The Hollow Mirror Forest grew darker as Ren Xiang, Ilvara, and Karyon passed into its second boundary. The reflective bark of the trees dimmed, turning from silver to obsidian. The mist thickened into streams of pale-blue vapor that curled around their ankles like cold fingers.
Every step echoed.
Every breath lingered far too long in the air.
Ren Xiang's mirrored meridians pulsed softly beneath his skin, reacting to the forest's shifting resonance. His real meridians trembled, still strained from the last battle, but holding steady through careful Dual Breath.
Karyon halted suddenly.
"Do not take another step."
Ilvara narrowed her eyes. "You sense it too."
Ren Xiang inhaled. "The Hunter."
Karyon nodded grimly. "Yes."
Ren Xiang's chest tightened.
This presence was different.
No wraith.No mirror-beast.No illusion.
It was alive.
And hunting him specifically.
Ilvara slid her blade loose. "Describe what you feel, Xiang."
Ren Xiang closed his eyes.
Warm and cold breaths aligned.
He reached outward—not with his eyes, but through the Mirror-Void inside him. Resonance patterns flickered in the darkness. A distortion crawled along the trees, weaving between them like a living shadow.
"A resonance inversion," Ren whispered. "Its presence… bends the forest."
Karyon inhaled sharply. "Then it is an Abyssal entity of higher rank."
Ren Xiang nodded. "A Hunter."
Ilvara clenched her jaw. "Hunters are sent only for prey too important to ignore."
Ren Xiang opened his eyes. "It's tracking the shard inside me."
"Which is why," Karyon said quietly, "you must keep that shard sealed."
Ren Xiang nodded.
But the seal pulsed painfully.
Already weakening.
Ilvara's voice was low. "Where is it now?"
Ren Xiang turned his head slowly.
"There."
He pointed behind a cluster of blackened trees—just where the mist thickened unnaturally.
Silence.
Then—
A single breath echoed.
Not theirs.
Not human.
A long, low inhale.
Like a predator smelling blood.
Ilvara stepped forward, blade ready. "Show yourself."
Karyon tightened his grip, resonance gathering around him.
Ren Xiang closed his fists. "It's waiting for us to blink."
Karyon whispered, "Then don't blink."
A branch cracked.
Ilvara swung instantly—
Her blade sliced through air.
Through mist.
Through nothing.
The branch fell.
Ilvara growled, "Fast."
Ren Xiang narrowed his eyes. "It's testing us."
The Hunter wanted to know how they reacted, how they fought, how Ren's meridians responded. It was not attacking yet because it wanted Ren Xiang at his most vulnerable.
A whisper drifted from somewhere in the forest.
"Found…"
Ilvara stiffened.
"…you."
The voice sounded like Ren Xiang's own voice layered with dozens of others—male, female, human, inhuman—twisted together into something grotesquely harmonious.
Karyon muttered, "It's mimicking us."
Ren Xiang nodded grimly. "It's analyzing my resonance."
Ilvara lifted her blade. "We must force it to manifest."
"How?" Ren asked.
"By giving it what it wants."
Karyon nodded. "It wants your resonance. So we unleash it."
Ren Xiang hesitated. "If I use the Void Sutra here— the forest will twist it."
Ilvara smirked. "Then don't let the forest twist faster than you."
Ren Xiang inhaled.
Dual Breath.
His mirrored meridians glowed faintly.
The Mirror-Void pulsed.
He drew a portion of resonance forward—
The forest SCREAMED.
Not with sound, but with a violent pulse of emotion.
Fear.
Hunger.
Expectation.
And then—
It emerged.
A creature pulled itself free from the mist—tall, hunched, limbs too long, body wrapped in black sinews like tendrils. Its skin glowed with faint sigils that pulsed with Abyssal energy. Its head twisted unnaturally, turning all the way around to face Ren Xiang.
Its eyes—were Ren Xiang's eyes.
But empty.
Soulless.
Ilvara whispered, "A Faceless Hunter."
Karyon went pale. "It can steal forms… and destinies."
Ren Xiang stepped forward, voice trembling.
"Why do you wear my face?"
The creature tilted its head.
Its jaw split sideways.
A chorus of distorted voices echoed:
"To learn you.""To become you.""To replace you."
Ren Xiang's pulse hammered.
Ilvara stepped protectively in front of him. "Over my corpse."
The Hunter ignored her entirely, leaning forward, nostrils expanding.
Sniffing the air.
Sniffing Ren.
"Shard scent… addicting…"
Ren Xiang felt cold dread spread through him.
"It wants the shard for itself," he whispered.
Karyon nodded. "It will consume your meridians to extract it."
Ilvara spat. "Not happening."
The Hunter bent lower, its back cracking as it contorted until it crouched like a monstrous spider.
Then it moved.
It vanished.
Ilvara slashed midair — her blade met nothing.
Karyon spun, staff raised — too slow.
Ren Xiang felt cold breath on the back of his neck.
He twisted—
The Hunter's hand was inches from his chest.
Ilvara appeared in a blur, tackling the Hunter sideways. They tumbled across the moss, trees splintering around them.
