The Eternal Path trembled beneath Zhen's feet.
Cracks splintered through the marbled golden floor, not from age or battle, but from the overwhelming force surging through his body. His right hand clenched the newly awakened form of Crimson Unity, its blade shimmering with the essence of five worlds — and yet, it was no longer just a sword. It pulsed like a heart, alive, whispering forgotten incantations into his mind in an ancient tongue.
Across from him stood the Moon-Wreathed Guardian, the final obstacle before the Gate of Reversal — a being of both beauty and terror, cloaked in dual auras of shadow and moonlight. Her crescent-shaped blades spun effortlessly, dancing through the Void with such precision that even time seemed hesitant to interfere.
Zhen exhaled, his breath like lightning.
The world around them was suspended between collapse and genesis.
He moved.
A flicker, a blur — and the sound of steel meeting silence echoed across the sky. Crimson Unity hummed as it parried her blade, and the shockwave rippled through the fractured dimension like a bell tolling in a forgotten cathedral.
"Your soul has changed," the Moon-Wreathed Guardian murmured. "It reeks not of this realm. What are you, Ascendant?"
Zhen's eyes glowed like twin galaxies. His voice was calm, but beneath it lay coiled fury.
"A Ranker of the Multiverse... and the bearer of its judgment."
He leapt, this time not with speed but authority — the kind born of ten thousand conquered trials and a legacy tied to gods and monsters. With one swing, the air split, revealing countless mirrored realities flickering behind the veil. Each reflection showed a version of Zhen: one wielding fire, another lightning, another dressed in celestial armor adorned with violet runes.
But they all shared one thing — determination.
The Guardian snarled. Her form blurred, shifting into two bodies, perfect twins moving in flawless synchronicity. She spun, slicing through space, warping the arena itself into a dual-mooned battlefield.
"The Trial of the Twin Moons begins!" her two voices intoned in unison.
A great bell tolled in the heavens.
Suddenly, gravity inverted, and Zhen found himself falling upward — then sideways, then into the heart of a collapsing star. Yet through it all, he focused. The system's voice rang in his mind:
> [New Realm Detected: Trial of the Twin Moons – Celestial Tier Challenge]
[Warning: Hostile Domain Rules Active]
[Objective: Defeat both halves of the Moon-Wreathed Guardian simultaneously]
Zhen smiled coldly.
"Then I'll split myself too."
He stabbed Crimson Unity into the shifting space, channeling a forbidden rune — one he had only glimpsed within the Stellar Tombs of Chapter 47. His body shimmered and fractured, then duplicated.
Out stepped another Zhen — not a clone, not a shadow, but a temporal echo of his full power.
Together, they charged.
---
The clash that followed tore apart the veil of the Trial Realm. Twin Guardians versus Twin Zhens, blades flashing like comets, footsteps shattering the sky, runes blooming with every strike.
One Zhen feinted and spun low, releasing a burst of Voidfire, scorching one Guardian's legs; the other unleashed Heavenrend Slash, cutting down a celestial eclipse summoned above. The Guardians retaliated with lunar illusions and crescent storms, but each was met, countered, absorbed — or consumed.
The real world, far above this trial realm, shuddered.
In the Council of Shattered Thrones, twelve cloaked beings watched the battle unfold through astral mirrors. Each mirror displayed a different layer of the trial — and each cloaked figure bore a brand upon their wrist, shaped like a burning crown.
"He has reached Phase Five already..." one murmured.
"Impossible. No Ranker has passed the Twin Moon Ascension in under a year," whispered another.
"And yet," a woman's voice said, amused, "he wields Crimson Unity as if born to it. Perhaps... the Bloodstar Prophecy was not false."
They fell silent.
---
Back in the Trial Realm, the battle reached its crescendo.
Zhen and his echo converged, spinning in unison. Their swords merged midair, forming a double-edged divine glaive, inscribed with the Sigil of Dominion — a relic power only whispered about in system legends.
With a single, fluid motion, they cleaved both Guardians down.
The realm cracked.
Twin moons shattered above, and time reset in a burst of radiant silence.
