The strands of dream essence unfurled like breath in the cold, coiling around Yu Meixing as she stepped toward the gate. Each thread tugged at a memory, a thought, a scar left untouched for years.
Liu Shen reached out instinctively.
> "Yu Meixing—"
> "This is mine to bear," she said without looking back. "You've faced the past twice already. Let me carry some of that weight."
And with that, she crossed the threshold into the Trial of Sacrifice.
---
The Dream Beyond Waking
The mist thickened behind her, and the world dissolved.
When Yu Meixing opened her eyes again, she stood in the center of a familiar courtyard—one drenched in moonlight and silent prayers. Her robes were white, her hands stained red. Around her, kneeling disciples looked up with worship and horror.
She knew this place.
> "The Sect of Shadows… before it fell," she whispered.
A younger version of herself stood at the altar, blade in hand, facing a kneeling girl—her sister in all but blood.
The scene unfolded.
> "The Ninth Shadow must sever her last tie to the light," intoned a voice from the dark.
> "You must sacrifice her… or sacrifice yourself."
Yu Meixing clenched her fists.
> "This isn't a trial. It's a curse."
---
Echoes of the Ninth Shadow
The phantom Yu Meixing hesitated at the altar.
She remembered that moment vividly. Her sister, Lin Xue, had refused to join the Shadows. She had clung to the Sect of Blossoms, to the teachings of purity and light. Meixing, torn between loyalty and doctrine, had—
> "Don't do this…" the phantom Lin Xue cried. "You don't have to—"
The dream warped. Suddenly, Yu Meixing was the one holding the blade again. Not her phantom self—her.
> "Choose," came the cold voice of Dreamless Night, everywhere and nowhere. "The dream demands it. One must be offered for the other to live."
The blade trembled in her hands.
> "Is this what sacrifice means to you?" she shouted. "Killing what we love?"
> "No," the voice whispered. "But it's what you believed… once."
---
Confrontation in the Fog
The fog parted.
Before her now stood Dreamless Night, one of the Hollow Sect's oldest Elders. His eyes were shut, his form half-faded—like a dream refusing to end.
> "Yu Meixing, Ninth Shadow… or perhaps just a girl who couldn't forgive herself."
She faced him, gaze unwavering.
> "I'm not her anymore."
> "A lie," he said calmly. "Your guilt is the chain around your soul. Until you accept it, you will never ascend."
Yu Meixing raised her hand. The Soul-Thread Sigil Liu Shen helped her forge shimmered between her fingers.
> "Then I'll break it."
Dreamless Night opened his eyes.
And the world collapsed.
---
Duel in the Dream Realm
Suddenly, she was falling through skyless black, chased by a hundred memories twisted into beasts—fanged regrets, winged doubts, and clawed betrayals. At the center hovered Dreamless Night, shaping the storm.
> "You cannot defeat a dream. You are the dream."
But Meixing did not falter. She summoned her blade—Twilight's Edge, forged of shadow and starlight—and leapt into the void.
Each strike cut through memory. Each step carved a path of her own choosing.
> "I lived in your dream once. But now, I walk in mine!"
She surged forward, blade meeting Dreamless Night's staff in a clash that sent ripples across the realm.
> "I do not deny my past. I accept it. And I move beyond it."
---
The Cost of Truth
The final blow came not from steel, but from clarity.
Yu Meixing let go of the guilt—not to forget, but to remember truthfully. The blade faded, and her form pulsed with a soft silver glow.
Dreamless Night paused, then nodded solemnly.
> "Very well. You pass."
> "That's it?" she asked, panting. "No cryptic riddle or mark?"
> "No," he said. "Only understanding."
He extended a hand. A silver lotus bloomed in his palm.
> "Take this. The Mark of the Dreamless. May it remind you: the strongest sacrifice is to forgive yourself."
She touched the lotus, and it dissolved into her skin.
---
Return and Revelation
Yu Meixing stepped through the gate, back into the waking world.
Liu Shen was already standing, sensing the shift in her aura.
> "You succeeded."
She nodded, voice soft.
> "It wasn't about power. It was about healing."
Lei Qing smirked.
> "And here I thought I'd have to drag your broken body out."
> "Still might," she replied, smirking back. "Only one trial left."
The others turned to the final gate.
It bore no symbol. No light. Just silence—and a shadow that shifted constantly.
> "The Fifth Shadow," Liu Shen said darkly. "The one who betrayed me in life… and might test me again in death."
---
Meanwhile: A Traitor's Welcome
Far in the shadow vaults of the Sect, the Fifth Shadow stood beneath a crumbling statue of the original Shadow Council. His eyes glinted beneath the porcelain mask.
> "So... Liu Shen survived three trials. And the girl even passed Dreamless Night's test."
He laughed—low and bitter.
> "He's better than I remember."
A voice whispered behind him.
> "Will you kill him again?"
The Fifth Shadow raised a finger to his lips.
> "No. This time… I'll see if he's worthy of my loyalty again."
> "If he fails… I'll finish what we started."