Darkness.
Not the darkness of sleep or unconsciousness, but a deeper, heavier void — thick like ink. Ren Xiang drifted inside it, weightless, without breath, without pulse, without time. His senses floated apart, scattered like splinters of glass.
He did not panic.
He had died before.
This was something different.
His conscious mind floated between two worlds — one warm, one cold — like standing at the border between a dying sun and an awakening moon.
Then, a faint sound rippled in the void.
Crk… crk…
Like cracking ice.
Ren Xiang opened his eyes.
He stood — or seemed to stand — in a vast expanse of black water stretching infinitely in all directions. Above him, there was no sky. Below him, no ground. The water glowed faintly with silver light, illuminating an endless horizon of shimmering darkness.
His Inner Sea.
Except—
It wasn't a sea anymore.
Where once there had been a smooth, growing basin of energy, there now lay a fractured ocean — cracks spider-webbed across its surface, glowing with faint luminescence. Each crack pulsed, expanding and retracting as if breathing.
Ren Xiang exhaled slowly.
"My Inner Sea is… broken."
The words drifted across the water like a whisper.
A ripple formed.
He turned — slowly — and saw something rising from the depths. A faint silhouette, shifting through liquid black. A figure identical to him — same height, same face, same aura — except its eyes glowed with cold silver.
The mirror-self.
The reflection created by the Mirror Meridian Method.
But something was wrong.
Its body flickered like a half-formed spirit. Its meridians glowed with crystalline spider-webs. It approached gracefully, silently, until it stood inches away.
Ren Xiang tensed."Why are you here?"
The mirror-self tilted its head.
"I am you," it said — Ren Xiang's voice, but hollow. "The you that reflects."
"You're a construct," Ren Xiang said. "A byproduct of the method. Not a soul."
"Not a soul," it agreed. "But not without purpose."
"What purpose?"
The mirror-self's eyes glinted.
"To survive when you cannot."
Ren Xiang stiffened.
"What does that mean?"
The reflection stepped backward, spreading its hands. The fractured sea around them responded — cracks deepened, widened, and luminous silver energy seeped out like liquid light.
"You attempted Dual Resonance against a being beyond comprehension," the mirror-self said. "Your meridians cannot sustain such a clash."
Ren Xiang swallowed. "So the Sea shattered."
"Yes," the reflection said. "But something saved you."
"What?"
The reflection extended a hand upward.
Ren Xiang followed its gaze.
A shape floated above the fractured sea — dim, pulsing faintly like an ember. It drifted closer, descending slowly.
A shard of pure energy.
Not Qi.Not soul.Not spiritual force.
Something older.
Something colder.
Ren Xiang's breath caught.
"That… is a piece of Nocturn's echo-mark."
The reflection nodded."You absorbed part of its resonance during the clash."
Ren Xiang clenched his fists. "Then I should be dead."
The reflection smiled faintly — unsettling."You would be. If not for the mirror."
Ren Xiang froze."What?"
"You asked the right question," the reflection said, raising a hand.
The fractured sea trembled.
"The Mirror Meridian Method does not simply copy meridians," the reflection whispered. "It copies possibility."
"What possibility?"
"Your survival."
Ren Xiang stared.
"When your real meridians shattered," the reflection continued, "the mirrored ones attempted to replace them. It was instinctive. Automatic."
Ren Xiang's pulse quickened."Then why am I alive?"
"Because the reflection and the original fought," the mirror-self said, "but neither could dominate."
Ren Xiang's breath slowed.
"So now I'm… in-between?"
"Yes," the reflection said softly. "Your meridians are neither whole nor broken. Neither real nor mirrored."
It stepped closer, eyes glowing brighter.
"You have entered the Mirror-Void State."
Ren Xiang whispered the words —"Mirror-Void…"
The reflection nodded.
"It is rare. Forbidden. Dangerous."
Ren Xiang exhaled. "And what happens next?"
The mirror-self smiled — eerie.
"That depends on whether you can survive the next evolution."
Ren Xiang's pulse raced. "Evolution?"
The mirror-self pointed to the shard of Nocturn's echo-mark floating between them.
"It was not meant to enter a human meridian system. If you let it integrate, you may gain unimaginable resonance control — the ability to sense weak points in any energy structure."
Ren Xiang's eyes widened."That's—"
"Yes," the reflection said. "A path to power."
Ren Xiang inhaled sharply."But the cost?"
The reflection's smile faded.
"The shard carries the Abyss's signature. If you absorb it without control—"
Ren Xiang stepped back."—I'll become corrupted."
"Yes."
"So what do I do?" Ren demanded.
