[From my elder sister to my younger sister, I envy anyone better than me, even those whose backs I cannot see. I resent that I have not received heaven's favor.]
[Looking back today, what I need to reflect on extends far beyond this, but the thing I find hardest to forget and forgive myself for is stealing her favorite treasure when I chose betrayal.]
[That mirror.]
[None of us knew why she cherished that mirror so much; she kept it in her bedroom and would often marvel at the miraculous power on the surface of the mirror.]
[It was just a talking mirror, capable of reflecting certain things: the truth with one method and the desires within the heart with another.]
[How could this be called a miracle?]
[I might never have understood this, but in my youth, I was certain that the mirror was perhaps the reason she was far more powerful than other witches.]
[Jealousy, distortion, madness, I stole it and betrayed her, proud that I was smarter than others, convinced that I could flee to a place she would never find.]
[Away to a distant land.]
[I married a man I did not love; what I loved was his wealth and power, the resources he provided were enough for me to become the strong witch I desired to be.]
[This was destined to lead to my tragic life; since leaving my homeland, I've always used my husband's authority to check if she was hunting me down.]
[Of course, the mirror would help me too; when I asked who was the most beautiful woman in the world, the mirror would always reflect her figure and where she was.]
[At the time, I saw the chaotic era as my fortune; likely she had no time to deal with me, allowing me to live peacefully for a very long time.]
[Until... news of her death arrived. I think I had been waiting for this day all along, yet the validation from the mirror left me despondent for quite some time.]
[Sadness engulfed me, memories of the past often surfaced; I suppose I never forgot the time spent learning magic with her.]
[Only there did I face someone who wasn't my beauty-seeking husband nor a magic-fearing vile Muggle; perhaps she was the only sincere person I ever met in my life.]
[Realizing this, I felt deep regret, daily harboring hope to see her again in the mirror, wishing it was all a ploy to numb me during her pursuit.]
[If that were the case, I would feel so much better. But every morning, when I question the mirror, all I see is the countless visions of myself I fantasized.]
[I should be happy, laugh indeed, yes, I should... Perhaps she merely wanted to complete me. She is such a person, strong as she is, how could she possibly die?]
[She was the teacher who personally taught us how to make the Undying Potion!]
[Every day I ask, every day I comfort myself this way, until my husband's ever more beautiful dazzling daughter replaced me as the answer the mirror provided.]
[It shattered the last of my fantasies! The daughter of a hedonist! How could she be worthy! Anger and madness wholly consumed my reason during this time.]
...
There is a long passage of the author's monologue afterwards.
Perhaps while writing this book, emotions remained uncontrollable; from the tone and rhythm of the voices sounding beside his ears, Ian could easily discern it was an old witch about to document what she learned from her teacher, reminiscing about her teacher, providing a deep analysis of her own life.
"Why does the story sound so familiar?" Ian frowned; he could obviously understand that the "she" the book author referred to was likely Witch Mara from the Misty Illusion Realm.
According to backups, the book author should be his senior sister? No, strictly speaking, she should be his elder sister. Elder sister recorded the knowledge she learned from their teacher in her old age.
As for why the cover featured Witch Mara's likeness, it was likely the author's final remembrance of her teacher — Ian's mood became quite complex after the prologue's voice faded.
After all.
The author's past in the prologue sounded increasingly familiar to him.
"Princess Heixue's beautiful white stepmother is actually my old ancestral sister!?" Ian finally snapped back to reality; it's no wonder the author's monologue felt so familiar to him.
He couldn't have guessed Muggles' fairy tales would actually be a piece of wizards' history. Absurd? Unusual? Fantastical? Ian was at a loss for words to describe his emotions.
"Teacher Mara, what kind of students did you bring out..." Ian knew some truth about the past, yet it obviously did not resolve his inner doubts.
The latter part of "Spiritual Manipulation: From Thought Extraction to Soul Stealing" is primarily about knowledge of the spiritual domain, serving as an entry from the Legilimency magic, then gradually detailing the training and learning method to become a master level witch in spiritual domain, showing that the senior sister had already become a master level witch while writing the book.