Chapter 255: The Day of Slaughtering Shion!

Jiang Si glanced at the four seeds in his hand; they were indeed almost identical to Iris’s.

The Mirror Kingdom’s technology was even more impressive than he had expected. Iris’s Full Bloom miracle seed actually altered in a remarkably clever way.

That moment-of-birth, shell-breaking sensation was frozen in time, as if Iris herself had been stopped by time—the simulation was exquisitely lifelike. Most important of all, these miracle seeds could truly Full Bloom at any moment; they only lacked a reservoir of power comparable to an actual Full Bloom to fill them.

Even he had to admit the Mirror Kingdom’s technology was extraordinary.

Perhaps it could be used to fill the Other Shore...

However, it was also clear that without the Prince’s authorization these seeds were not actually activated and could not be used for transformation. There was even some method inside to lock them; not even he could inject power.

After taking the four seeds, Jiang Si did not intend to linger.

The truth was, the real reason he attended this so-called meeting was the miracle seeds.

Partly he wanted to see how far the Mirror Kingdom’s tech could go. If the seeds were shoddy, then it would prove the Prince was counterfeit. After all, Jiang Si did not yet fully trust the Prince; he remained skeptical about whether her Full Bloom plan could actually be carried out.

A worldly cultivator like him would not be easily fooled by a pretty face and a few signs of favor.

He had seen countless so-called saintly girls and witches in his life; big sects paraded out these noble women to seduce hotblooded youths when a prodigy rose, hoping to trap them into serving the sect.

If the prodigy slipped into the snare, they became a pawn of the sect, at their mercy. If the prodigy was a woman, there could be a saintly son positioned to match the lead, usually serving as a stepping stone for the protagonist—raising challenges and the feeling of accomplishment.

Jiang Si always dismissed such schemes; saintly sons or saintly girls ought to be rivals on the Dao.

One should fight through on one’s own.

To indulge in social flings or contemplate dual-cultivation Dao fruits was simply nonsense.

A solitary conqueror should surpass all, forging the path alone!

A Dao that requires relying on others to achieve Dao fruits was no different from the worthless beast-taming genre trash.

To cultivators, whether male or female, all should be grouped under the Human Emperor Banner as comrades... they were just material for his holy sect.

On the other hand, he also wanted to speed up the annulment of the engagement plan: publicly support her while secretly undermining her, seizing Full Bloom quota slots she distributed, shaking her standing in the alliance!

Replace the sky and change the day, turn host into guest—this was one form of open stratagem.

A coup for the Huai!

Someone as proud as the Prince could never tolerate such brazen intrusion by an outsider married into royalty; as her favor plunged, she would certainly put breaking the engagement on the table.

Thus, in Jiang Si’s eyes, the Prince’s only value now was whether she could implement the Full Bloom plan—not whether she served his millennia-old marriage scheme.

If she failed at those two points, the Prince should be replaced.

An outdated Prince was merely an expendable enemy of the old world.

Now that the Prince’s forged Full Bloom miracle seeds had been confirmed genuine, Jiang Si’s estimate of the Mirror Kingdom and of her rose somewhat, and with it his patience increased.

He could wait for the Prince’s plan to unfold.

When he left the Mirror Kingdom’s isolated space and had just stepped into the North China borderlands, a member of the old world came hurrying up behind him.

Qinghua and White Fox immediately blocked the person’s path, and the man did not force his way through. Instead he dropped to his knees violently, frantically banging his head on the ground.

Smash smash smash smash, thud thud thud!

“Please, Mr. Simo Tu, help me!”

Qinghua was startled by the sincerity of his kowtows; the man practically smashed his forehead into the rocky ground. They were out on a barren stretch of the North China frontier—beneath them were sharp stones. After only a few hits the man’s forehead would be a bloody pitted mess, yet he seemed oblivious, simply pounding his head with everything he had.

Thud thud! Smash smash thud! Smash smash! Thud smash smash!

