The snow flew wildly up and down the mountains.
When Gu Shen saw that "himself" in Zhong Yuan’s squad, a familiar sense of disarray surged into his heart!
If not for his strong spiritual power, allowing Gu Shen... at that moment, Gu Shen might have doubted that he was the so-called "fake."
Mirror Dream, is this the Mirror Dream?
The Gu Shen across from him was false, the real question wasn’t important, the critical thing was... how was he replaced by the "Mirror World"?
What exactly happened while the bonfire burned?
Gu Shen’s thoughts were pulled back at the sound of a gunshot.
A red-silver bullet scraped through the Wind Snow, heading toward Gu Shen’s forehead.
This shot aimed directly at a vital point! It was meant to be lethal!
Gu Shen remained expressionless, thinking quickly, the Iron Throne flew out, the nameless Iron Armor whistled in the Black Snow, forging a mysterious black shield!
Sparks flew everywhere!
The bullet’s blast exploded on the iron shield. Simultaneously, Gu Shen tossed the lantern he held aloft forward, the faint "Chi Huo" within the lantern exploded in the air—
The night turned into day!
The dense gunfire erupted at that moment, Gu Shen’s figure, hovering atop the mountaintop, flickered and wove through the fiery net of bullets, resembling the scenes during Source Armor duels...
Thinking of this, Gu Shen’s mind slightly trembled, a suspicion in his heart seemed now to be confirmed even more.
From the moment the gun fired.
He suspected... the entire mountaineering team was an illusion of the "Mirror World," just real enough to deceive his senses. Bound by the Battle Golden Hoop, the Chi Huo couldn’t fully break the dream, forcing him to engage in a "tug-of-war" within this Dream.
At the summit of Black Snow Mountain, shattered light scattered.
The Iron Throne could manipulate all low-level "iron elements," not confined to physical form display. That nameless iron shield abruptly dispersed among the gunfire, transforming into dozens of iron lights, revolving swiftly like birds around Gu Shen, accurately intercepting bullet trajectories in the air. Within seconds, a series of explosive sounds continued, presenting a mighty spectacle.
The sole remnant of Chi Huo with Gu Shen could still achieve the multitasking of the Iron Throne in this scene.
Gu Shen held his breath.
He extended two fingers and caught a bullet heading toward his brow.
This particular bullet was different from the rest, piercing the iron shield’s psychic defense, carrying dangerously intense heat.
Gu Shen’s gaze turned somewhat uncertain. Using his spiritual power to maneuver the Iron Throne to intercept the shot had consumed a significant part of his spiritual power... This bullet, fired by "Zhong Yuan," was enveloped by blazing flames on the casing, seemingly capable of engulfing the world in fire!
Could this Mirror Dream even replicate the power of mountaineers’ sealed items?
This very shot convinced Gu Shen...
The mountaineering squad before him were all replicas!
Given Zhong Yuan’s eleventh-level peak strength, if he truly intended to kill with a deadly shot, Gu Shen’s "Iron Shield" would definitely not hold to this extent—
At that point, Gu Shen would probably need to summon the Truth Ruler to barely save himself.
"Since you are so ruthless..."
"Don’t blame me for being heartless!"
Gu Shen instantly lowered his body, stepping on the fleetingly assembled thin iron shield, and darted down from the heights like a rocket, crashing heavily into the squad nearing the mountain summit.
He had already figured out the general characteristics of the Mirror Dream.
The bad news was, this Mirror Dream was different from the nightmares he had experienced before, not mere "scare tactics," as even Zhong Yuan’s Phoenix Ring powers could be retained, meaning... if the dreamer failed in battle, they could very likely be killed!
But the good news was, this bizarre Black Mountain seemed only to replicate part of the Transcendents’ attributes, not completely.
This indicated that these people were solvable.
At the summit, a giant pit was smashed open!
Gu Shen directly engaged in close combat, understanding that facing a surrounding mob, he needed to tear an opening from within directly. Keeping a distance would only lead to continuous depletion, ultimately losing any chance to counterattack.
The Flowing Fire of the night fell onto the snowy mountain peak.
These "Mirror Dream replicas" had remarkably high combat intelligence, far exceeding simulated AI in battle pods... At the moment Gu Shen descended, the entire squad had spread out.
They could guess what Gu Shen intended to do!
No... To be precise, it was the "self" in the squad, the entire squad’s diffusion center was the replica of himself.
Gu Shen saw this scene, and his gaze suddenly darkened.
At the moment of impact, he charged directly toward himself!
Destroy the fake first!
The short distance of several dozen meters was crossed in an instant, a squad member close to the replica "himself" suddenly stepped up without hesitation, and Gu Shen expressionlessly swatted him away, sending that teammate flying.
The two Gu Shens collided face to face.
The "self" in the Mirror Dream revealed a faint smile.
Gu Shen’s pupils slightly contracted.
At this moment... he recalled the scene when the bonfire reflected his face in the black water, showing such an eerie smile.
Gu Shen punched hard, his fist landing on the face of the fake Gu Shen, the snow exploded and flew, launching the slender figure in the Mirror Dream into the air, crashing into a stone wall not far away.