The torches on the reserved terrace behind the Circle of Banners burned low. The wind carried incense—and the salt of tears no one would shed in public. Four patriarchs and three elders watched the arena like someone reading an ideogram written in dust.— Duan Hanyi — said Lei Wuchang, of the Crimson Lightning. — A hand like lightning, a pulse like a decree. If it were only strength, it would already be decided.— The body falls before the rock if the mind can't endure — pondered Han Xueqin, of the Silent Mountains. — Qiu Renshu is my bet. He weighs the ground with his heel and disappears inside it.Jing Lanyi, of the Celestial Mirrors, smiled.— Bai Su reflects before the strike, returns the world with a slight delay. He wins by half a heartbeat.Zhu Yan, of the Frozen Lotus, adjusted his sleeves.— Ling Xiyan adjusts. If the Vale demands truth, she doesn't break.— Yan Luo, of the Distant Fire — ventured an elder in a brown robe. — There's no shield for one who accepts to burn.— Shen Ziye, Nocturnal Winds — countered another. — Wherever he steps, banners forget where they were going.— And the unbadged? — asked Jing Lanyi.Lei Wuchang shrugged.— Surprises don't win tournaments.No one mentioned the boy in a gray tunic who walked like neutral geography. Long Yanshen didn't exist on the betting map.Of the 351 registered in the Tournament of Echoes, 284 reached the Trial of Silence. The banners dropped half a span; the arena held its breath.The bells didn't ring—they trembled. Threads of dust, stretched between pillars, became corridor-sensors of breath, pulse, and intention. Judges cast ashes: the soot remained suspended, drawing the wind. Any off-beat murmur, and a mute clarion marked elimination.Hidden on a balcony, Yu Qinglan pinned her simple scarf and brushed the bead string. She didn't seek faces; she sought flaws in the air—places where the wind refused to exist. She found one, brief as a fish beneath water. She smiled inwardly.— If you're here… don't answer. Just live.On the floor, Long Yanshen became absence: Quiet Breath Seal, Veiled Pulse Seal, Empty Thought Seal—and, over it, the Veil of a Thousand Absences. The edges vanished. The echoes fell silent. He didn't force a path; the world let him pass.Ling Xiyan entered with mathematical cold: she didn't cut—she leveled.Lan Yuerong counted pillars, angles, jars: disciplined curiosity.— Remember — warned the Master of Bells. — The fifth sensor measures an echo of desire. Whoever wants too much, falls.On the eastern side, three cloaks stitched with dark thread shifted their weight. A dull needle spun between invisible fingers. They said the poison only exists in the reflection.
Dust CorridorThe first fell within three steps. The dust trembled, betraying anxious breaths.Yanshen stepped on his own shadow—a trick from the Halls of Echo—and the dust grew bored with him.
Bronze MirrorsReflections at impossible angles tested whoever reacts to oneself.Bai Su slid as one who returns the world a second later.Xiyan was hoarfrost at the lake's edge.Yanshen reflected no desire; the mirror returned an empty delay.
Hanging JarCracked clay hanging on chains. A stubborn drop at the lip. If it wobbles, you're out.Xiyan lowered the air by 1°. The drop held.Yuerong restrained the urge. The drop didn't fall.Yanshen arrived, and the drop forgot to fall.That was when the error entered.It didn't come like an arrow: it disarranged the wind.A line that only existed in the water's reflection traced a route to Lan Yuerong's neck.
Yanshen acted without existing:
Absence Stitch — Grain: he moved a dust grain still on the floor. The course deflected a hair.
Sleeve Vortex: he "stole" half a step from the guard two pillars ahead; the sleeve generated a minimal whirl at the exact timing.
