The Covenant of the Nightbringer

第2話 The Ten Mirrors of the Flesh

　　In the Xuanhuang world, Liuli Dynasty, Dayan City, the Long family was one of the top ten large families. At this time, in the "martial arts training ground" in the inner mansion of the Long family, the morning mist had not yet dissipated, and a group of Long family members had begun their morning martial arts training and morning exercises.

　　Behind the Long family members were a group of Long family servants, who were also practicing martial arts with the Long family members. All Long family members had to practice martial arts, which was a rule set by the head of the Long family.

　　But the treatment of the disciples and the slaves was very different. Although they all practiced martial arts together, the disciples learned more than the slaves, and what they ate was also very different. Every day, the disciples ate abalone and bird's nest, which was very beneficial to the body, so their training speed was much faster than the slaves. After practicing martial arts, the slaves had something to eat, so the bruises left by the training were accumulated in the body, making them weak.

　　At this time, hundreds of white clothes were rustling, and each person stood in the field with a dignified demeanor, constantly demonstrating the boxing skills in his hands.

　　BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

　　The fist wind whistled and the air vibrated.

　　These young men have agile movements, like a ferocious tiger hunting for a sheep, a lion pouncing on a wild bull, an eagle striking a white rabbit, and a crane standing on a pine tree. Their whole bodies move with the waist and hips working as one, and they are agile and sharp.

　　Especially their limbs and a big spine, when they move and open and close, it is like five bows that are fully drawn, their fists and feet shoot out like arrows and fall like the wind, showing a strong foundation.

　　Behind them was a group of plainly dressed servants of the Long family. They were all skinny and skinny, and through their skin one could faintly see the bruises accumulated over the years. At this moment, they were also practicing their boxing skills, but the movements were obviously a bit clumsy and not as agile as those of the young men.

　　Among the servants, there was a seemingly ordinary boy standing there. He seemed to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, wearing a gray coat and a small hat. However, his little face had a calmness that ordinary people did not have. Even many adults did not have that kind of tenacious perseverance, but this boy was so mature.

　　The boy's name was Long Cheng. He was living a happy life until his father passed away.

　　His father was an insignificant flower-growing slave who had to grow flowers for the Long family every day and lived in dire straits. Whenever he made a mistake, the Long family would beat him in various ways. Basically, he came home injured every day.

　　When his son Long Cheng saw the miserable state of his father, the pent-up anger in his heart grew heavier and heavier. At that time, he had secretly decided that one day he would seek justice for his father.

　　Until one day, the anger hidden in his heart burst out completely.

　　That time, after his father arrived at the Long family, he never came back, and Long Cheng also knew that his father had...

　　His bad luck did not stop, and misfortunes continued to come one after another. His mother became depressed and finally went insane and jumped off a cliff and died. In the end, Long Cheng was the only one left.

　　At that time, he was young and came to Long's house alone, where he inherited his father's profession and became a flower-raising slave. But over the years, he never forgot why he came here. In Long's house, he always endured humiliation and secretly learned martial arts, just to avenge his father one day.

　　.......

　　In the Long family, Long Cheng lived in dire straits. He would be beaten if he was not careful, but Long Cheng always endured it in order to avenge himself one day.

　　He had to endure a severe beating every day, and there were numerous bruises and obvious scars on his back, and the culprit behind all this was the damn Long family.

　　Thinking of this, Long Cheng felt a surge of hatred and couldn't help but clench his fists, making crackling sounds.

　　"Pooh!" The young man spat out thick phlegm, and a fierce look appeared on his young face.

　　"Father, I will definitely avenge you. I will become a cultivator one day and step into the body-condensing mirror." Long Cheng stared ahead with eyes as sharp as an eagle and his fist fell heavily to the ground.

　　The so-called body-concentrating mirror is the symbol of a cultivator. If a person wants to have powers that ordinary people do not have, he must practice. Only by stepping into the body-concentrating mirror can he be different from ordinary people and have extraordinary powers.

　　The effect of the Condensation Mirror is to train the body, making it stronger and containing more powerful forces. To enter the Condensation Mirror, one must undergo training that ordinary people cannot bear, and train the body to be comparable to fine iron.

　　During this stage, the most tested thing is one's perseverance. You have to constantly hit your body, use up all the strength in your body over and over again, and push the human body to its limits before you can make a breakthrough.

　　This is a kind of power that can only be obtained by squeezing the human body to its limits. The process is extremely painful. Some people often fail to reach their limits and give up practicing. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to become a practitioner.

