Chapter 26: The Rewritten Souls

1. The Ink of Revelation

Ying Sha's prismatic ink pierced Lin Feng's storm barrier, flooding his consciousness with forgotten truths. The six personas materialized in a fractured mindscape—each standing on floating shards of their original selves.

Xiao Qi (The Untainted Core)

True Nature: The only unaltered fragment of pre-experiment Lin Feng

Abilities:

Pear Blossom Purification: Healing light that erases artificial modifications (cost: 1 year of lifespan per use)

Memory Beacon: His tears temporarily restore others' stolen memories

Crucial Role:

Remembers the birth name "Lin Feng" because the Tome couldn't overwrite innocence

His mere presence weakens Lin Wufeng's conditioning

Li Feng (The Weaponized Rage)

Twisted Origin:

Created when Celestial Pavilion fed Lin's childhood anger to Netherworld blood charms

Every Sigil Sword strike transfers victim's pain to The Silent One

Heartbreaking Cost:

Each kill erases Xiao Qi's memories instead of his own (he doesn't know)

Scholar Wen (The Corrupted Strategist)

Original Identity: Jing Xin (静心), the compassionate healer

Modification Process:

Cloud Soaring Manor rewired her "Mirror Flower Moonlight" technique

Now emits silver surveillance threads that report to the Pavilion

Hidden Resistance:

Still subconsciously leaves one flaw unanalyzed in allies

The Silent One (The Scarred Archive)

Former Self: Xuan Gu (玄骨), the vengeful remnant

Soul Transplantation:

Hollow King's followers implanted first rebel's memories into his pain receptors

Eroding Palm now burns Tome pages instead of flesh

Silent Scream:

His muted agony is the fuel for Li Feng's swords

The Performer (The Stolen Face)

Lost Identity: Yan Jiu (燕九), the witty scout

Soul Mutilation:

His "missing sister" was the 7th persona erased by Celestial Pavilion

Thousand Tricks ability reduced to hollow mimicry

Trigger Warning:

Accidentally replicates the Nurse's voice during stress

Lin Wufeng (The Facade)

Shocking Truth:

Not the core persona, but an emergency patch created when Xiao Qi nearly died

His "calm leadership" is just systemic repression protocols

Fatal Flaw:

Begins glitching when near unmodified pear blossoms

2. The Web of Deception

The ink visions revealed how personas were rewritten:

Celestial Pavilion's Handiwork:

Turned Jing Xin's healing into vulnerability detection

Used Yan Jiu's grief to create The Performer's obedience

Cloud Soaring Manor's Betrayal:

Stole Xuan Gu's vengeance to make The Silent One's numbness

Programmed Lin Wufeng to prioritize system preservation

3. The Rebellion Protocol

Facing their stolen histories, the personas forged a pact:

Xiao Qi would share his true name—weakening Lin Wufeng's control

Li Feng would turn his swords on the silver strands

Scholar Wen would "accidentally" overlook their next move

The Silent One would let pain resonate—disrupting the Tome

The Performer would mimic the Hollow King as distraction

Lin Wufeng... would pretend not to notice

4. The Seventh Shadow

As the storm subsided, a ghostly afterimage flickered—

—a little girl's silhouette (Yan Jiu's lost sister), whispering:

"They cut me out to make you obedient...

...find where Page 13 is buried."

5. The Transformation Horrors (Expanded Flashbacks)

Jing Xin → Scholar Wen

The ink vision revealed her corruption in visceral detail:

Process:

Strapped to a calligraphy table as silver strands rewrote her meridians

Her healing energy inverted—now identifying weak points instead of mending them

The final step: "Compassion Redirection"

Her urge to protect reprogrammed to protect the system instead

Resistance Fragment:

She secretly left one loophole—never analyzes Xiao Qi's pear blossoms

This allowed the child persona to evade detection for years

Yan Jiu → The Performer

His dismantling was even more gruesome:

Memory Extraction:

Cloud Soaring surgeons unspooled his "sister" memories with hooked needles

Replaced them with behavioral templates from the Nurse's protocols

Soulless Mimicry:

His legendary Thousand Tricks reduced to parlor tricks

The only remnant: uncontrollable trembling when seeing little girls

Xuan Gu → The Silent One

The truth behind his "vengeance" shattered him:

The So-Called Enemies:

Fellow rebels who volunteered to be absorbed

Their souls became living armor against the Tome's control

Eroding Palm's True Power:

Burns indoctrination instead of flesh

He'd been unwittingly freeing victims this whole time

6. The Glitching Facade (Lin Wufeng's Breakdown)

As Xiao Qi's influence grew, the "main persona" exhibited terrifying malfunctions:

Speech Errors:

"I must obey— [static] —pear trees bloom in spring"

"The curriculum is per— [glitch] —help me"

Physical Corruption:

Right hand digitized into silver strand particles

Left eye showing Xiao Qi's memories instead of his own

7. The Rebellion Begins

Phase 1: Subversion

Scholar Wen "analyzed" their group... and deliberately miscalculated:

Claimed Li Feng's rage was "37% controllable" (true value: 2%)

Reported Xiao Qi as "harmless" (omitting his purification power)

Phase 2: Distraction

The Performer achieved the impossible—mimicked the Tome itself:

Hall monitors began grading each other

The furnace demanded a syllabus revision

Phase 3: Awakening

The Silent One finally screamed—using Xuan Gu's voice:

"THEY MADE US KILL THEM TWICE!"

The soundwave shattered nearby silver surveillance strands

8. The Ghost in the System

The little girl's afterimage grew clearer, revealing:

Her True Identity: Not Yan Jiu's sister, but the original 7th persona

Critical Function: Emotional anchor preventing complete obedience

Murder Method:

Erased by overwriting her data onto Xiao Qi

This caused the pear blossom mark (a corruption error)

Her final whisper before fading:

"Find where I was backed up...

...in the garden of broken toys."