Borrowed Fall: he transplanted a leaf's intention to fall from a distant spot to this instant. The leaf didn't even touch the world—it touched the nonexistent.The "needle" passed a palm behind Yuerong's neck. The water trembled without wind… and settled.The labyrinth responded. Double counterattack.From the bend emerged two sister lines: one aimed at Xiyan, the other at the judge of ashes. It was a web to turn the savior into the culprit.Yanshen couldn't "appear." And yet, he solved it.— Stone Bell — he thought.He scraped his nail on the pillar. The vibration ran inside the basalt and advanced the detection pulse by half a second. In that half second:— the guard's sleeve swung a finger's breadth;— the suspended plume yielded a breath;— the second line lost its angle.For the one aimed at Xiyan, Yanshen released what he'd trained his whole life to contain: a single heartbeat of desire.Not the desire to win. The desire to protect.The fifth sensor heard it. The arena punished the "culprit."But the culprit was empty: the discharge exploded a palm beside her, deflecting the trajectory.On Xiyan's nail, by reflex, a point of ice was born—Cold Cut Δ1°—at the exact place of the deflection.— … — Xiyan raised her finger without understanding.The crowd thought it was her. They applauded.Up above, an ash speck landed without wind on Yu Qinglan's hand. The bone where "son" lives moved a tone. It hurt sweetly.The bells trembled. They absolved a guilt with no owner.
Final SieveThen came the Feather Walkway, the Breath Mirror, and the Step that Erases Steps.Duan Hanyi crossed like a bottled thunder.Qiu Renshu sank weight until the ground forgot its function.Bai Su returned two opponents to their own reflections.Xiyan came out with high marks and cool cheeks.Yuerong touched her neck, confirming life.The rune staff sounded on stone. Of the 284 who started this trial, 142 finished unmarked—and the 142 were qualified for the Vale of Broken Echoes. Among them, all the terrace favorites: Duan Hanyi, Qiu Renshu, Bai Su, Ling Xiyan, Yan Luo, Shen Ziye. And, almost unnoticed, Long Yanshen. The main trio advanced intact.Names were called. Applause for Xiyan. Respectful murmurs for Bai Su, Duan Hanyi, and Qiu Renshu.— Long Yanshen: perfect score in silence.Almost no one heard. He didn't try to hear.
Side Corridor — SparkPuddles broke the sky into mosaics. Xiyan passed and, for a second, saw two steps beside her own in the water's mirror: hers—and those of a slender male silhouette, head lowered, gentleness in the weight. She turned. Nothing.The ice-flower hairpin slipped. It didn't touch the ground. The fall changed tempo. The object returned to her palm.Yanshen inclined his head, the salute of one who doesn't claim credit.— Thank you… — she said, so softly the word stayed on the skin.At the top of the stairs, Yu Qinglan arrived with calm eyes. She saw the hairpin in Xiyan's hand. She saw a little point of ice melting in Yuerong's hair. She understood the math of what isn't shown.— Beautiful — she said, simple. — Sometimes the cold also keeps.Xiyan nodded. Her heart stumbled a step and found its rhythm again.
Exit— Trial concluded — announced the master. — Tomorrow, at dawn: Vale of Broken Echoes. Whoever lies to oneself doesn't return.The patriarchs rose like mountains shifting shade.— I want the name of that — murmured Lei Wuchang.Yanshen went down unhurried. Xiyan pinned the hairpin to her braid and touched, without meaning to, the place where the heart confuses itself with breath.— See you tomorrow — said the wind.No one answered.
Epilogue — only the reader seesThe arena emptied. Judges stored the ashes. Banners rose two fingers. The city took back its noise.When there were no eyes, the shadow on the western stands gathered like ink in water. A tall figure emerged from cloth that drinks light. Lacquer mask, cracked at mouth height—more threat than smile. On his shoulder, a pale moth.He stopped before the jar that still dripped. In the reflection there was no one—and the reflection smiled first.— Three movements. No signature. — the voice entered where echo doesn't enter. — The Abyss taught an orphan to govern nothingness.The moth alighted on the rim. The water didn't ripple.— Tomorrow. Vale of Broken Echoes. The mirrors charge the price of breathing for others.The moth beat once… and vanished.No one saw Mo Yin, of the Dark Veil. Only the reader. And the jar, which now knows how to keep secrets.