Chapter 200: A Huge Plot? Mirage
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A Huge Plot? Mirage
Xue Bai's eyebrows were scrunched up, and his forehead gained as many wrinkles as Feng Hui's had as he finished reading the scroll.
However, who could blame him?
The writing on the scroll toppled his worldview and made him question his existence!
Moreover, it seemed to make a lot of sense.
'The memories are incomplete and flawed. Don't trust them blindly. They will hurt you more in the long run than they will help.'
If it were only that sentence that Xue Bai read, he would've written it off as a crazy man's ramblings, but the proof it gave made him think.
'They never wanted you to ascend. The Vein Transformation realm you cultivated is incomplete. They purposely left out the Stomach Vein. Therefore, your full circuit is incomplete. However, don't worry. I have fixed it for you. You should feel the difference even now.'
And the writings were indeed true.
Inside himself, Xue Bai could feel another 11th vein going from his dantian to his stomach. Beyond that, Xue Bai could also feel that his physique was slightly stronger than it was before, and his cultivation speed had also increased.
On top of it all, the main reason Xue Bai believed the writing on the scroll was that it made sense. In any cultivation novel, there were five vital organs, not four.
In stories that focused on physical cultivation, cultivators had to temper the heart, liver, kidney, lungs, and stomach, so why didn't the Baishen Plane have them?
You even had to temper the stomach in the Organ Tempering realm, so why wasn't it included in the much more important Vein Transformation realm?
Xue Bai had thought of this problem years ago when he was still in the Vein Transformation realm, but since he blindly followed the plot and his memories then, he ignored it.
After all, he felt like the true protagonist of the world then. He was a noble transmigration. How could his Goldfinger be defective?
But after his epiphany with Zhu Que and the Sage Yang encounter, Xue Bai realized that everything he once knew wasn't as simple as a game.
There was much more in the Baishen Plane than what his memories let on. From the mysterious immortal in the blue robes to the anomaly Xiao Xuan, something was afoot in the Baishen Plane. And Xue Bai felt like he was at the center of it all.
"But what does the letter mean by them? I assume it implies that I'm a pawn in some grand scheme, but why would the player purposefully weaken his pawn? Moreover, since 'they' don't want me to ascend, does that mean I will fulfill my purpose before the Immortal Great Realm?" Xue Bai thought aloud.
He had read the scroll almost an hour ago, but since the information in it was so important and mind-breaking, he had been soaking it in the entire time.
And after all of his stewing, that was the most reasonable thought process he could think of.
It made sense to some extent, but Xue Bai only had a small piece of the puzzle. He needed the rest of the puzzle to be able to disprove or prove his hypothesis.
Until then, he could only keep the scroll.
"Did that cloaked figure give this to me? But why?"
Xue Bai remembered seeing the cloaked figure appear and Sage Yang's weird name for it, but he didn't know what the name meant nor if the cloaked figure had anything to do with him.
Sage Yang called the figure 'Abandoned Ghost,' but Xue Bai had no clue what that could mean.
The only thing he could assume was that it was on his side since it appeared while Xue Bai was about to die.
"Does that mean that I have a Dharma Protector? But from whom? Mother and Father are nowhere near strong enough to deal with that blue-robed man. He was far too strong." Xue Bai thought.
One thousand questions, but not a single answer, were Xue Bai's current inner mind.
He could potentially think about questions relating to what happened in that camp until the cows came home, but he wouldn't gain a single answer. If anything, he might be silenced because of them.
"Sigh~~ While I want to say I was dragged into a huge plot, I know I'm most likely wrong. I am the plot." Xue Bai could only sigh at his misfortune.
He had only tried to gain some information about Xiao Xuan in preparation for the future, but only lost his greatest tool and discovered a huge plot involving a blue-robed man in the Immortal Great Realm surrounding him.
Below it all, he was angry, and that side of him was shown earlier when he stupidly yelled at Sage Yang. But now that he was in a 'safe' environment, Xue Bai realized that his anger was useless.
