Chapter 228: Medical Shadow Emerges: Poison Mist Trap

Shen Yan crushed the mirror reflecting his weeping image, dust settling on his eyelashes. He didn’t blink, nor did he stop. The sword scar on his hand still burned hot, like a red-hot needle piercing his flesh, but he knew it was real—Ye Zhao had come, meaning the others were still here.

He moved forward, each step feeling like walking on knife tips. The backlash after Spiritual Power exhaustion made his bones creak, like rusted gears forced to turn. But he couldn’t stop. Stopping meant death, meant being completely devoured by this Mirror Realm.

The air began to change.

At first, it was just a faint sweet metallic scent, like rust mixed with overcooked herbs. Then a layer of Green Mist appeared at the edges of his vision, not thick but sticky, clinging like the trail left by a slug crawling over glass.

The System Interface flickered.

【Detected high concentration of mentally corrosive particles, Source Code Spiritual Root efficiency decreased by 47%】

Shen Yan’s throat tightened. This data was too precise, precise enough that it didn’t feel like a reminder, but like a verdict.

He leaned against a tilted broken mirror, knees trembling. His breathing grew heavy, lungs feeling stuffed with wet cotton. Images flashed chaotically before his eyes—the orphanage’s iron gate, instant noodle cups on his desk, Ye Zhao’s blood-stained sword, Pei Yue’s hands lowering to apply acupuncture needles… all Memory Fragments, stirred into a muddle by the poison mist.

“No,” he gritted his teeth. “I haven’t found her yet.”

He raised his hand, sketching in the air. His fingertips trembled violently, but he stubbornly wrote out a segment of Code:

“Create air filtration function.”

The Program was extremely simple, only setting one condition: identify and repel Spiritual Energy flows with corrosive characteristics. No optimization, no fault tolerance mechanism, purely a Temporary Patch forged by risking his life.

Run.

His head buzzed, as if someone had hammered his Temple. Blood beads instantly appeared on his forehead, sliding down his brow bone, dripping into his eyes, burning with pain.

But his vision cleared for a moment.

In that instant, a figure flickered in an ancient mirror far away.

Dark hair pinned with a hairpin, light green silk skirt, Medicine Pouch swaying gently.

It was Pei Yue.

She stood in the mirror, lips parting and closing, but no sound came out. Her fingers moved slightly, as if forming a seal, or trying to grasp something.

Shen Yan’s throat dried. He opened his mouth to call her, but his voice was swallowed by the Green Mist as soon as it left his lips, without even an echo.

He pushed against the mirror, moving forward. One step, two steps. His legs almost weren’t his own anymore, sustained only by sheer will.

As he neared that ancient mirror, the poison mist grew heavier. The green thickened like oil, clinging to his skin and seeping into pores. The System frantically alarmed:

【Warning: neural Interface overload】

【Mental Power remaining: 12%】

The ground began to move. The mirror surface beneath his feet rippled like water, reflecting future images—himself bleeding from all seven apertures, convulsing on the ground, eyeballs bursting, black foam spewing from his mouth.

Illusion? Or rehearsal?

He didn’t know. But he knew if he continued like this, that Image would soon become reality.

“Need to upgrade the Program,” he gasped, suddenly raising his hand, grabbing his glasses and hurling them at the nearest mirror surface.

“Crack!”

The sound of shattered glass was sharp and piercing, like an alarm blaring. In that moment, the Green Mist shuddered, its frequency disrupted.

Now!

Seizing the interference Window, he Refactored the Code in his mind:

“The closed-loop purification cycle initiates, synchronized with the heartbeat, scanning and clearing toxic code flows in real-time.”

The new program was three times more complex than the previous one. His mental power drained like water from a leaky bucket, pouring out uncontrollably. He could feel his mind growing heavier, as if filled with cement.

Yet the program ran successfully.

The toxic mist receded by three feet, and his vision cleared slightly. Pei Yue within the ancient mirror finally appeared fully. She raised her hand, a gentle light glowing in her palm, and pushed it forward softly.

The healing light descended, showering over Shen Yan.

In an instant, the churning toxins within his body seemed to pause, then rapidly disintegrated. The stinging pain in his bones eased, and his breathing became smoother.

The terminal popped up a notice:

【Exogenous therapeutic intervention detected, vital signs recovering】

Shen Yan let out a sigh of relief, nearly collapsing to his knees. He looked up at Pei Yue, his lips trembling as he spoke: “You…”

Before he could finish, the mirror surface suddenly tore apart.

Crack!

A pitch-black fissure erupted from the center of the ancient mirror, and several tentacles shot out, coiling around Pei Yue’s waist like snakes. Her body stiffened, and she turned back, her eyes filled with urgency. Her lips moved slightly, as if saying, “Run, now.”

Shen Yan reacted swiftly, immediately calling up the decompilation command, his fingers tapping frantically in the air:

“Analyze tentacle protocol! Execute forced disconnection!”

The program ran.

Failed.

【Target does not belong to any known spiritual protocol, identification impossible】

Try again.

“Permission escalation! Force inject interruption command!”

Still failed.

【Command unresponsive, target protocol level unknown】

Panicking, he pulled out the Star-Shattering Token, attempting to forcibly activate its core energy. But the moment he mobilized his spiritual power, a sharp pain exploded in his chest, and blood gushed from his nose, splattering onto the mirror like tiny blossoms.

The tentacles dragged Pei Yue toward the mirror. Her figure began to blur, her light fading bit by bit.

“No—!” Shen Yan lunged forward, reaching out to grab her.

So close, just a little more!

His fingertips brushed against the hem of her clothes, and then there was nothing.

The mirror returned to calm, the green mist gathering once more, as if nothing had ever happened.

Shen Yan knelt on the ground, trembling all over. Blood dripped from his nose down his chin, splashing onto the mirror surface and spreading in ripples.

He had lost.

For the first time, completely and utterly lost.

But he couldn’t accept it.

Gritting his teeth, he raised his right hand and bit hard into his index finger.

Blood welled up.

On the mirror surface, he wrote one final line of code in blood:

“Initiate—Blood Pact·Star-Shattering Protocol Zero Point One”

As soon as the bloody characters were written, they ignited with an eerie blue flame. The system interface flickered briefly before displaying a line of text:

【Binding biological key… Loading unnamed module】

Before the program finished running, his consciousness began to blur. His vision darkened, his ears rang, as if he had been thrown into a washing machine spinning at high speed.

But he kept his eyes open.

Staring fixedly at the ancient mirror that had swallowed Pei Yue.

He knew she had left something behind. Perhaps a mark, perhaps a wisp of her aura, perhaps just a thought. But he believed she hadn’t completely vanished.

Just as Ye Zhao had left behind sword marks, Pei Yue must have left a clue as well.

He couldn’t hold on any longer.

His body went limp, collapsing onto the shattered mirror surface. His cheek pressed against the cold fragments, blood seeping from his nose, fingers, and forehead.

Yet his right hand remained suspended in mid-air, still poised in the act of writing code.

The blood dripping from his fingertips fell precisely onto the inner side of his collar.

There, a faint healing light mark, almost invisible, quietly appeared before vanishing once more.

Shen Yan passed out.

But his finger suddenly twitched slightly.

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(End of Chapter)