The world around Feng Mo blurred like ink in water.
He drifted.
He didn't know if he was awake or dead.
He only knew one thing:
The Ninth Vein had been opened.
And he had paid the price.
A Realm of Forgotten Names
When Feng Mo awoke, he was no longer in the Soul-Forging Plains.
He lay beneath the boughs of a pale silver tree, surrounded by shifting winds that sang in forgotten tongues.
This was not the Requiem Space.
Nor was it the mortal world.
"Where… am I?"
A voice answered.
Not Ling Xue's.
Not the Blood Tree's.
But his own.
Only older.
"You're in the Requiem Mirror," the voice said. "A fracture of your soul cast by the Ninth Vein."
"This is the price of warping karma—you must now confront the roots of what was never truly yours."
Feng Mo sat up slowly.
Before him stood a figure cloaked in black and red. His face was blurred, shifting.
But his stance…
His aura…
It's me. But not me.
Echoes of a Past Life?
The figure gestured, and memories poured into Feng Mo's mind like blood into a wound:
A war-torn battlefield beneath twin moons.
A woman wreathed in chains, singing a requiem to a dying world.
A man—his face still unclear—sacrificing an entire planet to awaken the Ninth Vein.
And then…
A gate.
A seal.
A soul torn in half—and buried in time.
Feng Mo clutched his head as the memories clashed with his own.
"These... these aren't mine…"
The figure stepped forward.
"No, but they were."
"You are not the first Vessel of Ruin. Only the latest fragment given flesh."
"I'm… a reincarnation?"
The figure didn't answer.
Instead, he raised a hand, and a lotus of black fire bloomed between them.
"To control the Ninth Vein, you must integrate what you were… without forgetting who you are."
A Duel of Selves
The realm twisted into a mirror arena.
On one side: Feng Mo, battered but burning with purpose.
On the other: the blurred figure, wielding a blade of Karmic Flame.
"To survive… strike down the echo."
They fought.
Not for dominance.
But for identity.
Each clash fractured the dream realm further.
Feng Mo's techniques warped—half instinct, half memory.
He used Requiem pulses he'd never trained.
Soul arts that hadn't been invented yet.
And yet—he understood them.
The black flame seared his mind. Every cut left him reliving a death not his own.
"You sacrificed everything," Feng Mo shouted. "But I refuse to become you."
He let his glaive drop.
"Because I'm not your second chance. I'm my own path."
He stepped forward and embraced the echo.
The figure burned to ash—smiling.
Integration Begins
The world quieted.
Above, the silver tree bore a single new fruit: a lotus of golden-black flame.
Inside the Blood Requiem Space, the Ninth Vein no longer pulsed wildly.
It beat in rhythm with Feng Mo's heart.
Ninth Vein Fully Stabilized — Calamity Lotus Integrated.
You may now invoke Karma Phase abilities at will for a limited time, with reduced backlash.
Feng Mo opened his eyes in the real world.
He lay inside a hidden cave. Ling Xue sat nearby, meditating, her blade on her lap.
When she saw him stir, her eyes widened.
"You're alive," she said, voice quiet.
"You were… gone for three days."
Feng Mo nodded.
"I was lost in someone else's memories. But now I know."
"Know what?"
He stood slowly.
"That I wasn't born to inherit the Requiem."
"I was born to rewrite it."
And beyond the cave, the wind shifted.
Because someone—something—was searching for him.
And it didn't come from this world.
To be continued…
🌀 Chapter 16 Summary:
Feng Mo enters the Requiem Mirror, a soul fracture realm caused by opening the Ninth Vein.
He encounters a karmic echo of a past self—revealing he may be a reincarnated Vessel of Ruin.
Through a mental and spiritual duel, he integrates the Ninth Vein fully without losing his own identity.
Gains partial control over the Calamity Lotus and stabilizes the karma backlash.
Awakens in a hidden cave—only to sense a new threat, likely from beyond this world.