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Darkness.
That was the first thing Su Yang saw when he entered the seventh array layer.
It was not the darkness of night, nor the gentle shadow behind the moon—it was a suffocating, absolute absence. Not even his spirit sense could stretch into it.
Su Yang blinked, but even the motion of his own body felt uncertain, as if he no longer existed.
"…Where am I?"
His voice echoed, but the echo felt... wrong. Distorted. Like it wasn't his voice at all.
Then a whisper came.
"Who are you?"
Su Yang turned around. There was no one.
The whisper came again—softer this time, yet it echoed deep inside his soul.
"You are nothing."
He gritted his teeth. "No... I'm Su Yang."
The space around him rippled like disturbed water. From the endless void, a figure began to form. At first it was blurry, smoke-like… but then the form sharpened into a mirror image of him—same robes, same hair, same eyes.
Only… those eyes were hollow. Empty. As if they had never held emotion. Never known loss. Never loved or bled.
The figure stepped forward. "Su Yang? Who gave you that name?"
"I did."
"No. You took it from a boy who died under a waterfall." The mirror image sneered. "You are an impostor. A parasite feeding on a dead boy's body."
Su Yang's fists clenched.
"Every step you've taken," the illusion continued, "has been to deceive. You act kind, but in truth, you just want to survive. You act selfless, but your system pushes you forward—one mission at a time. You say you care, but would you still help others if there was no benefit?"
Su Yang remained silent, his chest tightening.
"You gave your fire to save a girl—was it really because of kindness, or because you were afraid of guilt?"
"Enough…" Su Yang's voice trembled.
The fake Su Yang raised a hand, and golden Karma Fire bloomed from his palm. "What makes you real? If I have your memories… your pain… your joy… if I possess the same powers and voice… then why am I not Su Yang?"
The world trembled.
Suddenly, the illusion version of him stepped forward, slamming a punch into Su Yang's gut. He was thrown back into the darkness, hitting nothing and everything at once.
Pain exploded—but it wasn't physical. It was spiritual. His soul was cracking.
[Warning: Host's identity is destabilizing. Initiate Soul Core Reinforcement.]
The system's voice flickered like a dying candle.
"System…" Su Yang gasped. "Hold me together…"
But the darkness devoured his words.
"You are nobody," the fake Su Yang said again. "Forget yourself. Let me take over. I am stronger. Smarter. Colder."
Then Su Yang felt his memories slipping. The warmth of Lu Ying's voice. The loyalty in Max's eyes. Jin Hao's teasing tone. The pain of the waterfall. The joy of alchemy. The fury of his battles.
All began to fade.
"No…" Su Yang knelt in the darkness. "This… this can't be it."
"Then prove it." The final voice wasn't the illusion.
It came from within.
Suddenly—flames erupted from Su Yang's chest. Red, gold, and purple. The sixteen- white petaled lotus insidea su yang and one of the patale red colour is Karma Fire Body spun in front of him.
One after one all white petaled started to become red.
All fifteen petals were burning brilliantly. But then, slowly… the sixteenth petal opened.
It glowed with a brilliance beyond fire. Beyond soul. It was like the truth of who he was—written in flame.
From within the sixteenth petal, a tiny figure emerged. It was Su Yang, in lotus position, meditating peacefully. The illusion Su Yang howled and lunged forward to extinguish the flame—
But the tiny figure absorbed the illusion's attack.
Then it absorbed the flame of the illusion's Karma Fire.
And then… it became the fire.
Flames erupted, dispelling the darkness like dawn chasing night.
"Your words…" Su Yang rose slowly, his real voice returning, "may hold shadows of truth, but they are not the whole of me."
He stepped forward, and with each step, his identity returned.
"I am Su Yang. I may not be the original. I may carry the memories of another. But I've made my choices, fought my battles, and carried my burdens."
"I saved Lu Ying because I chose to."
"I love Max because he stayed by me, not because of a quest."
"And I will rise—not because a system pushes me, but because I want to live my own life."
The illusion Su Yang screamed, beginning to unravel as the Karma Fire surrounded it.
The sixteenth petal blazed.
[Identity Reinforcement Complete.]
[Illusion Rejected.]
[Soul Stabilized.]
The false Su Yang vanished in a swirl of ash, and the darkness faded.
In its place stood Su Yang—his body glowing faintly with gold, his soul fully stabilized, and the fifteen petal of the lotus returns white but one red petal started to burn as this will burn all world.
He looked ahead and saw the illusion door opening.
And behind it—the final step of the Seven Heavens Trial.
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