Chapter 25 – Fractured Bonds, Hollow Echoes
The Seed of the Ash Lotus pulsed in Shen Liang's palm, still warm with resonance.
But peace was an illusion. One that shattered moments after they exited the Broken Echo.
[Warning: External Interference Detected]
[Layer Integrity Breach – Source: Unknown Faction | Code Signature: VOID NULL]
A ripple tore the air before them, like glass shattering across reality.
Out of it walked a man cloaked in black, his form blurred at the edges—as if reality refused to remember him.
No system pinged. No aura flared.
And yet, every instinct in Shen Liang screamed danger.
"I am called the Remnant," the man said. "And you've taken what belongs to the Hollowed."
Qilin stepped forward, her echo-form shimmering defensively. "The Ash Lotus is Celestial-bound. It can't be yours."
The Remnant smiled, but it never reached his eyes. "Everything the Celestials created... we were once part of it. We were the first error. The system purged us. Now, we return to correct the world."
He raised one hand.
Reality inverted.
A memory-wave struck the group. Not illusion—history twisted as weapon.
Suddenly, Shen Liang saw himself: kneeling before his dying master, hands soaked in blood. Then the image warped—his master's face becoming Yue's, then Lin Zhi's, then Qilin's.
His breath caught.
Rage and guilt warred inside him.
Yue screamed, lashing out with Moonlight Flame Sutra, but her technique fizzled—absorbed by the warping field.
Qilin moved next, using a node-jump encoded in her system: a calculated spatial blink. She stabbed with a blade made of crystallized code.
The Remnant caught it midair.
"Wrong code. Wrong era."
He backhanded her across the temple ruins. Her echo-form flickered—unstable.
Lin Zhi shouted something—Shen Liang couldn't hear. He was drowning in past echoes.
[System Warning: Emotional Collapse Imminent]
[Emergency Anchor Triggered — Dual Tether Activated]
[Tether: Yue | Tether: Lin Zhi]
[Override — Fusion Sync Initiated]
Light burst from his chest.
Suddenly he stood in the realm between thoughts. The Emotion Tree pulsed with two growing branches—Trust in Pain and Love in Control.
Each tether burned with memories: Yue's silent tears, Lin Zhi's calculated loyalty. The dual-bond training had begun
.
[Technique Unlocked: Mirror of the Shared Flame]
[Effect: Split-damage, shared pain, amplified power. Must be cast with dual anchor sync.
]
Back in the real world, Shen Liang's body moved before he willed it.
Flames—not of fire, but emotion—coiled around his hands.
He struck the Remnant's shadow directly.
For a moment, time bent.
The Hollowed's agent staggered—snarling.
"I see now," the Remnant whispered, retreating through another crack in the layer. "You are not cleansed. But you can be… Hollowed."
He vanished.
The silence that followed was not relief.
Qilin's form flickered, barely stable. Yue was wounded, clutching her side. Lin Zhi stood frozen—watching both of them, then Shen Liang.
"You chose both of us," Lin Zhi said quietly. "And neither."
He blinked. "I—"
"I felt your pain. Your guilt. But when we synced… Yue's anchor was stronger."
Yue looked away.
Qilin remained silent, eyes dim.
"I didn't choose," Shen Liang said, honestly. "I reacted."
"That's the problem."
She walked away.
Later – System Realm | Emotion Tree Chamber
The training continued, though the bonds had shifted. Now, Yue and Lin Zhi refused to be in the chamber together. Their system compatibility weakened.
Qilin, strangely, volunteered to assist.
"You need a third tether," she said. "One not bound to memory or rivalry."
"But you're not whole," Shen Liang said.
"Neither are you," she replied.
Their tether began to form—not from shared past, but from mutual purpose. Her Emotion Tree path glowed faint silv
er.
[Tether Established: Qilin — Echo of Clarity]
[Unlocked Emotion Tree Branch: Insight Through Grief]
[Technique Gained: Hollowbind Echo]
[Effect: Detects system corruption or external manipulation in tethered mind
s.]
They tested the ability immediately.
And it worked.
Because something was wrong—not with Qilin…
But with Yue.
That night, Shen Liang slipped into Yue's chamber.
She sat alone, staring at her hands—hands still faintly glowing with emotional residue.
"There's something inside me," she whispered. "Since we left the Broken Echo."
He nodded. "Qilin detected it."
"I think… a tether awakened. One not bound to you, or me. But something older."
She touched her heart.
"I see dreams—of the Celestial Realm. But not ours. Another one. One that… shouldn't exist."
Shen Liang's system fl
ared.
[New Tether Detected: Source Unknown]
[Corruption Index: 11% and rising]
[Name: Unbound Flame – Emotion: Devotion Twi
sted]
He grabbed her hands.
"We'll fix this."
She smiled, weakly.
"If it's already changed me… what happens when it hits 100%?"
He had no answer.
But far away, in a layer yet untouched by their journey, a figure in a Hollowed cloak stared at a mirror showing Yue's face.
"Unbound Flame has seeded," it said. "Soon, the system will fracture."