The air was razor-cold when Ren Xiang stepped into the eastern training hall, where the ceilings soared like stone ribs and the torches burned blue. This hall wasn't used for ordinary disciples; its silence felt ancient and heavy, the kind of silence that listened.
Elder Karyon stood at the center, his copper staff planted upright beside him. He didn't turn when Ren Xiang entered.
"You're early," Karyon said.His voice echoed softly, as if the hall amplified wisdom and muffled doubt.
Ren Xiang bowed. "I needed clarity."
"Good," Karyon murmured. "You will need far more than that. The Dual Breath Discipline is not a technique. It is survival."
Ren Xiang stepped forward. His body still ached, but the mirrored meridians thrummed with their cold, quiet hunger.
Karyon extended a hand. "Sit."
Ren Xiang sat cross-legged, spine straight, shoulders balanced.
Karyon circled him slowly, as if studying a puzzle piece he needed to fit into a dangerous machine.
"First," Karyon said, "you must understand your new condition."
Ren Xiang nodded. "Two meridian systems. One real, one mirrored."
"Incorrect," Karyon said.
Ren Xiang blinked.
Karyon stopped in front of him, eyes grave."You do not have two meridian systems. You have one system in conflict with itself."
Ren Xiang inhaled sharply.
Karyon continued, "Your reflected meridians do not obey your body. They obey the Mirror Core. They obey the principles of reflection, not the laws of nature. That is why they feel sharp. Artificial. Hungry."
Ren Xiang felt the mirror-meridians pulse faintly in response, almost as if acknowledging the truth of those words.
"You must learn to calm them," Karyon said. "Not through strength. Through alignment."
Ren Xiang nodded. "Then… Dual Breath."
"Yes," Karyon said softly. "Dual Breath is the foundation. The only method to coax mirrored meridians into harmony with the real ones."
Karyon stepped back and struck the stone floor lightly with his staff.
A vibration spread through the hall — subtle, soft, like ripples across a pond.
"First—listen," Karyon commanded.
Ren Xiang closed his eyes.
He heard his heartbeat.
He heard the faint hum of the torches.
And beneath that—
He heard two rivers.
One warm. One cold.
One erratic. One sharp.
"There," Karyon said quietly. "Your breaths."
Ren Xiang inhaled slowly.
The real meridians expanded gently, like warm air filling a room.
The mirrored meridians responded sharply — almost too quickly, like reflections jumping to life.
Karyon's voice echoed, "Do not synchronize yet. First, observe."
Ren Xiang listened.
Two pulses.
Two rhythms.
Two breaths.
They clashed.
Karyon waited until Ren Xiang's face tightened in discomfort. "Now," he said, "Dual Breath begins."
He tapped the ground again.
A second wave of resonance flowed outward.
Ren Xiang inhaled.
The warm meridians expanded.
The mirrored ones tried to imitate—
Too fast.
A spike of pain stabbed through his skull.
He exhaled sharply, barely maintaining control.
"Slow," Karyon said. "Force nothing. Allow reflection to lag."
Ren Xiang tried again.
He inhaled.
Real meridians expanded.
Mirrored meridians flickered—
Too slow.
A cold bite crawled up his neck.
"Closer," Karyon murmured.
Ren Xiang breathed.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
He tried to feel the shape between both breaths.
A moment of harmony.
A moment of discord.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Minutes turned into an hour.
Ren Xiang's skin trembled with sweat. His jaw locked from the strain. Blood dripped from his nose, but he didn't stop.
Finally—
A single breath aligned.
Real meridians expanded.
Mirrored meridians echoed.
Perfectly.
The moment lasted only a heartbeat—then shattered—but Ren Xiang felt it.
A single instant of unity.
Karyon exhaled sharply — not relief, not pride, but confirmation. "Good. Again."
Ren Xiang inhaled.
He found that thin membrane of resonance between the two breaths —held it—lost it—found it again.
Dual Breath.
One breath.Two meridians.
By the second hour, his chest felt hollow. His limbs trembled uncontrollably. His vision fluttered. Sweat soaked his robe. The mirrored meridians hissed inside him like angry reflections.