---
> [Trial Completed: Twin Moon Ascension]
[Reward: World Authority Fragment (x1)]
[Crimson Unity Evolution Progress: 82%]
[New Title Unlocked: Moonbreaker]
[System Alignment: Multiversal Apex Path – Stage 3 Access Granted]
Zhen fell to one knee, panting. The temporal echo dissolved, returning to his soul — leaving behind knowledge, experience, and clarity. His rank surged. His aura calmed.
Then, from the wreckage, a soft voice whispered.
"Zhen..."
He turned.
Floating in the ruin of the trial realm was a figure — a woman, wrapped in translucent veils of starlight. Her eyes mirrored the infinite cosmos, and her presence radiated grace and danger both.
Zhen's breath caught.
He knew her name, though they'd never met.
Liuyan.
The second of the Five Fragmented Maidens. The one sealed behind the Twin Moon Gate. The one fated to hold the key to the Celestial Root Fragment.
She spoke again, voice trembling.
"I dreamed... that you would come. But I did not believe. Now I see the blade... I see the fire... I see the oath."
Zhen stepped forward.
The system chimed once more:
> [Optional Quest Triggered: Oath of the Second Fragmented Maiden – Liuyan]
[Success Condition: Earn Her Trust. Break the Seal Binding Her Soul.]
[Reward: Celestial Root Fragment – Part II, Unknown Affinity Bonding Event]
He reached out his hand.
"Then believe in me now."
She looked at it, then at him, and slowly — placed her fingers in his.
The realm began to collapse as the Gate of Reversal opened behind them, a tunnel of light spiraling outward into the Upper Shard Realms.
But just before they left, a shadow deep in the void opened a single eye — ancient, cold, and knowing.
It whispered into the void:
"He has begun to gather them... The Runeblade has chosen."
Chapter 51 (continued): The Boundless Trial and the Twin Moon Ascension
The Gate of Reversal expanded into a spiraling corridor of starlight, lightyears folding into fractals with every step Zhen and Liuyan took.
He held her hand tightly.
She didn't let go.
Around them, fragments of fallen trial realms drifted like shattered glass — relics of those who had tried and failed the Twin Moon Ascension before. Ancient weapons floated, half-dissolved by time; ghostly echoes whispered forgotten names. But none dared to impede Zhen's passage.
The system spoke:
> [Dimensional Transit Complete]
[Current Location: Upper Shard Realm — Dominion Tier Entry Zone]
[Warning: Law Density Increased – Divine Sense Suppression Active]
[Note: The presence of a Bound Fragmented Maiden nullifies hostile realm rejection]
Liuyan's expression remained unreadable. Her beauty was strange — less mortal allure and more like an embodiment of balance, of still waters under starlight. Her voice, however, carried sorrow.
"This place... it's been sealed for hundreds of cycles. Ever since the Celestial War fractured the Heart."
Zhen looked around.
The Dominion Tier Entry Zone resembled no place he had seen before. Giant floating palaces drifted in reverse gravity, chained to mountainous fragments of a world that had once been whole. Every structure bled sacred light — remnants of a divine civilization erased from the multiverse.
Far above them, a crystalline tree, miles high, pulsed with roots of liquid light. It did not grow from any earth — instead, it was suspended in the void, feeding on reality itself.
"That's... the Axis Tree," Liuyan whispered, awe and fear blending. "The root of all ranking systems. The First Warden planted it after the collapse of the Primordial Core."
Zhen narrowed his eyes. The system chimed again:
> [Hidden Realm Identified: Axis Tree Root System]
[Access Locked — Requires 3 Fragments of the Celestial Root]
[Progress: 1/3 Fragments Secured]
Before he could speak, Liuyan's body trembled. She clutched her chest, and the veins of starlight on her skin shimmered erratically.
"The seal," she said through gritted teeth. "It's awakening... because I've left the trial realm."
Zhen caught her as she fell, supporting her gently. The moment their energies touched, the runic curse engraved across her back pulsed.
It was alive.
And it hated him.
---
> [New Side Quest Triggered: Break the Shackles of the Star-Veil Curse]
[Objective: Absorb a Purifying Law Source]
[Estimated Purification Requirement: 72% of Domain-Cleansing Essence]
[Optional Fusion Detected: If Host accepts, Crimson Unity may partially cleanse soul curse at 20% efficiency]
Zhen's eyes darkened.
"I'll find this cleansing essence," he muttered. "You're not fading on me."
Liuyan's expression softened slightly. "Why… are you helping me?"