“Please, Mr. Simo Tu, stop, have mercy on me and my world!”

It was only after the twenty-first thud that Simo Tu, who had been walking forward, finally paused, then turned his head to look.

It was none other than the meeting’s moderator, Shui Shengquan.

“Speak.”

At Simo Tu’s benevolent attention, Shui Shengquan’s face lit up, euphoric. When Simo Tu had left earlier, many old-world people had cried and begged and still failed to stop him.

In truth, Shui Shengquan had not had any real hope—she was driven to desperation and had come to make a last-ditch gamble on luck. She had not expected to succeed.

“I am Shui Shengquan. My homeland was the Great Ring Realm....”

At this, White Fox’s eyelids flickered slightly, as if she recognized something. Qinghua, ever perceptive, tugged White Fox’s sleeve: “What? Have you heard of the Great Ring Realm?”

“It was destroyed.”

With White Fox’s light, airy words, Shui Shengquan’s eyes reddened. “Yes, the Great Ring Realm was destroyed. We were spotted by people from other old worlds and dragged to be devoured by an S-level Disaster Beast. All living things in the world were annihilated. Only I survived....”

She produced a small sphere; inside the orb was an extremely realistic miniature city and a few frozen figures.

“In the final moments, the magical girls of the Great Ring Realm did everything they could to protect this one city.”

Shui Shengquan wiped her tears and choked out, “I went into hiding and entered the Prince’s service so that one day I might Full Bloom and revive my homeland—even if it’s only this one city. I want to return to my homeland and be with everyone....”

White Fox stared blankly at the crystal ball, her expression unreadable.

Qinghua, seeing her sorrow, crouched beside her and handed her a tissue, then glanced at their Sect Master with pleading eyes. She of course felt sorry for Shui Shengquan.

If Beihai were wiped out and Azure Cloud Sect were frozen into a crystal ball, Qinghua would probably scour the world looking for a Full Bloom plan to restore Azure Cloud Sect. For her, Azure Cloud Sect was her only home, the place of warmth and belonging she could never find elsewhere.

But if the Sect Master refused, there was little to be done. She could offer a puppet to help, though.

“Full marks.”

Jiang Si gave his answer.

The three girls froze for a moment: “?”

Then the mysterious masked man began clapping enthusiastically.

“I say, full marks.”

A flawless performance.

First, Shui Shengquan’s plea was not for a sick family member, nor for some tired dream—she avoided cliché. That alone earned passing marks from Jiang Si. Regardless of the truth, producing a crystal ball containing a detailed city diorama showed thoughtfulness and thorough preparation; keeping the prop at hand was enough for high marks.

Her crying was not the annoying, wailing kind, nor overly restrained and lifeless. That suppressed, almost-unreleased grief was rendered delicately. For Jiang Si, there was no reason to deduct points.

Even in the talent show he had once watched, “Starlight Magical Girl Avenue,” such restraint had been rare.

Opportunity favors the prepared; Jiang Si was willing to flip his lamp for her.

By the way, he had watched because the name had “Avenue” in it—he expected lofty speeches but, pulled in by Bingtang to watch the full show, found nothing but magical girls sobbing on stage over dead parents. It was all worse than Silver Lotus.

He tossed a miracle seed toward her nonchalantly and said: “You can have a Full Bloom slot.”

Shui Shengquan clutched the seed with both hands, her nose prickling; she buried her head and began to sob. Qinghua immediately cheered for her, patting her shoulder. “Don’t cry, don’t cry. You should be happy our boss gave you a turn. Smile, smile—if you cry, Boss will get annoyed and might take the seed back.”

Shui Shengquan stifled her sobs, scrambled to her feet and nodded frantically. Qinghua dabbed the mud and tear tracks from her face and chattered on, “This will max out your favorability. Shame you entered so late—you probably won’t get the chance to develop a friendship beyond boss-level. But if you keep showing devotion, one day you’ll get your special CG...”

