The cave trembled.
Pebbles danced across the ground, loose stones tumbling from the ceiling as violent vibrations spread through the ancient rock. The air itself had grown heavy, every breath carrying the taste of damp earth and iron.
Neither of us moved.
We simply stood there.
Watching.
Observing.
Studying.
My own face stared back at me from across the clearing, yet something deep within my bones rejected what my eyes saw. Every instinct I possessed screamed the same truth.
That...
Is not me.
It smiled.
Not the smile of a man.
Not the smile of a beast.
The smile of something that had watched countless souls abandon themselves.
"You hesitate."
Its voice was mine.
Every cadence.
Every breath.
Every inflection.
Perfectly stolen.
"You spent your entire life searching for something worthy of your hands."
It slowly raised Sky Piercer.
The halberd groaned.
Not with joy.
With hatred.
"You crossed kingdoms."
"You challenged heaven."
"You slaughtered legends."
"And yet..."
A slow step forward.
"...you still believe you were the one who chose this weapon."
The point of Sky Piercer dragged against the stone, carving a glowing scar through the cave floor. Sparks erupted behind it as the metal shrieked against ancient rock.
I tightened my fists.
For the first time since entering this damned forest...
I could not tell whether I wanted to reclaim the halberd...
Or prove that I never needed it.
"All of these questions about what I am..."
A smirk tugged at the corner of my lips.
"Whether I'm worthy..."
I lowered my gaze for a brief moment, looking down at my hands, my feet, my own body. The very shell that had carried me through countless battlefields. Slowly, I lifted my head once more, meeting the eyes of the man standing before me.
"I fear not what you are, nor am I confronted by it."
I pointed toward him.
"You..."
The cave trembled.
The stable stone beneath my feet began vibrating to a low hum only I could hear. My fists tightened until my knuckles pushed against my skin, the flesh paling around the bone.
This...
This was a trap.
This cave itself could be an illusion.
Did it only look like this because I acknowledged it?
Or had I been trapped within my own mind from the very beginning?
I let the thoughts die where they were born.
They no longer mattered.
"You attempted to copy me."
"To become me."
"An imposter."
I took one step forward.
"That is what you are."
"Nothing."
My jaw tightened, every muscle in my neck straining beneath my skin.
"NOTHING!"
I exhaled.
The force of my breath scattered dust and loose fragments of stone across the cave floor.
"I am not Lu Bu."
"That is the name history gave me."
"The name spoken by those who feared me."
"The name my adoptive father bestowed upon me."
Lightning cracked somewhere beyond the forest, the distant heavens roaring as if listening.
My chest rose.
Then fell.
"I..."
I smiled.
"Am Fengxian."
"Lu Bu Fengxian."
My eyes narrowed, a sliver of teeth showing beneath my grin.
"There is one thing..."
"One thing you forgot to imitate."
I slid my right foot back.
My left settled forward.
My hands rose into position, my fingers curling into fists as instinct took over. Every battle I had ever fought flowed naturally through my body.
I became still.
"The human spirit."
I looked into my own eyes.
Not an enemy.
An equal!
The moment the thought left my mind...
He moved.
There was no warning.
No roar.
No declaration of battle.
One moment he stood there with Sky Piercer resting beside him, and the next the entire cave erupted beneath his feet. The ground shattered from the force of his movement, fragments of stone launching into the air as his body crossed the distance between us.
A familiar movement.
Too familiar.
The same opening strike I had used countless times.
A downward sweep meant to overwhelm the opponent immediately, forcing them to either retreat or meet the full force of the attack head-on.
Against anyone else, it would have ended the battle before it began.
Against me...
It was expected.
My body shifted before my mind even finished processing it. I twisted my torso, the blade passing beside me close enough that I felt the wind tear against my skin. The force behind the swing continued forward, splitting the stone behind me and sending cracks racing through the walls of the cave.
I stepped inside his range.
The mistake every halberd wielder feared.
But before my fist could connect, his hand moved.
The shaft of Sky Piercer turned.
The same counter.
The same timing.
The same response.
My fist collided with the wooden handle instead of his face, the impact sending a shockwave through the cave. Dust poured from the ceiling as we both pushed against each other, neither giving an inch.
For a brief moment...
It felt like I was fighting my own reflection.
Then we separated.
The fake Lu Bu spun the halberd once before bringing it back into position, his eyes never leaving mine.
There was no excitement.
No anger.
No bloodlust.
Only observation.
It was studying me.
The realization irritated me more than the attack itself.
This thing was not fighting like an opponent.
It was fighting like someone trying to understand a painting.
I rushed forward.
My fist moved first.
He blocked.
My second strike followed immediately.
He avoided.
A kick toward his ribs.
He already knew.
Every attack I threw was met with an answer before it fully existed.
Because it wasn't copying my movements.
It was copying my instincts.
The battle became something unnatural.
A warrior fighting against the very habits carved into his own body.
The sound of our clash echoed throughout the cavern. Stone exploded beneath our feet with every step, the shockwaves from our strikes tearing apart the ground around us. His Sky Piercer moved like an extension of himself, cutting through the air with the same brutality I had carried throughout every battlefield.
A sweep.
A thrust.
A reversal.
A strike meant to end the fight.
