiang Linji's last words. They sounded nice, respecting his wishes, but in reality, Jiang Linji had simply done what he wanted to do without giving the religious order the right to say "no." And now, sitting here, he was just calmly declaring, "Based on this, let's talk."
...Even without reading the comic's description, he knew how arrogant he would look if he acted like this.
Fortunately, the person in front of him was a calm and composed vice leader who acted with his brain. If it were someone else, he would definitely be so angry that he would want to hit them.
Xie Tan sighed inwardly.
He composed himself, maintained his composure, and suddenly asked, "When did you recognize me?"
This wasn't a ploy to boost his popularity; it was his genuine question. He knew his "unfailing strategy" was a lie, but the person before him was likely the real one. He wanted to hear the smartest person explain why they would mistake him for Xiao Liu's child.
How did he come up with this idea? He deduced the cause from Xiao Liu's special treatment, and his cleverness backfired. After all, clever people are often suspicious, but once they've made up their minds, they're more convinced than anyone else.
Or was this a test? She knew he wasn't; was she just bluffing him?
So he simply asked directly.
He thought she would offer clues, share her reasoning, or act as a riddle teller, or point out his flaws and reveal them as well.
But Jiang Linji looked up at him, smiled, and said, "Your eyes look a lot like hers."
Xie Tan was taken aback.
“She’s just more lively,” Jiang Linji added. “You seem much more composed than her, so why did you come alone?”
Xie Tan suddenly realized that it was already dark, but the darkness outside the window was churning. It wasn't just night; it was a black fog that had enveloped the library, blocking access inside and out.
No wonder there are so few people in the library today; it's all leaving and no one coming in.
With the vice-leader personally overseeing things from his own stronghold, trapping him would be a piece of cake... Should we call it an honor?
However, Xie Tan had seen his share of ups and downs, and he smiled and said, "It's not just that my eyes resemble hers."
Jiang Linji noticed that the mother and son had a very similar smile when they looked down on something.
She watched him quietly for a while. The fog outside the window drifted away, and the night sky, which was originally dark, was no longer as thick as the fog.
Xie Tan knew this was just a bluff, but then Jiang Linji said, "Are you really sure? You and Lu Jinzhao have a good relationship, right?"
Xie Tan didn't understand. How could they have made such a decision?
He said that he was just saying that he and Xiao Liu were not people who would be trapped, but what did the vice leader think of all that?
That's the downside of facing someone with truly high intelligence; he can't keep up with the usual brainstorming, let alone the speed at which this person's mind works.
But he couldn't think any further.
The moment she mentioned "Lu Jinzhao," he instinctively became wary. Even without understanding her thoughts, he felt a subtle threat.
"She is not someone who can be trapped, so she said goodbye to everyone properly, but even the most perfect farewell is still a farewell, and those who followed her will always feel sad when she left."
At this moment, Jiang Linji spoke to him more like a teacher than a vice leader in charge of the Mirror Cult: "She had no choice. She doesn't want you to follow in her footsteps. Do you want those who are gazing at you to never see you again? Lu Jinzhao is resolute and always faces everything with positivity. He seems to be free from gloom, but such a person, once truly struck down, might be more frantic than anyone else."
Director Jiang's voice was still as gentle as water and clouds, just like his conversation when he returned to school. Now it sounded more like he was comforting a student with suicidal tendencies, as if he were about to die at any moment.
What are you thinking about now?
There must be some crucial information here that he needs to sort out.
But it wasn't good to remain silent for too long, so Xie Tan seemed unmoved by her words, simply staring coldly into her eyes and saying, "Director Jiang, you just need to know that my bottom line isn't just her."
He also remembered the cult leader saying that Lu Jinzhao was a "filter" for solar energy.
After a moment of silence in the office, Jiang Linji said, "Of course."
She calmly said, "It's just that his existence is like this. He walks out of the mirror, and all the solar power that has been collected will pass through him and return to the original source of the broken Smoke Mirror. If the true god wants to descend again, he is indispensable."
This "true god" is probably the god of mirrors.
In the eyes of this group of people, only that sinister and eerie guy could be called the Smoke Mirror, so how could it be someone like Lu Jinzhao?
