Chapter 51: Hypotheses Regarding the Mirror Beings

"Ah, my hand!"

Accompanied by the man's miserable scream, his arm was tossed high into the air. Bizarrely, however, no bright red blood spurted from the severed limb; instead, it transformed into a wisp of black smoke and dissipated into nothingness.

Furthermore, no blood flowed from the man's wound. Like a chimney, it billowed with thick black smoke as the severed arm slowly began to regenerate from the stump. Yet this recovery speed was completely incomparable to that of an Awakened; it was as slow as a snail, agonizingly sluggish.

"Hmm?" A flicker of curiosity crossed Li Chenqiu's eyes.

Curious though he was, he did not dwell on the matter. Instead, he looked at the man and demanded, "Where is the Key of Doubt? Speak quickly, unless you want me to snap your bones inch by inch and torture you until you're no longer human."

"Kid, it is impossible for me to die in the Underworld, so..." The man wore a maniacal smile. "I won't tell you anything. Even if you pass the trial, I will never hand the Key of Doubt over to you."

"Very well, no problem. We can take our time." Li Chenqiu flashed a brilliant smile and squatted down beside the man.

After that...

"Aaaah!"

Half an hour later.

"I was wrong, I was wrong, I'll talk..."

The man lay on the ground, calling out in a listless voice. His body billowed with thick black smoke like a leaking chimney, completely stripped of his previous arrogant demeanor.

Li Chenqiu patted the fellow's face and said mockingly, "Didn't you say you wouldn't tell me anything?"

"I was just... I was just temporarily blinded by anger, which is why I uttered those immature words..."

Li Chenqiu smiled and nodded. "It is a great virtue to correct one's mistakes. Speak, where is it?"

The man trembled as he reached out, opening his palm wide before Li Chenqiu.

The next second, the man's palm slowly split open, and a silver metal key materialized in front of Li Chenqiu.

Li Chenqiu smiled, picked up the key, and weighed it in his hand. "Would it have killed you to just do this sooner instead of wasting my time?"

A dark look crossed the man's face. *You crushed my mouth to a pulp right from the start, how was I supposed to speak?!*

In the distance, Number 2—who had just regained consciousness—along with Numbers 4 and 5, who had passed the trial, stood at the very back, watching Li Chenqiu's direction with trembling fear.

"Big Brother, what... what on earth is going on here?" Number 4 tugged at Number 2's sleeve.

"How should I know?!" Number 2 shook his head blankly, then looked toward Number 5. "Is Liu Qiang from your Underworld always this fierce?"

Number 5's expression grew complex. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "Big Brother Liu Qiang's ability is ice-elemental... this guy doesn't look like him at all!"

At that moment, Li Chenqiu raised his head and looked toward the trio's location. "You three, come over here."

***

Hearing this, the three of them shuddered violently. They exchanged glances, rooted to the spot as if under a spell, unable to move a muscle.

"What? Do you want me to come over and invite you?" Li Chenqiu frowned, using his foot to kick the half-dead "Palace Master."

A few seconds later, the three of them stood in a neat row before Li Chenqiu, heads lowered and shoulders hunched.

"Don't be nervous, I just want to ask you a few questions." Li Chenqiu smiled kindly. "Let's start with you, Palace Master!"

"You can just call me Xu Shu, or Little Xu is fine too," Xu Shu said with a fawning smile.

"Alright, Xu Shu, let me ask you, how does one leave the Underworld?" Li Chenqiu asked earnestly, as this concerned his identity as a Calamity Water.

"This..." A troubled expression appeared on Xu Shu's face. "I don't know either. If I knew, I wouldn't be stuck here, would I?"

Li Chenqiu frowned, but held no resentment. Who could he blame if the man simply didn't know?

"Then let me ask you, where is the Mirror Man?" Li Chenqiu inquired once more.

"Mirror Man?" Xu Shu looked completely baffled, countering with, "What is a Mirror Man? A person inside a mirror?"

Li Chenqiu: "..."

At that moment, an urge surged within him to smash Xu Shu's head open.

"Hoo~" Li Chenqiu let out a long breath. "Then what *do* you know?"

"I don't seem to... Oh, right! I know something very important!" As if recalling something, Xu Shu looked at Li Chenqiu in pleasant surprise.

"What is it? Tell me!" Li Chenqiu leaned forward, looking at him expectantly.

Xu Shu smiled mysteriously and lifted his palm with great difficulty. "I know where the Key of Doubt is. It's right in my palm."

The area fell into dead silence. Six crows flew in a straight line across the top of their heads.

Xu Shu said excitedly, "Why are you all looking at me like that? Really, I have the key right in my palm, if you don't believe me—"

*Bang!*

Li Chenqiu wound up his fist and smashed Xu Shu's head into black mist with a single punch.

Through a preliminary diagnosis, he concluded that Xu Shu was somewhat mentally deranged, likely related to the loss of the Key of Doubt, and possessed no interrogation value.

Having finished off the obstacle, Li Chenqiu's indifferent gaze shifted to the three people standing nearby.

Meeting Li Chenqiu's eyes, the trio's nerves and skin tightened instantly. They stood frozen where they were, not daring to take a full breath, lowering their heads like children who had done something wrong.

Li Chenqiu's brows curved slightly, and the corners of his mouth slowly turned upward. "I'll ask just one simple question, and once I'm done, I'll let you go. On your way to this palace, did you see the so-called Mirror Man, or discover any traces of them?"

***

Number 2 raised his head apprehensively and whispered, "I... I haven't seen any."

The other two shook their heads as well.

"Do you take me for such a fool?" A cold glint flashed in Li Chenqiu's eyes as his left hand clamped onto Number 2's neck like an eagle's talon, forcefully shoving the man's face down against the ground.

"People who lie tend to die," Li Chenqiu said with a smile.

Number 2 turned pale with fright and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I'm not lying..."

*Splat!*

Li Chenqiu did not give him a chance to explain, piercing the man's skull with his merged fingers. Then, he looked coldly at the remaining two. "Your turn."

Numbers 4 and 5 backed away in terror until they hit the corner of the wall with nowhere left to run.

"I'm not lying to you, Big Brother! I really didn't see anything, not even a single hair!!!"

"I didn't see anything either! I just walked straight along the path, I didn't encounter a thing!"

The two men raised their hands in front of them, screaming at the top of their lungs.

Li Chenqiu halted his steps, lowering his head in deep thought.

The fact that deliberately killing one of them still hadn't changed the other two's answers meant they were truly not lying to him.

"Neither of them encountered a Mirror Man. Could it be that there is no Mirror Man at all?" A trace of puzzlement crossed Li Chenqiu's brow.

If the Mirror Man did not exist, or could not manifest for some reason, was there even any need for him to conceal his appearance?

If they didn't exist at all, and he went around fighting people under Liu Qiang's face, wouldn't that risk exposing himself? After all, invoking the First Ban yielded strength comparable to the peak of the Third Ban, and most people would immediately connect it to his true name.

"Whatever, the Mirror Man hasn't appeared at this stage anyway," Li Chenqiu muttered to himself.

As soon as his voice fell, his features reverted to their original appearance.

Numbers 4 and 5 watched the whole process like absolute fools, their eyes wide as they stared fixedly at Li Chenqiu.

*Holy mother of god, isn't this Li Chenqiu?!*