The reflection pointed downward."To your Sea. Repair it."
Ren Xiang stared at the fractured ocean.
"Repair… an Inner Sea?"
The reflection nodded.
"Yes. But the Mirror-Sage left instructions for this state."
Ren Xiang's breath caught. "He… reached this state too?"
The reflection nodded.
"The Mirror-Sage survived only three days after entering the Mirror-Void."
Ren Xiang's heart sank.
The figure raised a hand."And he left behind the Void Sutra — written in mirrored resonance."
Symbols appeared on the water's surface — luminous lines forming into a strange diagram. Not circular like meridian maps. Not linear like cultivation pathways.
It was something else.
Something impossible.
A three-dimensional lattice, suspended in two dimensions.
Ren Xiang felt his breath shorten.
"This looks like…"
The reflection smiled faintly.
"A quantum resonance scaffold," it said.
Ren Xiang froze.
"It resembles the framework you studied in your previous life," the reflection added. "Because the Mirror-Sage was not merely a cultivator."
Ren Xiang stared.
The reflection whispered:
"He was a reincarnator too."
Silence crashed across the void.
Ren Xiang's thoughts swirled like a storm.Another like him.Another outsider.Someone who merged science and cultivation.He felt the weight of centuries shift slightly.
"He left it here," the reflection whispered. "For you."
Ren Xiang inhaled slowly, touched the glowing lattice with his fingertip—
And the fractured sea responded.
Its cracks glowed brighter.
Light spread across the water, forming connections, pathways, mirrored symmetry—
A blueprint.
A repair method.
A way forward.
The reflection stepped away."Use the Void Sutra. Repair the Sea. Control the shard. Or perish."
Ren Xiang nodded once.
He placed his palms on the fractured ocean and began aligning his breaths.
Warm breath.Cold breath.
Real breath.Reflected breath.
Dual Breath resonated across the Sea.
The cracks vibrated.The void pulsed.The shard of Nocturn trembled.
The reflection whispered, "Do not fear the Abyss. Use it. Shape it."
Ren Xiang's voice was steady."I won't become like them."
"We shall see," the reflection murmured."And now… awaken."
The void shattered—
Light engulfed everything—
And Ren Xiang gasped awake.
He woke in the Sect's infirmary — heart pounding, breath ragged, body slick with sweat.
The room was dim.Lanterns flickered quietly.The scent of herbs clung heavily to the air.
Someone sat beside him.
Mira.
Her head was resting on the edge of his bed again, her hair messy, her breathing steady but exhausted. She looked as if she hadn't left his side.
Taro lay passed out on another bed, snoring loudly with one arm thrown over his face.
Ilvara was asleep against a pillar, arms folded, blade within reach.
Karyon sat silently in meditation.
Ren Xiang exhaled.He touched his chest.
His Inner Sea —still cracked —but no longer collapsing.
The mirrored meridians pulsed gently — not hostile, not ravenous.The shard of Nocturn's echo-mark was dormant — sealed for now.
He whispered,"I survived."
Karyon's eyes opened immediately.
"You returned."
Ren Xiang nodded. "My Sea is stabilizing."
Mira stirred, lifting her head groggily. Her eyes widened instantly.
"REN!"
Before he could respond she hugged him tightly — fiercely — trembling with relief.
"You're alive," she whispered. "You're alive…"
He blinked. "Yes."
She held tighter. "Don't do that again."
He swallowed. "I'll try."
"You're lying," she muttered.
Taro woke next."REN! YOU'RE NOT DEAD! UNLESS THIS IS YOUR SPIRIT HAUNTING US!"
Ilvara approached quietly, staring at him with an unreadable expression.
"Well?" she asked. "What did your Sea become?"
Ren Xiang inhaled slowly.
"Broken," he said."And changing."
Ilvara nodded — relieved but wary."Then we still have time."
"Time for what?" Mira asked.
Ilvara looked grim. "Time before Nocturn's true vessel descends."
Ren Xiang's blood chilled.
Ilvara continued,"We will not wait for that. Xiang — when you can stand, your path begins."
Mira swallowed. "Path?"
Ilvara nodded.
"To the Hollow Mirror Forest."
Ren Xiang nodded faintly.
He felt the Mirror-Void inside him — unstable, dangerous, evolving.
He would need the forest.
He would need the Void Sutra.
He would need to learn how to repair the Sea and control the shard within it.
Because Nocturn had found him.
And the world would not survive his arrival.
Ren Xiang whispered,
"I'm ready."
The crack in the sky pulsed faintly in response.
As if listening.
As if laughing.
As if pleased.