Whispers of the Jade Saber

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I. Conflict: The Forbidden Ruins of Wuhen

Three days after the fall of the Jade Bone Hall, the skies over the Moon Tower remained calm.

Too calm.

Lin Feng stood atop a cliff overlooking the Wuhen Valley—a gorge of black sand, broken relics, and scattered soul markers. According to Tian Mian, the valley held one of the last surviving Vaults of the Sword Ancients, rumored to be tied to the origin of the Ashen Saber.

The group had recovered, but barely. Liang Yue still hadn't fully purged the time spike's lingering effects. Jun Feilan's ribs were cracked. Wei Wushen had vanished without a word after the siege, leaving behind only a single message carved into stone:

> "Beware the past that walks like the future."

Despite Tian Mian's warnings, Lin Feng couldn't shake the pull.

As if the Saber was… remembering something.

The entrance to the vault revealed itself at sunset—a massive stone gate half-buried in ash and marked with ancient runes that pulsed with his flame.

As the group stepped inside, the stone melted open.

But the moment they crossed the threshold—

They were alone.

Split. Separated.

Each person trapped in a different section of the ruin.

Lin Feng stood in an endless hallway, the walls whispering like paper set alight.

And ahead—an altar.

On it lay a burnt sword identical to the Ashen Saber, broken at the hilt.

He reached toward it.

But the walls ignited.

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II. Twist: The Memory That Wasn't His

The flame didn't hurt.

Instead—it transported him.

Suddenly, he stood on a battlefield he had never seen… yet knew.

Ash fell like snow. Charred corpses lined the hills. In the distance, a woman wielding the Ashen Saber stood alone against hundreds.

Her movements were familiar.

Too familiar.

Her hair was long and white.

Her robe bore the mark of the ancient Crimson Frost Sect.

And her eyes—one red, one blue.

> "Liang Yue…?"

No. The face was slightly different. Older. Sharper. Regal.

The illusion shimmered as she raised the blade.

A black-robed cultivator yelled across the field:

> "Lianhua! The Unseen Flame was never yours to keep! If you burn here, you doom your soul to drift forever!"

But she didn't answer. She whispered instead:

> "Then let me burn until the end of time."

She slashed through them all.

But fell moments later, surrounded by flame.

The memory cracked.

The image of her burning body dissolved, replaced by ancient script carved into molten stone:

> "She was never meant to live again."

The room shook violently.

Lin Feng's breath caught in his throat. His eyes flicked to the Saber on his back, now pulsing like a living heart.

His voice trembled.

> "Who… was she?"

Suddenly, the flame around him sucked inward, forming a shadowed silhouette—a maskless figure made of glass and fire, wearing his own face.

It smiled.

> "You inherited more than her fate, Lin Feng. You inherited her punishment."

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III. Cliffhanger: Disappearance in the Dark

Lin Feng was thrown backward, crashing against the cold floor of the ruins.

He staggered to his feet, heart racing.

"Liang Yue! Tian! Feilan!"

Silence.

He ran down the darkened corridor, flame flickering from his blade, fear pounding in his ears.

He reached the main atrium.

And froze.

Liang Yue had been there—her tracks still fresh, burned into the dust.

But she was gone.

In her place stood a single, flickering lotus made of ice and blood.

A voice echoed through the ruin.

Not his.

Not hers.

Something… older.

> "The soul that returned was never yours to keep."

> "Now, we take her back."

IV. Shattered Realities

The lotus of blood and ice pulsed softly.

Lin Feng stood before it, hand trembling at the hilt of his Saber. He had seen death before. Had stared down sect masters and Bone Sages. Had slain monsters that devoured timelines.

But nothing unnerved him like this.

The petals opened.

And from them, a pool of still, silver water rose—not liquid, not spirit energy, but memory made manifest.

Tian Mian arrived seconds later, breathless. "I lost my path inside. The ruin reconfigured the second we split."

He saw the lotus and stilled.

"That's… Mirror Qi. A gateway into the Mirror Void."

Lin Feng looked at him sharply. "What's in there?"

Tian's face darkened. "Not what—who. The Mirror Void shows the version of you that took a different path. One you never chose."

"Why would they take her there?" Lin Feng asked.

Tian hesitated. "Because she made a choice that changed fate. Something... or someone... wants to reverse it."

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V. Descent into the Void

Lin Feng stepped forward. The water reached his boots—cool and still, yet impossibly deep.

The instant he stepped fully in, reality folded inward.

The ruin vanished.

The air grew cold. Empty.

He stood in a twisted reflection of the world: a realm without sound, where the sky was a mirror and the earth glowed faintly beneath his feet. His reflection—no, reflections—watched him from all sides.

One of them smiled.

> "What do you hope to find here, Flamebearer?"

He ignored it. Pushed forward.

Until he saw her.

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VI. Liang Yue — Fragmented

She was bound in midair—encased in ice and flame, suspended like a forgotten prayer.

Dozens of versions of her surrounded her in glass panes, each acting out a different life:

One was a sect master.

One was a prisoner.

One married Lin Feng and bore a child.

One died alone in a battlefield.

One turned on him and became empress of the Southern Empire.

Each version flickered like candlelight.

And at the center—his Liang Yue, unmoving.

As Lin Feng approached, a reflection stepped out of the mirror.

> It was him.

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VII. Duel of Flames

The mirrored Lin Feng looked older. Worn. Dressed in robes of black silk with red flame runes etched along the sleeves.

No warmth in his eyes. No hesitation in his voice.

> "I was the version who let her die."

Lin Feng drew the Ashen Saber. "Then you're not me."

The reflection drew an identical blade.

> "No. I'm the only you who understood the cost of holding onto someone fate tried to erase."

The two clashed.

Each blow sent ripples across the void.

Their flames collided—mirror vs truth. One burning in guilt, the other in purpose.

Every swing cut deeper—not just into flesh, but memory.

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VIII. Victory and Revelation

With a final cry, Lin Feng let the Unseen Flame explode outward, not as a weapon, but as acceptance.

> "She is not fate's mistake. She is my choice."

The mirror cracked.

The reflection laughed, breaking apart.

> "Then protect her. But know this—she remembers more than she admits."

The cage around Liang Yue dissolved.

She fell.

Lin Feng caught her mid-air, cradling her as her eyes fluttered open.

> "Feng… I saw her. The one before me."

He nodded.

"I saw her too."

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IX. Hook: The Mark Appears

As they returned to the real world, the lotus crumbled.

But a mark had been left on Liang Yue's shoulder: a sigil of flame entwined with frost.

Tian Mian paled.

"That's the mark of the Soul Reclaimer—a celestial being tasked with correcting unnatural resurrections."

Lin Feng's gaze turned to the sky.

"If they're coming for her…"

He looked at Liang Yue, still half-asleep in his arms.

"Then I'll burn the heavens too."

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End of Chapter 26