Dawn stretched across the horizon, painting the jagged mountains of the Shadow Range in hues of blood-red and silver. The air was thin, laced with cold mist and the scent of lingering spiritual residue. The group had begun their journey toward the Hollow Empire—one of the most secretive territories in the cultivation world.
> "You said the Hollow Empire was once neutral," Lei Qing murmured as she matched Liu Shen's pace. "Why would they side with the heavens now?"
> "Neutrality is an illusion," Liu Shen replied. "Their Emperor—Hollow Jade Monarch—has always walked the path of balance. But balance, when tipped, breeds extremity."
He stared toward the east.
> "And the Architect is the one holding the scales now."
---
An Empire of Masks
By midday, the group reached the threshold of the Hollow Empire—marked by a series of floating marble masks suspended between towering cliffs. Each mask bore a different emotion: joy, sorrow, fury, serenity.
As they stepped beneath the arch of masks, the air shifted. Spiritual pressure weighed down like a blanket soaked in ancient grief.
Yin Huali exhaled.
> "We're being watched."
> "Always are," Yue Lian said with a grim smile. "The Hollow ones see without eyes and hear without ears."
Liu Shen raised his hand. A faint pulse of dark demonic qi pushed outward, disrupting the cloaking sigils nearby.
Three masked figures in silken robes appeared from behind the veil, their masks blank and unpainted.
> "State your intent, outsiders."
> "To speak with the Hollow Jade Monarch," Liu Shen said flatly.
> "None may see the Monarch without an offering of truth."
---
The Trial of Truth
The masked envoys led them to a circular platform of obsidian glass floating above a sea of shifting fog. At the center stood an altar carved from bone, veins of crimson light running through it like a beating heart.
> "Each of you will place a memory upon the altar," the lead envoy instructed. "A memory of betrayal."
Yao Shen stepped forward first, placing his palm on the altar. A soft glow pulsed, and an image shimmered into existence.
It showed Yao kneeling before a younger Liu Shen, receiving a command to guard a demonic artifact. Then the memory fractured—Yao hesitating, then abandoning his post to pursue power elsewhere.
Yao didn't flinch as the others saw it.
> "I made my mistake. Now I walk the road of redemption."
One by one, the others followed.
Yue Lian—betrayed by her own sect when they offered her to a spirit beast to gain favor with the heavens.
Lei Qing—cast aside by her clan when her cultivation stagnated.
Yin Huali—forced to sacrifice her twin to save her own soul during a forbidden pact.
Then came Liu Shen's turn.
---
The Memory of the End
He placed his hand on the altar, and darkness enveloped them all.
They saw it—the moment of Liu Shen's downfall.
The celestial palaces blazing with golden flame, Liu Shen surrounded by "allies" who struck him down one by one, chanting the name of the heavens.
At the center stood Zhao Wenxiu, the "Brother of Blood," holding the contract that sealed Liu Shen's fate.
The altar pulsed violently, cracking slightly under the weight of the truth.
The masked envoys said nothing for several breaths.
Then one knelt.
> "The truth has been accepted. You may pass."
> "Wait," Yin Huali asked, "what happens if someone lies?"
The envoy turned.
> "They are swallowed by the altar. Liars have no place in the Hollow Empire."
---
The Hollow Court
They entered the capital of the Hollow Empire—a city of silver spires and mirrorstone streets, where every wall reflected distorted versions of oneself. Souls in translucent robes floated in meditation, unmoving as if time had forgotten them.
At the palace gates, a hollow-voiced guard greeted them.
> "The Monarch is in the Chamber of Dual Moons. You will not speak until he commands it."
The chamber itself was vast, bathed in moonlight from two suspended crescent mirrors above. At the far end sat the Hollow Jade Monarch—clad in porcelain armor, his face hidden behind a translucent mask that reflected not the viewer's face, but their true self.
> "Liu Shen," the Monarch's voice echoed like wind through a canyon. "I wondered how long it would take for you to come crawling back from death."
---
The Monarch's Bargain
> "I didn't come to beg," Liu Shen replied, his tone sharp. "I came to warn you. The Architect is moving. You are one of the few powers that can resist him."
The Monarch leaned forward.
> "You presume I want to resist him."
Silence fell.
Yao Shen clenched his fists.
> "Then you've already chosen the heavens?"
> "I have chosen balance," the Monarch said. "The Architect offers a future where the cycle continues… albeit under order. You offer chaos, vengeance, and broken chains."
> "Chains are meant to be broken," Liu Shen said coldly. "If you don't choose now, there'll be no empire left to protect."
The Monarch was silent for a long moment.
Then he raised a hand, and a scroll of jade thread floated toward Liu Shen.
> "I offer a trial. Win the favor of the Five Hollow Elders. If three support your cause, I will break from the heavens."
---
A Trial Set in Shadows
Liu Shen accepted the scroll, unraveling it. It listed five names, each etched in ancient script.
> "Elder Mourning Silence… Elder Whispering Iron… Elder Tian Mie…"
Each elder represented a different path—emotion, logic, prophecy, sacrifice, and war.
> "They will each test you according to their principles," the Monarch said. "Fail, and you leave these lands without alliance."
> "And if I win?" Liu Shen asked.
> "Then the Hollow Empire becomes your shadow, Demon Sovereign."