The summit burned. Not with fire, but with memory.
Li Fan writhed on the ground as spectral symbols surged from his skin twisting, flickering, failing to stabilize. His Foundation Establishment had succeeded, but something else had been waiting a sealed voice, a soul echo imprinted into his body from long ago.
Yan Mei held him down with one arm, her own Qi straining to anchor his swirling energy.
"Hello again, Yan Mei. I missed you…"
That voice. Soft. Familiar. Her voice.
It echoed from Li Fan's lips but it wasn't him speaking.
Her heart stuttered. That voice wasn't just similar it was perfectly hers. Inflection, cadence, everything. As if someone had taken her soul and mirrored it into his.
She gritted her teeth. "Who are you?"
Li Fan's eyes flicked open glowing crimson for just a moment.
Then his voice returned, hoarse and raw. "I… I don't know. But something inside me… knows you. Knew you before we ever met."
Before she could answer, the mountain shook.
A lotus-shaped flame erupted from the ground, spiraling up from beneath the broken array. The heat was not destructive it was divine.
The Flame Lotus bloomed in the sky its petals made of spiritual fire and silken wind. The formation responded to Yan Mei.
Glyphs along the rocks began shifting to match her heartbeat.
Li Fan looked up, chest still heaving. "It's reacting to you. To your bloodline."
She rose slowly, her blade vibrating in its sheath.
"I know this feeling," she said, barely above a whisper. "When I was young, I burned down an entire valley during a dream. My clan thought it was demonic possession."
"It wasn't," Li Fan said. "It was this… flame. It's part of you."
Her eyes glowed faintly now, pupils narrowing into slits as ancient Qi rushed through her dantian.
The lotus above shivered.
A voice neither male nor female echoed through the air.
"Bloodline confirmed. Inheritor of the Phoenix Blade Lineage: Yan Mei. Trial initiated. Partner required."
"What now?" she muttered.
The Flame Lotus pulsed and split sending two tendrils of fire snaking downward. One touched her chest.
The other reached toward Li Fan.
He rose shakily. "It wants… both of us."
"No," she said. "It wants to test both of us."
The tendrils surged forward, binding their wrists together in threads of golden flame. A mark formed across their skin the shape of a blooming lotus with a single sword crossing its center.
"Trial of Unity: Begin."
The fire roared.
Suddenly, they were no longer on the mountain.
They stood inside a mirrored void, endless reflections of themselves flickering across time.
In one, Yan Mei held Li Fan's head in her lap, crying over his corpse.
In another, he held her burning body as she disintegrated into ash.
And in the last the brightest they stood as equals, blades crossed, facing a sky full of stars bleeding light.
Yan Mei gasped. "These are futures."
Li Fan nodded slowly. "Possibilities. Choices."
The lotus flame spoke again:
"Only one path survives. Choose your bond."
He reached for her hand.
She didn't flinch.
"I don't care what we were," she said quietly. "Or what we might become."
She stepped closer, the fire licking up her side.
"But I'm not letting you die for me. Not again."
He leaned in, forehead to hers. "Then let's survive together."
Their mark blazed.
The mirrored futures shattered.
They were back on the mountain gasping, but whole.
The lotus vanished.
In its place, hovering in the air, was a single petal-shaped talisman.
Yan Mei reached for it.
It burned her fingers but didn't reject her.
A new symbol formed across her collarbone: the Flame Lotus Seal.
"I… feel stronger," she whispered.
"So do I," Li Fan said. "But more than that"
He touched her shoulder, steadying her.
"Now we're linked."
---
In the Citadel, the observer's mirror cracked.
"She's awakened the Flame Lotus," he snarled.
"And he... completed the resonance trial. The link is permanent now."
A shadow behind him stirred. "Shall I kill them?"
"No," the observer said coldly. "The Mirror Tomb will do it for us."
He turned toward the stars.
"If it doesn't... then I'll end this with my own hands."