Instead of being angry and roaring at the heavens for his misfortune, wasn't it better to cultivate?
Now that his defect was fixed, unless this letter was a lie, Xue Bai was able to ascend.
Thinking that much, Xue Bai grabbed the scroll, planning to place it in his storage ring, but once he touched it, something unexpected occurred.
In a bright, golden flash of radiance, the scroll disintegrated and slowly started morphing into something else.
Stunned but also curious, Xue Bai quickly retracted his hand and waited for what was happening to finish.
Moreover, the aura that the scroll was currently emitting gave him chills. And without even realizing it, Xue Bai had already retreated a few meters.
The scroll's metamorphosis didn't take long, and after a few seconds of anticipation, it was completed.
The scroll turned into a pure and holy-looking hall of golden radiance, and without any other actions, it flew directly at Xue Bai and into his glabella.
Horrified, Xue Bai tried to dodge the golden light, but it was too quick and entered his glabella without any resistance.
Full of despair, Xue Bai quickly scanned the inside of his body, trying to sense what flew into him and hopefully stop it, but nothing worked.
Panicking slightly, Xue Bai cursed himself for being careless, but before he could truly feel too much anguish, he heard a soft and youthful voice from inside his head.
"Boy, where the hell am I?"
'A kid?! Why the hell is there a kid in my mind?!' Xue Bai's despair turned into confusion.
Moreover, something in Xue Bai felt like he was now connected to something. It was like his soul latched onto something and wasn't letting go!
But he didn't have enough time to question what he was now suddenly bound to as the kid in his mind started to talk once more.
"Boy, I'm no child! I only have the voice of one in this form!" The child cursed.
Then, without any pause, it proved its statement.
"I can… Change to whatever… Voice I want to use!" From the voice of a young boy, the voice turned into that of a young loli, an old grandpa, and finally landed on Xue Bai's voice!
It could truly choose any voice it wanted to use.
However, it eventually returned to its original voice of a young boy.
"I like this voice the most. Now answer my question. Boy!" The voice was getting impatient.
"We're in the Baishen Plane. What else do you want to know?" Xue Bai answered.
Though the voice in his head sounded like a young boy, Xue Bai was still extremely cautious of it. From what Xue Bai could tell, it was already either in his soul or brain. But either way, the voice was in a dangerous position, and Xue Bai didn't want to aggravate it.
"I know where in some backwater mortal plane. I need to know which universe! I need to calculate how long I was asleep." The voice continued.
Xue Bai felt enlightened.
"We are in the Nine Heavens Universe." Xue Bai answered.
A few months ago, he had learned the name of the universe he was in from Liu Mei. However, Xue Bai never bothered to think about the name of the universe he was in. After all, he was still on a mortal plane.
What kind of heaven he was in didn't matter much if he was still in one.
Thankfully, Liu Mei's indirect lesson was finally able to be useful.
"Sh*t! It's been that long!" The voice cursed. It was beyond angry.
But to Xue Bai, who heard its curse in the voice of a ten-year-old boy, it was hilarious, and he started to laugh.
The voice didn't care about Xue Bai's laughter and instead stayed quiet, mulling over Xue Bai's answer. He was obviously distressed about the implications of Xue Bai's answer.
"Whatever." Eventually, the voice sighed in resignation, "What happened in the past is the past. You can only play with the cards you're dealt."
Thinking that the voice had ended its questioning, Xue Bai asked one of his own.
"Brother Voice, who are you? And why were you in a scroll?" Xue Bai asked.
The voice was silent for a few seconds. It was unsure whether it should answer Xue Bai's question, but after it realized the reality of its situation, it answered.
"My name isn't Voice. It's Mirage. And I wasn't in the scroll. I was the scroll. Or rather, I was camouflaged as the scroll." Mirage answered, confusing Xue Bai a little.
Xue Bai was still educated, and he was able to piece together some information from the clues he was given.
"Then, Mirage, are you an artifact spirit?" Xue Bai asked.
