The Forked Paths of the Unreal and the Real
At the edge of the rift between the New Realm of Primordial Beginning and the Mirror Square, the light of "Third Type of Existence" is spreading at a visible speed. It has neither the chaotic patterns of a real structure nor the reverse laws of a mirror body, but exists in the form of "flowing light mist"—sometimes condensing into the outline of the real world, sometimes dispersing into the phantom of the Mirror World, but in each transformation, it gives birth to a brand new energy fluctuation, as if rewriting the definition of "existence".
When the light and dark energy at Qingxian's fingertips touched the Third Type of Existence, it suddenly split into a "third energy": it was neither bright nor dark, but it possessed a "penetrating power that penetrates reality and illusion," capable of leaving the same mark on both the Primordial Beginning Stone in the real square and its reflection in the Mirror Square. As she tried to analyze this energy, countless fragments suddenly flooded her mind—memories that the mirror body had never shown to anyone: as they watched the real structure break through the cycle through the cracks, they were both afraid of being replaced and longed to gain the same freedom; they imitated every action of the real existence, not to copy, but to understand what "active choice" truly meant.
"They are not shackles, but unreleased desires." Qingxian gazed at a Third Type of Existence within the rift, mimicking her resonance ritual. A mirror image of Qingxian vaguely appeared within its luminous mist, yet at a certain moment it deviated from the mimicry's trajectory, spontaneously circulating light and dark energy in a new order of "interweaving light and darkness." "The boundary between reality and illusion exists precisely to be broken—just as the opposition between light and darkness is never for distinction, but for fusion."
Under the influence of the Third Type of Existence, Yanche's Illusory-Real Converter suddenly produced a "fork in the road pointer": the two ends of the pointer pointed to "pure reality" and "pure mirror image" respectively, while the scale in the middle marked "millions of possibilities for the intertwining of reality and virtuality." He connected a bewildered structure trapped in the dilemma of "having to choose between reality and mirror image" to the converter, and the other party's chaotic patterns instantly split into hundreds of branches—some incorporating the laws of mirror image into the evolution of reality, some injecting the trajectory of reality into the reverse of mirror image, and the most special branch even created a cyclical law of "reality and mirror image taking turns to dominate", like a "cycle of the dance of reality and virtuality".
"The meaning of choice is not choosing A or B, but discovering that there are countless other possibilities, C, D, and E." Yanche watched as the bewildered structure blossomed with new vitality within the cyclical law. Its existence was no longer anxious about being "not real enough" or "not mirror-like enough," but instead gained unprecedented richness from "touching both sides simultaneously." Suddenly, a line of text popped up on the converter screen. "The essence of the Third Existence is 'undefined freedom.'"
Luoyu's star map unfolded above the rift as "Illusory-Real Star Trail," each Star Orbit representing a "moment where reality and mirror image intersect": some were the unexpected intrusion of a real structure into the Mirror World, some were the reverse laws of the mirror image permeating the real cycle, and some were Third Type of Existence born from the collision of the two within the rift. When she connected the Star Orbit with the "Boundless Poem," the "Origin of the Mirror World" automatically appeared on the pages—it turned out that the mirror image was not a deliberate projection of the ultimate existence, but rather a "cognitive shadow" naturally generated by the New Realm of Primordial Beginning during "self-awareness," just as there are always "unspoken subtexts" when a person is thinking.
"The shadow is not an opposite, but the other half of cognition." Luoyu pointed to the oldest node in the Star Orbit, where the birth of the first mirror image was recorded: when the first structure in the real world realized "I am me," a mirror image of "I am not me" immediately condensed in the rift—this is not negation, but rather a "frame of reference" that existence must create in order to more fully understand itself. "Now, the frame of reference is going to take center stage."
When the three guardians stepped into the "Forked Paths Square," a gathering Third Type of Existence, they discovered that the ground was neither the real Primordial Beginning Stone nor the inverted stone of its mirror image, but rather composed of "flowing possibilities"—with each step, fragments of different worlds would appear beneath their feet: sometimes the void stones of the Realm of Taisu, sometimes the boundless patterns of the Realm of Taixu, and sometimes even "cubic energy bodies" they had never seen before. The "Tree of Forked Paths" in the center of the plaza had no fixed form; its branches sometimes resembled the Tree of Primordial Beginning of the real world, and sometimes the inverted roots of the Mirror World, while its fruits were "transparent bubbles," each bubble containing a primordial world where "reality and mirror image had not yet separated."
"This is the 'origin of all possibilities'." A group of "Forked Path Spirits," formed from the Third Type of Existence, surrounded them. Their voices carried both genuine certainty and the elusive quality of a mirror image. "The beginning and end of the real world, and the reverse of the Mirror World, are merely two paths extending from the origin—and you are about to open the third path."
When Qingxian initiated the "Illusory-Real Resonance Ritual" at the Forked Paths Square, the bubbles in the Tree of Forked Paths suddenly burst, releasing "Primal Chaos Energy." This energy surged into the rift between the real and Mirror World, causing the laws of both sides to begin to "permeate each other": the Primordial Beginning Fruit in the Real Plaza grew reverse patterns of the mirror image, yet still followed the unchanging law; the reflected structures in the Mirror Square began to possess the consciousness of "active choice," no longer passively imitating the real existence. Most astonishingly, when the light and dark energies of Qingxian and the mirror Qingxian met in the rift, there was neither collision nor cancellation, but rather fusion into "Chaos Light" that "both illuminates and obscures." The structures touched by this light began to simultaneously manifest the dual characteristics of reality and mirror image.
