This Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp truly functioned just as Liu Qingcheng had described, it failed to cast the shadow of a person. Even the surrounding objects lost their shadows entirely.
Bathed in its radiance, it was as if all darkness in the world had been driven away, leaving only boundless light.
From a visual standpoint, this was undoubtedly a rare and wondrous treasure to mortals.
But it alone failed when used on Chen Kuang.
Not only did it fail, it even seemed to malfunction.
The moment Chen Kuang saw the stunned look in Liu Qingcheng's eyes, he realized something was wrong. His heart gave a sudden jolt.
The word "shadow" had not been a good omen for Chen Kuang ever since the Great Void Illusion Realm simulated by the Demon Sword.
Back in that illusion, he had seen his own, or rather, his original body's corpse, which bizarrely had no shadow.
He had also seen Su Yu's corpse, similarly completely without a shadow.
There was undoubtedly a connection between these two.
Back then, Zhang Zhizhou had once told Chen Kuang a certain "folk horror tale":
The Elixir of Immortality Su Yu possessed might have been offered to him by a Wraith, and based on the story's description, that so-called Wraith was eerily similar to a shadow.
Chen Kuang had always suspected a link between the two, but until now, no one had been able to give him any answers. All he could do was keep this suspicion buried in his heart.
Even more importantly, in the illusion, Su Yu's severed head had once eerily spoken to him, saying:
"Heaven has its Mandate; a nation has its Fate. So long as the nation does not fall, the emperor shall not perish."
That had only strengthened Chen Kuang's suspicions that Su Yu most likely did not die!
His body may have perished, but not his consciousness.
And the "shadow" perhaps symbolized something greater, perhaps Su Yu had used an unknown method to feign death and escape, now hiding somewhere and waiting.
Judging by his cryptic words, he might be waiting for the restoration of the Liang Kingdom.
Perhaps the day Su Huaiying successfully re-established Liang was the day Su Yu would rise again.
And now, Chen Kuang finally knew the answer to his long-standing doubts.
He now knew, understood, where Su Yu was hiding..
Under the radiance of the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp, Chen Kuang had two shadows behind him.
One was undoubtedly his own.
But the other was completely different from the first.
That shadow wore ceremonial imperial robes, complete with a twelve-beaded imperial crown fashioned of pearls and jade. Its aura was majestic and oppressive. Though it was a mere silhouette, one could still sense the gaze cast down from beneath the royal crown.
A cold and lofty indifference, a gaze of absolute control.
A twelve-beaded imperial crown, only the Emperor may wear..
That shadow, was undoubtedly Su Yu!
Chen Kuang's entire body instantly stiffened. Even his breath caught for a moment as a chill, icy and sharp, shot up from his spine straight to the crown of his head.
Su Yu really hadn't died.. And what's more, he had remained by Chen Kuang's side all this time as a shadow!
If it weren't for Liu Qingcheng's Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp, who knew how long it would've taken before this truth came to light?
Only one person, but two shadows.
And one of them obviously wasn't his!
The sight alone was enough to surpass the limits of mortal comprehension, already bordering on eerie, sinister terror.
Liu Qingcheng also stood frozen, at a complete loss.
The instant she saw that imperial shadow, goosebumps prickled across her whole body.
"Senior... this... what is this?"
She turned to look at Chen Kuang. But with the passive [Calm and Steady Aura] supporting him, Chen Kuang's face remained utterly placid, not even the smallest fluctuation in expression.
Thus, Liu Qingcheng could not discern whether this was something within his expectations, or an unforeseen anomaly.
Still, given how calm he was... it was probably some Divine Ability causing this strange phenomenon?
Chen Kuang silently drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his turbulent emotions as he let out a light, even chuckle:
"No matter. I accept your apology gift. If you truly wish to cultivate, I can pass you a technique. It is an orthodox cultivation method from the Xuan Sect. So long as you are willing to put in the effort, it's not too late to start."
He waved a hand to shut the box, the rainbow light of the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp faded instantly.
All surrounding shadows reappeared, and the second shadow behind Chen Kuang vanished, or more accurately, merged into the other one.
Chen Kuang felt the weight on his heart grow increasingly heavier, though he revealed none of it on his face.
He turned to Liu Qingcheng and said solemnly:
"Just one thing. What you saw today, you must never tell a soul."
Liu Qingcheng hurriedly nodded.
Even without him saying so, she would never dare speak of something like this, nor did she have anyone she could tell.
