Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 189: Return of the Mirror Chamber, the Fate of the Nine Stars

"Destiny is not a straight line, but a series of overlapping and intersecting star tracks.

Every step you take may lead to countless futures."

"And all you can see is always just one of them."

The stars shook violently, and the Mirror Chamber of Destiny slowly calmed down like a divine beast that had just completed a sacrifice.

Above the dome, the originally rotating star tracks suddenly converged, as if the sky was forcibly closed by some force.
In an instant, the starlight fell like rain, transforming into countless crystal rays, layer by layer falling on the closed mirror door.

As the last ray of light quietly faded away, the heavy mirror door slowly opened, silently and solemnly, like waking up from a long dream.

Sima Ming walked out of the door slowly.

His figure intertwined between starlight and shadows, his steps were steady and slow, his face was calm, but deep in his eyes there was an unconcealable confusion.

He looked down at the destiny star map on his wrist. It was still the six familiar stars of rationality, arranged as before and as bright as before.

He frowned slightly, raised his palm to take a closer look, and murmured softly: "...Failed?"

Ruoli leaned against the corridor railing, a meaningful smile appeared on the corner of her lips, and she turned her head to look at Leng Ji: "Look, this guy is still the same as before, so lucky that it's hard to praise."

Leng Ji crossed his arms across his chest, his tone cold but with a rare hint of relaxation: "Hmm...lucky? Maybe."

Siming approached the two, his eyes flickering between them, and asked tentatively, "Have I... failed? The Star of Reason hasn't changed."

Ruoli shook her head and walked closer, her tone gentle and strange: "It's not a failure, it has increased. It's just that you can't see it now."

"Can't see?" Siming's expression hardened, and the confusion between his brows deepened. "What do you mean?"

Ruoli did not answer directly, but leaned over and blew gently on the star map on his left wrist, like a mother blowing away the dust from her child's wound.

At that moment, the star map trembled, as if a stone was thrown into the lake, rippling the water, and tiny specks of light floated in the air, as if some seal had been quietly released.

Siming widened his eyes——

The fate star map began to collapse.

At first, only a few faint cracks spread across the surface, like a thawing glacier; then the entire star map shattered like shattered glass, exploding into brilliant stardust on his wrist. The light swirled wildly in front of him, stirring up chaotic energy like the beginning of the universe.

"Starburst?" His face suddenly changed, and he raised his hand, trying to stop the collapse from spreading. However, a powerful and familiar pulling force came from deep in his wrist bones. It was not destruction, but... reconstruction.

"Si Ming!" Leng Ji warned, his tone more serious than ever before, "Take out your star diamond, quickly!"

Almost instinctively, Siming immediately took out the dazzling star diamond from his arms - it was the gift he brought back from the deepest part of the Sea of ​​Dreams, a mysterious mineral transformed from the bones of stars, known as a gem that can guide the trajectory of destiny.

The star diamond suddenly shone brightly in his hand, as if it had finally found its home. The next second, it escaped from his control, plummeting like a meteor, sinking with uncanny precision into the center of the star map on his left wrist!
Bang!
Like the exploding stars, like the thunder of fate.

The destiny star map completely exploded on Siming's wrist and was recast in the chaos!

Stardust gathered into rivers, and streams of light wove into new tracks. It was an almost miraculous reconstruction process - as if the entire universe had briefly paused, rotated, and revived within his body.

A star, back in place.

Two stars, blooming.

Three, four, five... Finally, nine stars emerged clearly, like a totem with a crown and a foundation overlapping on his left wrist, brilliant, dazzling, serene and solemn.

Three stars hang above, like the eyes of a guardian; six are arranged below, as solid as the foundation, layer upon layer, like his unique mark in the torrent of fate.

Leng Ji murmured, "The Nine-Star Messenger's Star Map... He really did it."

She looked at Siming, her eyes filled with respect, surprise, and a hint of astonishment that could not be concealed.

Ruoli looked at this scene, the corners of her mouth raised slightly, and the brilliance of the gorgeous star map was reflected in her eyes, as if she had finally waited for an answer given by fate.

"Congratulations, Siming." She said softly, with an indescribable sense of melancholy in her tone.

