Mirage's Spell, Back in the Hospital
Mirage shunned Xue Bai for the next few hours after his question.
He had just so cleanly explained why it wasn't the same thing, yet this stupid mortal still didn't understand him. Mirage felt angry, but since he was already bound to this kid, he couldn't escape.
Thankfully, Xue Bai wasn't shunned forever, as just before nighttime came, Mirage started to answer his questions once more.
"Mirage, what rank treasure are you?" Xue Bai asked.
Xue Bai knew that Sage Yang and the cloaked figure were, at the very least, above the Immortal Great Realm, so for the cloaked figure to leave Mirage to him, it couldn't be a low-ranked treasure, right?
'At the very least, it should be in the Earth-grade. Maybe it's even in the Heaven-grade.' Xue Bai thought to himself.
"I have no rank. I am beyond ranks. I am the core treasure of a Sovereign. How can I be ranked?" Mirage snorted arrogantly.
Xue Bai's previously calm mind spun, and he felt a migraine coming.
'What in god's name does that even mean? And why in the hell did his words pause mid-sentence?'
"I can hear your thoughts, boy." Mirage's childish voice sounded once more.
"Then answer my question." Xue Bai felt no embarrassment at being exposed and instead doubled down.
"Simple. Your pitiful universe doesn't dare allow me to speak its name. What else?" Mirage answered, arrogant as ever.
Hearing Mirage's arrogant words, Xue Bai only felt deep skepticism. Did Mirage mean that his universe was a low-tier one?
But a cultivator could cultivate all the way toward the peak of the God Great Realm and could control time, space, and reincarnation, all with a thought. How could such a universe be low-tier?
And what? This random scroll in his mind was beyond such powers? Xue Bai didn't believe the voice for a second. If it was beyond ranks, then what the hell was it doing bound to him?
If it were beyond ranks, shouldn't it be off somewhere, still bound to the powerhouse that created it?
Mirage seemingly sensed Xue Bai's skepticism and felt triggered, and in response, he snorted angrily.
And to Xue Bai's shock, his vision started to change.
In response to Mirage's anger, reality shifted. Instantly, the ground beneath Xue Bai's feet changed from the wooden floors of the motel he was just standing on to something familiar to Xue Bai.
And once he realized where he was, his facial expression changed.
"How the hell do you know about this?" Xue Bai's cold voice said as he looked at his surroundings.
They were extremely familiar to him. After all, how could he not recognize the building he was in? He had lived in it for more than five years.
With the white walls that revealed no emotions, the concrete floors that were cold to the touch, and dozens of humans in white robes running through the walls with purpose in their footsteps, Xue Bai once again found himself in the hospital he lived in during his previous life.
But once he realized where he was, Xue Bai's face went cold.
He was the only person who knew about his previous life. Liu Mei, Zhu Que, Xiao'er, Xue Feng, and even Li Rou knew nothing about it, and he wanted to ensure it stayed that way.
So the second he found out that Mirage brought him here, Xue Bai lost all the politeness he had earlier.
Xue Bai had found himself in his old hospital other times during his second life, but the other two times he had found himself in the room were reasonable. The first was during a dream in his subconscious, while the other was during a conversation with his predecessor's remnant will.
Mirage was neither his predecessor's remnant will nor his subconscious, so there should be no reason that it knew about this part of his existence.
"I don't. You brought us here yourself. I only used a spell to bring out your most cherished memories." Mirage said. However, to Xue Bai's confusion, the voice didn't come from inside his head but to his left.
Turning, Xue Bai found a pale-faced doctor speaking to him.
"Why are you suddenly a doctor? Aren't you bound to me? Why are you a person now?" Xue Bai raised an eyebrow at the sudden appearance of the treasure.
While Xue Bai didn't like the feeling of having his past exposed, he did realize that Mirage was right.
Mind-reading techniques were rare, but they certainly existed on the Baishen Plane. So even though Xue Bai could keep his secrets a secret forever, they would be revealed one day. Xue Bai just had to make sure that it never spread.
"Boy, haven't you connected the dots yet? My name is Mirage. This figure is only an illusion." Mirage sarcastically answered. And following his sentence, his body turned into a pile of sand that disintegrated seconds later.
"I'm still inside of you. I just wanted to be outside for a moment." Mirage continued this time from inside Xue Bai's head.
Finished with his explanation, the pile of sand on the ground rose from its fallen position and quickly reformed into the same white-robed, pale-faced doctor who had stood there just a few seconds earlier.
"So, boy, mind telling me how you know what a hospital is? From my knowledge, this mortal plane you're in is in a feudal era. Technology of this level would've long been destroyed should it be in there." Mirage questioned as he looked through his own robes.
Cultivators in the Baishen Plane were arrogant. Everything they wished to create had to be done with their own power.
