Whispers travel faster than sound.
And within Heavenly Spirit Sect, the whispers had found a new subject:
Elder Yi had vanished.
Some said he'd gone into silent meditation. Others claimed he'd been summoned by the Ancestor Statues in the Inner Depths.
But Shen Li knew the truth.
Elder Yi was getting too close.
And someone had decided he needed to be removed.
The problem was—
It wasn't Shen Li who gave that order.
Three days earlier.
Deep within the Forbidden Archive, Elder Yi pressed trembling fingers to the symbol in the letter—the closed eye over a mirror.
His blood boiled.
The Veil Society. Long believed purged.
He never thought they'd leave behind watchers.
And yet—
A scraping sound.
He turned.
A figure stood beyond the torchlight. Featureless. Its outline shimmered like heat haze, limbs impossibly long, its face a sheet of shifting silver.
He opened his mouth to speak.
But no words came.
Only silence.
And then—
The mirror smiled.
Elder Yi's chambers were discovered empty the next morning. Not a trace. Not a scroll out of place. His memory-crystal, where he stored thoughts, was blank.
Su Qingxue brought the news to Shen Li as he sat in the Gray Circle courtyard.
"Gone?" he asked.
She nodded.
"Just… gone."
He stared into his tea, mind racing.
He hadn't moved against Elder Yi.
Which meant something else had.
And then the system chimed.
System Notification: Entity "Mirrorwalker-0" has initiated protective action. Protocol: Displacement. Status: Elder Yi – Contained (Conscious, Memory-Sealed).
System Alert: "Your timeline has drawn attention."
That night, Shen Li dreamt.
He stood in a white chamber with no walls. No ceiling. No floor.
And across from him—
A boy.
His face was identical to Shen Li's.
But the eyes… were silver.
"Do you know who you are?" the boy asked.
"I'm Shen Li."
"No. You're what was left after Shen Li was broken."
The boy stepped forward.
"You were created by forgetting. A shell given purpose by anger. But something is waking you up."
Shen Li reached out.
The boy dissolved into mirror shards.
And his own reflection remained, dozens of them, each one whispering a different word:
Tyrant.Savior.False.Chosen.Weapon.
He screamed.
And woke up sweating.
System Warning: "Mirror Entity: Awakening Stage I." "Influence may begin to affect user cognition. Anchor emotional ties to prevent dissociation."
Suggestion: Strengthen bond with Su Qingxue. Activate Moral Compass Proxy.
Or… sever all ties to reclaim full autonomy.
Later, Shen Li stood in the Temple of Echoes—one of the few places where energy did not respond to lies.
He looked into the mirrored altar.
His reflection was unchanged.
Until he blinked.
And it didn't.
The reflection leaned forward.
"Your story is not your own," it whispered. "But you still have time to make it yours."
Then it shattered.
Elsewhere, in a sealed void beyond mortal space, Elder Yi floated in stasis.
Dreaming of fire.
Remembering names he shouldn't.
And beyond him…
A thousand eyes blinked.
System Update: Elder Yi Status: Contained (Memory-Locked) Mirror Entity Activity Level: 12% ↑ Su Qingxue Loyalty: 85.4% (Emotional Anchor Active) Inner Sect Resistance: Declining
Main Quest Branching Approaches: – Embrace the Mirror (gain power, lose self) – Break the Mirror (reclaim identity, face collapse) – Use the Mirror (weaponize entity, deceive both sides)
And far away, in a chamber none remembered building, a new figure opened their eyes.
Their body was stitched from silk and bone.
Their voice a fusion of many.
"Bring me… Shen Li."
The Mirror did not just watch.
It wanted its reflection back.