The air was thick, not with moisture or spirit essence, but with memory. It clung to the skin like oil and slid into the cracks of the soul.
Wang Lin walked ahead, the Abduction Path pulsing faintly with each step. Behind him, the others followed warily. Lian Hua's grip on her blade was tight enough to make her knuckles pale, and Jin Tao's usual levity had vanished. Even Vaen, once cryptic and composed, looked shaken.
The path twisted strangely, forming a corridor of shattered statues—each one lifelike, each one mid-scream, their hands reaching outward.
> "This place feeds on guilt," Vaen said softly. "Every stone was once a cultivator who refused to face their past."
Lian Hua swallowed. "Then we move quickly. We don't look back."
But they were already too deep.
As they passed a statue of a weeping girl cradling a broken sword, Wang Lin stopped. Something… pulled. Not physically, but through the Abduction Path itself.
He turned a corner and froze.
A young boy stood ahead, barefoot on the cracked obsidian. Pale robes. Messy black hair. Wide, innocent eyes. He couldn't have been more than ten.
Wang Lin's heart dropped.
Because he recognized the boy.
It was him.
The boy stared with quiet intensity. "Why did you leave me?"
Wang Lin stepped back instinctively.
The others caught up. Jin Tao looked between the two Wang Lins and muttered, "Alright. I've officially lost my mind."
Lian Hua's voice trembled. "That's… your past?"
Vaen's face was unreadable. "No. Not just his past. It's the part of him the realm tore free. This… is a mirror born from his greatest fear."
The boy took a step forward. "You left me in the mud. You killed innocence just to grow strong. You let our mother die. You never cried. You just swallowed it all and kept moving."
Wang Lin gritted his teeth. "I had to survive."
> "You chose to survive," the boy spat. "You could have saved her if you awakened earlier. You could have trained smarter. You could have begged, but you didn't. You just watched. And now look at you—stealing bloodlines, stealing power, walking the path that turned our enemy into a god."
The others stayed silent.
Because the voice of guilt wasn't meant to be interrupted.
Wang Lin clenched his fists. "I'm not proud of what I've done. But I'll carry it. All of it. I'll never be like Mo Xie. And I won't break just because a shade throws my regrets at me."
The boy smirked. "We'll see."
Then he attacked.
The boy moved with shocking speed, shadows trailing from his hands like jagged chains of memory. Wang Lin dodged the first blow, barely avoiding the chain that cracked the ground where he'd stood. It wasn't a child's strength—it was the manifestation of self-hatred given form.
"Don't kill it!" Vaen warned. "You can't destroy what you won't accept!"
Wang Lin's breathing slowed.
He dodged another strike and called forth his inner energy—but didn't channel it outward. Instead, he closed his eyes.
The Abduction Path began to rotate, spiraling inward.
And for the first time, he didn't steal. He let the reflection in.
Pain surged through him—not physical, but emotional. Regret, shame, fear. He remembered every moment he buried. The nights he starved in silence. The time he almost ended it all. The day he realized the world had no place for kindness without strength.
The boy lunged again—
Wang Lin caught him in an embrace.
The Realm quivered.
The chains dissolved.
The boy froze… and slowly, his face softened. "You didn't forget me…"
"No," Wang Lin whispered, tears brimming in his eyes. "You're the reason I'm still human."
The reflection smiled.
Then shattered into golden dust.
Silence reigned.
Lian Hua walked to him, eyes misted. "You faced yourself. Most cultivators never do."
Jin Tao let out a breath. "That was horrifying. Beautiful. But horrifying."
Vaen stared at Wang Lin with new eyes. "You are no ordinary cultivator. The Abduction Path is evolving—because you are."
The statues along the corridor cracked, one by one, releasing trapped memories in waves of light. The path ahead cleared, revealing a gate inscribed with celestial runes.
The Realm had acknowledged him.
But not without cost.
As they stepped forward, Wang Lin whispered under his breath, "I'm not afraid to remember anymore. Let them come."
Behind them, the broken pieces of the boy floated upward… and merged into Wang Lin's shadow.
The true journey had just begun.