Hall of Broken Time

"Time doesn't shatter like glass.

It folds, it forgets, and it bleeds itself into you."

— The Sealed Journals of the Withered Monarch

⏳ Passage to the Forgotten Realm

When Jin stepped forward, the floating path beneath him unraveled like silk ribbon burned by divine breath.

The world did not crack open—it peeled away.

Sky became scroll. Ground became ink. And the wind howled in backwards echoes.

"Where are we going?" Lin Xue asked, her blade hovering above her palm, uncertain if it should draw itself.

"To the place where every version of ourselves that hesitated… still waits," Ash-Eye muttered.

"The Hall of Broken Time," Su Ren confirmed, her fingers tracing a ghost-sigil into the air.

"It isn't a place. It's a wound."

The sky roared as if in agreement. Then the four of them vanished.

🕰️ The Hall Itself

They reappeared in a place where clocks grew like trees, spiraling out from the soil with shattered faces and ticking in reverse.

Vast pillars of sand moved upward—from floor to ceiling—defying all natural law.

And in the center, a colossal structure hung suspended in frozen time:

A mirror of Jin, but made of bone, robes, and rusted gold. It had no face.

It stood thirty feet tall.

Beneath it knelt hundreds of silhouettes, all motionless—frozen versions of Jin from other timelines.

Some bore bloodied weapons.

Others wore mourning white.

A few carried childlike features, halted mid-scream.

"All of these…" Jin began.

"Are you," Lin Xue whispered, "but different."

"Versions that walked left instead of right. That took revenge instead of silence. That failed. That died. That stopped."

Su Ren stepped forward.

"This is the Crown testing you," she said.

"And not just you—us all."

The mirror-Jin twitched.

⚔️ Trial of the Forgotten Selves

Trial Initiated: "Walk of the Shattered Form"

Face the version of yourself that turned away from the Hollow Path.

Jin's breath chilled.

One of the frozen selves stepped forward.

This version of him had glowing crimson eyes, flame-cultivation marks burned into both arms, and wore the armor of the Crimson Talon Sect—the very sect that betrayed him in his first life.

"You abandoned strength for silence," the false Jin spat.

"You could've burned their names from the stars. You could've ruled the Ashen Lands."

Jin remained still.

"I chose to remember them instead of erase them."

The false Jin howled and charged.

⚡ Battle Between Selves

What followed was not a normal fight.

Jin's stillness clashed with fury.

Every strike the mirror-Jin made was a scream of vengeance, of brokenness—a path that consumed others rather than preserved the self.

But with each exchange, Jin let one memory go—not out of denial, but of acceptance.

He didn't meet the rage with rage.

He met it with silence. With intent.

Step. Breathe. Accept. Strike.

Finally, Jin stepped forward, and his palm touched the false version's chest.

"You mourn the world.

But I learned to mourn myself first."

The false self crumbled—not shattered, but folded inward, like a chapter being closed.

A golden thread spun out and entered Jin's chest.

🔓 Mourner's Crown Awakening: 100%

Crown Phase II Unlocked – "Throne of Echoed Ash"

Passive: All memory-based attacks resonate with previous lives. Spiritual defenses gain 40% resistance to timeline or reincarnation techniques.

Active: "Echoing Self" – Summon a past life for 3 breaths to fight alongside you.

Unlock Bonus: Path Signature – "Stillness is not Stagnation."

🧭 A Map Revealed

As the crown shimmered, the Hall of Broken Time changed.

Clocks shattered. Silhouettes collapsed. And in their place rose a glowing map of the Hollow Realms—etched across the sky like a constellation.

Four regions pulsed:

🟦 Northern Wastes – Where the Dead Sect Rises

🔥 Eastern Emberfold – Where the Dragon Blood War brews

🌪️ Southern Wildbone Marsh – Where Murim blades gather in secret

🩸 Western Gravetide – Where the Moon-Soul Sect plots war

But in the center, a fifth point shimmered.

A realm not yet known.

Not labeled on any map.

Only one word was burned across it:

"Hollow."

"That's where your final crown lies," Su Ren said.

"But the world won't let you reach it easily."

"Let it try," Jin said quietly.