None of them liked to rely on outside power, whether it was a treasure or a piece of technology. So even though the cultivators on the Baishen Plane were dozens of times smarter than Earthlings, they never advanced their technology.
They stayed in the same feudal era for hundreds of thousands of years, never advancing their technology or societal habits.
To some people, women were still the weaker gender who needed protection, even though there was no shortage of women cultivators.
So for Xue Bai to know about a technology world even though he lived in a feudal one, Mirage became skeptical of his new partner.
"My name isn't Boy, Mirage. It's Xue Bai." Xue Bai snapped.
He had stopped calling Mirage Voice long ago, while Mirage still kept calling him Boy. It was getting annoying.
"Then fine, Xue Bai, answer my question. How do you know what a hospital is?" Mirage only reiterated his question once more. This time, his words were laced with sarcasm and empty compliance.
Mirage didn't care much about names. He had lived far too long for names to matter to him. They were just a series of sounds in his mind.
Xue Bai didn't answer his question, though. His previous life was top secret, and even though Mirage was now bound to him, Xue Bai didn't know how it would stay like this.
And because of that, he wouldn't say anything.
Mirage was smart, and he stayed silent after Xue Bai didn't answer him. He couldn't force the boy. It was better to just sit tight and watch.
However, minutes passed with nothing special happening. Doctors rushed to and from every room while nurses pushed patients along the hallway.
"Hey, Xue Bai, this is supposed to be your dearest memory. So why hasn't anything happened yet?" Mirage questioned.
Whenever he cast this spell on someone, the memory played would start off hot. But now, even after a few minutes passing, nothing happened.
But Xue Bai didn't answer Mirage's question. Something was confusing him deeply, and he was far from being conscious enough to answer his companion's question.
At first, Xue Bai thought that the day he would be brought to was going to be the day he got "Children of the Plane" from his parents, but there was a calendar nearby, and after he read the date on it, Xue Bai realized something.
Xue Bai remembered the day he got "Children of the Plane" clearly. It was the 6th of May, 2032. However, the day marked on the calendar was August 28th, 2025!
'I was born in 2019, and in 2025 I was only 6! I could still walk then.' Xue Bai thought to himself.
Xue Bai had never entered the halls of a hospital before the age of 8. So it made absolutely no sense for him to be here this early.
"Hey, Mirage. Are you sure that you brought up my dearest memory? I wasn't in the hospital this early." Xue Bai said as he pointed to the calendar nearby.
Mirage looked at where Xue Bai was pointing, but since he had no idea what the days of the calendar meant, he ignored it and focused on Xue Bai's question instead.
"My spell would never fail on a lower life form like you." Mirage snorted, "Maybe you forgot something important. Just continue to wait. Maybe something will happen soon."
His pride didn't allow him to admit that his spell had failed, and instead of admitting his failure, he doubled down.
Xue Bai felt annoyed at the man's arrogance and obstinance, but since he was also extremely curious about where they were, he didn't point it out and instead waited.
While he didn't think Mirage was the so-called beyond-ranked treasure he claimed to be, Xue Bai had to admit he was indeed something special. If Mirage wasn't an extremely high-ranked treasure, the spell should've failed.
So even though Mirage's spell had failed to bring them to his dearest memory, the fact that they were now in his hospital meant something.
Thinking this much, Xue Bai crossed his arms at his chest and waited for the 'dearest memory' to appear.
Whether it was a coincidence or Mirage truly knew, the climax started soon after he spoke.
The lights of the hospital shut down, and their surroundings turned dark. Screams filled the hospital floor as nurses panicked at the sight of the failing machines and scared patients, but thankfully, just as fast as the hospital lost power, the emergency power turned on.
The once-bright white lights changed colors and turned into a somber red that gave the hospital a morbid atmosphere.
The nurses quickly felt relieved and promptly assumed the standard protocol for such a scenario.
The common actions of the nurses for the next few minutes were going around the floor and making sure the machines were back up and running while also trying to reassure their patients that it was already fixed and that there would be no more problems.
But just as Mirage and Xue Bai seemed to understand what was happening, something in a room a few meters away attracted their attention.
"Hmm?" Mirage comically raised an eyebrow once he detected what was happening, asking, "An innate soul physique can be awakened on a mortal planet?"
Hearing the terms, Xue Bai was confused, but before he could ask his question, Mirage's person melted into the floor and shuffled toward the phenomenon.
Sighing, Xue Bai quickly followed.
But his face dropped once he entered the hospital room, and his mental state almost collapsed.
"See, look, Xue Bai! I told you!" Mirage proudly announced his success once he realized his spell had worked.
Regaining his pride, Mirage looked back at Xue Bai to brag, but once he saw Xue Bai's face, which looked like someone who had just seen a ghost, he became confused.
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