　　This process also requires a large amount of spiritual medicine to replenish one's own consumption, so that the practice will be more effective.

　　Long Cheng has also been practicing for a year, but he has not yet entered the stage of Condensing Body Mirror. It is not because he is not practicing hard, but because he lacks tonic medicine. Although he has to practice one or two times more than others, he still practices hard.

　　The price of these elixirs that nourish the body is often beyond Long Cheng's reach, so he can only rely on himself and his extraordinary perseverance to cultivate.

　　"One day, I will trample the Long family under my feet," the young man's firm words echoed in the air again and again.

　　Long Cheng stood up suddenly, his coarse cloth shirt stuck tightly to his body, fluttering in the wind, his slightly dark face was filled with firm belief.

　　"call."

　　He exhaled all the hatred heavily, and there was no fluctuation on his young face. It was obvious that the life of a servant had made his heart extremely tough. While exhaling the hatred, Long Cheng's hands were still tumbling in the same action over and over again.

　　Although the sweat kept dripping from his forehead, the boy still gritted his teeth, his deep pupils staring at the young man of the Long family in front of him, and the strong wind still swept over instantly with the whistling of his fists.

　　When the servants with the same status as Long Cheng stopped to rest one by one, even though Long Cheng's arms were trembling and his extremely sore muscles were twitching constantly, Long Cheng still relied on his firm will to wave his heavy arms.

　　......

　　"Okay, all the servants are gone."

　　When Long Cheng was gritting his teeth and persisting, an old man in a robe with thick eyebrows and white beard walked over slowly and dispersed Long Cheng and others.

　　"well!"

　　With a sigh, Long Cheng put down his sore arms and walked out slowly.

　　The housekeeper came to chase them away, which meant that the servants could not continue to practice today, because the following boxing techniques could only be learned by the children of the Long family, and servants of humble status like Long Cheng had to go back to their own work.

　　After those servants left, a middle-aged man in a purple robe appeared in the martial arts field in the distance.

　　The middle-aged man in purple robe was nine feet tall, with an imposing figure and a straight back like a sword or a spear. He was like a mountain, pressing down on him. Although they were far away, Long Cheng almost wanted to stop breathing.

　　After seeing this middle-aged man, Long Cheng's shaky steps stopped. Then, with a strange smile on his face, he quickly stepped into a rockery and hid inside.

　　He actually wanted to learn martial arts secretly!

　　A lowly servant actually hid in the dark and secretly learned the true martial arts from his master's family. This behavior can be said to be extremely audacious and fearless.

　　But if this is discovered, there will be only one way out, which is death.

　　"You don't let us learn the true teachings, aren't you afraid that we will rebel? Humph, when I become strong enough, your Long family will be in turmoil."

　　Long Cheng said slowly, and then, still looking ahead calmly...

　　Chapter 2 The Ten Mirrors of the Flesh

　　Hiding in the dark rockery, Long Cheng opened his eyes wide and stared at the middle-aged man in front of him.

　　This person was not unfamiliar to Long Cheng. He often hid here to learn secretly, so he naturally knew this person well. This was a master of the Long family, "Instructor Long" Long Quan! He was famous and renowned throughout the country, and was one of the best figures in the Long family.

　　Suddenly, a burly man named Long Quanzi came from a distance. His body was extremely solid, and the rough meridians on his arms were coiled like dragons, ready to burst out at any time. His big hands seemed to be able to cover the sky and the moon. When this man came, his momentum was like a wave, and the air seemed to be frozen.

　　As soon as "Instructor Long" Long Quan, who was wearing a purple robe, appeared, all the Long family disciples in the martial arts field stopped their actions, stood upright, and all of them had happy expressions on their faces, and they whispered to each other.

　　"What level of martial arts will Instructor Long teach us this time? If it's level one, that would be great. For people like us who have just started practicing, level one is enough to fight against people with the Condensing Body Mirror."

　　"You're overthinking it. How could Instructor Long teach us first-level martial arts? We can only have this privilege when we reach the level of the Body Condensation Mirror."

　　......

　　"Everyone, please be quiet. Instructor Long has seen a lot since returning from abroad this time, so Instructor Long believes that he should pass on what he knows to everyone. Next, Instructor Long will teach you how to practice martial arts." After a while of talking, the noisy scene quieted down a little. The speaker was an old man with long eyebrows and a beard, wearing a long robe, and looking like a butler.

