The Mirror of Blood and Flame

The third gate opened with a whisper—not a roar.

Xu Shen stepped through and found himself surrounded by nothing.

No earth beneath his feet. No sky above.

Only mirrors.

Countless floating shards hovered in the void—each one reflecting a moment of violence. A memory of death.

Some showed beasts. Some, cultivators.

Others… showed faces.

Familiar ones.

His master in Life #17—killed for betrayal.

His sworn brother in Life #308—slain in madness.

A lover in Life #1,044—sacrificed to escape a collapsing realm.

Xu stood still, jaw clenched.

A voice echoed—not his.

[Trial Three: The Mirror of Blood and Flame]

"This trial is not fought with blade or breath."

"It is fought with burden."

"Face the weight of what you've done."

The mirrors trembled.

From them, forms began to emerge—not illusions, but spiritual constructs shaped from fragments of Xu Shen's memory.

They walked toward him slowly.

Fifty. A hundred. More.

Each face held pain.

Anger. Sadness. Silence.

A girl clutched a toy sword—his sister from Life #933. He had let her starve to protect his sect.

A boy wore black robes—the disciple he sacrificed in Life #6 to seal a dying beast.

An old man. A child. A woman. A friend.

All slain by his hand.

All stepping forward.

Xu reached for his saber—

But it wasn't there.

Of course not.

This isn't that kind of battle.

The first soul spoke.

"You used me."

Another followed.

"You said I mattered. Then left me to burn."

"You let us die so you could try again."

"You killed to survive. Again. And again. And again."

Their voices overlapped into a storm of memory.

"What makes you worthy to live a 10,001st time?"

Xu dropped to one knee.

Their voices clawed at his mind—not lies, but truths. Raw and cruel.

His hands trembled.

He thought of the Devourer's Core inside him.

All that death.

All those techniques.

All that power.

Built on corpses.

"I didn't come back to be forgiven."

He stood slowly.

His voice was calm. Bare.

"I came back to carry it all."

"Every face. Every scar. Every scream."

"You think I've forgotten? I remember everything. And I still chose to climb."

The forms froze.

Their expressions wavered.

And then… they bowed.

One by one.

Not in surrender.

In acceptance.

The mirrors shattered into flame.

The void twisted into light.

[Trial Complete: Mirror of Blood and Flame]

[Spiritual Will: Tempered]

[Devourer Path – Alignment Achieved: 10,001 Lives Remembered]

[You are no longer bound by passive memory drift.]

[You are now… a Soul-Stable Reincarnator.]

A final gate appeared—larger than the rest. Not glowing. Burning.

Xu Shen stepped forward, voice steady.

"Let the heavens see what they made me."

🌌 Far beyond…

In the Divine Sky Court, elders watched the final trial stone flash red.

A single word burned onto its surface:

DEVOURER.

An Immortal Elder rose from his seat.

"Seal the gates."

Another paled. "It's too late. He's stabilized."

The elder clenched his fist.

"Then it's time we remind him why the Devourer Path was forbidden."