Chapter Ninety: The Past

"Nine Infants, do you know where Qiongqi is? I’ve brought him in!" Wu Ming began looking around, searching for Qiongqi.

"Qiongqi is no ordinary beast. Under normal circumstances, he is not someone a master can subdue. Although the Mountains-and-Seas Mirror can tame beast-form beings, the gap in strength between user and target cannot be too great. For the exact details, Master can call Little Disk out and ask him," Nine Infants explained.

"Who is Little Disk?"

"Little Disk is the spirit of the Mountains-and-Seas Mirror. Master calls him Little Disk. With its fusion with the Mirror of Time and Space, the Mountains-and-Seas Mirror has been upgraded, and now Lord Little Disk can manifest in physical form as well!" Nine Infants said with a respectful look.

"Oh, I see. So it’s Little Disk!" Wu Ming suddenly understood.

"Little Disk, come out for a moment!"

Wu Ming called toward the palace.

At the top of the steps, the enormous red gate creaked open. Out came a chubby little boy, soft and plump all over, his arms like sections of pale white lotus roots. With great effort, he climbed over the threshold, which was nearly half his height, grinning as he waved at Wu Ming. Small as he was, climbing the doorstep clearly took work, but once he broke into a run, his speed was astonishing. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Wu Ming.

Wu Ming studied the adorable little fellow closely. He was practically a super-cute doll come to life, his round, rosy cheeks tender and dewy, so tempting one could hardly resist taking a bite. His hair was tied into a distinctive upright tuft, and he was a true darling-killer, capable of winning over every soft-hearted soul in sight. Good heavens, the maiden in my heart is about to burst with tenderness.

Wu Ming stumbled and fell flat on his face, meeting the ground with his features in a very intimate and painful embrace.

Little Disk very considerately helped him up, even pulling out a small handkerchief to wipe away the dust that did not exist from Wu Ming’s face. He was the very image of a little gentleman.

"Little Disk is such a good boy." Wu Ming instantly adopted the look of a loving father, reaching out to pat Little Disk’s head with affection and then pinching his plump, bouncy cheeks in a bit of mischief. The feel was rather wonderful, almost on par with Senior Sister Lingmei’s. Ahem. Better stop this little bout of infatuation. There was still business to attend to. Wu Ming wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth and straightened the clothes that had been disheveled by the fall.

"Little Disk, did you see Qiongqi? I brought him in!"

"Do you mean him?" Little Disk waved a hand, and a holographic projection appeared before Wu Ming, clearly displaying Qiongqi’s figure. Even the surrounding scenery was shown with perfect clarity, complete with sound and light effects, creating an almost immersive experience.

"Good grief, what kind of cutting-edge tech is this? Holograms? I doubt even the most advanced technology in the world could pull this off!" Wu Ming reached out to touch the projection, but his hand passed straight through it without the slightest obstruction. After a few attempts and once the novelty had worn off, he began to examine it seriously.

Qiongqi seemed to be lost in a forest. The woods were filled with a pale white mist, and all the trees and branches were strangely shaped, growing straight up toward the sky. Not a single leaf could be seen. The branches, large and small, long and short, were all a peculiar silver-gray, flashing from time to time with faint ripples, like waves gliding across the surface of water. From the trunks grew tiny red blossoms, and even stranger, those little flowers were slowly spinning.

There was no soil beneath them, not even a trace of green growth. The ground was made entirely of silver-gray gravel, forming a scene both eerie and oddly familiar. Wu Ming had seen this image often in his dreams. It felt strangely familiar.

"Where is this place? It feels so familiar. Is this also within the Mountains-and-Seas Mirror’s space? How did Qiongqi end up in such a strange place?" Wu Ming looked back at Little Disk.

"That’s your dream world, Master. Of course it feels familiar, since it belongs to your own dreams!" Little Disk replied in a babyish voice.

"As for why Qiongqi is there, Master should ask yourself. It was your subconscious that arranged for him to go there."

"I see. Then I still don’t know. Can you bring him here?" Wu Ming scratched his head helplessly.

"Of course, Master!" Little Disk actually stretched out his chubby little hand and, just like that, pulled Qiongqi straight out of the holographic projection.

"Whoa!" Wu Ming was completely stunned. He had clearly touched the hologram several times just now, and nothing had happened at all. Yet this little fellow had actually hooked Qiongqi out of it so casually.

"Who’s there? Who ambushed me? If you’ve got guts, fight me for three hundred rounds!" The moment Qiongqi appeared, he bared his fangs and claws, wearing a vicious expression.

"Damn it, don’t drag the innocent into this!" Wu Ming flashed behind Nine Infants.

"Master, it’s fine. In this place, the laws of heaven and earth are your will. He can’t hurt you," Nine Infants said, covering her mouth as she snickered.

"So it was you, brat!" Qiongqi sat down on the ground with a look of sudden ease.

"Don’t be rude to Master, or I’ll scratch you!" Nine Infants shook her little fist at Qiongqi, sounding almost like a little girl.

"You’re Nine Infants? You’ve actually broken through to the Fifth Tier. How is that possible? Could the legend be true?" Qiongqi seemed to sink into thought.

"Of course it’s true. There’s a reason the Mountains-and-Seas Mirror became the treasured guardian of the One-Qi Dao Gate! I was just lucky enough to follow Master..." Nine Infants began rambling on. As women go, even female beasts can be talkative creatures!

"What legend? What are you two talking about? Nine Infants?" Wu Ming felt utterly baffled. As the main figure in all this, and the owner of the Mountains-and-Seas Mirror, he turned out to know nothing about it. That made him very unhappy.

"Master, it’s like this! The Mountains-and-Seas Mirror can help beast-form beings evolve into the ultimate form of their current state!"

"Yes, I know that. Little Disk told me already! So what?"

"That..." Nine Infants suddenly had no idea how to continue.

"You brat, you’re sitting on a mountain of fortune and don’t even know it. You possess the greatest treasure under heaven and still don’t realize it. A treasure that can help beast-form beings evolve—how could that not be astonishing? If I had not sought greater strength, would I have committed so many wrongs and ended up cast out by heaven and earth?" Qiongqi looked as though he wanted to complain to the heavens themselves.

"In my younger days, if I had not been desperate to raise my rank, would I have devoured the righteous and the noble? If I heard that someone was loyal and honest, I would go bite off that person’s nose. If I heard that someone was steeped in evil, I would instead hunt wild beasts to present as gifts. It was because my innate divine authority was the God of Deceit, and I felt some divine authority within me was about to awaken, leading me to believe these matters were somehow connected, that I committed all those absurd deeds. Otherwise, with my noble identity as the son of Shaohao, would I have sunk to such petty, ridiculous behavior and ultimately been driven by Emperor Shun to the northwest, becoming one of the Four Great Fiend Beasts?"

Qiongqi had suddenly turned into a wronged woman.