Zheng Yi carefully sensed for a moment, then confirmed that he was indeed underwater.

It seemed to be in a small stream where the flow wasn’t too swift, about a meter below the water surface.

The stream wasn’t very wide either, roughly seven or eight meters across.

However... he discovered a bigger problem.

He was not traveling through with his body, nor was it a soul travel, and even less a reincarnation rebirth.

Instead... he was a mirror!

Yes, he had turned into a mirror.

An oval-shaped bronze mirror the size of a single finger, quietly stuck at the edge of information, surrounded by mud and water plants.

Upon carefully sensing it, the image of this small round mirror formed in his mind.

The mirror’s surface was dim, while the back was made of bronze, very similar to the back of the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror.

But upon closer inspection, there were many differences.

Currently, he was like a 360-degree all-around 3D camera, capable of observing the surroundings in any direction.

In short, the rank of the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror was far above this small bronze mirror.

With a quick thought, his spirit swiftly returned to his sea of consciousness.

The Yin Yang Treasure Mirror continued to drift quietly in his sea of consciousness.

"What on earth is going on?"

As soon as the doubt emerged in his mind, lines of words appeared again on the mirror’s surface of the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror.

[Reflecting the myriad worlds, the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror Illusion can serve as a coordinate for the worlds, as well as a passage to the worlds.]

[Upon meeting certain conditions, it is possible to travel through using the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror Illusion.]

"Hmm?"

"Does this mean I can’t travel yet unless I meet certain conditions... What conditions?"

The words on the mirror’s surface of the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror faded away, and the mist rolled over, soon revealing another line of words.

[Power of Time: 0/100.]

"Power of Time? What on earth is this?"

Zheng Yi was stupefied, having thought he could use the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror to travel directly, not expecting there to be conditions?

Yet this Power of Time... What exactly is it?

Unable to solve this conundrum after much contemplation, Zheng Yi could only enter the Three Thousand Worlds once more through the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror, focusing his spirit on the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror Illusion.

After some exploration, he quickly figured out the function of this illusion.

Overall, this small bronze mirror was essentially an illusion of the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror.

He could use this bronze mirror as the center point to scan the surrounding environment within approximately ten meters.

Besides that, he could use his own spiritual power to write words on the bronze mirror, emit light, create Spiritual Qi Fluctuations, and so on, just like the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror.

But... what’s the point of this?

He’s currently in the river, and he’s even buried in the mud, unable to drift with the current.

Could it be... that he just has to stay quietly here?

He forced himself to wait patiently, and as dawn broke, Zheng Yi quickly sensed something.

The flow of the distant river began to quicken.

Before long, he surprisingly ’saw’ a group of raggedly dressed people rolling up their pants and walking toward the river.

They held fishing nets, bamboo sieves, shovels, and other tools, stepping into the river, scooping up the mud from the riverbed, and washing it continuously.

"What are they doing?"

Zheng Yi was baffled, situated at the edge of the creek, stuck by the pebbles, hence unnoticed by the group.

Before long, he noticed more details.

The people washing mud from the river all seemed to be from impoverished families.

Each was skin and bones, in ragged clothes, eating in the open and sleeping outdoors, with both children and adults among them.

While on the shore, there were often two or three people in grey clothes with the same pattern embroidered on their chests, monitoring them back and forth.

Suddenly, a young boy in the river shouted, picking out something from his bamboo sieve, running toward the shore excitedly.

The nearest person in grey clothes quickly sped over, carefully checking the boy’s hands, then nodded in satisfaction, patting the boy’s shoulder hard.

The boy smiled shyly, and the person in grey took out a pen and a booklet from their storage pouch, recording something.

Afterward, the boy returned to the water, repeating his previous actions.

Zheng Yi quickly reacted, realizing: "Are they gold panning? No, they are... panning for Spirit Sand!"

The so-called Spirit Sand is the Qi that gathers in certain minerals, forming Spiritual Qi agglomerates.

The most basic ones are various Spirit Stone Veins.

Hidden in famous mountains and great rivers, within Spirit Veins, such as the Spirit Vein on Celestial Longevity Mountain.

Sadly, who knows how long it will take for the Spirit Vein on Celestial Longevity Mountain to form into a Spirit Stone Vein.

Besides Spirit Stones, there are also Spirit Sands.

In famous mountains and rivers, there must be rivers, waterfalls, lakes, and such.

And in these rivers, waterfalls, and lakes, for various reasons, due to the washing of the river water or flowing out from Spirit Sand Veins, a large amount of Spirit Sand is formed.

To find this Spirit Sand, a large amount of manpower must be spent on washing them out.

Just like gold panning.

These poorly dressed mortals were being supervised by these cultivators to pan for Spirit Sand in this river!

Suddenly Zheng Yi had a thought, and lines of words appeared on the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror Illusion’s surface.

[You have witnessed a cultivator clan forcibly employing mortals to pan for Spirit Sand, Power of Time +0.001.]

The Power of Time has just increased!

Zheng Yi’s eyes lit up sharply, quickly realizing.

So that’s how it is, the Power of Time comes from this!

The more events that he himself, or rather the illusion of the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror, experiences, the more history witnessed, the more Power of Time is gained.