That was the only reasonable explanation Xue Bai could think of. If not, how could Mirage not only appear as a scroll but also fly into his mind without any resistance?
If Mirage wasn't an artifact spirit, then Xue Bai could only assume he was a remnant soul like Feng Huang, but from how Mirage spoke, it didn't seem like that was the scenario.
Even though Mirage didn't say how long he was asleep, Xue Bai could tell it was for a very long time, perhaps even longer than he could comprehend. And remnant souls like Feng Huang couldn't sleep for that long. If they did, they would be in danger of dissipating and returning to the cycle of reincarnation.
Other than that, Xue Bai couldn't think of anyone who would be able to mimic Mirage's vocal abilities.
"In some way, yes. But better than calling me an artifact spirit, I'm the artifact itself." Mirage vaguely explained.
Xue Bai's head spun at the answer.
"What do you mean, Mirage? Isn't that the same thing?" Xue Bai felt like Mirage had just answered his question in a roundabout manner.
"Yes, and no." Mirage said, "An artifact spirit can be the artifact itself gaining consciousness, and that is sometimes the case. But most times, artifact spirits come from artificial means. Sometimes, a foreign soul is bound to the artifact, maybe using a secret art. However, in my case, I am not only the artifact spirit but the artifact itself."
The gears in Xue Bai's head started to turn slowly after hearing Mirage's explanation, but his question still remained.
"Isn't that the same thing, still?"
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A Huge Plot? Mirage
Xue Bai's eyebrows were scrunched up, and his forehead gained as many wrinkles as Feng Hui's had as he finished reading the scroll.
However, who could blame him?
The writing on the scroll toppled his worldview and made him question his existence!
Moreover, it seemed to make a lot of sense.
'The memories are incomplete and flawed. Don't trust them blindly. They will hurt you more in the long run than they will help.'
If it were only that sentence that Xue Bai read, he would've written it off as a crazy man's ramblings, but the proof it gave made him think.
'They never wanted you to ascend. The Vein Transformation realm you cultivated is incomplete. They purposely left out the Stomach Vein. Therefore, your full circuit is incomplete. However, don't worry. I have fixed it for you. You should feel the difference even now.'
And the writings were indeed true.
Inside himself, Xue Bai could feel another 11th vein going from his dantian to his stomach. Beyond that, Xue Bai could also feel that his physique was slightly stronger than it was before, and his cultivation speed had also increased.
On top of it all, the main reason Xue Bai believed the writing on the scroll was that it made sense. In any cultivation novel, there were five vital organs, not four.
In stories that focused on physical cultivation, cultivators had to temper the heart, liver, kidney, lungs, and stomach, so why didn't the Baishen Plane have them?
You even had to temper the stomach in the Organ Tempering realm, so why wasn't it included in the much more important Vein Transformation realm?
Xue Bai had thought of this problem years ago when he was still in the Vein Transformation realm, but since he blindly followed the plot and his memories then, he ignored it.
After all, he felt like the true protagonist of the world then. He was a noble transmigration. How could his Goldfinger be defective?
But after his epiphany with Zhu Que and the Sage Yang encounter, Xue Bai realized that everything he once knew wasn't as simple as a game.
There was much more in the Baishen Plane than what his memories let on. From the mysterious immortal in the blue robes to the anomaly Xiao Xuan, something was afoot in the Baishen Plane. And Xue Bai felt like he was at the center of it all.
"But what does the letter mean by them? I assume it implies that I'm a pawn in some grand scheme, but why would the player purposefully weaken his pawn? Moreover, since 'they' don't want me to ascend, does that mean I will fulfill my purpose before the Immortal Great Realm?" Xue Bai thought aloud.
He had read the scroll almost an hour ago, but since the information in it was so important and mind-breaking, he had been soaking it in the entire time.
And after all of his stewing, that was the most reasonable thought process he could think of.
