DEMON SOVEREIGN'S REIGN

The dust from the battle had yet to settle when the earth beneath the Abyssal Rift trembled.

Liu Shen turned toward the rift's heart—a chasm of swirling darkness with no bottom in sight. It pulsed like a living wound, beckoning him.

Yu Meixing narrowed her eyes. "It's reacting to the blood spilled."

Elder Qin stepped forward. "The Abyss has recognized your defiance. It's… opening the Hollow Path."

Liu Shen's gaze sharpened. "The path of trials left behind by the Sovereign who challenged the heavens before me."

Lei Qing scoffed. "Didn't he go mad?"

"Yes," Elder Qin said grimly. "But he left behind fragments of knowledge that even the heavens could not destroy. If we walk it… we may find the means to sever our fate."

The ground split further, revealing a staircase of obsidian descending into the void.

---

Descent Into Darkness

Only five were allowed entry.

The Hollow Path was a soul trial—stepping into it with a weak will meant death, or worse.

Naturally, Liu Shen was first.

Yu Meixing and Lei Qing followed.

The fourth was Elder Qin, guardian of the Ashwind Scripture.

The fifth—a surprise.

A young disciple stepped forward, head bowed. "Take me with you, Sovereign."

It was Wei Yan, the quiet boy from the forging trial. He had lost his brother during the Abyssal challenge, but had fought on without faltering.

"I have no genius," he said, "but I remember everything. Every chant. Every mark. I will not betray your trust."

Liu Shen studied him. He saw no arrogance—only resolve.

He nodded. "Then follow."

The five entered the rift.

Behind them, the Sect of Shadows began sealing the entrance with ancient arrays. The world outside would wait.

Inside, time no longer held meaning.

---

The First Trial – Mirror of the Fallen

Darkness turned to mist.

The five stood in a hall of mirrors—dozens of them, each filled not with reflections, but memories.

Suddenly, Liu Shen felt the air shift.

A mirror before him rippled, revealing a scene he knew too well:

> His past life. The moment of betrayal.

Surrounded by celestial envoys, bleeding, roaring with rage.

Huang Ze—his comrade—delivering the fatal blow.

Yu Meixing's distant scream, silenced by divine seals.

The heavens above, looking down with dispassionate silence.

The pain surged back—but this time, Liu Shen clenched his jaw and walked forward.

He shattered the mirror with Heavenpiercer.

The pieces scattered like snow.

"No mirror defines me," he said coldly. "Only I do."

---

Meixing's Trial

Yu Meixing's mirror showed a burning city—the lost shadow citadel.

She saw herself as a child, dragged away by celestial enforcers. Her clan slaughtered. Her father impaled by a divine spear.

But when the phantom of the enforcer stepped forward, she didn't flinch.

"You already failed," she whispered.

Her shadow surged, coiling around her like armor. In one slash, she cut down the illusion—and the mirror.

Her true memories stirred.

More came back: names, faces, forbidden techniques of the Ninth Shadow.

When the mist cleared, a shard of her past embedded itself in her soul like a blade ready to be drawn.

---

Lei Qing's Trial

Lei Qing's mirror showed her as a child in chains—experimented on in a blood lab of the Crimson Sect.

Tears welled in her eyes—not from pain, but fury.

She didn't hesitate.

A punch shattered the image before it could fully take form. Flames burst from her gauntlets as she screamed, "I've killed better monsters than you!"

The mirror cracked into molten glass.

Liu Shen looked back. "You remember what you are."

"I'm not a weapon," she said. "I'm a hammer."

---

Elder Qin's Trial

Elder Qin faced an empty mirror.

But from it emerged an old man—his master, who had been executed for hiding forbidden scriptures.

"Why did you survive?" the phantom whispered. "Why do you carry my sins?"

Qin bowed.

"I carry them because I was weak. I carry them because your truth was stronger than their laws."

He didn't break the mirror.

He simply stepped through it.

And it shattered on its own.

---

Wei Yan's Trial

Wei Yan stood frozen. His mirror showed a hundred failures—his brother dying again and again.

He trembled. He cried.

But then he heard Liu Shen's voice, distant but firm.

"Pain is not a chain. It's a blade. Forge it."

Wei Yan clenched his fists.

"I will remember."

He drew a dagger from his belt and carved a mark into the mirror—his own name.

"I am not my brother's shadow. I am his legacy."

The mirror melted.

---

The Path Clears

When all five stood once more in the heart of the chamber, the mists cleared completely.

Above them, an altar floated.

Upon it—a fragment of the Hollow Sovereign's soul.

Liu Shen reached for it, his hand steady.

The soul flame whispered in ancient tongue:

> "Break the stars. Rewrite the sky. But first… break yourself."

The fragment merged into his soul.

New memories burst into him—maps of the Celestial Realm, lost techniques, and something deeper:

> A ritual to sever one's fate—a forbidden act that the heavens erased from history.

His eyes burned red.

"The path is clearer now."

He turned to the others.

"This was just the first gate. The next trial… leads us into the bones of the Hollow Sovereign himself."