I knew every single one.
But knowing was not enough.
Because he knew too.
The blade grazed my shoulder.
Pain shot through my body as blood spilled onto the stone beneath us.
I ignored it.
Pain was familiar.
Pain was something I understood.
What bothered me was the fact that this creature had not made a single mistake.
Not one.
The false Lu Bu stepped forward, the halberd resting against his shoulder.
"You understand now."
I wiped the blood from my shoulder.
"Do you?"
He smiled.
And then he attacked again.
This time, faster.
The cave could barely contain the exchange.
Sky Piercer descended from above, forcing me to move sideways as the blade carved through the ground where I stood. Before I could retaliate, the weapon reversed direction, the back end striking toward my chest.
I caught it.
My hands wrapped around the shaft.
The force behind it pushed me backwards, my feet carving lines through the stone floor.
For a moment, we were locked together.
Two identical warriors.
Two identical wills.
One carrying the weapon.
One without it.
The fake stared at me.
Then he pushed harder.
The cave shook.
My arms trembled.
Not from fear.
From the absurdity of it.
This thing truly believed it had become me.
It truly believed the weapon was the answer.
A laugh escaped my mouth.
Quiet.
Almost involuntary.
The fake's expression changed.
"What is amusing?"
I looked at him.
At my own face.
At the weapon in his hands.
At the thing that had copied everything except the one thing impossible to steal.
"Nothing."
My grip tightened.
"I was simply wondering..."
I pushed forward.
"...how long it would take you to realize you were still missing something."
The ground beneath us shattered.
And for the first time since the battle began...
I forced him backward.
I felt a tension rise within me...
Adrenaline.
My entire body tensed, rearing with hunger like a starved lion finally sensing its prey. My teeth gritted as I felt the power within me — dormant and slumbering, but never gone.
I squinted my eyes, a natural reflex against the dust violently scattering around us, forcing my vision through the chaos and allowing me to see past the man standing before me.
This spirit has not experienced everything I have.
It can't have.
Impossible.
I inhale deeply and exhale slowly, blinking twice as the thoughts begin flooding through my mind.
I have experienced death.
I have experienced revival.
I have faced gods this spirit could not have even imagined...
I was in direct contact with.
Erlang Shen.
Something existed within me, just as I had speculated during those countless nights and endless battles. Something beyond mortal comprehension... a power capable of rivaling beings that stood above humanity itself.
Something no one would expect.
Something no one would attempt to harness.
Something far too powerful for a mortal.
Yet...
It rested within my mortal fists.
"A spirit cannot imitate my soul."
The words escaped my mouth before I even realized I had spoken them.
I stopped thinking.
I closed my eyes and allowed a soft breath to leave my lungs, clearing away every unnecessary thought. My mind became empty. My body became still. The rushing blood within my veins slowed, and the violent rhythm of my heartbeat transformed into a calm, almost melodic pattern.
I did not move through thought.
I moved through instinct.
Without attacking, I shifted my body slightly to the right, loosening my right fist as if preparing to launch a hook toward his temple. The movement was deliberate, almost careless.
Exactly what he expected.
The false Lu Bu reacted immediately.
His grip shifted as Sky Piercer rotated clockwise, the butt of the halberd moving into position to intercept my fist while the blade remained prepared on the opposite side for the counterattack that would follow.
Perfect.
Precise.
Everything happened according to the image he had created of me.
All...
According to his understanding.
My left hand remained at my side, relaxed and conserving every ounce of energy.
And then it unfolded.
I launched myself forward, not like a warrior making a calculated decision, but like a beast finally striking after patiently waiting for its moment. My body surged upward like a tiger pouncing upon its prey, and within one fluid motion, my hand reached past his expected defense and seized the grip of Sky Piercer.
I pulled.
Hard.
The weapon shifted violently in his hands as I tore control away from him.
For the first time...
The imitation hesitated.
Because this movement was not created by the knowledge my eyes had given my mind.
It was not created by the countless techniques he had observed.
It was not created by the muscle memory he had so effortlessly replicated.
It came from something deeper.
Something impossible to imitate.
My soul moved before my body did.
It reached for what it knew belonged to it.
Cloaked within the shadows, hidden away from any observing eyes, I watched everything that had unfolded with a quiet sigh of relief.
That was far too close.
Closer than anyone would have preferred.
"Once again..."
My voice carried a faint exhaustion, almost as if this was a situation I had witnessed before.
"Cutting it close."
My gaze remained fixed upon Lu Bu, watching the battlefield settle. The shattered stone. The lingering pressure. The remnants of a clash that should have ended far differently.
"Any longer and that weapon would have killed them both."
A silence followed.
Not from uncertainty.
From realization.
"That spirit..."
My expression darkened as I looked toward Sky Piercer.
"It attempted to control something it never understood."
The wind passed through the darkness surrounding me, briefly revealing the outline of my figure before concealing me once again.
"Sky Piercer does not simply contain power."
My eyes narrowed.
"It contains something far more dangerous."
A pause.
Something ancient.
Something even gods had learned not to disturb.
"And now..."
My gaze shifted toward Lu Bu.
Toward the mortal who had reached into something beyond his understanding and survived.
"...it has finally begun to remember."