It made sense to some extent, but Xue Bai only had a small piece of the puzzle. He needed the rest of the puzzle to be able to disprove or prove his hypothesis.
Until then, he could only keep the scroll.
"Did that cloaked figure give this to me? But why?"
Xue Bai remembered seeing the cloaked figure appear and Sage Yang's weird name for it, but he didn't know what the name meant nor if the cloaked figure had anything to do with him.
Sage Yang called the figure 'Abandoned Ghost,' but Xue Bai had no clue what that could mean.
The only thing he could assume was that it was on his side since it appeared while Xue Bai was about to die.
"Does that mean that I have a Dharma Protector? But from whom? Mother and Father are nowhere near strong enough to deal with that blue-robed man. He was far too strong." Xue Bai thought.
One thousand questions, but not a single answer, were Xue Bai's current inner mind.
He could potentially think about questions relating to what happened in that camp until the cows came home, but he wouldn't gain a single answer. If anything, he might be silenced because of them.
"Sigh~~ While I want to say I was dragged into a huge plot, I know I'm most likely wrong. I am the plot." Xue Bai could only sigh at his misfortune.
He had only tried to gain some information about Xiao Xuan in preparation for the future, but only lost his greatest tool and discovered a huge plot involving a blue-robed man in the Immortal Great Realm surrounding him.
Below it all, he was angry, and that side of him was shown earlier when he stupidly yelled at Sage Yang. But now that he was in a 'safe' environment, Xue Bai realized that his anger was useless.
Instead of being angry and roaring at the heavens for his misfortune, wasn't it better to cultivate?
Now that his defect was fixed, unless this letter was a lie, Xue Bai was able to ascend.
Thinking that much, Xue Bai grabbed the scroll, planning to place it in his storage ring, but once he touched it, something unexpected occurred.
In a bright, golden flash of radiance, the scroll disintegrated and slowly started morphing into something else.
Stunned but also curious, Xue Bai quickly retracted his hand and waited for what was happening to finish.
Moreover, the aura that the scroll was currently emitting gave him chills. And without even realizing it, Xue Bai had already retreated a few meters.
The scroll's metamorphosis didn't take long, and after a few seconds of anticipation, it was completed.
The scroll turned into a pure and holy-looking hall of golden radiance, and without any other actions, it flew directly at Xue Bai and into his glabella.
Horrified, Xue Bai tried to dodge the golden light, but it was too quick and entered his glabella without any resistance.
Full of despair, Xue Bai quickly scanned the inside of his body, trying to sense what flew into him and hopefully stop it, but nothing worked.
Panicking slightly, Xue Bai cursed himself for being careless, but before he could truly feel too much anguish, he heard a soft and youthful voice from inside his head.
"Boy, where the hell am I?"
'A kid?! Why the hell is there a kid in my mind?!' Xue Bai's despair turned into confusion.
Moreover, something in Xue Bai felt like he was now connected to something. It was like his soul latched onto something and wasn't letting go!
But he didn't have enough time to question what he was now suddenly bound to as the kid in his mind started to talk once more.
"Boy, I'm no child! I only have the voice of one in this form!" The child cursed.
Then, without any pause, it proved its statement.
"I can… Change to whatever… Voice I want to use!" From the voice of a young boy, the voice turned into that of a young loli, an old grandpa, and finally landed on Xue Bai's voice!
It could truly choose any voice it wanted to use.
However, it eventually returned to its original voice of a young boy.
"I like this voice the most. Now answer my question. Boy!" The voice was getting impatient.
"We're in the Baishen Plane. What else do you want to know?" Xue Bai answered.
Though the voice in his head sounded like a young boy, Xue Bai was still extremely cautious of it. From what Xue Bai could tell, it was already either in his soul or brain. But either way, the voice was in a dangerous position, and Xue Bai didn't want to aggravate it.
"I know where in some backwater mortal plane. I need to know which universe! I need to calculate how long I was asleep." The voice continued.
Xue Bai felt enlightened.
"We are in the Nine Heavens Universe." Xue Bai answered.
