The ground beneath Li Shen's feet trembled as the last remnants of the Garden of Rot faded into nothingness. He stood at the precipice of the unknown, the echo of his battle with the reflection still reverberating through the air. The once-corrupt atmosphere now felt strangely... hollow, like a lingering nightmare that refused to die.
Ahead of him, the path twisted, its jagged edges curving toward the unknown. It was as if the very fabric of reality had been torn open, revealing an expanse that defied all logic, a place that was neither alive nor dead. A place where time itself felt foreign, slipping between moments as though they didn't exist.
Li Shen stepped forward, his breath shallow and his pulse erratic. Every inch of his body ached, but there was no time to rest. The trial was not over. The reflection had been but a single test, and now, he faced something far worse. The systems—both old and new—whispered in his mind, urging him forward, though they were but faint murmurings against the deafening silence.
A voice broke through the stillness.
"You are stronger now, Li Shen," the voice was deep and resonant, echoing from all around him. "But power is a hollow thing without purpose."
Li Shen's gaze flickered around the empty space. There was no one in sight, yet the voice seemed to come from everywhere.
"Who are you?" His voice was hoarse, the weight of his ordeal settling heavily on his chest.
"You don't recognize me?" the voice mused, tinged with amusement. "I am your trial, the next step on your path. You will not leave here until you understand the full meaning of your power. You will face what you have become... and what you can never escape."
With a sudden, violent jerk, the ground beneath him cracked open. Li Shen barely had time to react before a dark, inky substance began to pour from the crack, swirling around his legs like a black tide. He gritted his teeth as the liquid oozed up, wrapping around his limbs, trying to drag him down into its depths.
Not this time, he thought grimly.
He released his Qi—an explosion of dark energy that shattered the substance around him, creating a brief window of clarity. But the ground continued to warp, shifting, twisting, until something enormous began to emerge from the abyss.
A figure cloaked in shadow, towering over Li Shen by several feet, crawled forth from the pit. Its limbs stretched unnaturally long, the hands ending in claws so sharp they seemed to tear through reality itself. Its face, hidden in the dark folds of its cloak, was a mask of grief and anger—a reflection of what Li Shen had once been, distorted into something monstrous.
It was not merely a manifestation of his past.
It was a test of his future.
A new kind of monster—a reflection of everything he had feared and hated about himself, now made flesh.
The trial was not simply to conquer this beast—it was to embrace it, to conquer his own inner demons.
The beast's mouth opened, releasing a guttural, ear-splitting roar that shattered the air. The force of its sound sent shockwaves through the landscape, and before Li Shen could fully react, it lunged at him with terrifying speed.
Instincts honed through endless battles kicked in. Li Shen dashed forward, weaving through the air like a streak of shadow, narrowly avoiding the creature's claws that cleaved through the ground, leaving rifts in the earth. He twisted, his blade flashing out in a silver arc, but the creature was too quick. It parried, its arm extending impossibly far, and slammed its fist into Li Shen's chest.
The impact sent him crashing to the ground, the force of the blow rattling his bones.
I'm not weak, he reminded himself. I'm not weak anymore.
He rose with a growl, summoning his Qi again, but this time, it was different. His body hummed with the power of his forbidden arts—an evolution of his previous strength. The energies swirling within him were far darker than before, filled with the essence of death, of destruction, of a future he would create for himself.
The beast snarled, sensing the change, and lunged again.
Li Shen leaped into the air, gathering the darkness around him, then slashed downward with his blade—imbued with his most deadly technique. It was a strike of sheer malice, an attack that sought to obliterate everything in its path. But the creature met it with equal ferocity, its claws tearing through the air to meet his sword.
The two forces collided with an explosion of energy, throwing both combatants back.
Li Shen's eyes burned with fury. He had no choice but to fight—not just for survival, but for something more.
The creature recovered first, swiping at him with an open claw, but Li Shen dodged, retaliating with a brutal series of strikes. Each blow cut through the air like thunder, each movement infused with his Hollow King's Will.
He was no longer just the cursed, broken man he had been. He was something more. But in this place, that wasn't enough.
The creature's claws slashed through the air, finding their mark, cutting through Li Shen's side, deep enough that he could feel the air leave his lungs. Blood soaked his clothes, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through the pain.
I will not die here.
He reached deep within himself, pulling from the wellspring of his cursed power, and unleashed the full might of his Shadowborne Evolution.
A pulse of dark energy rippled outward, sending the creature stumbling back. Li Shen's eyes glowed with the intensity of his darkened soul, his blade now swirling with the power of the abyss itself. With a final roar, he launched forward, aiming directly for the creature's heart.
The blade sank deep.
But the beast didn't die.
Instead, it melted—twisting and contorting as it fused into the ground, becoming part of the very abyss that birthed it.
Li Shen collapsed to his knees, breathing heavily, his body on the verge of breaking. The trial had tested his endurance, his willpower, and now, his very soul.
But the monster had not been a true enemy.
The real test was just beginning.