Ming Yuen suddenly felt a shift in the air, a faint but unmistakable sense of impending daugging at his heart. His instincts screamed at him to retreat, but before he could act, a wave of chilling, murderous i swept over him like a storm.

  His eyes widened as he barely mao focus on the figure before him—Yang Lie had already closed the distance, moving with the speed of a predator ready to strike.

  In a heartbeat, Ming Yuen eled his Spiritual Qi into his sword, its bde shimmering as his Awakening Stage Sword Aura ignited with a brilliant glow. Desperation surged through him as he raised his on, hoping to parry the oning attack.

  But Yang Lie's strike was like a falling mountain—unyielding, unstoppable. The sheer weight of the blow resohrough Ming Yuen's body, his sword trembling uhe force.

  Before he could fully prehend it, the impact sent him hurtling backward, crashing through the air like a leaf caught in a violent gale.

  The world blurred around him as he struggled tain his bahe force of the attack still reverberating through his very bones.

  "Damn it!" Ming Yuen spat, his voice seething with frustration as he steadied himself, wiping a trace of blood from the er of his mouth. "What kind of trickery did you use to gain such power, you bastard?"

  His eyes burned with defiahough his body still throbbed from the crushing blow. Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip on his sword, the air around him vibrating with renewed determination. "But don't think you're the only oh tricks up your sleeve. I, too, have a trump card!"

  .

  .

  From behind, Reon's eyes widened in shock as he overheard Ming Yuen's words. A trump card? he thought, his mind rag. Is he talking about that item from Niu Ling?

  Doubt and fusion clouded his thoughts. Where did Ming Yue now? He wasn't supposed to receive that for another month!

  Reon's heart pounded in his chest as the realization hit him like a cold wave. This... this isn't how it was supposed to unfold.

  His breath quied as the pieces began to fall into pce. Could this all be because I cimed the Eclipse Orb?

  The moment he had betrayed Niu Ling fshed through his mind—oeful decision altering the course of events. Did they strike a deal with Ming Yuen earlier than pnned, sensing my betrayal?

  Or Could it be that this was aem Ming Yuen had acquired on his own? The thought g him, casting shadows of doubt over the situation.

  .

  .

  Ming Yuen reached into his spatial ring, his fingers brushing against the smooth surface of a hidden artifact.

  As he drew it out, a brilliant light filled the air, radiating from the objeow resting in his palm—a gleaming, a mirror.

  Its polished surface shimmered like liquid silver, refleg ahereal glow that seemed to pulse with untold power.

  The edges of the mirror were adorned with intricate carvings, symbols of a long-fotten age, and the light it emitted cut through the surrounding darkness like a bea, casting an aura of ominous energy.

  .

  .

  Reon's eyes widened in disbelief as he reized the mirror in Ming Yuen's hand. There was no mistaking it—it was the very same artifact Ming Yuen had used in the Monthly Duelis of the Outer Sect, ahat was still a month away in the inal timeline of the novel.

  The Phantom Mirror of Yore, a Low-Tier Rare Grade item of fearsome reputation.

  His heart raced as memories of the inal story flooded back. The Phantom Mirror was no ordinary artifact; it was a cursed relic capable of summoning the malevolent spirits of a warriors long fotten by time.

  Each spirit it called forth was fueled by boundless hatred and untamed power, but the price for using it was steep—the wielder risked being trapped in the mirror's eerie, haunted realm for eternity.

  In the novel, Ming Yuen had summoned a Low Stage Foundatioablishment Realm evil spirit to battle Yang Lie. Yet despite the terror that such a summon inspired, Ming Yuen still tasted defeat.

  Yang Lie had already broken through to the Mid Stage of Qi Solidification Realm, his power surging to levels that matched that of the Foundatioablishment Realm.

  Even without the aid of his temporary two-minute surge in power—his so-called "Low Stage Foundatioablishment Realm experience card"—Yang Lie had prevailed.

  Ming Yuen had not only lost the match but had been struck down with such force that he was left in a deep a, his sciousrapped within the very mirror he had summoned.

  For two harrowing months, his soul had wahe haunted realm of the Phantom Mirror, battling to return to the world of the living.

  Now, as Reon's gaze locked onto the shining artifa Ming Yuen's grasp, a wave of dread washed over him.

  The timeline had shifted.

  Ming Yuen wasn't supposed to possess this item yet—he wasn't supposed to unleash its power until a month ter. Reon's mind raced as the weight of this realizatioled in.

  If Ming Yuehe mirror now, the future he knew could unravel in ways far more dangerous than the inal story foretold.