He looked into her eyes. "Because you waited for me. And because I don't break oaths."
She blinked. A soft flush rose to her cheeks — but before she could respond, the entire fragment world lurched.
A ripple of corruption surged from the far east of the realm, where broken towers leaned against the lightless void. A scar in the sky opened — black lightning arcing through the clouds like inverted veins.
From that rift emerged a twisted being — tall, thin, its head crowned with thorns, its robes woven of screams.
The system's voice rang out again, sharper than before:
> [WARNING: Foreign Will Detected — World Invader Class: Nihilspawn Marquis]
[Tier: Beyond Dominion]
[Intent: Harvest Fragmented Maiden Soul]
[Time Until Full Manifestation: 11 minutes, 49 seconds]
Zhen moved instantly. He wrapped his qi around Liuyan, forming a teleportation bubble using Crimson Unity's inverted blade form. A pulse of divine code emitted from its core, tearing open a minor space rift.
"We're leaving. Now."
But the Nihilspawn spoke — not with words, but with pressure.
It crashed down like the weight of a dead star.
"You cannot protect her, Runeborn. She is the key. And you... are the gate."
Zhen's eyes flared with golden fury.
He cut space.
Not metaphorically — literally. His blade ignited with the sigils of oath-binding, spatial reversal, and time-forging. With one swing, the world between them bent. The Marquis's body was momentarily displaced — twisted into a loop of delayed action.
It would take ten seconds to recover.
Zhen used them all.
He and Liuyan vanished from that world shard, reappearing miles away, inside a hidden temple half-buried beneath crystalized starlight.
---
The Temple of Eight Echoes.
A place of silence and sealed memory. Zhen had found it marked on one of the scrolls taken from the Mirror Mausoleum — the place where the Domain-Cleansing Essence had last been recorded.
It was serene. Too serene.
He laid Liuyan down gently on a resting dais. Her breath had grown shallow.
Zhen looked around the temple, stepping toward the central sanctum. The walls glowed faintly, etched with rotating runes in eight directions. He placed a palm on the central altar.
Nothing happened.
Then the air shifted — and a voice, mechanical and divine, filled the chamber:
> [Welcome, Bearer of the Crimson Unity]
[To claim the Domain-Cleansing Essence, you must face your reflection in full]
[Trial Initiated: The Mirror of Oaths]
The chamber darkened.
Before Zhen, a mirror rose from the ground.
In it, he saw himself — but with eyes tainted in red, with a smirk that reeked of conquest and arrogance. This was not just a dark version.
It was who he might become — if he sacrificed everyone to reach the peak.
The mirror self drew a blade of ash and gold.
"Come," it said. "Let's see how much of your 'honor' survives when your power is on the line."
Zhen gritted his teeth. This trial would not be fought with just fists or blades.
It would be fought with conviction.
---
Outside the sanctum, Liuyan stirred.
A glowing butterfly made of fragmented runes landed on her chest. Her eyes fluttered open.
She felt something — not just power, but resolve, pulsing from the altar room.
"…He's fighting himself," she whispered.
And slowly, painfully, she reached out — placing one hand on the edge of the sanctum door, channeling what little strength she had to lend him faith.
The seal on her back flickered.
Just once.
---
> [System Update: Shared Will Bond Initiated – Fragmented Maiden Liuyan]
[Trial of the Mirror of Oaths – Stage Two Activated]
[Dual Soul Link Detected: Synchronization Potential Rising]
Zhen stared into the eyes of the mirror-self—this dark, perfected image of power, unbound by empathy or restraint. It grinned at him with the confidence of a tyrant, its aura suffocating, its Crimson Unity twisted and serrated, dripping with black flame and karmic ash.
> "All you've done is slow your own ascent," the reflection spat.
"You still fight for others. Still hesitate. Still fear what must be done. I killed mercy in my third realm. You? Still playing protector."
Zhen said nothing. He didn't need to defend his path with words.
He stepped forward.
The room shrank as the battle began.
Twin figures collided, blades singing with contradiction. One was forged in loyalty, the other in ruthless logic. The mirror-self struck with attacks Zhen knew before they landed — because they were his. But his own strikes were deflected with equal familiarity.
Every movement was like shadowboxing fate.
