The world around Yun twisted again, like the ground inhaled him and spat him into another place—another layer of Daiost Brush Master's ancient illusion. He landed hard on his knees, breath knocked out of him. For a second, he thought he was back home in Starfall Village… but no. The air was wrong. Too cold. Too still. Too much like a painting left in the rain.

"Layer… six? No… seven?" Yun muttered, rubbing his forehead. He couldn't keep track anymore. Every layer felt like walking through memories that were his but also not his. Like someone painted over his life with someone else's brush.

This place looked like a giant battlefield. But no bodies. No blood. Only broken weapons half buried in ash, and cracked flags that had no emblems—just empty cloths flapping in wind that didn't exist.

"This is weird," he whispered. "Even for illusions…"

Before he could move, something flickered in the distance. A shadow. No—several. They rose from the ashes like ghosts forming from smoke. Yun tensed, fists ready, though his breathing was shaky.

Then a voice echoed across the field—deep, distant, almost disappointed:

"Are you the child that calls himself a Starborn?"

Yun swallowed. Hard. His heart thumped like it wanted out of his chest, but he forced himself to stand straighter. Shen Yu's training kept whispering in the back of his head—less emotion, more control.

So Yun wiped his palms on his robe and said, "Yeah… I guess I am. So what? You wanna test me or something?"

Silence.

A long, heavy silence.

Then the shadows lunged.

They didn't move like normal enemies—they warped, bending like broken mirrors. Yun dodged one, barely, the air slicing his cheek. He spun and kicked another, but it passed through like mist, then reformed behind him instantly.

"Great," Yun muttered. "Fighting smoke now. That's fun."

A blade-shaped shadow shot toward him. He ducked and instinctively activated the thing inside his chest—his bloodline pulse. Lightning-like silver light streaked across his arm. Not controlled. Not stable. But strong.

He swung.

The shadow split in half—then reformed.

"Okay. So cutting doesn't work either. That's… very good."

He sucked in a breath and remembered Shen Yu's words:

"Outsmart your enemy. If you can't beat them with power, then cheat smarter."

Yun backed up, thinking fast. Illusions fed on fear, panic, confusion. So if he stopped giving that… maybe they'd weaken.

So Yun closed his eyes.

Forced his breathing slow.

Imagined his heart turning cold as stone.

Imagined himself older, calmer, like the warriors he sometimes dreamed of.

When he opened his eyes again, they weren't fully silver like his parents, but there was a faint gleam—like a star trapped under water.

The shadows hesitated.

Yun smirked. "Got you…"

He stepped forward, and the battlefield cracked—literally. The whole fake world broke like a dried shell, pieces falling away into darkness. Yun kept walking until everything shattered.

A New Scene – The 8th Illusion Layer

He appeared on a long bridge suspended over the cosmos. Stars beneath him, galaxies swirling above. The bridge was made of ink—black and dripping—more like a brushstroke than a solid path.

Standing in the middle was a girl.

About his age.

Silver hair like the moon.

Bare feet.

Red markings glowing faintly on her arms.

She looked at him like she'd been waiting forever.

"…You're late," she said softly.

Yun blinked. "Uh… do I know you?"

"Not yet," she answered, tilting her head. "But you will. I am the Remnant of the Sealed Brush. A piece of the Daiost Master's will. And maybe… maybe something more, if you pass."

Her eyes flicked over him once.

"You're stronger than expected. But still too soft."

Yun frowned. "Everyone keeps saying that…"

"Because it's true."

She walked past him and flicked his forehead lightly.

"You fear losing people. You cling too much. You show too much. If you keep that, the Hunters will use it against you."

Yun rubbed his forehead and muttered, "You sound like Shen Yu…"

At that name, her expression changed—just slightly.

"You trust him too much. He hides things from you. Big things."

Yun opened his mouth, but she raised a hand.

"No time. The next illusion will eat you alive if you are not ready. It is the Illusion of Choice—a path where you must pick one future… and abandon the others."

Yun's chest tightened. "Wh… what kind of choices?"

She didn't answer directly. Instead, she stepped backward and her body dissolved into luminous brushstrokes.

Her last whisper lingered in the cosmic air:

"Cunning will save you. Emotion will kill you."

Cosmos – Real Cosmos – At That Exact Moment

Far beyond the illusion, Yun's bloodline pulse flared so bright it lit up a corner of the Celestial Sky. His parents, who were fighting off an unseen cosmic serpent as long as a continent, both felt it.

Yueran gasped. "He broke the 7th layer already? That fast?"

Lianxing blocked the serpent's strike with a single finger and growled, "Too fast. If he awakens the Star Core early… the Celestial Court will sense him."

"And if they sense him?" she whispered.

Lianxing's eyes turned dark.

"…Then the entire Celestial Sky becomes a battlefield."

Back Inside the Illusion

Yun stood alone on the ink-bridge, watching as three enormous doors materialized ahead of him.

One was carved from starlight.

One from shadows.

One from bone-white stone that pulsed faintly.

A voice echoed:

"Choose, Starborn.

Every step now will change your future forever."

Yun clenched his fists.

He didn't know which door was right.

He didn't know which path would save his world.

But something deep inside whispered—soft, ancient, and terrifyingly familiar—

Choose the path that makes you strongest.

Yun took a trembling breath…

And stepped forward.

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