A few months ago, he had learned the name of the universe he was in from Liu Mei. However, Xue Bai never bothered to think about the name of the universe he was in. After all, he was still on a mortal plane.
What kind of heaven he was in didn't matter much if he was still in one.
Thankfully, Liu Mei's indirect lesson was finally able to be useful.
"Sh*t! It's been that long!" The voice cursed. It was beyond angry.
But to Xue Bai, who heard its curse in the voice of a ten-year-old boy, it was hilarious, and he started to laugh.
The voice didn't care about Xue Bai's laughter and instead stayed quiet, mulling over Xue Bai's answer. He was obviously distressed about the implications of Xue Bai's answer.
"Whatever." Eventually, the voice sighed in resignation, "What happened in the past is the past. You can only play with the cards you're dealt."
Thinking that the voice had ended its questioning, Xue Bai asked one of his own.
"Brother Voice, who are you? And why were you in a scroll?" Xue Bai asked.
The voice was silent for a few seconds. It was unsure whether it should answer Xue Bai's question, but after it realized the reality of its situation, it answered.
"My name isn't Voice. It's Mirage. And I wasn't in the scroll. I was the scroll. Or rather, I was camouflaged as the scroll." Mirage answered, confusing Xue Bai a little.
Xue Bai was still educated, and he was able to piece together some information from the clues he was given.
"Then, Mirage, are you an artifact spirit?" Xue Bai asked.
That was the only reasonable explanation Xue Bai could think of. If not, how could Mirage not only appear as a scroll but also fly into his mind without any resistance?
If Mirage wasn't an artifact spirit, then Xue Bai could only assume he was a remnant soul like Feng Huang, but from how Mirage spoke, it didn't seem like that was the scenario.
Even though Mirage didn't say how long he was asleep, Xue Bai could tell it was for a very long time, perhaps even longer than he could comprehend. And remnant souls like Feng Huang couldn't sleep for that long. If they did, they would be in danger of dissipating and returning to the cycle of reincarnation.
Other than that, Xue Bai couldn't think of anyone who would be able to mimic Mirage's vocal abilities.
"In some way, yes. But better than calling me an artifact spirit, I'm the artifact itself." Mirage vaguely explained.
Xue Bai's head spun at the answer.
"What do you mean, Mirage? Isn't that the same thing?" Xue Bai felt like Mirage had just answered his question in a roundabout manner.
"Yes, and no." Mirage said, "An artifact spirit can be the artifact itself gaining consciousness, and that is sometimes the case. But most times, artifact spirits come from artificial means. Sometimes, a foreign soul is bound to the artifact, maybe using a secret art. However, in my case, I am not only the artifact spirit but the artifact itself."
The gears in Xue Bai's head started to turn slowly after hearing Mirage's explanation, but his question still remained.
"Isn't that the same thing, still?"
