Taboo Mage - Chapter 198 - Copper Mirror

I was a bit confused. Had I gotten the location wrong? But that didn’t make sense; this place was brought to us by the spirit from the soul-capturing bottle, so there shouldn’t be a mistake.

I still trusted our judgment.

Lowering my head, I glanced inside the box and suddenly noticed that a wooden board at the bottom had lifted up.

I reached in and flipped the board over; sunlight poured in through the old window. As I stared at the object beneath the board, I was suddenly blinded by a bright glare.

Quickly, I raised my hand to shield my eyes and held up a costume to block the sunlight, finally getting a clearer view. It turned out that inside the box, beneath the board, lay a mirror.

It was an intricately carved copper mirror that looked even older than the costumes. I reached in to take it out.

But just as my fingers touched the handle of the mirror, a wave of heat surged through me, as if I had touched something burning.

Instinctively, I pulled my hand back, and the mirror clattered back into the box. No wonder such a powerful spirit could be contained within something so hot to the touch.

I took a deep breath and reached for the mirror again. This time, because I was silently reciting a calming incantation in my mind, the heat was not as intense.

As I finally pulled the mirror out, the already precarious beam above my head suddenly came crashing down with a loud bang. Panicking, I hugged the mirror and bolted outside.

Just as I dashed out from backstage, the swaying beam fell to the ground.

“You actually dared to come?”

I stood on the grass, grateful for my luck, when a menacing voice came from behind. I turned around to see three men standing there, wielding wooden sticks, their faces contorted with aggression.

“Who are you?” I guessed that these were the same individuals who had threatened us over the phone.

I couldn’t help but curse Zhou Qifang in my mind from head to toe-these people didn’t even have the guts to act in broad daylight, yet here they were, armed and ready!

Looking at the burly men in front of me, I could only lament, it seemed today I was going to die here…

The men eyed me and then glanced at the copper mirror I held. The leader spat a curse and charged at me with his stick raised.

Seeing I would be at a disadvantage, I turned and ran! The others closely pursued me; I could feel the rush of air as their sticks swung dangerously close to my ears.

The grass field wasn’t very large, and there wasn’t much space around the theater stage. After running a lap, I realized I had nowhere to hide.

To my surprise, one of the men had positioned himself to block my path, leaving me with no escape. Taking a deep breath, I climbed onto the theater stage and shouted at the top of my lungs, “Zhou Qifang! You bastard, come save me!”

I called out several times, but the men had already climbed up after me. With no other options, I held up the mirror, ready to fight back, hoping it would buy me some time until Zhou Qifang arrived to help.

Just as I lifted the mirror, Zhou Qifang suddenly appeared out of nowhere, landing a kick to the chest of the man who had lunged at me.

The man let out a scream as he fell from the top of the stage, and I winced in sympathy at the sight.

The remaining two men, seeing the situation was deteriorating, tried to turn and run. I glanced at Zhou Qifang, silently asking if we should pursue them.

Zhou Qifang shook his head and flipped off the stage. He grabbed the man who was writhing in pain on the ground and demanded, “Who are you guys?”

The man was defiant, maintaining his silence. Zhou Qifang sneered, then brutally stomped on the broken bone of the man’s leg with his leather shoe.

“Ah!” The man’s shrill scream echoed through the air.

I instinctively shrank back; this scene of bloody violence wasn’t something I handled well. However, I didn’t want Zhou Qifang to let this guy go. These men might be our only valuable leads.

Zhou Qifang pressed harder, twisting the man’s leg bone with his foot. The man was in so much pain he couldn’t utter a word, his face flushed and eyes wide with agony, only able to glare at Zhou Qifang.

“Are you going to talk or not, hmm?” Zhou Qifang’s tone rose sharply, revealing how irritable he had become.

The man let out a muffled groan, drenched in cold sweat.

“I don’t know… someone paid to keep you away from the theater stage…”

In the face of extreme desperation, even the most stubborn man might be willing to compromise his principles for the sake of survival.

“Who is the one paying?” I leaned in closer, frowning as I asked.

The man shook his head again, remaining silent-he was surprisingly tight-lipped. Zhou Qifang and I exchanged a glance, and we both understood each other’s thoughts.

These people were likely being paid to deliberately hide and monitor us. If we resisted being controlled, we might not see tomorrow’s sun.

This also explained why we received threatening text messages as soon as we entered the village; the ones watching us were clearly from this village!

If that were the case, could it be possible that the mastermind behind the payments was also from this village? Otherwise, why would he be so invested in our affairs?

Having come to this conclusion, I stood up and nodded at Zhou Qifang. He released his grip, delivering a hard kick to the man’s backside, then slung his bag over his shoulder and headed toward the exit.

I followed closely and asked, “So, did you discover anything today?”

Zhou Qifang didn’t respond. He walked straight to the back of the theater stage and climbed up, seemingly searching for something.

I had already thoroughly searched backstage, and I wasn’t interested in looking again, so I sat on the cement seating area at the front of the stage and waited for Zhou Qifang to return.

The seating was made of cement, and as I sat there, I thought I could still hear echoes of the beautiful performers who had gracefully emerged from the back of the stage many years ago. Their melodious voices seemed to linger in my ears.

But everything was in the past. I rested my hands on my knees, cradling my chin, unsure of how long I waited until I finally saw Zhou Qifang emerge from backstage, covered in dust and dirt.

If someone didn’t know better, they might think he had just come back from rummaging through a trash heap.