The gods cannot see mortal beings. The Pantheon messenger, the golden-armored birdman, read out the imperial edict and left immediately. The situation on the Qingshui River quickly emerged from chaos after the golden-armored birdman and the twenty-one ancestral spirits left. The twenty-one ancestral spirits followed closely behind and returned to their respective ancestral temples. The high priest led the priests and divine warriors of the Qingshui River Temple, and the patriarchs of the seventeen large families led their respective tribesmen to break contact and return home. The drawbridge of Tianshui City was lowered and the city gate opened. Hundreds of thousands of people were finally able to enter the city without having to flee in panic. The city guards finally dared to come out to maintain order and prevent the people from continuing to push, crowd and trample each other, which would increase the number of accidental deaths. After more than two hours, hundreds of thousands of people were finally calmed down and evacuated. At this time, many people realized that this sudden turmoil had caused the deaths of more than 20,000 people.

Then no one party stood up to claim responsibility. If you die, it will be in vain, and there will be no compensation. "In the face of the extraordinary without strong restraint, ordinary life is too fragile." This was not the first time Tao Tie had seen such a scene. He had even seen situations hundreds of times more tragic on the Wu Shi Sea. However, after seeing him again, Tao Tie couldn't help but feel such emotion. At this moment, he reduced his presence to a very low level, as if walking aimlessly in the alleys of Tianshui City. The people of the other six cities in the Qingshui River Basin are hurriedly evacuating Tianshui City. Every larger street leading to the city gates was jammed with cars and people. It was only thanks to the city guards’ intervention that no stampede occurred. Tao Tie's identity issue has been resolved. When Qingshuihebo was fighting with the twenty-one ancestral spirits, a young man who looked 60% like Tao Tie died outside Tianshui City. After discovering the opponent, Tao Tie immediately took advantage of the chaos and took away the opponent's true spirit and corpse. After taking away the miscellaneous belongings that the man was carrying, Tao Tie buried the body underground, allowing him to rest in peace. If there was anything good about the fight between Qingshui River Lord and the twenty-one ancestral spirits, it was that through the battle between them, Tao Tie regained some strength. After all, Tao Tie had once played the role of an ancestor spirit in Baiwan Mountains, and had some understanding of the ancestor spirit worship system of Baiwan Mountains. The god-priest/warrior system of this strange world, although similar in form to the ancestral spirit worship and cultivation of the millions of mountains, is not exactly the same, but there are some similarities between them. It can be used as a fulcrum to pry open one's own sealed Taoist cultivation strength. Burying the young man who provided the identity was part of the reward given by Tao Tie. The other part can only be achieved after Tao Tie has a deeper understanding of this strange world. That is to allow the other party's true spirit to enter reincarnation, rather than being taken away by the Qingshui River Temple or the ancestral spirit of a certain surname.

After circling around for a few times, before it got completely dark, Tao Tie finally found the home of a young man named "Zong Wei". Located at No. 65, Bingqi Lane, Niuma City, in the northern part of Tianshui City. "Zong Wei" lost his parents early and lives alone. He is withdrawn and taciturn, and doesn't interact much with his neighbors. He works in a clinic called "Renhetang", dispensing and boiling medicine. The job is tiring, but the income is good. Therefore, Zong Wei's living conditions are quite acceptable, and can be considered a well-off family in the Great Yong Dynasty. After walking around the house, Tao Tie sat down on the stone bench under the jujube tree in the yard. There were originally three big families in Tianshui City, namely Tianshui Yun, Tianshui Qiao and Tianshui Li. The Yun clan has been exterminated by the high priest Qingshuihebo. Only a few members of the side branches, the bloodlines that have wandered outside, and the remaining spirits of the Yun clan ancestors remain. The Tianshui Qiao clan suddenly became the most powerful force in Tianshui City. Shoot the first bird. After today's turmoil, when Qingshui Dragon Lord wakes up from his slumber and sets out to deal with the twenty-one ancestral spirits and twenty-one large families, the first to be hit will be the Tianshui Qiao family, which is closest to the Qingshui River Lord's main temple. In order to be prepared for danger in times of peace, the leaders of the Tianshuiqiao clan gathered together to discuss countermeasures. The middle-aged man who had been in charge of guarding Qiao Mao was not among them. "Qiao Xuan, you are not valued by the Qiao family, why do you still want to work for them?" Outside Tianshui City, at the place where Qiao Mao died, the middle-aged man stood silently, and a dark shadow beside him shouted. The middle-aged man, whom Shadow called Qiao Xuan, had no intention of speaking. He just stared at the ground beneath his feet. Qiao Mao's body has been taken away and disposed of by the Tianshuiqiao clan. All that remained on the ground were some blood and flesh residues that did not belong to Qiao Mao. Seeing that Qiao Xuan remained silent, Shadow's tone became more resentful: "You are still so stubborn! Hasn't what happened today made you see the true face of those gods and ancestral spirits? In their eyes, there is only their power, not mortal lives! As long as they can increase their power and improve their status, no matter how many people die, it is worth it in their eyes. And..." At this point, Shadow paused, concealed the three words "Pantheon" that were about to come to his lips, changed the address, and roared in a low voice: "And that temple, whether it is gods or humans, they are all heartless and heartless, without mercy and no compassion! Only by overthrowing that temple and killing those gods and humans can we mortals survive!" Qiao Xuan then asked in a hoarse voice: "Overturn that palace? What are you going to use to overturn it?" As he spoke, Qiao Xuan stretched out his right hand from his sleeve and spread it out. A finger-sized pocket-sized Qiao Mao spirit appeared in Qiao Xuan's palm with its eyes closed. "That's all?" Looking at Qiao Mao's true spirit in his palm, Qiao Xuan sneered slightly. As soon as he finished speaking, the finger-sized Qiao Maozhenling opened his eyes. A surge of power surged in, instantly expanding Qiao Mao's true spirit. Qiao Mao's soul, having regained consciousness, left Qiao Xuan's palm, turned back to the size of a normal person in the air, and fell to the ground.