Shui Shengquan didn’t understand Qinghua’s jargon; she only choked out, “Shui Shengquan will serve Simo Tu-sama as ox and horse forever.”

“The next line should’ve been ‘I pledge myself,’ you’ve got to learn the script...”

While Qinghua lectured, Jiang Si suddenly said, “I have only one condition.”

Shui Shengquan, not even listening to Qinghua now, held the miracle seed with both hands and nodded to Simo Tu repeatedly. “You say it, my lord.”

“From now on, change your name to Springwater Quen.”

“Huh?”

...

Mirror Kingdom, capital

Seated on the throne, the Prince drew a weary breath. From the beginning, what she wanted was total authority over the Mirror Kingdom. After all, both Alice and the Full Bloom plan required the Mirror Kingdom’s complete permissions. Without full authority, nothing could move forward; all her promises would be castles in the air, mere paper bonuses.

Now, at the final step, she had to decide. She could have asked Simo Tu for help; with his strength he would supply extra confidence. But the Prince did not want to have to rely on him at every turn. Nor did she want him to witness any moment of her weakness. She wanted, in Simo Tu’s eyes, to remain proud—head held high, never bowed—the Prince who never displayed disgrace, ugliness, or anything that might be hated.

She knew marriage would inevitably expose such things; living together day and night would reveal all flaws. Some people said marriage was driven by impulse; most married on impulse, overlooking faults, or never even discovering them before becoming spouses. The longer you cohabited before marriage, the less impulse remained, the more flaws were found, and the higher the chance of breaking up. So the Prince did not intend to have too much contact with Simo Tu before marriage, nor to show him her plans in the Mirror Kingdom. She intended to become his spouse before his passions cooled, and to continue the Mirror Kingdom bloodline—until lover became family. After that she would no longer have to hide her flaws.

She did not believe in romantic love; emotional bonds were, at root, hormone-driven illusions that gave no lasting security. She wanted to skip that stage and reach a familial relationship with Simo Tu. If he became family, she would not fear that her flaws would not be accepted, nor fear losing him. Interpersonal bonds that are not one-sided fill people with dread and uncertainty; unilateral orders or interest-bound ties comfort yet leave a hollowness.

The Prince wanted to attempt a new structure of relationship-building—an insatiable gamble that smelled of danger. Anxiety hovered constantly, but her pride refused to retreat. Whatever she wanted, she would seize. If obstacles stood in the way, she would surmount them. No matter who was around Simo Tu, she was confident she could outdo them and make Simo Tu belong only to her. Now that the Mirror Kingdom was truly within her grasp, her confidence had swelled.

She walked to the medical pod and looked at the memories she had erased; she smiled and closed the pod. She knew of the contingency her mother had left behind. Her mother was even more selfish than she, loving the Mirror Kingdom as if it were personal property. Her mother had once appointed and then deposed a crown prince, making siblings run in circles—she had never intended to abdicate. The mother wanted to remain Mirror Queen forever; even after death, her memory data would persist as an eternal Mirror Queen. The Prince had seen through this earlier than her siblings and had never planned to inherit the kingdom through her mother’s hands. From sealing the Mirror Kingdom to allying with the Witch Association, the Prince had always wanted to wrest the Mirror Kingdom from her mother.

Only things seized by one’s own ability give the feeling of permanent ownership. By leaving a virus inside the medical pod and limiting permissions in the system, her mother assumed others wouldn’t see through the trick. But the main system was also her mother’s eyes, monitoring her via the central system. The arrival of Azure Cloud Sect had given the Prince a timely opportunity.

For brain injury treatment—her mother’s suggested steps were flawless; stepping into the trap, the Prince had acted defenseless. She deleted some memories so even if her mother’s data breached the firewall and obtained those memories, it could not know her plan. If later she couldn’t recall what to do, she might lose everything; or if her consciousness were overwhelmed by her mother’s data, she would lose sovereignty. But she believed she would still know what to do. Even scattered hints would allow her to deduce required actions. She never planned for her mother’s data to completely suppress her. Being trapped in a mirror and finding the self-destruct red button had already decided everything. Let her mother use her body to open all the Mirror Kingdom permissions and then force her to concede by self-destructing and destroying the kingdom. If the mother refused, no matter. The Prince had data backups. At worst she would actually self-destruct and restart as Alice.