A Huge Plot? MirageXue Bai's eyebrows were scrunched up, and his forehead gained as many wrinkles as Feng Hui's had as he finished reading the scroll.However, who could blame him?The writing on the scroll toppled his worldview and made him question his existence!Moreover, it seemed to make a lot of sense.'The memories are incomplete and flawed. Don't trust them blindly. They will hurt you more in the long run than they will help.'If it were only that sentence that Xue Bai read, he would've written it off as a crazy man's ramblings, but the proof it gave made him think.'They never wanted you to ascend. The Vein Transformation realm you cultivated is incomplete. They purposely left out the Stomach Vein. Therefore, your full circuit is incomplete. However, don't worry. I have fixed it for you. You should feel the difference even now.'And the writings were indeed true.Inside himself, Xue Bai could feel another 11th vein going from his dantian to his stomach. Beyond that, Xue Bai could also feel that his physique was slightly stronger than it was before, and his cultivation speed had also increased.On top of it all, the main reason Xue Bai believed the writing on the scroll was that it made sense. In any cultivation novel, there were five vital organs, not four.In stories that focused on physical cultivation, cultivators had to temper the heart, liver, kidney, lungs, and stomach, so why didn't the Baishen Plane have them?You even had to temper the stomach in the Organ Tempering realm, so why wasn't it included in the much more important Vein Transformation realm?Xue Bai had thought of this problem years ago when he was still in the Vein Transformation realm, but since he blindly followed the plot and his memories then, he ignored it.After all, he felt like the true protagonist of the world then. He was a noble transmigration. How could his Goldfinger be defective?But after his epiphany with Zhu Que and the Sage Yang encounter, Xue Bai realized that everything he once knew wasn't as simple as a game.There was much more in the Baishen Plane than what his memories let on. From the mysterious immortal in the blue robes to the anomaly Xiao Xuan, something was afoot in the Baishen Plane. And Xue Bai felt like he was at the center of it all."But what does the letter mean by them? I assume it implies that I'm a pawn in some grand scheme, but why would the player purposefully weaken his pawn? Moreover, since 'they' don't want me to ascend, does that mean I will fulfill my purpose before the Immortal Great Realm?" Xue Bai thought aloud.He had read the scroll almost an hour ago, but since the information in it was so important and mind-breaking, he had been soaking it in the entire time. And after all of his stewing, that was the most reasonable thought process he could think of.It made sense to some extent, but Xue Bai only had a small piece of the puzzle. He needed the rest of the puzzle to be able to disprove or prove his hypothesis.Until then, he could only keep the scroll."Did that cloaked figure give this to me? But why?"Xue Bai remembered seeing the cloaked figure appear and Sage Yang's weird name for it, but he didn't know what the name meant nor if the cloaked figure had anything to do with him.Sage Yang called the figure 'Abandoned Ghost,' but Xue Bai had no clue what that could mean.The only thing he could assume was that it was on his side since it appeared while Xue Bai was about to die."Does that mean that I have a Dharma Protector? But from whom? Mother and Father are nowhere near strong enough to deal with that blue-robed man. He was far too strong." Xue Bai thought.One thousand questions, but not a single answer, were Xue Bai's current inner mind.He could potentially think about questions relating to what happened in that camp until the cows came home, but he wouldn't gain a single answer. If anything, he might be silenced because of them."Sigh~~ While I want to say I was dragged into a huge plot, I know I'm most likely wrong. I am the plot." Xue Bai could only sigh at his misfortune.He had only tried to gain some information about Xiao Xuan in preparation for the future, but only lost his greatest tool and discovered a huge plot involving a blue-robed man in the Immortal Great Realm surrounding him.Below it all, he was angry, and that side of him was shown earlier when he stupidly yelled at Sage Yang. But now that he was in a 'safe' environment, Xue Bai realized that his anger was useless.Instead of being angry and roaring at the heavens for his misfortune, wasn't it better to cultivate?Now that his defect was fixed, unless this letter was a lie, Xue Bai was able to ascend.Thinking that much, Xue Bai grabbed the scroll, planning to place it in his storage ring, but once he touched it, something unexpected occurred.In a bright, golden flash of radiance, the scroll disintegrated and slowly started morphing into something else.Stunned but also curious, Xue Bai quickly retracted his hand and waited for what was happening to finish.Moreover, the aura that the scroll was currently emitting gave him chills. And without even realizing it, Xue Bai had already retreated a few meters.The scroll's