"Uncle, where am I? Am I not dead?" After landing, Qiao Mao looked around, then looked himself up and down, and asked in confusion. This sound of questioning did not occur in reality; it was just a fluctuation of spiritual consciousness. A trace of sadness flashed in Qiao Xuan's eyes. He turned his right palm over and gently grabbed Qiao Mao's true spirit with his five fingertips. A few streams of light flowed out from Qiao Xuan's fingertips and fell on Qiao Mao's true spirit. There seemed to be a crackling sound. One piece of metal armor after another appeared from nowhere and fit tightly against Qiao Mao, forming a soldier wearing a mask in an instant. In this process, Qiao Mao's personal will was erased bit by bit. When the last piece of armor fell, there was no longer any person named Qiao Mao in the world. There was only a spirit puppet whose combat power was equivalent to that of a fifth-grade martial artist. No matter what order Qiao Xuan gave, even if it meant for the spirit puppet to self-destruct, the spirit puppet would execute it without hesitation. Tao Tie, who had been paying attention to Qiao Xuan's movements, saw this scene. "It's a bit like a combination of the Art of War and the Yanshi Puppet." After making this judgment, Tao Tie continued to pay attention to the movements at Qiao Xuan's place. "Based on this!" At this time, Shadow spoke with excitement, "All things have spirits! Whether it's gods or ancestral spirits, they all rely on the faith and worship of us mortal spirits to transform into gods. Since gods can use spirituality, there's no reason why we mortals can't." Qiao Xuan interrupted Shadow's passionate argument and said, "The method of making spirit puppets that your so-called Heroic Spirit Society has figured out is also based on the worship of ancestral spirits. If Qiao Mao had not been a spirit warrior favored by the Qiao family's ancestral spirits, the spirit puppets made from his true spirit would not have the strength they have now. It's already pretty good to have even one-tenth of his strength." "That's why, in order to grow rapidly, we must first attack those ancestral warriors. If possible, the priests of the gods would be even better." Shadow didn't seem to understand what Qiao Xuan was saying, or maybe he was deliberately not understanding, and his voice was as passionate as before. Qiao Xuan frowned slightly, feeling unhappy. He clenched his right hand in the air. Qiao Mao's true spirit, which had become an armored puppet, immediately turned into a stream of light and fell back into Qiao Xuan's palm. Then, Qiao Xuan left without saying a word. Shadow did not stop him and just watched Qiao Xuan walk away silently. "Hey hey hey..." When Qiao Xuan's figure crossed the city wall and entered Tianshui City, Shadow let out a sinister laugh. It's like a hunter who has caught his prey in a trap. How can you practice the Spirit Puppet Technique whenever you want and not practice it whenever you want? Qiao Mao's true spirit was refined into a spirit puppet. Even if Qiao Xuan did not engage in large-scale killing, Qiao Mao's true spirit would instinctively start hunting in order to prolong its existence. After a person dies, his spirit will gradually disappear! The laughter gradually became quieter until it disappeared, and the shadows blended into the night, disappearing without a trace.