　　"You are all martial arts geniuses. Although you have not stepped into the Mirror of Body Condensation, you are not far from that step. What you need to know next is some things after becoming a cultivator!" After listening to his speech, everyone quieted down, standing upright and listening to his lecture.

　　"We cultivators, at the beginning, train our own bodies. Only when our bodies are strong can we stand tall and become powerful. And our physical training is divided into ten levels! The first level is solidification, the second level is enlightenment, the third level is strong horse, the fourth level is instant connection, the fifth level is angry lion, the sixth level is extinction, the seventh level is nirvana, the eighth level is blood flame, the ninth level is tempering qi! The tenth level is whole body!"

　　The voice of "Instructor Long" Long Quan's lecture was as loud as a huge bell, and it came over fiercely, causing Long Cheng's eardrum to ache slightly, as if it was about to burst.

　　"If you train your physical body to the tenth level of Tongti Mirror, you can crush mountains and rivers with your physical strength. You can completely smash a small mountain with the strength of your physical body alone. This is the power of a physical body trained to the tenth level of Tongti Mirror!"

　　"Shattering mountains and rivers with bare hands! How powerful must this man be? Can the physical body really reach this level?" Long Cheng was secretly shocked and couldn't help but smacking his lips.

　　"The body is only the foundation of a person, and the power to shatter mountains and rivers does not rely entirely on the body, but on the energy. Energy can only be generated from within after becoming a cultivator, that is, after entering the Body Condensation Mirror. Energy is something beyond people's imagination. If it is strong enough, a stream of energy can destroy a city."

　　"But! Don't think that the tenth level of the physical body is the limit. This is just the beginning. There are many more levels above, but even I don't know what they are now."

　　"Tenth level of physical body!"

　　Long Cheng murmured, listening to these words, Long Cheng felt that a door that had never appeared before was opening in front of him. He would peek at martial arts here every day, and had never heard these words. The ten realms mentioned by "Instructor Long" Long Quan actually unfolded clearly one by one.

　　"Okay, let me tell you about the universe! We have many sects in the Liuli Dynasty, but the ten most powerful ones are Feilong Sect, Taishen Sect, Shengluo Sect, Hongchen Sect, Xingdou Sect, Antian Sect, Xuanchi Sect, Hunfeng Sect, Kunlei Sect, and Yanwu Sect.

　　Everyone should work hard to cultivate and enter a powerful sect. The quality of the sect determines your dignity outside. Don’t be arrogant and domineering outside, because there are mountains outside the mountains. People like me who have reached the Mirror of Enlightenment have almost suffered a great loss... "

　　"Instructor Long has actually reached the Mirror of Enlightenment. Isn't that something that only the head of the family can reach? The head of the family Long has also reached the Mirror of Horse Strengthening, but Instructor Long has actually..." There was a burst of amazed praise from the audience, and they were obviously shocked by Instructor Long's level.

　　Instructor Long saw this and smiled slightly. He then said, "The Mirror of Enlightenment is nothing. You don't have to be so surprised. There are mountains beyond mountains and heavens beyond heavens. If my level is put in heaven, it is nothing."

　　What he said was indeed correct. His realm was at the lowest level. In their Dayan City alone, there were countless people who had attained enlightenment. Moreover, their Dayan City could only be considered a low-level city in the Liuli Dynasty, while those high-level cities were home to a large number of powerful people like him.

　　"You have good aptitude. If you can cultivate to the level of enlightenment within three years, galloping like a horse, and having the strength of a horse, it will be a happy event for my Long family. Well, I have finished what I said, and we will start to cultivate from now on."

　　After a while of nagging, he finally started to talk about martial arts. "Today I will teach you a set of boxing techniques for fishing sharks. This is a move created by our Long family ancestors. When you perform it, you will be as fierce as a tiger."

　　Long Cheng suppressed his excitement and continued to watch quietly.

　　Instructor Long Quan was seen standing on one leg, his hands in the shape of long threads, his back slightly bent, and his body leaning forward slightly. Then, an inexplicable force suddenly surged out of his body and gathered between his five fingers. He suddenly took a step forward, leaned back, and then his entire center of gravity moved forward, and his sharp five fingers stabbed forward like eagle claws.

　　Bang! His five fingers were inserted into the rock, causing it to explode and rubble to fly all over the sky. The power of this martial art was so terrifying that it could break a large rock with bare hands.

　　Instructor Long slowly gathered his body, stood with his hands behind his back, and looked solemn. "Everyone, work hard to cultivate and enter the body-condensing mirror as soon as possible, so that you can see the outside world. Remember that there is always someone better than you, and you must not be arrogant and domineering." After saying this, he left.