The Hunter reformed, bones cracking back into place.
Ilvara spat blood but stood. "Come on then!"
The creature lunged.
Karyon struck with his staff, creating a resonance barrier. The Hunter slammed into it—
The barrier fractured.Cracks spidered across the air.
Karyon gasped, staggering. "Too strong—!"
Ren Xiang stepped forward.
Ilvara shouted, "XIANG—NO—!"
The Hunter's head snapped toward him instantly.
"Mine."
It moved so fast even Ren couldn't follow.
It slammed into him.
Ren crashed through a tree, the breath torn from his lungs. His meridians spasmed violently. The seal on the shard flickered.
The Hunter pinned him by the throat.
Its eyes—his eyes—glowed hungrily.
"Give… shard…"
Ren choked.Dual Breath faltered.Mirrored meridians screamed.
Karyon shouted, "Xiang! Don't let it force resonance collapse!"
Ilvara charged again, blade glowing with burning heat—
The Hunter whipped a limb backward, catching her and flinging her across the clearing like a rag doll.
She hit a tree head-first, groaning.
Ren's heart stopped.
"ILVARA—!"
The Hunter leaned closer.
"One breath…"
Ren Xiang tried to inhale—
The Hunter CRUSHED his throat harder.
"…and I consume your destiny."
In that moment—
Pain overriding clarity—Fear colliding with fury—The shard pulsed violently.
NO.
NO.
REN XIANG WOULD NOT DIE LIKE THIS.
His eyes snapped open.
Dual Breath awakened itself.
Warm and cold breaths aligned—
Perfectly.
The Mirror-Void ignited.
Ren's hands glowed with dark-silver resonance as he pressed both palms against the Hunter's chest.
The creature's eyes widened.
Ren Xiang whispered,
"VOID RESONANCE — THIRD FORM."
The explosion was silent.
The force was not.
The Hunter was blasted backward into a dozen trees, each trunk smashing apart as its body tore through them.
Ren Xiang fell to his knees, coughing blood.
His throat burned.
Ilvara staggered to him, wiping blood from her forehead. "Are you—"
Ren Xiang shook his head weakly. "Not… dead…"
Karyon rushed forward. "That wasn't the Second Form. What did you just use?!"
Ren Xiang's voice cracked.He whispered:
"I didn't know I could."
Ilvara looked toward the shattered treeline.
The creature was not dead.Broken.Reforming.Slowly rising.
Karyon's face drained of color. "A Third Form without mastering the second… Xiang, your Sea could collapse…"
Ren already knew.
His Inner Sea was trembling violently.
But—
He stood.
Barely.
Because the creature was standing too.
Ilvara growled. "It won't stop. We need to finish it!"
Karyon shook his head. "You cannot kill a Hunter. Not fully!"
Ren Xiang whispered, "But I can drive it away."
Ilvara blinked. "How?"
Ren met her gaze—
Then looked at the Hunter.
"I'll give it what it wants."
Ilvara shouted, "Are you insane?!"
Karyon gasped. "Xiang—NO—!"
Ren lifted his hand.
Warm breath.Cold breath.
Dual Breath aligned violently.
And for the first time—
He unsealed the shard slightly.
Just enough.
A sliver of Abyssal resonance broke through—
Black lightning crackling across his skin.His hair rose.His meridians screamed.His Inner Sea fractured further.
The Hunter froze.
Its eyes widened with hunger.
Ren Xiang whispered,"Come take it."
The Hunter lunged.
Ren inhaled.
Warm breath.Cold breath.Shard breath.
Dual Breath erupted into Triad Breath for a single instant.
He slammed his palms together—
The combined resonance condensed into a single point—
Ilvara whispered, "Xiang… don't…"
Karyon screamed, "CLOSE THE SHARD—NOW—!!"
Ren Xiang closed his eyes.
And unleashed the blast.
Light and shadow exploded outward.
The Hunter shrieked—
Not with pain—
But with terror.
It fled deeper into the forest, its form dissolving into a mist of black tendrils as it escaped the impossible Triad Resonance.
Silence.
Smoke curled from Ren Xiang's hands.
His meridians were bleeding internally.
His Inner Sea was a storm of cracked energy.
Ilvara ran to him, grabbing his shoulders. "XIANG—!"
He barely heard her.
He fell against her, coughing blood on her robe.
Karyon pressed a hand to his back. "His Sea is breaking—!"
Ren Xiang whispered, voice trembling:
"It was that… or let it take the shard."
Ilvara held him tightly.
"You fool… you brilliant, reckless fool…"
Karyon shook his head in awe and fear. "Xiang… you are evolving too fast. The forest, the Void Sutra, the shard—your body cannot contain all of this."
Ren Xiang smiled faintly, eyes barely open.
"I don't need… to contain it."
Ilvara's grip tightened."What do you mean?"
Ren Xiang whispered,
"I just need… to endure it."
He fell unconscious.
But even as darkness swallowed him—
A new voice echoed in the back of his mind.
Familiar.
Older.
Sorrowful.
"So… the Void Sutra has chosen you."
Ren Xiang's breath stopped.
He recognized that voice.
The Mirror-Sage.