C298: I Am Harmonious
Han Xuhan's right foot hovered over the glass floor, his eyes focused on his reflection which hadn't moved a muscle. Rather his reflection stared back at him, particularly focused on his hovering foot as if in anticipation of it landing on the floor.
"...Ahem." Han Xuhan coughed awkwardly, hoping to evoke a change into this impasse. But his reflection only glanced back at his face for a second.
Han Xuhan retracted his foot again. This time the change he was hoping for finally occurred. A familiar voice came out of the reflection's mouth– his own voice, to be exact.
"You don't have all day. Stop wasting time and walk forward like a real man. What are you afraid of? You know you won't be harmed here easily."
Han Xuhan felt inclined to agree. Regardless of the oddity of this situation, he didn't really fear the master of the Stardust Sect, not after what Feng Jun had revealed to him three nights ago. But just because he didn't fear harm didn't mean he had to make stupid moves.
"You seem pretty eager when it comes to word of mouth. So I ain't moving a muscle before you tell me who you are. Are you the sect master I'm here to meet?"
This time his reflection looked a little confused. "No, I am me, Han Xuhan. You're the impostor who's been acting strange after possessing my reflection in the floor."
"Not this fucking identity disorder again!" Han Xuhan cursed out loud. "If you're the real Xuhan, why would I take the risk of moving forward? Bullshit!"
"I thought the sect master was using you as a medium to show me what to do," his reflection replied impassively.
"....Ah, that's a good angle, not gonna lie." Han Xuhan scratched his head for a moment before yelling at the emptiness ahead.
"Sect Master, what's going on here? Quit stirring up these mysterious problems. We could just meet up like two normal human beings and have a very effective chat. You know that, right?"
But since no answers came, he boldly moved a step forward to hear what the other voice inside the tower had to say.
"He's the yin to your yang. To overcome all tribulations, yin and yang must move in harmony."
This time his step was long, and so was the message he received. Han Xuhan looked up at the sun-like ball of light and then down at the shadows lurking beneath. Then his gaze met with his reflection's intrigued stare.
"Did you hear that?" his reflection asked.
"I generated that, bitch," Han Xuhan replied. "Try stepping forward like me and see what happens."
"What's with the rude language? That's so not me," the reflection said in a disgusted tone.
Han Xuhan grimaced. "You heard those two sentences. The symbolism in this tower seems to be more than just decorations. Even as a reflection, you're on the yin-side, and I am standing within the boundary of yang. So loosely, that makes you qualify to be called a bitch, in more ways than one, too."
"...Excuse me?!" His reflection sounded scandalized. "You're the damn reflection, not me! And how does a mere reflection get pulled into a formation when it isn't even present in the material world? The bottom half of the tower beneath me isn't where you are, you're just the outcome of reflected light right off the floor."
Han Xuhan realized that to his reflection, the yin-side was up, the real world and he was the illusory side, mirroring his own perspective. There really wasn't any merit in arguing over it.
The most plausible answer was that neither of them were the real Xuhan, but certain parts of him. He was as unreal as his reflection. Only his true self was real, but it wasn't visible here. He hadn't been his true self since his entry inside the tower.
Fortunately, while his reflection appeared to be quite different from his original personality, its intellect hadn't been affected. The reflected Xuhan moved his foot forward and stepped on the exact same spot as him.
"When harmony is achieved within oneself, one is capable of seeing through the world."
With the whisper next to his ears, the entire visage of the tower suddenly began to transform.
It was as if he had been stuck inside an illusion until now. The dual cone shaped structure he was standing inside began to be erased from his view like a drawing under an eraser's scratch. The yang side above came crashing down, and the yin side below shot upwards, but no signs of destruction formed around him. For a moment, Han Xuhan felt like he was a part of a 3D projection.
A deep rumble rolled through the tower as it assimilated into something new in his perception. When the chaos cleared up, Han Xuhan found himself standing at the bottom of a massive chamber, dimly lit by a humanoid silhouette hanging from the ceiling, glowing as red as a setting sun.
Innumerable metal shackles as narrow as weeds were tied around the silhouette, some of them even seemingly skewering it. The bottom ends of the shackles hung low, almost enough for him to jump and touch. As the silhouette revolved gently, so did these hanging chains. And thus the mystery of the vague sound Han Xuhan had been hearing since his entrance into the tower became clear.
Han Xuhan looked below for his reflection, and discovered that the semi-transparent floor had now turned into a mirror-like surface, showing a much more distinct reflection of the chamber. But his own replica inside this reflected world no longer deviated from his movements independently.
"Erm... Fem:Xuhan, are you still there?" Han Xuhan asked tentatively. The outcome seemed to hint that the yin-yang division of his self was now over. He was back inside his real self and real body. It did make sense, now that he thought about it. The boldness his heart had been steeped in for the last couple minutes seemed quite extreme at the moment.
His attention shifted to the rest of the reflected image, and he realized with a start that the floor wasn't reflecting the hanging metal chains above his head, or of the red silhouette. In the reflected vision of the chamber, only he and the chamber existed, lit by an unknown source, exuding a feeling of desolation.
"Upon attainment of inner harmony, the self must be harmonized with the world. To see through the world is to understand the choices. To choose is to open a door to this extension of harmony."
Again, the cryptic message of the mysterious voice provided a hint that he had to analyse for a moment. If by seeing through the world, the voice indicated the ability to see these chains and the flaming silhouette, then the only things to choose here were perhaps the chains. Each chain could be the representative of a choice.
Scratching his head for a second, Han Xuhan noticed a particularly low-hanging chain a few meters away and ran toward it to give it a good yank. The result, again, was not something he would have ever been able to predict.
The chain came alive like a serpent in his grip, suddenly straightening and shooting toward his body. Within the blink of an eye, his torso was wrapped up by the bottom end of the chain from several angles, tight enough to pull him around, but simple enough to let him struggle out of the hold if he wanted.
"As I had imagined, an interesting choice. Is it a coincidence that the chosen path was the most elaborate one? The longest and most arduous path, too. Yet it was available nearby right at the moment of making a choice, making it a convenient option. Is 'convenient' the answer, then?"
Hearing the rhetorical question, Han Xuhan shouted angrily, "It would be pretty convenient if you quit being so dramatic, sect master!"
The voice ignored him, continuing to muse on its own. "But a convenience caused by coincidence should not have such an impact. Perhaps, there is a deeper layer to it. Yes... Of course, the world designs the choices, but here, I am the world. The choices all start with me and end with me. Thus a coincidence is also an arrangement made by me. If heaven encompasses the world, then heaven arranges all coincidences. So in a way, heaven's will controls all choices, and as I protect myself, heaven's fire protects the sanctity of each choice. To see these choices is to brave heaven's fire. Alas, a moth like me cannot resist fire..."