That's her shadow...
The shadow of "Mirror Flow".
Chapter 117: Master and Disciple Duel, the Fight Never Ends (5K)
Jinyun was completely stunned.
He subconsciously tried to wake himself up to make sure whether everything he saw was a game scene or a dream.
An indescribable sense of fear turned into a tangible chill that gradually penetrated Jinyun's skin and flowed through his blood vessels, making him feel cold all over.
What he feared was not the mirror flow, nor the shadow in front of him, but something else——
His dream!
I had encountered this shadow several times before, and they were all scenes in my dreams.
And now, the shadow that was chasing him in the dream appeared in the real game.
So was it a dream that predicted the future, or did the dream become reality?
Jinyun swallowed unconsciously and reached for his head with both hands.
Soon he touched the heavy VR helmet on his head.
He took off his helmet, and as darkness and nothingness flashed back and forth, the scene before him became clear again.
The computer desk, wardrobe, and bookshelf are all placed in their original places, and the monotonous ceiling still looks old and worn out by the years.
The small lamp beside the bed emits soft light, adding warmth and comfort to the bedroom.
Outside the window was a quiet and peaceful night. In this huge county town, only a few houses still had lights on.
Jinyun was sure that he was not dreaming, but the less he thought it was a dream, the more nervous he became.
He put on the VR helmet again. The shadow of the "mirror stream" in front of him was much closer to him and was still getting closer.
Jinyun analyzed the opponent's information in the UI interface. After selecting the unit, the system displayed information of neutral creatures.
As for the name, it is even more perfunctory: Mysterious Black Shadow.
No, what exactly is she? What is her relationship with Mirror Style? Why does this mysterious creature use Mirror Style swordsmanship?
While he was thinking, the black shadow in front of him suddenly bent down, and the black sword in his hand, which looked like black iron, swept away with a strong wind and pointed directly at Jinyun's head!
Jinyun never expected that this black shadow would suddenly attack him. Fortunately, the abnormal attributes in the game provided him with extremely high agility. He didn't even need to use his brain to react, and his body dodged first.
The black sword was emitting an extremely cold light as it brushed across Jinyun's skin. The real touch fed back by the somatosensory feedback suit made Jinyun feel as if someone was rubbing ice cubes on his skin.
I had dreamed before that Yun Xi was fighting against this black shadow. Now it was my turn to fight against her in the game in the real world. It felt like a magical dream come true.
Jinyun held the sword in his hand, and the blade rotated a circle in his palm. The cold light of the sword tore through the curtain and chopped down at the black sword that was rushing towards him from the shadow.
Almost without any warning, the moment the blade was about to touch the black shadow, it suddenly disappeared, and then strangely appeared above Jinyun's head in the next second.
This speed can almost be described as teleportation. Ordinary people would not be able to react at all, but Jinyun seemed to have seen through everything already.
He put one hand behind his back and gently raised the other hand holding the blade, and easily defused the attack of the black sword.
The black shadow held a black sword and slashed at Jinyun more than a dozen times in succession. The sword light was as strong as a storm. Even the air around the two of them became like ice and snow under the cover of this sword intent.
While dealing with the black shadow's sword moves, Jinyun did not forget to analyze the opponent's purpose and actions.
Although the opponent's attack was fierce and brutal, it did not contain the murderous intent to kill people. Jinyun felt that the opponent wanted to retaliate but was hesitant and could not kill.
It was exactly the same situation as in his previous dream. The black shadow was clearly chasing him, but it always gave him an inexplicable attachment.
This love-hate, ambiguous feeling made Jinyun even more confused.
What exactly is this black shadow? What is her relationship with Jingliu? Why does she appear in this game world like a bug?
"Clang!"
The black sword slashed by the black shadow went up along the blade handed over by Jinyun. The blades touched each other and sparks flew. In a flash, the sword was forced to the hilt. Jinyun barely blocked it with the bulge on the sword guard.
The black shadow then thrust out three more swords, but they were all easily resolved by Jinyun.
This battle of one after the other did not seem like a life-and-death fight between mortal enemies, but rather like a mutual exchange between two people with deep feelings and friendship.
The faster Jinyun moves, the faster the black shadow moves. On the contrary, if he slows down, the black shadow's attack will become softer.
Does this activate the game's adaptive dynamic difficulty mechanism?
At least the black shadow's behavior made Jinyun more certain of his thoughts.
She really wasn't here to kill him, it seemed more like she was here to complain and take revenge.
If I followed her wishes and let her stab me with a sword, would she leave on her own?
