Once more, Han Li's room returned to silence as he slowly opened his eyes. The quiet settled over the space like a heavy blanket, the stillness so complete that even the faint hum of night felt distant. A soft shadow passed through his face as the dim light shifted, tracing his features while he looked around his living space. His sister's presence was nowhere to be seen, and the absence hung in the air like a faint echo. A slight smile appeared on his face.
"My cute little sister," he said with a smiling face.
The darkness slowly filled his room, thickening as the moments passed. The flame on his sole lantern trembled once, grew thin, and finally died, allowing the room to be swallowed in shadows. A crimson light entered his room from outside, spilling through the window like a thin, cold mist. Beneath that unnatural glow, a demonic glint appeared on his soulless and empty eyes. The faint smile remained plastered on his face, but his eyes under the crimson moon held no sense of emotion at all — the light reflecting off them like a dead, still surface.
The atmosphere around him felt dense and chilling, as if the walls themselves were shrinking inward. The shadows clung to him and stretched long across the floor, twisting into shapes that seemed to breathe with the movement of the crimson moon.
Han Li had seen countless crises and had been a righteous path member who had killed and slaughtered countless demons. He had lived and seen many talents fall due to the slander of others, people who had more potential than him who worked as his subordinate due to their lack of resolve and strong will. People who could've achieved the pinnacle of humanity but were eroded by the opinion of others; to him these people were truly pitiful, even worse than shit on the gutter.
"As long as I walk this path, the opinions of others are nothing more than shit that should be trampled. I'm already on my path, truly what regrets can I have, even if I die I will not lament or grieve or worry."
This was Han Li's resolve.
Han Li slowly shifted his gaze to the night sky. The faint red glow outside cast long streaks of light across the floor, giving the entire room a surreal, distorted appearance. His smile slowly faded from his face as he once again took on a lotus position. The wooden boards beneath him creaked softly as he sat, and the air seemed to vibrate as the atmosphere thickened further.
While in this meditative posture, unbeknownst to Han Li, his vital essence leaked out of his body and domain. A God-like essence perhaps due to his former life's cultivation; his domain was indeed large, stretching outward like an expanding fog, filling the room with a silent pressure. But among the flow of energy, a tint of black—faint, thin, like a smear of ink in clear water—appeared. It lingered quietly, a small disturbance in the stillness of his aura.
Han Li once again opened his eyes.
But now, before him lay not his living quarters, but a seemingly unending and phobia-filled void tainted in a disgusting blackness. The ground beneath him had vanished, replaced by nothingness. The void stretched endlessly in every direction, a darkness so thick it looked as though it swallowed light whole. The air was cold, dense, and unmoving, as if the very concept of wind had never existed here.
A faint, distant rumble echoed throughout the void, though no source could be seen. The blackness shifted subtly, pulsing like a living organism, its surface rippling as if it were a massive sea of shadow.
In this darkness, an apparition appeared.
It formed slowly, as though rising from the void itself. Its pale skin contrasted sharply against the surrounding blackness. Its semi-unrecognizable face seemed to flicker at the edges, as if its features were not entirely stable. Strands of hair fell toward its shoulders, drifting gently despite the absence of wind. Its black robe blended seamlessly with the endless darkness behind it, making the figure appear half-formed, as though it were both present and not.
No — this was the source of the repulsive darkness that seemed to taint the world around it.
It looked at Han Li with eyes filled with a darkness and gloom.
"Dear oh dear," the apparition said in an ethereal voice, a tint of amusement appearing on its face. "Whose performance am I watching?"
It continued, "How many people am I, this vastness between me and myself — what is it?"
The voice echoed strangely through the void, stretching and layering over itself, as though the words were repeated by the darkness.
The apparition looked at Han Li with an interested gaze, and a smile slowly crossed its face.
"Who am I?" the apparition once again asked.
But Han Li, still expressionless, looked at the apparition, closing his eyes and slowly closed his eyes.
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