Karyon struck the ground again.
The hall pulsed.
Ren Xiang inhaled—
The breaths aligned—perfectly.
Warm and cold.Real and mirrored.Two currents.Two systems.One breath.
Karyon stepped forward, expression unreadable. "Good enough for today."
Ren Xiang nearly collapsed backward.
Karyon caught him by the shoulder. "Control. Not collapse."
Ren Xiang grit his teeth and stabilized his posture.
Karyon nodded once. "Barely acceptable."
Ren Xiang blinked. "Barely?"
Karyon's lips twitched. "You nearly died twice."
Ren Xiang coughed dryly. "I… didn't."
"Which is why it was barely acceptable," Karyon said calmly. "Come. Drink this."
He handed Ren Xiang a flask filled with a translucent blue liquid.
Ren Xiang sniffed it. It smelled like crushed mint leaves mixed with cold metal.
"What is this?"
"Mirror-Sap," Karyon said. "A rare herb extract that stabilizes reflective energies. Elders once used it to treat cultivators who overused mirror-techniques."
Ren Xiang raised the flask. "What happened to those cultivators?"
Karyon replied without blinking,"They died."
Ren Xiang lowered the flask.
Karyon sighed. "But only because they used too much. You will drink a sip."
Ren Xiang drank.
Cold spread through his throat, down his chest, and into his belly — not painful, but chilling. His mirrored meridians calmed instantly, like a restless beast falling asleep.
Ren Xiang breathed out. "That's… helpful."
"Yes," Karyon said. "But do not develop reliance. Mirror-Sap is rare. If you depend on it, you'll never stabilize on your own."
Ren Xiang nodded.
Karyon leaned on his staff."You have learned the foundation. Dual Breath will occupy your next several days. You must master it before you leave the Sect."
Ren Xiang's eyes sharpened. "How long do I have?"
Karyon closed his eyes briefly."Not long."
Ren Xiang swallowed. "Two weeks?"
"No."
"Ten days?"
Karyon shook his head.
Ren Xiang's pulse sped up. "Five days?"
"No."
"Karyon," Ren whispered, "how long?"
Karyon opened his eyes.
"One night."
Ren Xiang stared.
"One night… until what?"
Karyon's face tightened with dread.
"Until the shadows return."
That evening, Ren Xiang walked through the Sect courtyard with trembling steps, his breathing steadying slowly. The dual meridians buzzed inside him — some parts harmonious, other parts dissonant.
The sky dimmed to a dark violet.
Mira found him first.
"You're pale," she said. "Training was rough?"
Ren Xiang nodded.
She stepped closer. "Dual Breath?"
"Yes."
Mira considered him for a moment, then nodded. "You'll master it."
Ren Xiang raised a brow. "That confident?"
"Yes," she said simply. "Because you always do the impossible. Even when I hate you for it."
Taro arrived next, running with a bowl of steaming broth. "REN! I made soup! Well, Mira made it. I brought it. That counts."
Ren Xiang took a sip.And immediately felt warmth spread through the real meridians —followed by cold clarity from the mirrored ones.
Mira raised an eyebrow. "Your weird internal systems doing weird things again?"
Ren Xiang nodded. "Constantly."
"Good," Mira said. "Normal is boring."
Taro whispered loudly to Mira, "Do you think Ren's insides glow? I bet they glow."
Mira ignored him.
Ren Xiang finished the bowl. "Both of you… thank you."
"For what?" Mira asked.
"For staying."
Mira looked away, ears reddening. "Someone has to watch you so you don't explode."
Taro saluted. "And I'll cheer loudly if you do!"
Mira smacked him.
Ren Xiang smiled.
But the moment didn't last.
A bell tolled.
Three heavy notes.One long wail.
The emergency signal.
Mira's expression sharpened instantly."That's the Shadow Bell…"
Taro turned pale. "Already?! But we just— we only just—"
Ren Xiang's chest tightened."One night," Karyon had said.He wasn't exaggerating.