"From now on—you are no longer a gambler new to the sea breeze."

"You are a true star among the writers of destiny."

Siming lowered his head and looked at the nine shining stars. The shock in his eyes finally subsided.

Along the way, from a gambler to a "Nine Star Messenger", he was finally no longer just a person who gambled his life.

He became a part of destiny itself.

"...Aren't you a rookie anymore?" Si Ming subconsciously lowered his head, glanced at the fate star map on his wrist, then turned to look at Ruoli, with a hint of pride just appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Hmph, no, he will always be a rookie." A cold voice interrupted mercilessly.

The smile on Siming's face froze instantly, and he looked at Leng Ji with a twitching mouth: "Hey, Leng Ji, can't you just let me be proud for three seconds? I'm a nine-star now, nine-star-"

Leng Ji looked calm and raised his wrist without any emotion.

The destiny star map slowly unfolded on her wrist, the starlight flowing like icy silk, and the ten neatly arranged, cold and dazzling stars lit up one by one, like a throne towering above the sky.

Si Ming: "..."

He was stunned for several seconds before he uttered a faint sentence: "When did you..."

"When you went to the Sea of ​​Dreams and drifted there for more than ten days, I had already asked my master to preside over the star-raising ceremony for me." Leng Ji's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a rare expression that was almost boastful. "Do you think you are the only one who will grow?"

Siming held his forehead and sighed, "Tsk, you've outshone me again... You're worthy of being the ceiling of the Hometown of Returnees."

Ruoli smiled at the side, as if she was enjoying a familiar two-person drama. She waved her finger, and a silver plate made of star sand and life patterns slowly fell from the air. Starlight moved on the surface of the silver plate, like a condensed galaxy.

In the center of the silver plate, a faintly glowing card was quietly placed.

"This is the response you received from the Star Ascension Ceremony," Ruoli said calmly, her words profoundly. "It doesn't belong to any gambling game, nor does it belong to any reward."

"It belongs only to you, Sima Ming—fate itself responds to you."

Siming walked forward slowly, and the moment his fingertips touched the card, the mirror-like surface of the card reflected his face - but behind that reflection, another blurry, misty silhouette that did not belong to him quietly emerged.

It was a "self" that was both familiar and unfamiliar, as if it was a possibility buried in the deepest part of fate.

[Card Name]: Mirror of Fate

【Type】：Destiny Series·Unbound
[Legacy Entry]: Summons the Mirror of Destiny. You can ask it a question, and the mirror will give three answers in the form of the Three Gates of Monty Hall, one of which is true.

[Note]: The card comes from the Mirror Room of Destiny. It is unknown whether it comes from the Destiny itself.

Siming stared at the card for a long moment, speechless. His voice was low, yet it evoked a certain unease of being spied on. "It... is observing me."

Ruoli didn't deny it. She just stared at him with a complex and incomprehensible meaning in her eyes. She said softly, "Congratulations. You've become a part of destiny once again."

"Is this a reward?" Siming raised his eyes, "Or... another form of curse?"

Ruoli lowered her eyelashes and shook her head slowly: "It's neither a reward nor a punishment."

She looked at the card in his hand and said in a voice as cold as the moon: "This is a test given to you by fate."

The stars around were falling quietly.

Above the dome of the Crown Star, the star map slowly rotates, and a newly lit star slowly rises into the night sky. It is the constellation mark set up by the Fate Pattern World for a newly promoted Nine-Star Mystic. It is a blessing, an honor, and also a signal that the storm is destined to come again.

Sima Ming stood under the dome where light and shadow intertwined, lowered his head quietly, his gaze falling on the "Mirror of Destiny" in his palm.

In that mirror, there were countless of his faces, some indifferent, some tired, some laughing like a gambler, but there was only one look missing - the answer that truly belonged to him.

He didn't speak.

But he knew that from now on, he would never be able to retreat.

His star upgrade was successful.

But his fate was truly caught up in the deepest torrent.

"The moment the star map rises, you are no longer an outsider."

"When you choose your destiny, destiny begins to choose you."

"The fate of the Nine Stars is only the beginning of a deeper fog."

(End of this chapter)