"Young Master Mu, it’s an honor." The man grinned, revealing two gold teeth. "My master would like to invite you for a cup of tea."
Mu Feng felt the Celestial Master Seal in his pocket vibrate violently. His Mystic Pupil activated uncontrollably, and the world transformed into a maze of color-coded blocks in his vision. He saw a hideous black rune where the Gold-Toothed Man’s heart should be, and the golden light around Su Yuqing was forming a protective barrier.
"Your Shiyi Pavilion has overstepped its bounds," Su Yuqing said, blocking Mu Feng. "This is the territory of the Su Family of Jinling."
The Gold-Toothed Man let out a mocking laugh. "The Su Family? Since Su Mingyue stole the Taixu Mirror, what face do you have left to speak of the Su Family?" He suddenly flicked his wrist, sending out a cloud of black mist. "Hand over the Celestial Master Seal!"
The mist transformed into a venomous snake and lunged. Instinctively, Mu Feng reached out to block it. To his shock, the Celestial Master Seal leaped from his pocket on its own, tracing a golden arc through the air that instantly shattered the mist.
"Mystic Pupil weapon manipulation?!" The Gold-Toothed Man’s expression changed drastically. "Impossible—unless..."
Mu Feng was stunned, but his body seemed to move with a mind of its own. He grabbed the hovering Celestial Master Seal and aimed it at the man. The runes on the seal ignited with a blinding golden light, blasting the man three meters backward.
"Go!" Taking the opportunity, Su Yuqing grabbed him and scrambled over the courtyard wall.
The two ran frantically through the alleys, the sounds of angry roars echoing behind them. After a few turns, Su Yuqing ducked into an inconspicuous pawnshop with Mu Feng in tow.
"Old Zhou, lend us a way through!" she shouted to the old man behind the counter.
The old man glanced up at Mu Feng, his gaze lingering on the young man’s eyes, which were still glowing faintly. He sighed. "Mingyue’s child? Come with me."
He lifted a curtain behind the counter, revealing a downward staircase. Mu Feng followed them down, discovering a small treasure vault, its four walls lined with various antiques.
"It’s safe here for now," Old Zhou said, lighting an oil lamp. "Kid, when did your Mystic Pupil awaken?"
"Just... a few days ago." Mu Feng was still reeling from the fight. "Do you know my mother?"
Old Zhou didn't answer. Instead, he took a bronze box from a shelf. "Mingyue entrusted me with this years ago. She said if her son ever came for it with the Celestial Master Seal, I should give it to him."
Mu Feng took the box. His Mystic Pupil immediately identified the complex sealing array upon it. As if possessed, he pressed the Celestial Master Seal into the indentation in the center of the box. With a "click," the box sprang open.
Inside lay a bronze mirror the size of a palm. Its surface was covered in cracks, yet it radiated a white light that made Mu Feng’s Mystic Pupil ache.
"A shard of the Taixu Mirror..." Su Yuqing gasped. "So it really was in Auntie’s possession."
Old Zhou’s expression was complex. "Twenty years ago that night, Mingyue arrived here covered in blood. She said the Guanfu Studio had been massacred, and she had risked her life to bring this out." He pointed to the back of the mirror. "See this rune? It’s the key to the underground secret vault of the Guanfu Studio."
Mu Feng’s Mystic Pupil automatically parsed the patterns on the back of the mirror. A stream of information rushed directly into his mind: *Seven days from now, under the full moon, the Taixu Mirror will point to the entrance of the vault...*
Suddenly, the mirror vibrated violently, and a beam of white light shot straight into the center of Mu Feng’s forehead. A series of scenes—some strange, some familiar—flashed before his eyes: runes on a door, a star chart in an underground vault, and the final moment when a young couple was swallowed by black mist.
"Dad! Mom!" Mu Feng cried out unconsciously, then blacked out.
In a haze, he felt as if he were floating in a galaxy made of countless antiques, each artifact whispering its secrets to him. The brightest star among them was the shattered Taixu Mirror.
"His Mystic Pupil is evolving," Old Zhou’s voice came from far away. "Mingyue was the same back then, after she came into contact with the Taixu Mirror..."
Su Yuqing’s voice was choked with tears. "He’ll be all right, won't he? The clues my aunt and uncle left behind... they can’t just..."
Mu Feng wanted to tell her he was fine, but the darkness swallowed him once more. This time, he clearly saw a line of text engraved on a door: *When the Mystic Pupil appears, the Taixu returns, and the Guanfu opens the Heavenly Gate.*
Mu Feng was jolted awake by a sharp pain. He snapped his eyes open, only to find his vision piercing through the ceiling, seeing a customer in the pawnshop upstairs pawning a pocket watch. It was Swiss-made, dated 1887, with the words "To my beloved wife" engraved on the inside of the cover.
"You’re awake?" Su Yuqing’s face appeared in his field of vision. She was holding a bowl of black, bitter medicine. "Don’t use your Mystic Pupil recklessly. Old Zhou says you can’t control it yet—everything looks like an X-ray to you."
Mu Feng hurriedly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, his vision finally returned to normal. He realized he was lying on a *luohan* bed in the back room of the pawnshop, covered in a blanket embroidered with subtle patterns. In his eyes, the blanket glowed with a faint cyan light; it was clearly an ancient object.
"How long was I out?"
"Three whole days." Su Yuqing pressed the medicine bowl into his hands. "Do you know you had a fever of forty degrees? The spiritual impact of the Taixu Mirror was too intense. Old Zhou said an ordinary person would have been brain-dead long ago."
Mu Feng tried to sit up, only to find that every antique in the room was "talking." The blue-and-white porcelain jar in the corner, which looked ordinary, was a genuine piece from the Xuande era; the bronze Buddha on the shelf held a Ming Dynasty land deed in its belly; and even the unassuming copper coin on the keychain hanging from Old Zhou’s waist was a rare "Jingkang Tongbao."
"My Mystic Pupil... did it level up?" Mu Feng stared at his hands in shock.
Old Zhou lifted the curtain and walked in, holding a wet towel. "Not just leveled up—it’s mutated. How many layers of seals can you see through now?"
"What do you mean by layers..."
Old Zhou suddenly took a silk pouch from his robe. "Look at this."
Mu Feng focused his gaze. The pouch became translucent in his vision, revealing a jade thumb ring inside. Even more shocking, he could see red threads of energy flowing within the ring, forming the character for "Seal."
"Two layers of seals. Inside is a... blood jade thumb ring?"
Old Zhou’s hand trembled, and the pouch dropped to the floor. "Incredible. Even your mother could only see through one layer." He bent down to pick up the pouch, his expression grave. "Kid, these eyes of yours are worth ten lives now."
Su Yuqing interjected, "Never mind the eyes for now. Did you know the Jubao Pavilion is holding an auction today? Every antique dealer in Jinling will be there. It’s the perfect opportunity to make a name for ourselves."
Before Mu Feng could react, Old Zhou shook his head. "Too dangerous. Shiyi Pavilion will definitely have people watching."
"That’s exactly why we have to go," Su Yuqing said, her eyes bright. "The most dangerous place is the safest place. Besides, Mu Feng can tell the real from the fake at a glance; isn't it time to let those bastards who sell fakes suffer a little?"
Mu Feng touched the Celestial Master Seal in his pocket, recalling the moment his parents were swallowed by the black mist. If he wanted to find the truth, he had to establish himself in this world first.
"I’m going," he said, throwing off the blanket and getting out of bed. "But I’ll need a new identity."