Whispers of the Jade Saber

The Eastern Wastes

The Eastern Wastes were not a place—

They were a scar across the world.

A barren, cracked plain of dark stone and silent winds where no birds flew and qi spiraled unnaturally in the air. It was said the land was once a divine orchard, turned to ruin by a celestial war. Now, only forgotten bones and echoes remained.

Lin Feng and Liang Yue stood at the edge of it with their vanguard, cloaks whipping in the wind.

Yan Zhen stepped forward, scanning the horizon with squinting eyes. "This place is wrong. Even the shadows bleed differently."

And then—they saw it.

Far ahead on the horizon, like a black sun on the land:

A massive mirror, suspended above a stone monolith, floating in the air by unseen forces.

The Obsidian Lens.

Even from a distance, it seemed to shimmer—not reflecting the world, but something older than the world itself.

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A Man in Chains

As they moved deeper into the wastes, the qi pressure thickened.

The wind whispered in broken voices. The stones beneath their feet cracked with symbols, ancient and sharp.

Then Liang Yue paused.

"I hear someone…"

She dashed ahead with Lin Feng close behind. They crested a ridge—

And found a man bound in chains, pinned against a skeletal tree of stone.

He was shirtless, covered in ritual scars glowing faintly, and one of his arms was made of wood and gold, like an artificial graft. Despite his wounds, he sat calmly, eyes closed, as though listening to the silence itself.

Lin Feng approached. "Who are you?"

The man slowly opened his eyes—pure amber, glowing faintly with inner light.

> "You can call me Tian Mian," he said.

"And you're standing on cursed memory."

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Tian Mian, The Memory Forger

They freed him from the chains. He stood slowly, groaning, but not with pain—more like his body was remembering itself.

Tian Mian explained:

> "I was once a Memory Forger—a cultivator who crafted soul echoes into living spells. I helped the Sky Mirror Sect design their original reflection chambers."

"But when they turned on the world… I refused to erase the past. So they chained me here—to remember forever what I wouldn't forget."

Liang Yue studied the wooden arm. "That's not just a graft. It's spirit-crafted."

Tian Mian nodded. "It's made of Remembrance Root, grown from the roots of the Last Dreaming Tree. It allows me to touch someone's memory directly. To see what even they can't recall."

Lin Feng's heart stirred. "Then maybe… you can help me find what I'm missing."

Tian Mian's gaze sharpened. "You carry a blade of flame… and a soul with a scar. You're the Flameborn Sovereign."

"I'm not a sovereign," Lin Feng said. "I'm just trying to make sure truth survives."

Tian Mian smiled.

"Then let me walk beside you. Because if the Lens awakens fully, the truth will die screaming."

---

The Guardian Wakes

They approached the monolith.

But as they did, the air turned to glass—distorted, wavy, wrong.

Then a great voice boomed through the wasteland:

> "WHO APPROACHES THE ECHO OF THE BEGINNING?"

From the base of the floating mirror, a colossal figure of light and dust rose—fifteen feet tall, armored in cracked starlight, with a hollow face like a mask of obsidian.

It held a spear made of crystallized time.

> "I am Yumo, the First Witness. Bound to the Lens. Keeper of what was."

Yan Zhen stepped forward, drawing both swords. "Another puppet of memory?"

"No," Tian Mian said, stepping between them. "He's no puppet. He's the last loyal guard of the divine record. He won't attack unless we threaten the Lens."

Lin Feng sheathed his saber and raised a hand.

"We came to stop its corruption. The Crimson Mirror failed—but others will come."

Yumo studied him.

> "Then prove your truth. Step into the Mirror Gate and show me who you are."

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The Mirror Gate Trial

A ring of light opened before the Lens.

Lin Feng stepped through first. His body went still.

Liang Yue tried to follow, but Tian Mian stopped her. "This trial is for him alone."

Inside the Mirror Gate, Lin Feng found himself in a distorted version of his past.

He saw Liang Yue—but she didn't recognize him.

He saw his father, smiling and alive, teaching him sword forms—but then flickering and vanishing.

He saw Lin Xun, but not as a villain—just a child standing in the rain, asking:

> "If I had been born first, would I have been the hero?"

The Lens wasn't testing his strength.

It was testing his conviction to live with the pain of truth.

And then… he saw himself—

Older. Alone. Holding the Ashen Saber at the top of a ruined world.

He asked the future-him one question: "Was it worth it?"

And the answer was simple.

> "Only if you choose to remember."

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The Mirror Accepts

Lin Feng emerged from the trial, panting and pale.

Yumo bowed.

> "You remember not because you must… but because you choose to. You are not the Flameborn. You are the Flamekeeper."

> "I will not stop you. But others will. The ones who serve the coming silence."

Liang Yue rushed to his side, catching him as he stumbled.

"You did it," she said.

He nodded. "No. We started it. The Lens isn't corrupted yet… but someone is coming to claim it."

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A Glimpse of the Next Enemy

That night, as the stars shifted above the wastes, Tian Mian sat beside Lin Feng and Liang Yue at their campfire.

He touched the Remembrance Root to the ashes of the Obsidian monolith and shivered.

> "Someone has already touched the Lens's source. Not Lin Xun. Not any sect."

"It's someone older. A memory devourer. Something that doesn't want to forget—because it was never remembered."

Liang Yue looked at Lin Feng.

"Then what do we do?"

He looked up at the stars.

"We walk forward. Together."

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End of Chapter 18