　　"Power, that liquid-like power is power," Long Cheng muttered in the dark, with a storm in his heart. Only by stepping into the Condensation Mirror can one absorb the power of heaven and earth and breed power in the body.

　　That power is what Long Cheng has longed for. "One day, I will be stronger than all these people, turn your Long family upside down, and avenge my father." Long Cheng's eyes condensed, with a fierce light in them, and he said firmly.

　　"Oh no! I forgot. This morning, the housekeeper said that the second young lady would come to check on the flowers I grew, but I forgot about it." Long Cheng was eavesdropping with fascination when he suddenly got startled and remembered something.

　　Afterwards, Long Cheng no longer had the mind to eavesdrop, and quietly retreated from the darkness of the rockery. Then, without any pause, he quickly rushed towards the servants' residence.

Certainly. Here is your passage rendered into elegant English with refined narrative and rhetorical devices, preserving the tone and mood of the original:

---

His name was Mi Hongyi. Male. Thirty-two years old.

People called him Old Yi.

Today, he died.

Yes—precisely speaking, he *knew* he died today.

(The End) …?

…???

…!!

Wait a minute—

How could a dead man *know* he was dead?

Old Yi was confused. *Am I dead, or alive?*

That night, he went to bed as usual. He didn’t know how long he’d slept, only that he began to feel...strange.

A terrible pressure, like something was crushing him, gripping his throat.

Suffocating, bloated, pounding in his head, his stomach turning.

Then, just as suddenly, the discomfort passed.

He felt himself rise—light as air, serene as a cloud. Peaceful. Weightless.

And he enjoyed it immensely.

At first, Old Yi assumed he was dreaming.

To realize one is dreaming *within* the dream is what they call lucid dreaming.

But no—this wasn’t a dream. He was *too* clear-headed.

His awareness surged beyond anything he’d ever known—sharper than broad daylight.

Almost as if some hidden sense had awakened.

His entire field of vision had changed. He could see in all directions at once—up, down, side to side—

And below, lying still on the bed, was a man.

He needed no closer look.

He *knew* that man was Mi Hongyi.

If Mi Hongyi was lying there...

Then—

**Who** was *he*?

**Where** was he?

**What** was he doing?

Even the unphilosophical would find themselves pondering this existential trinity.

As it happened, Old Yi *had* studied philosophy.

As for “Who am I?”—

Just moments ago, he’d watched his entire life flash before his eyes, like a film played in fast-forward.

As a child, he’d been mischievous—naughty, some might say.

In primary school, he was the class literary rep, a reading monitor, a squad leader.

Second grade: Outstanding Performance in Recitation.

Third and fourth grade: Three Good Student Award.

Fifth grade: second place in a district-wide essay contest.

In middle school, he represented the biology class, won first prize in a patriotic choral competition (a group award),

received a certificate for returning lost property, was named Outstanding Youth League Member,

took second place in a group dance contest, and performed in the city games’ opening ceremony.

Later, he was admitted to a junior college—Literature major.

There, he served as arts group leader and literary society officer.

He often joined in campus competitions—singing, reciting, debating.

After graduation, he wandered from city to city.

He studied philosophy on his own, took jobs as a clerk, a sales rep, a columnist.

Recently, he’d begun writing web novels—though his latest had met with a discouraging reception,

he was still holding on.

Thirty-two years of life, condensed into less than a second.

Yet he watched it all from the first person—every moment vivid, crystal-clear.

Events long buried in memory rose again: tears and laughter, love and hatred, bitterness and joy.

The whole journey of life, in a blink.

*Who am I?* The man who lived for thirty-two years as Mi Hongyi?

If that’s *me* on the bed—then who is this self that’s thinking?

Ah yes—my *head* is still lying crookedly on the pillow.

What, then, am I using to think?

By science, I am dead.

But by philosophy—I still exist.

For *I think, therefore I am.*

I am… but where *am* I?

Old Yi looked around.

He didn’t need to *turn* his head—he could see all around at once. Strange.

Despite the expanded vision, he wasn’t omniscient.

As with ordinary eyes, he could see plenty, but attention is selective.

We notice only what we focus on; the rest fades into the blur.

And so, he noticed: he was still in his rented apartment.

It wasn’t terribly cold.

The sealed furnace still gave off some lingering warmth.

But Old Yi no longer sensed heat or chill—his body now bathed in a gentle, ethereal glow.

Originally, the room had been shrouded in darkness.