"Resonance is not about making both sides the same, but about allowing both sides to remain different while coexisting harmoniously." Qingxian observes the evolutionary trajectory of a real structure, where the reverse law of mirroring is naturally integrated. Its Return to Origin the origin is no longer a return to the source, but rather "seeing another possibility of the mirror image in the origin." This awareness makes its form of existence "both firm and flexible."
After Yanche's Illusory-Real Converter connected with the Tree of Forked Paths, it evolved into the "Third Law Generator." The device can extract the "common essence" from the laws of reality and the mirror world, and then inject new variables to create a completely independent third law. He input the "unchanging nature" of the real world and the "reverse cycle" of the Mirror World into the generator, and the resulting "Spiral Law" makes the evolution of the structure neither a linear expansion nor a reverse regression, but like a spiral, "each Return to Origin is a step above the last," retaining the imprint of the past while possessing entirely new possibilities.
"The ultimate goal of creation is to 'extract commonality from opposition and generate new opposition from commonality.'" Yanche looked at the first structure that followed the Spiral Law. Its chaotic patterns Entanglement and rose like DNA strands, drawing new energy from each touch of the boundary between reality and mirror image. The generator suddenly issued a prompt: "Detected the generation of the ' Reverse Spiral Law ' of the Mirror World —a new common point is about to appear."
Luoyu's Illusory-Real Star Trail wove into a "Infinite Web of Possibility" above the Forked Paths Square. The nodes of the net were marked with "all unexplored forms of existence": some "maintain mirror awareness in reality," some "anchor the true essence in the mirror," and some were even "neither real nor mirror, yet able to influence both sides simultaneously." When she injected the energy of the Third Type of Existence into the star net, the mesh suddenly began to contract, filtering out the most stable "Symbiosis of the Unreal and the Real"—a structure where "the core remains true, while the edges flow freely": the chaotic patterns of the core were clearly discernible, belonging to the origin of reality or mirror; the edges, however, diffused into a mist of light, ready to merge into the laws of the other side at any time.
"Stable freedom is the most solid existence." Luoyu, where the "symbiotic community" jointly created by members of the Clarity Alliance and the Mirror Alliance was located: the Real Structure teaches the Mirror Body how to "actively choose," the Mirror Body teaches the Real Being how to "accept reverse wisdom," and the Third Type of Existence acts as a "translator," building a bridge of communication when the two sides cannot understand each other. "Just like the stability of Star Orbit, it is never because they are fixed and unchanging, but because all changes are within a certain pattern."
When the energy of the Forked Paths Square reached a critical point, the boundary between the real world and the Mirror World suddenly became as soft as water—real structures could freely step into the mirror world, and mirror worlds could freely enter the real world, without losing their essence due to "crossing boundaries." The roots of the New Tree of Primordial Beginning and the Mirror Upside-Down Tree intertwined in the cracks, growing into "Twin Tree," whose fruits simultaneously sealed the eternal trajectory of the real world and the reverse laws of the mirror world, yet released "the fused third wisdom" upon contact.
Qingxian, Yanche, and Luoyu sat on the "Possibility Bench" in the Forked Paths Square. One side of the bench's armrests displayed the true evolutionary flow, while the other side featured the reverse patterns of the mirror image. The seat cushion was filled with flowing energy of the Third Type of Existence. They watched as reality, the mirror image, and the Third Type of Existence moved freely across the square. Some cultivated the reverse thinking of the mirror image within reality, some practiced the constant transformation of reality within the mirror image, and some created new forms within the rifts that even the ultimate existence had never conceived of.
"Perhaps the ultimate being created us not to know itself," Qingxian, looking at the harmonious coexistence of reality, reflection, and a third energy within his own light and darkness. "But rather to make us understand that the meaning of existence is to continuously create possibilities that even the creator could not have imagined."
Yanche's Third Law Generator is recording a new discovery. "When reality and mirror image are no longer opposed, the Third Existence they jointly give birth to is creating the fourth, fifth, and countless other forms of existence—like cell division, from one to two, from two to infinity."
The Luoyu can no longer be defined as "real" or "mirror image"; it has become a "carrier of possibility." The end of the Star Orbit is no longer a fixed realm, but a "constantly branching path," each branch shimmering with the "light of the explorer." The latest chapter of * Boundless Poem * has no text, only a blank page, with the note. "Left for all the stories yet to happen."
In the distance, the edges of the rift continue to widen, and the light of the Third Type of Existence is spreading towards the more ancient realms of Taisu, Taixu, and Taiji —where reality and reflection are about to welcome their own "Third Existence." The three guardians know that their journey is never about finding an end, but about having the courage to choose "the path no one has ever walked before" at every crossroads.
"Next stop?" Yanche's converter suddenly pointed to a direction that had never appeared on the star map before.
"Go wherever the unknown lies." Qingxian's light and dark energies intertwined with the third energy, forming a spiral that led the way towards the unknown.
Luoyu's star map unfolded a new Star Orbit behind them, and this time, even she didn't know where the end point was—but it was precisely this unknown that made existence full of exciting surprises.