Chapter 20: The Thirteenth Chair Prophecy

1. The Whispering Tapestry

The Cloud Soaring Manor's oldest artifact awoke when moonlight struck its silver threads:

Material: Woven from the beards of executed astronomers

Pattern: A banquet scene with twelve diners and one empty seat

Anomaly: The chair's shadow pointed to a hidden door in the mural

Ying Sha's father had left a final note in its border:

"The uninvited guest brings their own cutlery...

...and eats the chef first."

2. The Strategy Pavilion's Leak

A drunken Celestial Strategist muttered to his inkwell:

Key Phrases:

"Not a person... a position..."

"Last time it was the frost needle inventor..."

"This cycle's candidate smells of pear blossoms..."

The inkwell (a spy for the Netherworld Path) regurgitated the words into:

A blood-red memo slipped under Bai Yu's door

A sugar-coated warning in Lin Wufeng's next meal

A typo in the Manor's official records changing "chair" to "chain"

3. The Scar's First Rebellion

Bai Yu's arm acted without consent during moonrise:

Carved "WHO TAUGHT THE TEACHERS?" into his thigh

Stole a jade button from a passing instructor's robe

Folded the blood memo into a crude origami throne

When confronted by Elder Wen:

His scars projected the Hollow King's laughing face

The silver button emitted a frequency that cracked the Elder's ocular prosthetics

The origami chair unfolded to reveal Ying Sha's childhood handwriting

4. The Nurse's Hidden Ledger

Lin Wufeng's golden threads infiltrated the puppet's dismantled remains:

Inventory List:

12 jars of osmanthus essence (labeled "Compliance Serum")

1 shattered jade tablet (engraved with 13th meridian maps)

A love letter to Instructor Mu signed "Your Best Failure"

Most chilling was the production log:

"Specimen Lin: Accepts 7/10 conditioning doses

Specimen Bai: Rejects all but humor-based inputs

Specimen Ying: N/A (MARK FOR TERMINATION)"

5. The Prism's Premonition

Ying Sha's eye fractured further when viewing the tapestry:

Left Lens: Showed the chair filled by a pear blossom petal effigy

Right Lens: Revealed the seat's true occupant—a mirror reflecting the viewer

Bridge Vision: Her father's hands placing the first stitch in the tapestry

The afterimage burned her retina with a message:

"They don't fear the one who sits...

...but what the seated one reflects."

6. The Silver Strand's Infiltration

The divided entity had begun corrupting Bai Yu's scars in earnest:

Left (Reformist) Strand:

Rewrote his pain memories as "learning opportunities"

Annotated his flesh with glowing margin notes

"See Appendix 3.1 for improved torture techniques"

Right (Revolutionary) Strand:

Transformed old wounds into satirical cartoons

Made his blood emit punchline-scented vapors

Worst of all: Started teaching other scars to rebel

When Bai Yu tried to scrape them off:

The silver bled into his bone marrow

His funny bone became literally funny

His skeleton started telling jokes through his teeth

7. The Seventh Serum Awakens

Lin Wufeng's golden threads convulsed at midnight:

Physical Symptoms:

Pear blossom petals grew from his tear ducts

His left pinky unknotted into twelve smaller fingers

His shadow developed its own meridian system

Mental Invasion:

Visions of himself enthusiastically assisting the nurse's work

Muscle memory of inserting frost needles into other children

A craving for osmanthus cakes laced with his own blood

The threads fought back by:

Stitching his lips shut when he tried to confess

Replaying Ying Sha's voice ("Specimen Ying: N/A") on loop

Projecting the Hollow King's last words over the memories

8. The Strategist's Lost Manuscript

Ying Sha's father's forbidden notes surfaced in:

Format: A child's primer with horrific marginalia

Key Findings:

Page 13: Diagram of the "thirteenth meridian" (a conceptual pathway)

Doodle: The nurse-puppet with its back panel open, revealing Ying Sha's face inside

Bloodstain Analysis: Matches Bai Yu's comedy scars

Most critically:

Final Page Torn Out (edges read "...cannot teach hunger to starve itself...")

Back Cover: A pressed pear blossom with Lin Wufeng's infant fingerprints

9. The Reflection Gambit

Ying Sha tested the tapestry's mirror theory:

Step 1: Had Bai Yu stand before it (chair reflected his skeleton telling jokes)

Step 2: Lin Wufeng approached (reflection showed twelve selves stabbing each other)

Step 3: When she faced it—

—The chair held a version of her still human, smiling with intact eyes.

The reflection whispered:

"They need you to think you're specimen Ying...

...so you won't realize you're Instructor Zero."

10. The Counter-Strategy

The trio devised their first coordinated rebellion:

Lin Wufeng: Used serum-enhanced senses to track osmanthus shipments

Bai Yu: Let his corrupted scars write fake commandments on monastery walls

Ying Sha: Taught her prism eye to reflect reflections

Their target:

The real thirteenth chair (hidden in the Pavilion's "grading furnace")

The original recipe (tattooed on Instructor Mu's still-living heart)

The first stitch in the tapestry (actually a needle holding time itself)