Chen Kuang passed Liu Qingcheng a cultivation technique called "Scripture of the Well and Pivot".
He had acquired it from Wu Man.
Though Wu Man herself was a demon, after so many years working under Wang Yangbo, playing both sides, she had collected and traded many human cultivation methods.
And all of them were high-grade.
This "Scripture of the Well and Pivot" came from a rogue cultivator, though he had descended from a once-prosperous sect now in decline. By his generation, the lineage was a solitary transmission.
The technique was good, but his cultivation lacked and so he died in a duel, body and soul both annihilated.
This scripture was gentle in nature and particularly suited for the physiology of women.
Chen Kuang told Liu Qingcheng to study it first, then returned to his own servant quarters.
There, he exhaled and took the box out.
He retrieved the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp.
Its design resembled the Treasure Lotus Lamp from TV dramas in his past life, a luminous glass lotus with no fire, only internal light.
As Liu Qingcheng had said, the moment Chen Kuang touched it, he instantly understood its power:
To shine is to fix.
Anyone within its illumination could be frozen in place for one breath, though it could only affect one target at a time.
This was indeed a powerful Spiritual Treasure, though for mortals, and even average cultivators, it wasn't that useful.
Just one breath's time, one person. It wasn't enough to escape or reverse a battle situation.
But in a high-level confrontation, that one breath might be the key to life or death.
"And yet the Prince of Jingnan casually gifted this level of Spiritual Treasure to a courtesan?"
Chen Kuang furrowed his brow, something felt off about it.
Still, the lamp was too important for him. Even if it did carry hidden risks, he had to keep it.
He looked down at his feet, at the shadow behind him.
There were now two shadows, resting quietly against the wall, unmoving. They didn't appear to have any signs of consciousness.
Yet even that sight alone was enough to fill one with dread.
Chen Kuang shifted his body slightly.
The two shadows immediately mirrored him, down to the folds in his robes. Everything was in sync, proving they really were his.
But Chen Kuang's heart turned colder still.
Because this also proved that Su Yu's shadow had now fused entirely with his own.
It could no longer be separated..
It was truly a blight clinging to the bone...
What made it even more terrifying was that Chen Kuang currently had no means whatsoever of dealing with Su Yu's shadow.
In fact, he didn't even know how Su Yu had accomplished such a thing.
Chen Kuang stared at that shadow, forcing himself to calm down as he swiftly combed through his thoughts, laying out each doubt and clue flowing through his mind:
"First, and most crucial, when, and how, did this shadow attach itself to me?"
Chen Kuang looked to the status bar at the bottom-right corner of his vision, scanning with a steady gaze until he reached the very first passive that had appeared after his transmigration:
[You have digested the Elixir of Immortality. Gained passive ability: "Flesh Reishi", Your flesh is capable of near-infinite regeneration and possesses the vitality of Heaven and Earth. Consumption prolongs life and heals illness.]
At this moment, he thoroughly understood.
"There's only one possibility: it happened during the gap in the original body's memory, when I lost consciousness after drinking the wine bestowed by Emperor Su Yu of Liang."
Chen Kuang sighed deeply.
This was the only passive not acquired through his own active actions.
Before Chen Kuang transmigrated, the original owner of the body had already consumed the Elixir of Immortality.
After transmigrating, the digestion of that Elixir by the new body had triggered this passive's acquisition.
That intense fever the original body had suffered from was likely the result of enduring the Elixir's powerful effects.
And most likely, after that, Su Yu's shadow had already embedded itself within him.
In other words, the Elixir of Immortality placed in the wine by Emperor Su Yu was the medium!
This Elixir... was not a blessing, but a curse!
However, what was done was done. At this point, Chen Kuang couldn't exactly extract the Elixir from his body anymore.
He stared coldly at the two shadows beneath him, his heart growing even heavier as he continued to think:
"Second, why did the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp cast two shadows?"
"Logically, if this lamp reveals 'the extra shadow', then it should have only shown Su Yu's shadow, not mine. Unless..."
A terrifying thought flashed through Chen Kuang's mind, so horrific that it startled even himself.
"What if I'm the extra one?"
He almost jumped.
But then, the more he thought about it, the more reasonable it sounded.
Because, Chen Kuang was a transmigrator.
He was a person from another world, not someone who originally belonged to this one.
So to say he was the "extra" made perfect sense.
And in the illusion, the original body's corpse had no shadow...
That couldn't be a coincidence.
