The silver light faded slowly, like fog peeling away from a mirror.
When Lin Qing's vision cleared, he stood on solid ground again—except the "ground" wasn't stone, or soil, or even qi-condensed matter.
It was reflection.
A smooth, endless plane of mirrored glass stretched in all directions, broken only by thin silver lines marking paths that twisted into the horizon. Above them, a sky of swirling lights turned like distant, slow-moving constellations—each star pulsing faintly, each one a shard of memory.
Li Chun clung to Tian Ke's sleeve the moment he saw it.
"I don't want to be in here," he whispered. "This looks like the inside of a treasure that wants to kill us."
Yin Luo stepped forward, her boots clicking softly. "This isn't a treasure."
She pointed ahead.
Floating in the center of the mirrored expanse was a palace.
It hovered in the air, completely detached from the ground—its structure formed from interlocking mirror-plates and shifting silver runes. Tall archways bent at impossible angles, and windows reflected scenes that weren't happening anywhere around them.
Scenes from the past.
Battles.
Worlds collapsing.
A man standing alone against seven vast silhouettes in the sky.
The Mirror Emperor.
Tian Ke exhaled shakily. "This is an inheritance palace. A real one. Saints would kill entire bloodlines just to enter one of these."
Li Chun whimpered. "We're going to die."
"No," Lin Qing said.
Because the palace reacted the moment he spoke.
Lines of light raced across its surface, spreading like veins until the entire structure pulsed once—soft but unmistakably acknowledging.
A moment later, a clear chime rang through the entire expanse.
Yin Luo stiffened. "It's… greeting you."
Lin Qing rubbed his jaw. "Well, that's new."
They approached the palace slowly. The air grew more dense, more still—like the entire world was holding its breath. Just before they reached the entrance, a floating panel of glass rotated into place, blocking their path.
Symbols carved into its surface shone with pale light.
Lin Qing's Mirror Domain vibrated faintly, instinctively reading it.
[First Trial:
Walk Without Breaking Yourself.]
Li Chun trembled. "What does that—"
The ground behind them shattered.
All of them spun around.
Reflection cracked like thin ice, spreading in spirals—until dozens of silhouettes rose from the broken surface.
All of them were Lin Qing.
Each one reflected a slightly different version.
One older.
One younger.
One cold and expressionless.
One blood-covered.
One crowned with silver flames.
Each held a weapon made of light.
Li Chun screamed. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Lin Qing stared, stunned for a second. "I—uh—didn't do anything?"
The reflections moved in unison, stepping forward in perfect synchronization.
Yin Luo grabbed her dagger. "This trial is designed for Mirror Lineage cultivators. These things won't stop until the true self stands."
Tian Ke shifted into a stance. "Then we fight?"
"No," Lin Qing said.
Because his Mirror Domain pulsed again—hard.
And he suddenly understood the inscription.
Walk without breaking yourself.
This wasn't a battle.
This was a test of identity.
The reflections would attack anyone uncertain of who they were.
Lin Qing inhaled slowly.
His silver pupils brightened.
"Stay behind me," he said, stepping forward.
Li Chun grabbed his pant leg. "I don't want to stay anywhere!"
The first reflection lunged.
A blade of pure light swept down toward Lin Qing's skull.
He didn't dodge.
He didn't block.
He simply… stood.
The blade stopped a finger's width from his forehead, trembling violently—then shattered into shining dust.
The reflection itself cracked down the middle and burst apart.
Yin Luo blinked. "He's… negating them by existing?"
Tian Ke whispered, "Because these are tests of detail. Only the true self stands unbent."
It should have been encouraging.
It wasn't.
Because the remaining reflections—twenty, thirty, fifty of them—rushed forward in a cascade of silver light, teeth bared, mirror-weapons slicing through the air.
Lin Qing's heart hammered, but he forced himself to walk.
The Mirror Domain stabilized around him.
Each reflection that approached wavered.
Split.
Shattered.
Breaking into fragments the moment they tried to impose a wrong version of him onto the world.
Behind him, Tian Ke staggered. "This… this is insane."
Yin Luo watched closely, eyes sharp.
She wasn't looking at the reflections.
She was watching Lin Qing.
"What," she murmured, "are you, really?"
Li Chun clung to Tian Ke's other sleeve. "He's a monster! A really nice monster! A monster who feeds us breakfast sometimes!"
Lin Qing kept walking.
The reflections kept breaking.
Until only one remained.
It didn't attack.
It simply stood in the doorway of the palace—tall, composed, eyes sharper and colder than Lin Qing had ever seen on anyone.
This one wasn't twisted.
This one wasn't false.
This one… looked real.
Too real.
Lin Qing froze.
Yin Luo's breath caught. "That's—"
Tian Ke didn't dare finish.
Because the last reflection wore a cracked mirror crown.
The Mirror Emperor's silhouette.
Not fully formed.
But present.
Lin Qing swallowed.
The reflection raised a hand.
Not threateningly.
Not challengingly.
Almost… gently.
Like greeting a successor.
Lin Qing stepped forward.
The reflection stepped sideways—
—and the door behind it opened.
A wave of cold air rushed out, filled with distant echoes of power and memory.
The reflection dissolved into silver dust and drifted away.
Li Chun coughed. "So… that's good, right? We passed?"
Lin Qing didn't answer.
Because the whisper from earlier—the strange voice inside the Mirror Domain—returned.
"Welcome home."
Lin Qing clenched his jaw.
"I don't like the sound of that."
Yin Luo placed a hand on her dagger. "Move. Before this place tests something worse."
Tian Ke nodded. "Agreed."
Li Chun sobbed. "I hate inheritance places…"
Lin Qing took a breath.
Then stepped through the doorway, into the Mirror Emperor's palace.
The palace doors closed behind them on their own.
Silently.
As if sealing them in with something waiting to be remembered.