The trial had begun.
Liu Shen and his companions now stood within a realm detached from space itself—a shadow-bound plane known as the Hall of Lamentations, where the first of the Hollow Elders resided.
> "This realm tests sorrow," the Hollow Jade Monarch had said. "And Elder Mourning Silence does not speak. She will only respond to pain... not yours, but the pain you hide."
A chilling fog enveloped the landscape, and the earth beneath their feet was made of fragmented memories—shards of thoughts long buried and forgotten.
Yu Meixing shivered.
> "Why does it feel like we're walking through a cemetery of emotions?"
> "Because we are," Liu Shen muttered.
---
The Silent Elder
At the heart of the sorrow-warped plain sat a figure robed in charcoal black, veiled in silence. Her face was obscured by a funeral shroud woven from silver moonlight, and her aura pulsed not with spiritual might, but pure emotional resonance—grief incarnate.
As the group approached, a wall of spiritual force separated Liu Shen from his allies.
> "Only one may present their sorrow," echoed a formless voice. "Only one may seek her favor."
Liu Shen stepped forward.
> "Then I'll face her alone."
The moment he passed the barrier, the environment warped. The field transformed into a battlefield of crimson flame and black skies. Bodies littered the ground—people Liu Shen once knew.
A child sobbing. A woman with jade hair impaled through the chest. A shadowed figure laughing with a blood-soaked crown.
The scene was not real. But the emotions were.
---
The Demon Sovereign's Guilt
Liu Shen exhaled slowly.
> "This is what you want, Elder Mourning Silence?" he muttered. "Very well."
He walked past the illusions, each one clawing at his heart like rusted nails. But he did not waver.
Until he came across her.
Yu Linhua.
The woman he had once loved. Killed during his ascent to sovereignty—not by an enemy, but by his own command, for she had been corrupted by a celestial artifact and posed a threat to his domain.
Her image stood there now, silently weeping.
> "Do you regret it?" asked a voice—not Elder Mourning Silence's, but his own, echoed from the past.
Liu Shen stared at her for a long while.
> "Yes," he whispered. "More than I regret death itself."
---
Offering of Grief
He knelt before the illusion and gently placed a single crimson petal on the ground—summoned from the depths of his spirit sea.
The petal was part of his Blood Lotus Soul, the very core of his demonic cultivation. Sacrificing it weakened him—but it also made the sorrow real.
The entire realm trembled.
The Elder raised her veiled face slightly. She said nothing, but her hand moved—just once—extending a single finger toward Liu Shen's heart.
A mark burned itself into his chest: a crescent of grief outlined by weeping flames.
> "You have received the favor of Elder Mourning Silence," the formless voice spoke. "One of five."
---
Return from the Trial
Liu Shen stumbled out of the realm, visibly weakened. Yue Lian caught him before he fell.
> "That... took more from you than you're letting on."
> "I'll recover," Liu Shen said. "We have four more to go."
Yao Shen looked uneasy.
> "Each trial will strip something different, won't it?"
> "Yes," Liu Shen replied. "This one took a piece of my soul."
He looked at the glowing mark on his chest.
> "The next might take a piece of my will."
---
Elder of Whispering Iron
The group was immediately transported to the next realm, far colder and more rigid than the last.
This was a steel labyrinth—the Cage of Logic—where Elder Whispering Iron resided.
A voice rang out, monotone and metallic.
> "The sorrow of emotion earns compassion. But only logic defines righteousness."
Dozens of golden constructs surrounded them, their faces blank, their movements precise.
> "To earn my favor, you must face yourself—not as you see yourself, but as you are."
A mirror appeared before Liu Shen, but it did not show his current self. Instead, it reflected a version of him without the demonic arts—Liu Shen as he might have been, had he chosen the path of light.
> "Face your alternate fate. Prove your path was correct."
---
Battle of Possibilities
The mirrored Liu Shen stepped forward, surrounded by celestial energy instead of demonic qi. He radiated righteousness, justice, and purity.
> "I would have protected her," the reflection said, referencing Yu Linhua. "I would not have fallen into darkness."
> "You would've died before even reaching the heavens," Liu Shen spat. "Because mercy and ideals don't survive in a world that worships strength."
Their blades clashed.
The mirrored self fought with precision and technique. Liu Shen fought with ruthlessness and adaptation. The battle wasn't just physical—it was philosophical.
Each strike questioned Liu Shen's decisions.
But he did not falter.
He shattered the mirror with one final strike.
> "I made my choices. And I'll carry their weight until the end."
The steel labyrinth fell silent.
A second mark burned onto his left hand: a cogwheel enveloped in shadowfire.
> "Favor granted," said Whispering Iron.
---
Two of Five
Back in the Hollow Palace, the Jade Monarch sat watching through a mirror pool.
> "Two favors earned already," he murmured. "This child walks a fine thread between ruin and redemption."
A figure emerged behind him—one cloaked in red smoke.
> "Shall I interfere, your majesty?"
> "No," the Monarch said. "Let him walk this path. It will break him... or forge something even I can't predict."