[The Phantom of Luo Ye]
The forest grew dense, the air thick and clamy as water. Silence swallowed the team, and Luo Ye suddenly found himself alone. The forest floor shifted—turning into stone.
He was back in his village. He saw his younger self, bloodied and fighting, accused of poisoning the villagers. "I didn't do it!" his younger self roared.
Then the scene shifted to fire. His foster father, Yan Mo, lay dying in his arms. "I made you leave... to protect you..."
"Why!?" Luo Ye screamed into the flames, kneeling in despair. "I couldn't save anyone! I know nothing!"
"It's not that you failed. It's that you're carrying too much alone."
A soft voice pierced the darkness. Gu Xingyu stood there, her eyes filled with empathy. "Your father chose to push you away so you could live. You came back when they were most desperate. Not everyone has that courage."
"But I lost everything..." Luo Ye whispered.
"You are what he bought with his life," Xingyu said firmly. "He believed you could endure. And now, you aren't alone anymore."
Luo Ye reached out and grasped her hand. The flames vanished. The mist cleared. He was back in the forest, her hand still holding his.
[The Phantom of Sang Qi]
Sang Qi stood in a void of white until he saw a small, wooden room. On the bed lay a girl—his sister, Sang Yuan.
"Brother... you're here," she smiled weakly. "I took my medicine today."
Sang Qi's heart shattered. He had climbed mountains and stolen forbidden texts to save her, yet she died at thirteen. His parents' voices echoed: "Didn't you say you could save her?"
"Am I... truly unfit to be a doctor?" he choked out.
"You are a human, not a god," Xingyu's voice drifted in. She knelt beside him. "You did more than anyone. You fought for every second of her life. She didn't feel burdened by you; she was pained for you. She would want you to keep being the brother who fights for life—not to atone, but to save others."
"You became a Yao-Doctor not because you failed, but because you never gave up."
Sang Qi wiped his eyes, turning away to hide his tears. "Tsk... why do you always have to be so sentimental?"
Xingyu smiled. "We're all in this with you, Sang Qi."
[The Phantom of Li Yan]
Li Yan stood amidst the ruins of Gray-Fang Ridge. He saw his comrades falling one by one. His deputy, Shen Lang, pushed him away. "Live, Captain! Remember us! Make this blood count!"
Li Yan knelt in the dirt, trembling. "I lived... but I found nothing. No culprits, no justice. Am I a coward?"
"It's not cowardice," Xingyu said, standing behind him. "It's the weight of their expectations that's suffocating you. You haven't failed them; you just haven't had the chance to win their justice yet."
She patted his dust-covered shoulder. "Your life was their gift. They wanted you to live with meaning, not guilt. You don't have to carry this alone. There are six of us now. We'll share the weight."
Li Yan gripped a broken spear—not as a weapon, but as a memory. "Thank you... I will keep walking. For them, and for myself."
The white mist began to dissolve into particles of light.