So even if, as the forum speculates, Lu Jinzhao and the Mirror God are of equal status with one mirror and two souls, he is merely an energy recycling device.
"Your religion's ambitions are nowhere near those of the Black Goats; those goats want to be gods themselves," Xie Tan said lazily, leaning back in his chair.
"Therefore, the religious community stands here today. We are grateful for the lessons learned from our predecessors. We must always have a sense of awe."
"These are your conditions?" To summon the Mirror God again?
So, why did the Mirror God fall later? He saw the result of the mirror shattering and falling into the sea.
However, to Xie Tan's surprise, the vice-leader, who was clear about the world line and orbit determination and had observation as his tool, did not know why such a big thing happened.
"The black sun has never appeared on this timeline so far," Jiang Linji said. "No matter how many timelines there are, the Smoke Mirror is unique. The sun may have shattered in another timeline, but we haven't found that timeline yet."
Xie Tan raised an eyebrow: "So you need my 'eye of observation'?"
“If you could enlighten us, that would be even better, but even if we observe it, it might only lead to a broken ending. The reason is hard to trace; the timelines and worldlines are too far apart to be reversed or changed. You’ve already used your orbital determination. If the eye on the Black Goat’s side hadn’t been used yet, it could be utilized… Unfortunately, the Order wouldn’t gamble on such a greedy creature. Self-reliance is something we learned from them,” Jiang Linji said. “So there’s no need to trace it back. The Order’s choice is to let this line become the ‘only’ way to restore the Smoke Mirror.”
The only one. Xie Tan's heart stirred.
Countless possibilities, countless timelines, but only the Smoke Mirror is the same; the Smoke Mirror is the "unique one".
If in countless worldlines, the sun is always broken.
Could the only reality be the world line that was restored by the shattered sun?
So this is what the cult truly wanted to achieve.
The Mirror Cult is indeed a replica of the Black Goat. For their own purposes, they have enormous ambitions. One cannot find God, so they create God; one cannot find the prophesied eye, so they create the eye of observation; one cannot find the source of the broken mirror, so they piece it together themselves.
And what Jiang Linji meant was... that the Eye of Observation can only determine the orbit once?
The cult may have considered using him, but his sudden appearance and mysterious identity made it impossible to determine whether he was the Eye of Observation, and his plans and actions were also unknown.
Jiang Linji's sudden change of attitude, making Yun Song the chief priest, was a test of this.
If it fails, it means he's not the right person. Killing him is just as good. The cult only needs to rely on others, not allies. How dare he pretend to challenge the cult?
If he truly is the Eye of Observation, then this is a powerful aid to the Order, making cooperation even easier.
In the eyes of the cult, his outcome was quite ruthless and unquestionable, which is why Jiang Linji said "I know his conditions" when he came up.
Jiang Linji knew that none of this could escape his notice, so he joked, "It seems we should set some new conditions."
"No need to open it. Haven't you been using me all along?" Xie Tan smirked. "The Eye of Observation captures darkness, and darkness will naturally gravitate towards the Eye of Observation. With me by Lu Jinzhao's side, your solar energy recovery mission is progressing rapidly, isn't it?"
They even fed them Observer II, helping them broaden their thinking. Isn't this Dharma assembly just about reclaiming the power of those Observers the Order captured?
Jiang Linji: "That's why I say we are the most indispensable allies."
Xie Tan looked at her coldly, without responding.
Jiang Linji could tell he was really angry, which made her genuinely laugh.
This was the time she smiled the most during the entire conversation.
“I also have a question. To fulfill our grand ambitions, the power of the sun is indispensable; we all need it. But Lu Jinzhao… is not like the consciousness that the Smoke Mirror would give birth to. I suspect that the god in the mirror is not him, or that the god in the mirror was not in his current form when he was first born. He is now a ‘fragmented state’ of the god.”
"You know better than I how much evil has taken root and how much chaos has sprung up under the black sun. You know what kind of existence it is."
"When the broken mirror is mended, he will either vanish into thin air or become unrecognizable. What will you do then?"
Which one of him do you actually care about?
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