metamorphosis didn't take long, and after a few seconds of anticipation, it was completed.The scroll turned into a pure and holy-looking hall of golden radiance, and without any other actions, it flew directly at Xue Bai and into his glabella.Horrified, Xue Bai tried to dodge the golden light, but it was too quick and entered his glabella without any resistance.Full of despair, Xue Bai quickly scanned the inside of his body, trying to sense what flew into him and hopefully stop it, but nothing worked.Panicking slightly, Xue Bai cursed himself for being careless, but before he could truly feel too much anguish, he heard a soft and youthful voice from inside his head."Boy, where the hell am I?"'A kid?! Why the hell is there a kid in my mind?!' Xue Bai's despair turned into confusion.Moreover, something in Xue Bai felt like he was now connected to something. It was like his soul latched onto something and wasn't letting go!But he didn't have enough time to question what he was now suddenly bound to as the kid in his mind started to talk once more."Boy, I'm no child! I only have the voice of one in this form!" The child cursed.Then, without any pause, it proved its statement."I can Change to whatever Voice I want to use!" From the voice of a young boy, the voice turned into that of a young loli, an old grandpa, and finally landed on Xue Bai's voice!It could truly choose any voice it wanted to use.However, it eventually returned to its original voice of a young boy."I like this voice the most. Now answer my question. Boy!" The voice was getting impatient."We're in the Baishen Plane. What else do you want to know?" Xue Bai answered.Though the voice in his head sounded like a young boy, Xue Bai was still extremely cautious of it. From what Xue Bai could tell, it was already either in his soul or brain. But either way, the voice was in a dangerous position, and Xue Bai didn't want to aggravate it."I know where in some backwater mortal plane. I need to know which universe! I need to calculate how long I was asleep." The voice continued.Xue Bai felt enlightened."We are in the Nine Heavens Universe." Xue Bai answered.A few months ago, he had learned the name of the universe he was in from Liu Mei. However, Xue Bai never bothered to think about the name of the universe he was in. After all, he was still on a mortal plane.What kind of heaven he was in didn't matter much if he was still in one.Thankfully, Liu Mei's indirect lesson was finally able to be useful."Sh*t! It's been that long!" The voice cursed. It was beyond angry.But to Xue Bai, who heard its curse in the voice of a ten-year-old boy, it was hilarious, and he started to laugh.The voice didn't care about Xue Bai's laughter and instead stayed quiet, mulling over Xue Bai's answer. He was obviously distressed about the implications of Xue Bai's answer."Whatever." Eventually, the voice sighed in resignation, "What happened in the past is the past. You can only play with the cards you're dealt."Thinking that the voice had ended its questioning, Xue Bai asked one of his own."Brother Voice, who are you? And why were you in a scroll?" Xue Bai asked.The voice was silent for a few seconds. It was unsure whether it should answer Xue Bai's question, but after it realized the reality of its situation, it answered."My name isn't Voice. It's Mirage. And I wasn't in the scroll. I was the scroll. Or rather, I was camouflaged as the scroll." Mirage answered, confusing Xue Bai a little.Xue Bai was still educated, and he was able to piece together some information from the clues he was given."Then, Mirage, are you an artifact spirit?" Xue Bai asked.That was the only reasonable explanation Xue Bai could think of. If not, how could Mirage not only appear as a scroll but also fly into his mind without any resistance?If Mirage wasn't an artifact spirit, then Xue Bai could only assume he was a remnant soul like Feng Huang, but from how Mirage spoke, it didn't seem like that was the scenario.Even though Mirage didn't say how long he was asleep, Xue Bai could tell it was for a very long time, perhaps even longer than he could comprehend. And remnant souls like Feng Huang couldn't sleep for that long. If they did, they would be in danger of dissipating and returning to the cycle of reincarnation.Other than that, Xue Bai couldn't think of anyone who would be able to mimic Mirage's vocal abilities."In some way, yes. But better than calling me an artifact spirit, I'm the artifact itself." Mirage vaguely explained.Xue Bai's head spun at the answer."What do you mean, Mirage? Isn't that the same thing?" Xue Bai felt like Mirage had just answered his question in a roundabout manner."Yes, and no." Mirage said, "An artifact spirit can be the artifact itself gaining consciousness, and that is sometimes the case. But most times, artifact spirits come from artificial means. Sometimes, a foreign soul is bound to the artifact, maybe using a secret art. However, in my case, I am not only the artifact spirit but the artifact itself."The gears in Xue Bai's head started to turn slowly after hearing Mirage's explanation, but his question still remained."Isn't that the same thing, still?"