A trivial event like mortals panning for Spirit Sand can increase it by 0.001 points.

Witnessing more events and history would certainly increase the Power of Time faster, wouldn’t it?

But now, trapped beneath pebbles and sand, how could he catch the attention of a cultivator?

At this moment, Zheng Yi saw a middle-aged man with dark skin approaching.

With both hands gripping a bamboo sieve, the man scooped below the river, dredging up a heap of mud and sand, shaking them vigorously to find Spirit Sand hidden at the riverbed.

However, his luck was clearly not as good as that young boy earlier; there was no Spirit Sand in this sieve full of mud and sand.

Yet he did not lose heart, continuing to dig and wash the sand.

Zheng Yi had a brainwave and instantly came up with an idea.

The ancient mirror hidden beneath the pebbles suddenly emitted a faint glow.

This light, reflected in the river water, appeared incredibly enchanting.

The middle-aged man’s movements suddenly halted. He put the bamboo sieve into the river, rubbing his eyes vigorously as if in disbelief.

He quickly reacted, his hands never stopping; he continued to wash the Spirit Sand while quietly inching towards this side.

Zheng Yi was full of doubt. What’s this guy doing? Why doesn’t he just pick me up and hand me to the cultivator onshore?

Or perhaps...

Finally, the middle-aged man reached the shore, pretending to bend over to dig sand, while his right hand frantically searched among the pebble piles.

Soon, he found something—it was the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror Illusion.

He shook it in the river water, revealing the true surface of the Ancient Bronze Mirror, a fleeting look of surprise crossing his eyes.

Spiritual Object!

It must be a Spiritual Object!

This object seemed to have just emitted light, maybe it’s a Magical Artifact used by Immortal Masters.

If taken out, it could certainly fetch a high price.

We mustn’t let the Zhang Family find out.

Thinking this, the surprise in his eyes turned to greed. He then bent down, actually stepping on the ancient mirror and pinching it firmly with his big toe.

Finding a piece of Spirit Sand, the Zhang Family only gives ten cents, which is too little.

This Spiritual Object is definitely worth more than ten cents, if only...

Damn!

The dark-skinned man was happily daydreaming, but Zheng Yi cursed inwardly.

Damn it!

I wanted the cultivator to have this so it could witness a lot of history and earn Time Points.

But what use is it for a mortal like you to take me?

Also... you’re stepping on ’me’.

It’s really... intolerable!

His mind moved, magical power surged, a faint Spiritual Qi fluctuation immediately emanated from the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror Illusion.

This Spiritual Qi fluctuation is imperceptible to mortals.

But for cultivators, especially those sensitive in spirit and close in distance, they could quickly detect it.

Sure enough.

A gray-robed cultivator patrolling by the shore sensed something, abruptly turned around and looked towards the dark-skinned man, then walked over quickly.

The dark-skinned man was still blissfully washing Spirit Sand, planning to fake a toilet break and hide the treasure in the latrine.

Later at night when everyone rested, he could secretly retrieve it.

Perhaps fortune was not solitary; he also found a piece of Spirit Sand in the mud, incredibly lucky.

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly felt a shadow over his head.

Instinctively looking up, a gray-robed man was floating in mid-air, staring at him coldly.

"Immortal, Immortal Master, do you have any orders?"

"Hand it over."

"Yes, yes, yes..."

The dark-skinned man hastily picked out that piece of Spirit Sand from the bamboo sieve and handed it over respectfully.

"Immortal, Immortal Master, my name is Niu Dashan, this is the first piece of Spirit Sand I found today."

"And the rest?"

"W-what?"

Niu Dashan panicked, "N-no, no more, I only have this one piece of Spirit Sand..."

"Courting death!"

The gray-robed cultivator coldly shouted, casually waved his hand, and a sword light shot out, instantly piercing through Niu Dashan’s chest.

"Puh!"

"Immortal, Immortal Master, for, I..."

Struggling for a moment, Niu Dashan’s face was filled with despair, eventually crashing into the river, lifeless.

Without his control, the Yin Yang Treasure Mirror Illusion flowed out of the river.

The gray-robed cultivator’s eyes sharpened, quickly spotting the Ancient Bronze Mirror, reaching out to grasp it immediately.

"A mirror fragment? It was this that emitted the Spiritual Qi fluctuation... Could it be a Magical Treasure Fragment?"

The fragment had Spiritual Qi fluctuation, meaning its grade was at least above the Top-grade Magical Artifact.

He truly has this fortune.

"Ah...!"

At this moment, the surrounding mortals noticed the gray-robed cultivator’s action, appearing extremely flustered, but soon settled down.

Another figure flew over, clad in white robe, frowning as he asked, "Niu Liang, what happened?"

The cultivator called Niu Liang quickly turned back, respectfully saying, "Third Young Master, this mortal dared to conceal Spirit Sand, discovered by me, so I punished him."

The white-robed cultivator frowned, "Now that the Zhang Family has newly occupied the Weiyang River, we must be lenient to gain the nearby mortals’ loyalty."

"Forget it, if any mortals are found concealing Spirit Sand again, expel them on the spot, and their families cannot reside around Weiyang Mountain, outside Zhang Family’s protection."

"Yes, Seventh Young Master, I understand."

"Continue patrolling."

"Understood!"