She may have overestimated her mother a little, but the plan was almost risk-free for someone who had already lost everything—she had nothing left to lose. A near-certain victory left no reason to shrink back.

Swarms of Alices took flight from the staging areas. The specialized Alices created to target Shion had finally made huge progress. With full permissions opened, the Mirror Kingdom’s systems and machines ran at peak efficiency. Previously, Alice’s production had been throttled by permissions and energy constraints, forcing waits; now nothing held them back. She spread her arms, feeling her Mirror Kingdom, and for the first time smiled with relief.

[Reminder: I hate to bother you, but dear Mirror Queen, you still have many tasks to handle...]

“System.” The Prince asked suddenly, “What do you see?”

[Reply: A landscape like a painting.]

“Wrong.” The Prince closed her eyes and replied calmly, “It is my landscape like a painting!”

[Applause: As expected of Prince-sama, majestic momentum! But currently Simo Tu has reclaimed all your Full Bloom quota slots. If you continue basking in your painted landscape, Mr. Simo Tu may tear your canvas clean.]

The Prince snapped her eyes open: “Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”

[...

The system was silent for a moment, then resumed. [Warning: Simo Tu has retrieved all the miracle seeds and redistributed them. He believes your allocation of seeds was unreasonable and intends to give seeds to more suitable people for Full Bloom.]

The Prince had been indignant for a moment, then laughed haughtily. “Of course—he only worries about me. The old-world members I planned to use as material don’t matter; I didn’t expect him to guard this for me. Men always protest but actions betray them. How adorable, Simo Tu.”

[Warning: Your speech has seriously affected system operations; most systems have experienced discomfort, nausea...]

“Looks like the data garbage needs formatting.”

[Explanation: Fully restored, no formatting required, dear Mirror Queen, please forgive your humble system.]

The Prince snorted and ignored the system’s mood swings. “Send the Alice designed specifically for Shion.”

Soon a pale-lilac girl stood before her. The model was a Mirror Kingdom copy based on Shion’s appearance, but with subtle deviations: she stood a head taller than Shion and her eyes were devoid of spirit. The outfit was a standard Alice magical outfit, in a lilac variation to distinguish it; Alice tailored for Shion favored a purple base. The Prince reached out, touched that Alice’s cheek, then took a mask and fitted it over the soulless gemlike eyes. Gently she said, “Go, Irisviel Zero.”

“Go kill Shion.”

A single white eye on the mask lit at once.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

[Question: Is the timing too early, dear Majesty?]

“No, just right.”

The Prince watched Zero Irisviel leave with a smile of total control. “Whether for the Mirror Kingdom’s future or for the future between Simo Tu and me, Shion must die. Shion and her Azure Cloud Sect must be eradicated.”

[Correction: I meant timing issues. The Shion-specific Alice, Zero Irisviel, might not necessarily be a match for Shion.]

“Her mission is to collect data.”

The Prince rose from the throne and crossed the corridor of transparent mirrors to the Alice production area. Thanks to the tainted magic purchased from the Witch Association, the dregs’ polluted magic provided by old worlds, and residue the Mirror Kingdom system had secretly siphoned from fallen old worlds, all funds and resources poured into production. Dozens upon dozens of lilac Alices were being manufactured with fervor; soon the staging area was piled high.

“Collect Shion’s data continuously. Strengthen Irisviel—Unit One, Ten, Ten Thousand, Twenty Thousand! By the day of Full Bloom, they will possess a hundred percent chance to defeat Shion.”

“Whether it’s the New World or Simo Tu, I will seize everything from her hands!”

“Wait and see, Shion!”