The Hollow Empire was a land where time slept with one eye open.
Mountains hovered as if hung by strings from the sky, their roots never touching the earth.
Cities shimmered with illusory light, and shadows moved against the direction of the sun.
Here, truth was an illusion, and illusion ruled as truth.
As Liu Shen stepped past the border, a dense fog closed behind him, cutting off the world they had left.
"We're inside," he said.
"And already, I feel the lie."
Yu Meixing staggered as they entered a vast white field littered with mirror-like shards.
She touched one reflexively—and gasped.
"I saw myself," she whispered.
"But older. Dressed in robes… that I've never worn."
Lei Qing backed away from a shard of her own.
"These are reflection memories," she said. "Constructs of what we could have been… or might still be."
Liu Shen didn't flinch as the mirror shards trembled before him. One flickered to life.
In it, he stood atop a divine palace—not as a sovereign, but as a puppet, robes marked with the Celestial Sigil.
He shattered it without hesitation.
"The Hollow Empire thrives by preying on what you fear you might become."
At the empire's edge rose the City of Hollow Echoes, a circular metropolis built into a massive stone basin.
No guards watched the gates. No sentries called for names.
And yet… everyone they passed smiled—the exact same smile, perfectly mirrored from face to face.
"They're not alive," Yue Lian murmured.
"They're reflections, too. Or worse—projections of the Empire's will."
"Then the entire city is a trap," Liu Shen replied.
Despite that, they entered.
At the city's center stood a glass tower, twisting up like a spiral horn: the Hall of Living Truth.
That was where Zhao Wenxiu was said to reside.
The hall shimmered with light that hurt the eyes. Floors reflected the ceiling. Doors appeared then vanished.
Inside, a man sat on a floating chair made of chained memories—twisting images of past battles, betrayals, and broken vows.
His eyes were golden. His smile, eternal.
"Ah," said Zhao Wenxiu, "the Sovereign returns."
He didn't rise. He didn't need to.
Liu Shen stepped forward, blade drawn.
"You betrayed me."
Zhao's golden eyes blinked lazily.
"Did I? Or did I save you from yourself?"
Zhao lifted a mirror shard from his side. Within it, a scene played:
Liu Shen, kneeling in the Divine Palace, bloodied and broken.
The Heavens above him.
"He is too dangerous to ascend."
"His fate is rejection."
Then—Zhao stepped forward in the image, bowing before the gods.
"Spare him. I'll shatter his soul myself."
The real Zhao met Liu Shen's gaze.
"I asked them to banish you, not destroy you. It was mercy."
Liu Shen's voice was cold.
"You tore out my core and handed it to Heaven. That was not mercy. That was betrayal."
Zhao stood at last, drawing a thin, glowing blade—formed entirely from condensed regret.
"Then come, Liu Shen. Show me your rage. And I'll show you my reasons."
They clashed. Not just with weapons—but with memories.
Every strike from Zhao released a scene: Liu Shen ordering purges, executing rebels, declaring loyalty to no one.
But Liu Shen was ready.
With each blow, he countered with truths of his own: Zhao trembling before the Heavens, betraying his oath to protect the Demon Realm.
The fight cracked the tower. Shards rained around them, each one screaming with their past.
Outside the battle, Yu Meixing clutched a mirror shard that had fallen near her.
In it, she saw a girl, cloaked in crimson, smiling beside a younger Liu Shen.
They stood in a throne room, hands entwined.
Behind them—shadows loomed, but they did not flinch.
She dropped the shard, breathing heavily.
"That was me…"
"No—it was her. The Ninth Shadow."
"But… why do I remember it like it's my memory?"
Inside, the fight ended when Liu Shen's blade pierced Zhao's chest—not through his heart, but through the mirror fragment embedded within it.
Zhao gasped.
"You… still remember it…"
Liu Shen didn't speak.
Zhao's body collapsed into light—but his voice lingered.
"The Heavens fear you because you remember too much."
"But beware—there are truths even you chose to forget…"
With that, the tower fell silent.
The group emerged from the tower with the Soul Core Fragment, which Zhao had stolen generations ago.
It pulsed faintly in Liu Shen's hand, eager to return home.
"We have what we came for," Yue Lian said.
"But he said something at the end. That you forgot something important."
Liu Shen looked to Yu Meixing, who was still lost in thought.
"Then it's time to remember."
"All of it."