As soon as this thought flashed through his mind, Jinyun couldn't help but secretly call himself an idiot.
No matter how you look at it, this is a bug in the game. When you encounter a bug, what you should do is to immediately let AI assistant 02 report it to the company.
But apart from this, Jinyun was still thinking about a problem.
Will the emergence of BUGs ruin the game plot?
The plot he was facing now was that the people of Fengrao were attacking the Xianzhou Luofu on a large scale. According to the original plot, the Xianzhou Alliance had no choice but to use the Kanyun Mirror to sacrifice the Yuque Taibu and summon the Patrol Star Arrows, and only then did they barely win this tragic war by injuring one thousand enemies and eight hundred of their own.
Regardless of whether the sudden appearance of an outsider like me would ruin the plot, just the BUG of the black shadow.
Just now, she actually killed a bunch of giant beasts!
What if her code was a little more messed up, and she killed all the people of abundance with just a few sword strikes, and the plot didn't progress far enough to allow the Cloud Mirror to be used? What would happen then?
Will the game freeze or corrupt?
Jinyun didn't know.
After all, he himself was still considering whether or not to interfere with this plot line.
He felt that he had come to a very delicate node. Originally, there were two plot lines in this world. One was the non-existent plot line between himself and Kiana, and the other was the original plot line.
Just like the double-slit interference experiment, when humans attempt to make an observation, the act of observation itself causes collapse in the quantum realm.
In other words, from the moment he came into this world, the development of this world has changed because of him, and everything he does should be reasonable.
The plot of this world has moved towards the unknown, and Jinyun's interference is the inevitable result of the collapse.
What Fu Xuan just said, "can't figure it out", might be related to himself.
The core of Fu Xuan's divination always revolves around the things of this world. Everything that exists in this world, all the counting chips in the hexagram array, are "constants".
Jinyun and Kiana do not belong to this world. There is no seat for them here, just like a giant breaking into the dining table of ants. To this group of ants, they who suddenly appeared are the "variables" of this world.
As for what kind of butterfly effect their "variable" will cause, no one can say for sure.
While he was thinking, the black shadow of "Jingliu" suddenly stabbed Jinyun's waist with a sword at a sinister and tricky angle.
Jinyun didn't want to experience the feeling of having his kidney pierced, so he quickly stepped back a few meters on tiptoe. However, the black shadow was like a thorn in his flesh. Its toes didn't even touch the ground. It just stood in the air, and its body leaned forward like a dragonfly skimming the water. Follower Jinyun stabbed out with a sword.
Because he was distracted, Jinyun's blocking action was a little slow. In a moment, the sword in his hand was forced down by the black shadow, and he himself fell to the ground due to loss of balance.
The black shadow moved continuously, following closely behind, and as Jinyun fell, he rushed forward and pressed the opponent under him!
Then, the black knife in her hand drew an arc and was raised high above Jinyun's head, and she was about to rip Jinyun open!
But at this critical moment, the black shadow seemed to be a robot whose commands had been terminated. The sword blade that was stabbing down froze in place with a "buzz" sound, and the tip of the sword stopped in the air only a finger away from Jinyun's chest.
Jinyun frowned and took advantage of the opportunity to try to communicate with the BUG again:
"You chased me, but you couldn't kill me. What is the logic behind your behavior?"
"..."
The black shadow did not respond, nor would it respond, and Jinyun actually tried to communicate with an error code. His behavior was as idiotic as it could be.
"Jinyun, take the sword!"
At this moment, as Jing Yuan's deep male voice sounded from behind, a sword with a cold glow broke through the air, the tip of the sword pointing directly at the black shadow's head!
The black shadow's operating logic would make her respond to external attacks, so in order to block this sudden sword, she had to pull herself away from Jinyun, and the black sword in her hand was swung into a wonderful arc, cutting down the flying sword with one sword.
Jinyun took this opportunity to leap up and grab the hilt of the falling sword.
The moment his palm touched the hilt, the skill bar in the UI interface immediately switched to sword form, and sword moves that had not been used for a long time emerged in Jinyun's mind like flowing water.
These sword techniques were the ones he taught to Jingliu, such as Wanjian Tianlai and Hanchuan Yingyue. If it weren't for the fact that his weapon was switched to a sword and the skill bar changed accordingly, Jinyun would have almost forgotten that he had learned these sword moves.
Since I can't understand the shadow's logic, let's try to see if I can repel her. It's not a big deal if the plot gets stuck here.