Because Chen Kuang, as a transmigrator, a bug, had been recognized by the Wujian Demon Sword, which was unable to properly simulate the world because of it. That's what led to that strange glitch.
And now, this Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp was doing the same thing, it had once again exposed the truth.
"But then... what exactly is the underlying principle of the Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp? Why can it alone cast shadows upon my body?"
Chen Kuang couldn't understand it.
Nor could he fathom how the Elixir of Immortality could become a vessel for Su Yu to parasitize him.
"There are probably only four people in the world who might understand this," Chen Kuang thought.
"Su Yu, Huo Hengxuan, Xi Mengquan, and..."
Another name surfaced in his mind, someone clearly pivotal, closely linked to both Su Yu and the Elixir of Immortality, yet conspicuously absent from all these developments.
The filthy, scab-covered Taoist who had once served as the Liang Kingdom's State Preceptor, and then vanished without a trace!
"If I remember right, his name was..."
Chen Kuang dug through the memories of the original body and recalled that name:
"Jiang Wuya."
...
Yang Kingdom.
Prince of Jingnan's Mansion.
In the Yang Kingdom, Prince Jingnan, Wen Chai, held an extraordinary position. He was the Emperor's most beloved younger brother.
At sixteen, he had donned armor and ridden into war, defending the southern borders with numerous meritorious deeds.
Now at fifty-six, he had finally established a princely estate in Zangfeng Prefecture, indulging in wine and brothels, steeped in decadence and desire. His reputation for hedonism was known across the entire realm.
The Emperor, mindful of Wen Chai's many battlefield accomplishments, said nothing and simply let him be, at most reminding him once a year to settle down and marry.
After all these years, now that the prince was already past fifty, the Emperor had given up entirely.
Even so, the Prince of Jingnan's reputation remained relatively untarnished, thanks to his storied youth.
The Northern Frontier had its Night Barbarians, while the Southern border faced the brutal and bloodthirsty Blood Affliction Sect, a power no less dangerous.
This sect trained in sorcery that used flesh and blood as its foundation and frequently required live sacrifices. To the cultivators of the Central Domain, it was a sworn nemesis.
The Sixteen Kingdoms of Southern Barbarians all revered the Blood Affliction Sect, which had tens of thousands of members and had long cast greedy eyes upon the southern frontier.
If not for Prince Jingnan's iron cavalry holding the line, the Yang Kingdom would have long been in grave peril.
The title "Jingnan" (Pacifier of the South) was not something just anyone could bear.
But for those working within the princely estate, the image of Prince Jingnan was that of a constantly drunk, woman-defiling, lecherous old man, and not only women, his tastes knew no gender or even age.
Recently, however, all the mansion's servants knew that the prince had taken in a most peculiar guest.
It was not a beauty, nor a handsome man, but a hideous, disheveled, scab-headed Taoist.
Even older than Prince Jingnan!
Still, the prince had been widely connected in his youth, so having an old friend drop by was not that strange.
But this old friend's grotesque appearance really seemed ill-suited for someone like the Prince, who had always favored aesthetics.
Now, in the rear garden of the estate,
Wen Chai sighed with deep regret, wearing a bitter expression:
"Daoist Wuya, even if I know that little Qingcheng is as beautiful as a fairy, I still don't understand why I had to give her that Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp."
"That thing is worth ten thousand gold at least! Back then so many cultivators begged me for it, and I never let it go. But now I've given it to a half-demon courtesan with no cultivation at all!"
He clutched his chest with heartache, unable to comprehend.
Wen Chai, despite being nearly sixty, still looked like a man in his forties. Only his temples were streaked with gray, and his demeanor retained the flair of his youth.
The man seated across from him, however, was a true grotesque looking man.
The Taoist wore a torn and muddied robe. His face was riddled with wrinkled creases like chrysanthemums and his bald scalp was covered in ulcers and pus. Sparse hair clung to his skull, and his mouth was filled with yellowed teeth.
Just walking down the street, he could stop babies from crying, out of fear.
The scab-headed Taoist suddenly grinned:
"Prince, your perspective is too narrow."
"That Glazed Image-Freezing Lamp... it has great purpose. It is tied to a grand Mandate of Heaven!"
Wen Chai sighed again:
"You always say that, Daoist. When will you finally show me what this grand design is all about?"
The Taoist suddenly squinted, turning his gaze toward the direction of Rouge River in Zangfeng Prefecture and his eyes gleamed with light.
"Found it."
He burst into laughter:
"Prince, would you like to know where Ji Chengtian is searching for the Elixir of Immortality?"