The Heart-Scouring Tribulation receded. The crimson rain ceased.
Clarity returned to the Nine Continents—and the Lamp-Bearing Covenant swelled with newfound strength.Yet on the seventh dawn, Zhongzhou's gates swung wide.A figure in white robes walked through the morning light—wooden sword at his waist, blue lotuses swirling around him.
He was identical to Xie Wuchen in every way."I am Xie Wuchen," he declared, voice clear and compassionate.
"The Ninefold Mirror Realm I taught days ago… was a trap set by Heaven's Dao.
That so-called Heart-Lamp? Merely a new cauldron—harvesting your will as fuel."The crowd gasped.Sect Master Xuanwei roared:"Who are you?!"The doppelgänger said nothing. He raised a hand—and summoned a phantom Heart-Lamp.
But its flame burned black-red, twisted and hungry."Behold the truth," he said. "Your memories are being refined into kindling—by him."As he spoke, illusions flickered within the flame:
Xie Wuchen himself, drawing threads of karma from weeping villagers—
(fabricated by Heaven's Dao)Panic erupted."My son just remembered his mother!" someone wailed. "Was it all a lie?!"On the city wall, the true Xie Wuchen stood silent.
The jade casket at his wrist grew warm.He did not argue. Only whispered:"Qingyi… do even you believe him?"Far away, Luo Qingyi's faint soul-light trembled within the lamp—torn between truth and illusion.[The River of Memory – Awakened]Bai Ying fell to her knees, silver eyes bleeding."We can wait no longer…"She bit her fingertip and drew an ancient sigil in the air:"By my divine essence as vessel,
by the memories of all beings as river—
OPEN!"Heaven and earth inverted.Xie Wuchen was swept into a vast, luminous current—
the River of Memory, where countless fragments of erased lives drifted like stars:
—His mother drinking the Elixir of Forgetfulness,
—Luo Qingyi gifting him a jade flute beneath pear blossoms,
—His father's final strike in the Abyssal Ruins…"Is this… the collective heart-sea of humanity?" he wondered."No," Bai Ying's voice echoed, her form fading.
"This is the River of Memory—forged by the First Guardian of the Heart, hidden since time began.
It holds every truth Heaven tried to delete."She pointed to a stone stele deep in the riverbed:"Go there. The Primordial Stele of the Heart-Guardian holds the key."Xie Wuchen dove.The stele bore no words—only a hollow at its center, shaped like a blue lotus.He placed the jade casket into it.Instantly, characters blazed forth:"In the beginning, there was no 'Heaven's Dao.'
Fearing chaos, all beings together forged the Wheel of Order.
But the Wheel rusted, turned on its makers, and became the 'Heaven' of today.
The one who breaks the cycle
does not destroy the Wheel—
but re-forges its heart.
—Luo, Guardian of the Heart"Xie Wuchen staggered as if struck by lightning."Luo…? Qingyi?!"Tears streamed down Bai Ying's face."The First Guardian's name was Luo Qingyi. To protect the world's memories, she surrendered her mortal life and became eternal guardian of this river.
In every age, she is reborn—as the closest companion to the one who might break the cycle…
so she may awaken him when the hour comes."Visions flashed before him:—An ancient era: a white-robed woman shielding a boy from the Bronze Wheel;
—a thousand years past: a female cultivator sealing a cauldron with her soul;
—a century ago: a village healer spending her fortune to save plague-stricken children…In every life, her name was Luo Qingyi.
In every life, she died for him."So this life…" Xie Wuchen's voice broke."She knew her soul would scatter," Bai Ying whispered. "Yet she let you go.
Because only if you lived… could the New Dao be born."[The Mortal Realm – Truth or Illusion?]Outside the river, the doppelgänger had incited ten thousand to storm the Platform of Inquiring the Dao."Hand over the false Xie Wuchen! Give us back our true hearts!"Xuanwei stood firm, sword drawn:"I saw him walk from Qingming Mountain with my own eyes! How dare you call him fake?!"The imposter sneered—then tore open his chest.Where a heart should be, no blue lotus glowed.
Only a bronze gear turned slowly, cold and mechanical."See? His true body has already been replaced by Heaven! He is the puppet!"Despair shattered the crowd.Even Lin Xiaofan trembled, sword half-raised:"Master… who are you?"From the platform, Xie Wuchen stepped forward.He looked at his double—and smiled."You say I'm false? Very well."In one motion, he drew his wooden sword…
and plunged it into his own heart.Blood spilled onto the stones—
and bloomed instantly into a blue lotus, roots sinking deep."Heaven's Dao can copy my face, my sword, even my memories…"
He pulled the blade free. Azure light sealed the wound in an instant.
"But it cannot forge this—a heart that chooses to suffer for others."Blue lotuses spread like wildfire across Zhongzhou.
Where they touched, clarity returned to every eye.The imposter paled."Impossible! You've been marked as an 'Aberrant Seed'! Heaven's power should reject you!"Xie Wuchen gazed skyward, calm."Because I am no longer an 'Aberrant Seed'…
I am the New Dao itself."He raised two fingers. The lotuses coiled into chains of light—
and seized the doppelgänger by the throat."You dared wear my name? Then you should know—
My path tolerates no falsehood."The imposter screamed as the bronze gear in his chest shattered—
turning to ash on the wind.At that moment, Luo Qingyi's soul within the jade casket suddenly solidified.
Her voice, soft yet clear, reached him:"Wuchen… the Primordial Heart-Lamp lies in Kunlun Abyss.
It can gather my scattered soul.
Come find me."Bai Ying, her divine essence spent, began to fade."Go… I will guard this river until you return."Xie Wuchen bowed deeply—then turned westward, toward the peaks of Kunlun.His wooden sword hummed gently, as if answering a long-lost call.And high above, in the vault of the Nine Heavens,
the Bronze Wheel roared louder than ever before.It had finally understood:
The greatest threat was not rebellion…
but a single human being
whom all the world would choose to trust—over Heaven itself.(End of Chapter Fifteen)