Outside the Recording Mirror, the elders’ expressions changed almost at the same time.
Song Yan suddenly went still.
The technique he had been preparing stopped in midair.
His fingers slowly tightened, joint by joint, while his gaze remained fixed on the two figures reflected in the mirror.
For a moment, he appeared to have seen something he could not comprehend.
He could not look away.
His lips parted slightly, but in the end, only two quiet words escaped.
“…That’s wrong.”
Su Lin had already stepped closer to the Recording Mirror, his eyes fixed firmly on its surface.
The other elders remained silent.
No one questioned what they had heard, nor did anyone attempt to dismiss it.
Somehow, their silence carried more weight than any outburst of shock.
Every person in the hall had heard the exchange between the white-robed young man and the Yu Jin within the bamboo forest.
And they had all reached the same conclusion.
That conversation should not have existed.
The formation disk trembled faintly.
Buzz—
The golden patterns flowing across its surface shifted out of alignment.
Its light flickered once, and the formation struggled briefly before resuming its operation.
But its rhythm had changed.
The perfect stability it had maintained at the beginning of the trial was gone.
Wang Shan continued staring at the mirror.
His breathing gradually slowed as he deliberately suppressed the emotions rising within him.
After several breaths, he finally spoke.
“They…”
He paused.
“They know each other.”
No one answered.
But no one denied it either.
There was nothing to deny.
The way the young man had looked at her and the way the Yu Jin within the illusion had answered him made it clear.
There had been no introduction, no uncertainty, and no distance between them.
They had not spoken like strangers meeting for the first time.
Su Lin’s fingertips tightened slightly within his sleeves.
For one fleeting moment, an unmistakable trace of uncertainty passed through his eyes.
His gaze moved between the two figures as though he were searching their brief exchange for something hidden.
A clue.
An explanation.
In the end, however, he said nothing.
There was nothing he could say with certainty.
Buzz—!
The formation disk trembled again.
This time, the movement was stronger.
The golden patterns across its surface shuddered visibly.
Wang Shan seemed to come back to himself.
His expression tightened.
“Should we—”
He stopped halfway through the question.
The rest of the sentence never left his mouth.
He already knew the answer.
At this point, even if they interfered, there was no guarantee that they could pull Yu Jin out safely.
Song Yan still did not move or speak.
He remained beside the formation, watching the two figures within the Recording Mirror.
His expression appeared calm, yet his attention was sharper than it had been at any point since the trial began.
It seemed that he was judging something.
Or perhaps he was waiting to see what would happen next.
Inside the bamboo forest, none of this existed.
The moonlight remained quiet, and the mist continued drifting between the bamboo stalks.
The white-robed young man looked at the Yu Jin standing before him.
“Then…” he asked softly.
His gaze rested on her.
“Are you ready?”
The question was simple.
But the instant Yu Jin heard it, something inside her tightened.
The other Yu Jin lowered her eyes and lightly brushed a strand of hair between her fingertips.
She did not answer immediately.
For a moment, she seemed to be listening to something.
Or perhaps she was making a judgment on someone else’s behalf.
Then she finally spoke.
“I…”
“I’m not sure yet.”
She paused before continuing even more softly, though every word remained perfectly clear.
“I don’t think she…is ready yet.”
Yu Jin’s entire body jolted.
Her breath caught.
She.
That single word seemed to pass through the illusion and strike her directly.
For the first time since being separated from the scene, Yu Jin felt that the conversation unfolding within the bamboo forest was no longer merely something she had been forced to witness.
Those words had been meant for her.
There was nowhere to avoid them and no way to pretend she had not heard.
Yu Jin stared at the other version of herself beneath the moonlight, her thoughts tightening around that single word.
She…
Before Yu Jin could understand its meaning, the white-robed young man smiled.
The smile was faint, warm, and restrained.
He did not appear surprised by the answer.
“Then let’s go,” he said simply.
With that, he turned away.
His white robes shifted gently among the bamboo shadows as he walked into the mist.
After several steps, his voice drifted back toward them.
“The answers you’re looking for…”
He paused briefly.
“…are all on the road beneath your feet.”
His steps did not stop.
Then he added one final sentence.
“I’ll see you there.”
The mist thickened around him.
His white silhouette gradually blurred, fading between the bamboo stalks until the fog swallowed him completely.
Yu Jin remained where she was.
She wanted to move, but she could not.
She wanted to follow him, but her feet refused to take even a single step.
She wanted to call out, yet no sound came.
All she could do was watch as the white-robed figure disappeared deeper into the mist and the bamboo forest swallowed the last trace of him.
Then Yu Jin looked back at the other version of herself.
Beneath the moonlight, the other Yu Jin moved.
Only slightly.