After making up his mind, Jinyun gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, and the sword moves in the skill bar were passively activated. A hint of chill spread from the hilt of his sword and gradually swept across the sharp blade.
As if he could sense Jinyun's determination, the black shadow's fighting spirit also increased, and the black sword in his hand exuded a deep chill.
She turned around quickly, twisted her toes, and spun like a top. She dodged Jinyun's sword energy with a few quick moves and at the same time pressed forward, aiming at Jinyun's head.
Jinyun's pupils shrank slightly, and the sword edge grew bigger and bigger in his eyes. However, the next second his figure disappeared from the spot and appeared behind the black shadow. Sword intent was lingering and cold air was shrouded, enough to freeze the ground beneath his feet, and frost flowers suddenly appeared from the sword edge.
The black shadow turned around and thrust out a sword. A streak of black energy cut through the sky and sank into Jinyun's chest.
When the sword hit, the black shadow suddenly froze, and her featureless face revealed an imperceptible stiffness, and this hesitation immediately made her move slowly.
However, the next moment, Jinyun, who was pierced by her black sword, turned into a shadow and disappeared——
It turned out that what she stabbed was only an afterimage of the opponent!
Faced with this fleeting flaw, Jinyun had already made his move. The sword's tip flowed like blooming moonlight, and tiny snowflakes appeared out of thin air and fluttered down from the sky. The ground beneath his feet, frozen by frost and snow, reflected a bright waning moon.
As Jinyun slashed down with his sword, the bright moon suddenly hung upside down, the sky was suddenly bright, the green frost brushed the face, and the three platforms were reflected!
The moonlight on the rivers and streams stirs in all directions, and the snow on the cold mountains illuminates the vast world.
The frosty ground beneath my feet is like a bright mirror flying from the sky. The moonlight and snowflakes wash the sky, creating cloud shadows like a mirage.
After this sword strike, a full moon clearly bloomed under the feet of the two men.
The black shadow shaped like a mirror stood still, and the ravine split by the sword light under her feet was only half an inch away from her. The water in the ravine was shimmering, the moonlight was flowing, and cold springs were gushing out. The fleeting full moon faded away in the blink of an eye as the sword intent dissipated.
Jinyun's sword missed.
He had no intention of holding back, but the moment the sword approached the opponent's cheek, Jinyun clearly saw Jingliu's astonishment and confusion from that featureless face.
Even if this black shadow is really a game bug, it must be inextricably linked to Mirror Flow. If I really kill it with my sword, will I miss any hidden plot?
What if this black shadow is a hidden boss or easter egg?
In old stand-alone games, manufacturers liked to put monsters that were not equal to the player's current strength or that were inconsistent with the world view. Some production teams, such as the producers of the domestic Three Swords, especially liked to put themselves into the game as Easter eggs to increase their presence.
Most of the time, these Easter eggs are just some hidden collection elements, and players can get powerful props as long as they complete them.
But there are also some manufacturers who have such a bad taste that they use Easter eggs as elements to achieve a perfect ending, such as Fantasy Three Kingdoms.
This black shadow might have some mechanism that I haven't discovered yet, so it's better to keep it in mind.
With this thought in mind, Jinyun's sword missed.
And just as he expected, the black shadow showed characteristics other than only attacking himself.
Just as Jinyun was puzzled, a report from a Cloud Cavalry soldier suddenly came from behind:
"Report to General Jing Yuan, the Taibu Division has been attacked, the enemy's target is the Dayan Qiongguan Formation, the fortune tellers are in danger!"
"Order the Yutie Tribe to rush to the rescue immediately. No mistakes!"
"Yes, General!"
Jinyun looked in the direction of the voice and saw several fully armed Yunqi soldiers hurriedly leaving, while Jingyuan, who was in charge of commanding them, stood still and looked at him with a smile.
Taibusi, Dayan Qiongguan Formation...
I remember that place was not far from here, in that direction...
Jinyun looked in the direction of Taibusi, and sure enough, he saw a group of warships of the Fengcao people breaking through the defense line and invading the cave.
He was thinking about whether to lend a hand, but at this moment, the black shadow that had been standing there in a confused state suddenly jumped up and leaped onto the beam.
Then, she jumped around on the beams like a naughty child, and stopped only when she reached the top of the Shen Ce Mansion.
She faced the enemy, and a black mist resembling long hair moved in the wind.
The next second, she raised her hand, and the cloud above her head suddenly rolled up, and a huge white sword, as if condensed from moonlight, was torn out from the sea of clouds by her!