Now, it shimmered with soft lights and shadows, as though he were peering through night-vision lenses.

On the desk, the computer still hummed, auto-running a game to grind for gear and gold—resellable items, if one were patient.

The monitor had switched off to save power; the CPU remained untouched unless the power failed.

Old Yi fretted: Had he saved his manuscript?

If the updates stopped, his hard-earned handful of readers would likely vanish.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, it struck him—he would never update it again.

A wave of melancholy swelled in his chest—wait, did he still have a chest?

Why, then, could he *still* feel sorrow?

As a web novelist, Old Yi was well acquainted with a particular term...

Certainly! Here's an elegant English rendition of your story passage, preserving the humour, philosophical reflections, and mysterious tone, while incorporating refined language and rhetorical flair:

---

**Could it be… I’ve transmigrated?**

Other people write their *protagonists* into another world—how did I end up writing *myself* across dimensions? There's usually a two-step process to these things: first, the character dies; second, they awaken in a different time or space. The steps are supposed to be seamless. But me? I only got as far as step one, and step two... never came. What is this, a half-baked transmigration? Did I die in vain?

Now what? What am I supposed to do?

Old Yi—yes, that’s what they all called him—felt there might still be a way back. He circled the bed a few times, hovering like a moth drawn to its own flame, trying to re-enter the lifeless body lying there. He concentrated, urged his form downward, attempted to reanimate that familiar shell—but it refused to respond. Nothing moved. Nothing obeyed.

It was like sleep paralysis in reverse. Usually, the ghost pins down the body; now, he was the ghost trying to dive back in.

After several futile attempts, he was forced to admit a truth no living man could accept: he was now, by all definitions, a *ghost*. And in becoming one, Old Yi had personally resolved one of humanity’s oldest philosophical debates—the existence of the soul. It does exist. It can exist outside the body. Case closed.

But Old Yi was a ghost with scientific inclinations. He couldn't simply float around wailing in abandoned corridors. No—he had questions, hypotheses, the thirst of inquiry. Step one: what *do* ghosts look like?

He searched the room for a mirror. There was one on his desk, unfortunately lying face-down. He tried to flip it, only to discover he couldn't. His hand—if it could be called that—passed through the object like mist through moonlight. He had no physical form. Only a faint sense of limbs, of energy shaped like arms and fingers, now intangible.

No matter. The public restroom down the corridor had a mirror. But how to get there? The room’s door was bolted from the inside, and his hands were now useless. He drifted toward it in mild frustration—and then, quite suddenly, found himself on the other side.

Huh. Turns out ghosts *do* walk through walls.

He floated toward the bathroom. The door, usually ajar, hung open just enough. He moved forward, testing his new method of travel. Walking was obsolete. So was swimming. You didn’t *move*, exactly. You *intended*, and your form obeyed. It was like gliding along invisible strings tugged by thought itself.

The physics of this puzzled him. Space seemed to have threads of push and pull—like magnetic currents—and somehow, he could align himself with them. When had he learned this skill? Who had taught him? The moment he wondered, he was already hovering in the bathroom.

Ghosts, he thought, surely don’t have noses. So what was that smell?

A beat later, the bathroom’s signature scent wafted through—not through nostrils, but through something deeper. *Sensed*, not sniffed. Once he focused on the mirror, the smell disappeared entirely.

Before he dared gaze at his reflection, Old Yi braced himself. He’d seen horror films. What if he was hideous? Hollow-eyed, skull-faced, demonically disfigured?

Then again, he was already dead. Could a ghost *die again* from fright?

Summoning courage from some unknown place—along with metaphorical teeth to grit—he peered into the mirror.

Nothing.

Then, faintly… a haze. A shimmer. A translucent blur, like mist caught in candlelight. He waved a hand. The blur moved in kind.

So this was it. Ghosts had no *look*. They were the suggestion of a shape, the memory of a form.

Not satisfied, Old Yi narrowed his focus. Stared. Concentrated. And as the world around the mirror dimmed, the blur within grew sharper, until—

There he was.

Not monstrous. Not frightening. Just… himself. His *face*. Younger, even. And—wait—no glasses?

Of course! Ghosts don’t need vision correction. Nearsightedness had died with the body.

The face in the mirror was unmistakably his own, but softer, clearer, freed from time’s wear and mortal concerns. The clothing, however, remained indistinct—a robe of fog. Still, it was a comfort to know he retained his human shape.

Perhaps, he mused, this mirror had a *beauty filter* built in?