The Village Reshaping Itself
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Lang Xian woke to the rhythmic sound of knocking, like the heartbeat of a giant. The village of Qinlu was rebuilding itself before his eyes: slanted houses stood upright like obedient soldiers, dry fields bloomed with black roses that smelled of burnt flesh, and translucent children danced around the village well, chanting a haunting song:
"Gold is born from bones... and darkness gives birth to the sun!"
The sky looked like an oil painting where gold and black swirled together, forming vortices that reminded Lang Xian of those he saw in the Kingdom of Bones. In his hand, he still felt the warmth of golden blood that had spilled when he was stabbed... but there was no wound.
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Meeting the Hybrid Self: The Walking Mirror
As he struggled to understand the changes, his hybrid self (one golden eye and one black) appeared from behind a purple mist. This time, it wasn't hostile... it looked sorrowful, as if burdened by unbearable secrets.
Hybrid Self: (in a dual voice echoing from two worlds)
"You don't remember, do you? How many times have you entered this loop?"
Lang Xian: (pressing his temples as if digging for buried memories)
"What are you doing to me? What kind of game is this?"
The Hybrid: (touching its golden eye, mirroring his necklace)
"This is no game... it's punishment. For choosing to be human in a world that shows no mercy."
Suddenly, the ground beneath them split open, revealing a massive library of books bound in human skin. Each cover bore his name in different scripts:
"Lang Xian: The Black Emperor."
"Lian: The Lost Shepherd."
"Jin: The Unborn Child."
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The Stolen Memory: Books of Forgotten Universes
Inside the library, Lang Xian was powerless against the pull to read one of the books. The title he chose was "The Wolf Who Cried"—a tale of a version of himself who lived a simple life as a shepherd in the Liangzhou mountains, married, and had a daughter with golden eyes... only to lose everything in a massacre eerily similar to that of his own family.
Shocking Revelation:
On the final page, he saw an illustration of his daughter slain by a masked knight... the same knight who killed his family.
Are all parallel universes doomed to repeat the same tragedy? Is he cursed to lose everything again and again?
The hybrid self appeared behind him, holding another book titled "Helaion: The Mother Who Never Was":
"You are not the victim... you are the cause. Every time you run, you create a new world that replicates your pain."
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The Forbidden Ritual: Summoning the Twin Deities
Lang Xian decided to break the loop in the most radical way. Using his golden blood, he drew a ritual circle around the village well, using symbols he had learned from the Helaion scroll and the library books. The remaining golden wolves—Hei and Qin—stood at the circle's edge, their blue eyes glowing like guiding stars.
He burned a book from the library as an offering.
He drove the bone dagger into the ground, releasing black energy that looked like the smoke of lost souls.
He spoke the names of the twin deities: Lian (the forgotten goddess of light) and Helaion (the goddess of darkness).
The result was terrifying: the well exploded, and from it emerged two intertwined beings like branches of a single tree. Lian was pure white light with no face, and Helaion was a black shadow with six arms.
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Dialogue with the Gods: Questions Without Answers
Lian: (in a voice like flowing river water)
"My child... you wronged us when you split us."
Helaion: (in a voice like grinding bones)
"You separated light from darkness... now you must fix what was broken."
Lang Xian learned the deeper truth:
The twin deities were once a single entity, but the ancient Lian bloodline split them to harness their power.
His family's massacre was a ritual to renew the energy that kept them apart.
The child Jin was the new vessel of their unified form... but his birth would destroy the Lian bloodline forever.
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Final Confrontation: Melting the Boundaries
Lang Xian chose ultimate sacrifice. He took the child Jin from Lian Hua's home, who was transforming into a mass of light and shadow.
Lian Hua: (weeping tears of black glass)
"He's not my son... nor yours. He is the beginning and the end."
As Lang Xian fused his golden blood with the child's, the universe exploded around him. The twin deities merged into a single radiant contradiction, the village shattered into glass shards that reassembled into a mosaic, and the golden wolves dissolved into light.
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Awakening in the Void: The New Seed
He found himself standing in a boundless white void. Before him stood a massive tree, its roots made of bones and branches of pure light. On one of its leaves, he saw a small village forming... a purified version of Qinlu, without black lanterns or ghostly children.
The ghostly mother's voice finally reached him:
"Now you understand... salvation is not in revenge, but in rebuilding anew."
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As he prepared to leave, he noticed something strange:
His body was evaporating, turning into golden leaves of the tree.
The child Jin was playing at the roots of the tree, his eyes now two different colors: one gold, one black.
The hybrid self's voice echoed through the void:
"You will return... because loops don't break... they're merely rewritten."
And before he vanished completely, he saw Lian Hua holding a new baby... with ordinary human eyes.