Ilvara's voice echoed across the Sect, amplified by spiritual force:
"All disciples to the inner courtyard!Defensive formations!Shadow emergence detected beyond the outer ridge!"
Mira grabbed her blade. "Ren—stay put. You're not stable. Karyon and Ilvara won't allow—"
Ren Xiang was already walking toward the inner courtyard.
Mira grabbed his arm. "Ren, STOP!"
He turned.
"I have to go."
"You can't even walk straight!"
Ren Xiang exhaled."My meridians… react to shadows. If I stay away, more people will be in danger."
Mira's eyes glistened with anger. "You always do this."
"I know," he said quietly. "And I'm sorry."
Mira let go."Fine. But I'm coming too."
Taro stammered, "And I— Wait. I am? Yes! I am!"
Together, they rushed toward the inner courtyard.
Lights flared across the Sect. Elders soared overhead, blades drawn, Qi rippling like windstorms. Adepts sprinted across rooftops. Disciples formed defensive circles. The air buzzed with tension.
Ren Xiang, Mira, and Taro reached the courtyard just as Ilvara descended from the sky.
Her face was carved from stone.
Behind her, Karyon stood with his copper staff.
And beyond them —
The night sky twisted.
A ripple.
A distortion.
A crack of darkness, like a tear in the world.
Ren Xiang felt it instantly.
His mirrored meridians hissed.His real meridians trembled.
Mira whispered, "Ren…?"
Taro squeaked, "It's happening again…"
Ren Xiang's vision dimmed around the edges.The crack pulsed —
And from its depths, a voice echoed.
Not loud.
Not soft.
Ancient.
Cold.
"FOUND YOU."
Ren Xiang's heartbeat stopped for a moment.
Ilvara shouted, "DEFENSIVE FORMATIONS—NOW!"
Disciples scrambled into position.
But Ren Xiang stood still.
Breath shaking.
Dual meridians flaring.
His chest burned.
His vision vibrated.
Mira grabbed his wrist. "REN?! What's wrong—"
He inhaled.
Warm breath.Cold breath.
Real.Mirrored.
Two rivers aligned—for the first time fully—
A perfect Dual Breath.
Ren Xiang whispered,"They're not coming for the Sect."
Mira froze. "Then who—"
Ren Xiang lifted his head.
The crack widened.
Shadow mist poured out.
Countless wraith-forms twisted into existence.
And from the center of the tear,
A colossal, flickering humanoid silhouette stepped halfway through —not fully manifest,not fully here,a phantom of an entity whose true size defied comprehension.
Its hollow eyes burned through the veil.
Its voice shook the Sect walls.
"REN XIANG."
Every disciple gasped.
Every elder stiffened.
Mira's grip tightened painfully.
Taro fainted standing up.
Ren Xiang whispered,"Father of shadows…"
Ilvara's eyes widened.
"You know its name?"
Ren Xiang inhaled slowly.
"No."
His voice shook.
"But I know what it really is."
The shadow giant leaned closer, half-emerged.
"MY ECHO MARKED YOU.MY MEMORY HAS RETURNED."
Ren Xiang's real meridians burned.His mirrored ones shimmered violently.
He took a step forward.
Mira shouted, "REN—DON'T!"
Ilvara shouted, "STOP—!"
Karyon yelled, "You're NOT READY—!"
Ren Xiang inhaled.
Dual Breath aligned again.
His voice was steady.
"I refuse."
The giant shadow paused.
Ren Xiang lifted his chin.
"You killed me once."
The courtyard went silent.
Mira stared, horrified.
Ilvara froze.
Karyon's grip tightened on his staff.
The giant shadow tilted its head.
Ren Xiang clenched his fists.
"But I'm not the same person."
The shadow's hollow eyes glowed.
"GOOD.THEN YOU MAY AMUSE ME AGAIN."
Wraiths screamed and surged forward.
Ren Xiang stepped into the courtyard center.
Dual Breath blazing.
Two meridian systems humming like twin stars.
His path was only beginning.
And the Abyss had come to greet him.