Qiao Xuan went straight back to his own courtyard in the west garden of the Qiao family mansion. Due to some past events, Qiao Xuan never got married, and he lived alone in his courtyard without servants or maids. After entering the yard, without turning on a lamp, Qiao Xuan walked to the well in the yard in the dark. After a series of complicated secret operations, strange changes occurred at the bottom of the well, and a mirror world appeared in the water. Qiao Xuan's body still remains in the real world, but his soul has moved to his reflection in the water. In the mirror world in the water, Xiyouyuan is still Xiyouyuan, and the Qiao family mansion is still the Qiao family mansion, except that left becomes right and right becomes left. If you want to move forward, you must be thinking about moving backward. If you want to move your left hand, you must think about waving your right hand. People are upside down, and the world is turned upside down. Even the rules are quite opposite to the real world. "Ok?" Tao Tie, who had reaped the rewards of his patience, immediately became more interested. But he did not rashly try to enter the underwater mirror world, but kept paying attention. It is a pity that Tao Tie's spiritual awareness is not enough to go too deep into it, and he can only observe Qiao Xuan's body that remains in the real world. At this time, Tao Tie discovered that the spirit puppet refined by Qiao Mao's true spirit was not brought into the mirror world by Qiao Xuan. Without the control of its master, the spirit puppet became restless. The bloodthirsty desire grew rapidly. If Qiao Xuan does not return within one stick of incense, the spirit puppet Qiao Mao will take action and start hunting. With the strength of the Tianshui Qiao clan, Lingkui Qiao Mao could only be violent for a while, killing some servants, maids, and some low-ranking Qiao clan members, and then he would be suppressed or directly eliminated. Tao Tie didn't care about this. What he cared about was how many identities Qiao Xuan had and which forces he was involved with. What I am more concerned about is how much understanding of this strange world can be gained through observing Qiao Xuan. With this in mind, Tao Tie continued to pay attention to Qiao Xuan. At the same time, he was also multitasking, keeping an eye on the movements of the two big families in Tianshui City, the Qiao and Li families, the Qingshui River Earl's ancestral temple, and even the Qingshui Dragon King. Especially Ryu-kun Shimizu. Qingshui Dragon King, who failed to completely transform into a dragon and had to sleep in the hope of growing a fifth claw, can be said to have entered his weakest moment. If anyone wants to target Qingshui Longjun, they will definitely not miss this extremely rare opportunity. The twenty-one ancestral spirits really just united to buy some breathing time, and had no intention of "adding insult to injury". At least the three ancestors of the Yun, Qiao and Li families really stopped making any moves after returning to their own ancestral halls.

Even the Yun clan ancestors, whose family was destroyed and whose descendants were only a few left, could only ask the few descendants who gathered together to clean up the ruins of the Yun clan mansion. The Qingshuihebo Temple, which had not yet been renamed, also closed its doors to isolate the inside and outside. Tao Tie didn't dare to look into the temple and could only observe the periphery. He had no idea what the powerful high priest was doing. The same goes for the attention paid to Qingshui River, which can only remain superficial for the time being. After considering all the circumstances, Tao Tie made a decision: "We need to find a way to get some cultivation methods from this world and give it a try." Just as he was thinking this, Qiao Xuan's soul returned from the mirror world. Tao Tie was very keenly aware that Qiao Xuan's soul had become several times stronger, and he also brought out a mirror that seemed both real and unreal. After steadying himself a little, although there was still some disharmony between his body and soul, Qiao Xuan took out the mirror and threw Qiao Mao's true spirit into it. As soon as it touched the mirror, the spirit puppet's armor instantly turned into ashes. The sanity that had been wiped out returned. Qiao Maozhen's eyes were no longer dull, but had regained their vitality. However, he was trapped in the mirror and no matter how wide he opened his mouth, he could not make any sound. "Just take good care of yourself and don't worry about anything else." Qiao Xuan whispered something and threw the mirror into the well. Immediately, a series of intricate secret operations were performed to conceal the mirror world in the water. Before Qiao Xuan's secret method took full effect, Tao Tie sent a wisp of spiritual consciousness to attach to the mirror that seemed both real and unreal, trying to explore the mirror world. Qiao Xuan seemed to have sensed something, but he could not use this secret method too many times within a day. He could only remember it in his mind and explore it again after he recovered tomorrow. Considering that he might be targeted, Qiao Xuan decisively left the Qiao mansion under the cover of night, left Tianshui City, and entered Jueling Mountain. In Jueling Mountain, the god-priest/warrior system will be greatly targeted and may even lose all its strength. It is for this reason that Qiao Xuan can find a sense of security here. Tao Tie thought about it and let Qiao Xuan go without trying to intercept him. Focus all your attention on exploring the mirror world. Who would have thought that the first discovery would be made so easily. "Parity is not conserved?" (End of this chapter)