"Oh fated one, destined for tribulation. Reality and illusion, indistinguishable. Fool the Heavens, fool the Earth, a plan laid out countless eons ago. To reach the peak of all things, to ascend beyond the shackles of mortality. Countless generations of anguish, countless bodies forming a path. One shall climb over the bodies. Will you be yet another body forming the path, or will you be that one who climbs them all, achieving the goal set by millions." The old man spoke without stopping, his words barely coherent.
Finally, his eyes cleared and intelligence beca visible.
He opened his mouth, and as he did so, Skynder sensed a foggy figure appear behind him. It was a young child with golden hair. It was impossible to mistake it, she was Daisy as a child.
Though the old man looked directly at Skynder, from the young Daisy's view, since she could not see Skynder, it seed as if he was looking at her.
"Though we only t at the end of my life, it still counts as fate. You are my first and last disciple..." He briefly paused as he ford a sword from nothing and slashed at the air. "...Skynder."
His sword swept the air up and shattered the sky, but despite the slashes power that rendered the Heavens as glass, the sky soon reford.
The young Daisy, who was stupefied and in the process of enlightennt, did not hear the old man's next words.
"This reality is but an illusion, a cage discarded among cages. An endless experint with no success. The desperation of countless souls to beco supre, to create a path, fruitless. Destined to die alone and in failure, we pass this destiny on to another, who will similarly die without achievent so that one day, our infinite sacrifices aren't for naught. When you see through this world, return. A single shard does not represent the entire mirror."
As he said this, Skynder felt as if the world around him was shattering.
"Skynder. Skynder? Skynder!"
Skynder's eyes snapped open, sweat pouring out of every pore in his body.
"Skynder?" Daisy said, seeing him move.
Skynder struggled to put everything he had just witnessed together. It was as if he had just awoken from an unimaginable dream, yet knew that everything that had happened was true.
He understood that Daisy was not that old man's disciple, but he was. He understood that him saying Skynder was not the na of his sword slash, but simply him saying Skynder's na.
He understood that, according to the old man, everything around him was an illusion.
Skynder stood still for a mont before focusing on the outside world.
"I am fine. I believe what you say, though it is unfortunate we could not find anything. Let's go."
Daisy looked at him weirdly, but nodded. The mirror shard he had once held was no longer there.
They walked down the mountain as Skynder finally began to connect his own experiences with the words of the old man.
Countless things had seed to line up oddly, and with little reason. Things that shouldn't have worked had worked. He survived things he should not have survived, such as the deprivation poison, which only one person had ever survived, and whether or not he could be considered alive was a debate itself, as he was trapped in his own body for the rest of his life.
Being able to master the seeing through vibrations technique was also hard to believe. He was not a Buddhist at all, yet had mastered a Buddhist technique. What else could this be but the work of fate.
He felt that there were more things hidden even deeper, that he could not yet see, but was confident that he would eventually learn about it all.
Skynder and Daisy returned to the Royal Capital in mostly silence. Daisy guessed that sothing had happened, but she did not press for information.
Skynder soon left the Royal Capital and returned to the Imperial Capital.
As he approached it, he couldn't help but think of how to see through the world, just like that old man had said.
It seed that, for the rest of his life, he would have to ask himself the sa question every ti he t soone or saw sothing. "Is this real?"
Skynder soon entered the Imperial Capital.
He was instantly taken to the Imperial Palace, where he saw the old Imperial Scholar.
"How was it, Skynder?" The Imperial Scholar asked.
Skynder spoke. "It was alright. I found what I was looking for."
The old Imperial Scholar nodded. "Good. You have a lot of work to do."
Skynder thanked him for helping and left to do his work.
As he did so, he couldn't help but sense the Imperial Scholar even further.
"Is he truly real?" He asked himself.
Everything he saw seed completely real, yet sothing seed to hint at him that it wasn't.
He soon made it to his office, where he began to work on various matters.
After a few hours, he moved to the throne room, where he weighed in on the Emperor's various decisions. Every ti he saw a new person enter, he asked himself the sa question. He did his best to look at every single thing in an attempt to find a single hint, but failed every ti. He also examined the Emperor, but found nothing unusual.
He also tried to sense Sword Master Shang closely, but when his gaze turned to Skynder, Skynder stopped.
Is that sense of danger even real? He asked himself.
Skynder felt as if he was in a delirious state for nearly a week straight.
After so much ti passed, he stopped.
"Regardless of whether it is real or not, I cannot find out now. I might as well continue to live, and maybe one day, the answer will co to ." Skynder decided.
He gradually fell out of the state, but the question eternally lingered within the back of his mind. "Is any of this real?"
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