They clashed through the Temple of Eight Echoes, each impact lighting runes long dormant, each movement awakening more of the ancient trial. Walls cracked under paradox. The floor reflected constellations neither had seen before — ones that only formed when possibility itself was strained.
The mirror-self laughed as he parried Zhen's Heavenrend technique.
> "Why do you hesitate to take what is yours? You've already chosen your path — ascension at any cost. Why pretend otherwise?"
Zhen countered, his blade cleaving a false world in two.
> "Because there are costs I won't pay. And because there are oaths that matter more than power."
He dove inward, releasing a torrent of dual-elemental force: Runic Fire and Lunar Qi, synchronized through his bond with Liuyan. It burned righteous, not destructive — and for the first time, the mirror-self stumbled.
Outside the altar, Liuyan cried out as the connection deepened. Her fingers pressed against the glowing runes, lending her essence through the Soul Link, drawing on a power she hadn't remembered possessing until now — a starlit memory hidden behind lifetimes of sealing.
> "Zhen… you won't fight this alone."
The bond surged.
A second presence appeared behind Zhen in the battle — a phantom, composed of starlight and veil-fragments. It was not Liuyan's body, but her will, now embedded into the flow of the fight.
The mirror-self's smirk faded.
Zhen saw the hesitation. And that was his opening.
He struck with all he had.
Not with rage. Not with vengeance. But with clarity.
His blade split the shadow form's weapon in half.
Then the next strike split its chest, not killing it, but piercing the heart of what it represented.
The reflection looked down at the wound.
And it whispered, "You'll regret choosing the harder path... when they all fall before you."
Zhen met his gaze, unwavering.
"Then I'll carry that regret — and rise through it."
The mirror shattered.
---
The chamber lit up like a sun's birth.
> [Trial of the Mirror of Oaths Completed]
[Soul Integrity: Perfect Synchronization – 100%]
[Title Unlocked: Mirrorbane Ascendant]
[Reward Gained: Domain-Cleansing Essence (High Purity)]
[Crimson Unity Synchronization Rate: 95% — Evolving Soon…]
[Soul Link with Fragmented Maiden Liuyan Strengthened – Affinity Tier: Celestial Initiate]
Zhen staggered slightly as the light faded. In his hand, the essence condensed into a pearl of swirling silver and gold. It radiated a purifying warmth, unlike any power he'd held before.
He returned to Liuyan. Her breathing had weakened, and the curse mark on her back glowed with malicious hunger.
Without hesitation, Zhen placed the Domain-Cleansing Essence against her heart.
"System," he said. "Begin integration."
> [Purification Sequence Initiated...]
[Estimated Time: 90 Seconds]
The curse resisted. It howled, screeched, twisted her body — but Zhen knelt beside her, channeling his qi into her core. Crimson Unity hovered above them like a guardian, its blade humming with the resonance of fulfilled oaths.
Then — silence.
The curse mark cracked.
Shattered.
And with a blinding surge of light, it was gone.
Liuyan's eyes opened slowly. They were no longer dim stars — they were supernovas, burning with renewed life and awareness.
She looked at him as if seeing him not for the first time, but the true time.
"I remember everything now," she whispered. "Who I was. Who I am."
Zhen looked at her, wary but calm. "And who is that?"
She rose, hovering inches above the temple floor, hair flowing like a celestial river.
"I am the Sealed Fragment of Celestial Root — the Starmind Aspect. I was hidden here by the Elders to prevent the Runeborn Blade from being reunited with its destined path."
She turned her gaze to him.
"And now you've begun to restore both."
---
The world trembled.
Far above them, in the skies of the Upper Shard Realm, the Axis Tree pulsed.
Three leaves changed hue — from inert gray to brilliant green-gold.
The Council of Shattered Thrones felt it.
The Nihilspawn Marquis, still trapped at the edge of time-space, screamed.
And in a hidden realm, deep beyond reach, a voice spoke:
> "He has awakened a second. It begins again."
---
Zhen helped Liuyan stand, though her power now matched his. She touched the hilt of Crimson Unity, and it accepted her touch without resistance.
"We'll need the next fragment soon," Zhen said.
Liuyan nodded. "Then we go to the Shattered Dream Horizon. That's where the third maiden lies, still asleep in the storm of time."
Zhen sheathed his sword.
"Then let's wake her."