The wind howled across a plain of white sand. No birds, no trees, no sound but the endless whisper of emptiness. This was the Valley of Echoes—a place forbidden even to the gods.
Li Shen walked alone.Each step sank slightly into the pale dust, stirring faint murmurs beneath his feet. They were not the wind. They were voices—ancient, broken, repeating fragments of forgotten lives.
He returns… The Swordsman of Silence… The bearer of the Thirteenth Verse…
He ignored them. The longer he listened, the more the whispers shaped into memories that weren't his. In the faint horizon shimmered the remains of an old city, its towers half-buried beneath dunes, its gates shaped like eyes staring upward.
The Codex fragment in his chest pulsed once—dark and steady.He had reached the place the blind seer Xuanyin had spoken of.
As Li Shen entered the ruins, the air changed. The valley fell silent.The whispers vanished. In their place came a deep, rhythmic pulse—like a heartbeat echoing through stone.
He followed it into the largest hall, where shattered pillars leaned like broken soldiers. In the center stood a great mirror, cracked but still gleaming faintly.
For a long moment, he simply stared. His reflection was blurred, shifting between light and shadow.
"You finally came," a voice said—not from behind him, but from the mirror itself.
Li Shen drew his sword instinctively. "Who speaks?"
The reflection smiled. "You already know. I am the part you buried in the void."
The figure in the glass stepped forward—and stepped out. It was Li Shen's mirror-self, dressed in the same tattered cloak, but his eyes glowed white, not black.
"The Codex remembers what men forget," the reflection said. "It is not a book, but a soul of every era's end. It feeds on those who try to master it… unless they learn to listen."
Li Shen frowned. "You mean—this power has been calling to everyone who touched it?"
"Calling? No." The reflection laughed softly. "Testing. The Void does not destroy—it records. Each war, each death, each tear in the heavens becomes another line in its pages. You, Li Shen, are the latest verse it writes."
Li Shen stepped closer. "Then what is the Thirteenth Verse?"
The reflection's eyes dimmed. "The moment when the writer becomes the written. When the Codex ceases to record and instead… remembers itself."
Li Shen felt a shiver run through him. The black ember in his palm began to burn."I've seen what happens when men use it. My brother—"
"Yan Rui?" the reflection interrupted. "He burned for meaning. You freeze for guilt. Both of you misunderstand the same truth."
The reflection raised its hand. The air around them filled with spectral images—Rui standing in flames, Mei Lian kneeling in prayer, the Council in chaos, the heavens cracking.
"All of this," said the reflection, "is the Codex remembering you in advance. The world doesn't end when you fail—it ends when you forget why you fought."
Li Shen clenched his fist. "Then tell me how to stop it."
The reflection smiled faintly. "You don't stop the Void. You teach it who you are."
Then the mirror shattered.
A storm of light burst outward, engulfing the hall. Li Shen felt himself falling—not through space, but through memory. He saw flashes: his first training, his brother's laughter, the fire, the sea, the moment he touched the fragment.
When the light faded, he stood again—but no longer in ruins. Around him stretched an endless expanse of stars. The Codex floated before him, its pages unfolding like wings.
From its center rose a voice—not human, not divine, but both.
"Speak, bearer of the Thirteenth Verse. What is your truth?"
Li Shen hesitated. He thought of all he had lost—his brother, his peace, his humanity. Then he whispered:
"That power without purpose is void. And void without memory is death."
The Codex flared. A single new line appeared across its open page:
"He who remembers the silence shall command the storm."
The fragments on his body merged into a single glowing sigil, wrapping around his arm like a serpent of light. His wounds healed. His sword shimmered with both flame and shadow—the union of him and Rui.
When Li Shen opened his eyes again, the valley was quiet. The mirror was gone. But from the distance, he saw figures approaching—armored riders carrying the banners of the Heavenly Alliance.
Their leader's voice carried across the sand.
"By order of Heaven's decree—Li Shen, the Void Emperor, you are to surrender the Codex or face divine judgment!"
Li Shen sighed softly, tightening his grip on his sword.The runes across his arm glowed faintly as he whispered:
"Then let Heaven judge itself."
To be continued…