Night crawled over the village, one star extinguishing after the other…as if the sky itself prepared for a new trial from destiny.
Huo Feng followed her master, Wuxin, to a house that stood apart from all others.No glowing blossoms.No hopeful gardens.Only soil covered with twisted black flowers — their edges stained yellow and gray,a painting smeared with sins unashamed of being seen.
Wuxin whispered, eyes sharp:
"Here… you will witness the other face of this trial.The one unashamed of its darkness."
This garden was not merely rejected by the earth…Life itself had spat it out.
Huo Feng breathed uneasily:
"These aren't just rotten seeds… they're tainted souls."
A suffocating stench clung to the air, forcing her back a half step.Yet the soil gripped her feet — as if forbidding escape.
This was the home of the Liang Family.The wealthiest…and the cruelest.
They monopolized the vital spring needed to grow seeds.The entire village bowed beneath their corruption —for without flowers, intentions remained unseen…and without truth, blindness ruled.
Huo Feng clenched her fists:
"If they all stopped planting…their tyranny would crumble overnight."
Wuxin smiled — a gentle expression masking bitter truth.
"Abandoning evil is easy.Abandoning the compass that reveals it…that is a price few dare to pay."
As they watched, a child slipped from the Liang house —his eyes still shimmering with innocence untouched by rot.He carried a tiny pot of spring water and dashed through shadows to a humble shack.
Waiting there was a slender girl — shy, quiet…The wind whispered her name:
Fu Ying — the Repeating Shade.
He gave her the water.A small miracle blossomed immediately —a white flower pure as sunrise.
But then…
It split into two identical flowers.
A childish wonder.Yet a revelation born:
The Power of Duplication.
Huo Feng gasped as the boy giggled with joy…But the moment was short-lived.
Behind the fence…eyes burned with jealousy.
Shushu.
Her grip tightened around her white thread —as if afraid it would be taken from her.
Huo Feng noticed the shadow clinging to Shushu…A shadow she desperately tried to hide.
"A pure child in a corrupted home…A girl who copies shadows…Another whose thread devours hatred…What balance is unfolding before my eyes?"
The next morning…the Liang garden remained just as black.But a new story was already growing in secret.
The boy rushed out again, planting a white seed.He smiled — until fear caught him.
If his parents saw…He would be punished.In this house, purity was treason.
His trembling hand reached to uproot it…But a smaller hand arrived first.
Shushu.
She plucked the flower swiftly, tucking it behind her.
"Let me hide it.You don't know how to cover mistakes…But I…I know how to make them disappear completely."
He trusted her, thinking she was saving him.
But she fed on the flower's light —consuming goodness like a starving wolf in silk.Jealousy flickered behind her eyes.The white thread pulsed, hungry…as if vowing to never let Fu Ying steal the boy from her.
Huo Feng's heart tightened:
"Here… intentions collide.Which side will fate favor?"
Wuxin remained silent —knowing the test was far from over.
Then Huo Feng's voice cracked:
"Master… is Fu Ying… another me?"
Wuxin turned sharply.His gaze — twin blades:
"No."
Her lips trembled:
"But I have duplication too!"
He sighed toward the storming sky.
"Fu Ying was born with it — her curse and core."
Then he leaned closer, voice heavy:
"But yours…was carved into your soul by an ancient spell…inside the Sacred Heavenly Furnace."
Her breath faltered.
"A spell?You… knew?Since when?"
His eyes closed.And when they opened — truth weighed them down.
"Since the Punishment Platform.I saw your soul hesitate…between incineration and rebirth."
"Your truth is far greater than you think, Huo Feng.This trial…is just the first step."
She stood there trembling —caught between a past she doesn't understandand a future she may not survive.
Between a purity that killsand a darkness that saves.
But what happened beneath that moon…was not a secret locked to a chosen few.
Soft footsteps in the shadowsscribed every detail into silence.
Those unseen watchers now knew:
Huo Feng was two destinies in one body:Annihilation — the Sacred FurnaceRestoration — the Tree of Life
A forbidden duality.
Who will guard this truth?Who will twist it into a warthat could consume both Heaven and Earth?
Those eyes…have already begun to move.