The return to the Imperial Capital was supposed to be a solemn homecoming.
Instead, it looked like a carnival.
As the Sky-Whale Airship descended through the clouds, Empress Zhao Ling peered out the viewport.
"Jiang Fan," she said, squinting. "Why is there a fifty-foot statue of you sleeping in the plaza?"
"And why is it holding a giant bag of squid?" Jiang Fan asked, looking horrified.
They landed in the courtyard. Before the ramp even touched the ground, Boss Pang was there. He was wearing a suit made of pure gold thread. He looked like a walking disco ball.
"Welcome home, Your Majesties!" Pang beamed, spreading his arms. "Business is booming! The 'Lazy King Experience' is the number one tourist attraction in the Five Continents!"
He gestured to a stall nearby.
"We sold out of the 'Empress's Wheelchair Replica' toys. The kids love them. They come with a tiny cannon that shoots peas."
Zhao Ling stared at a child running past, pushing a wooden chair with a doll strapped into it.
"I am an action figure," she whispered, half-amused, half-mortified.
"And," Pang held up a fluffy white pillow. "We launched the 'Official Jiang Fan Napping Pillow'. It's stuffed with hypoallergenic cloud-silk. 500 silver."
Jiang Fan snatched the pillow. He poked it. He laid his cheek on it.
"Soft," Jiang Fan judged. "Keep doing what you're doing, Pang. Just take down the statue. It makes my nose look big."
THE COLD REALITY
The laughter faded as they entered the palace.
"Home sweet home," Jiang Fan said, helping the Empress transfer from the airship seat to her indoor wheelchair.
"Ow," she hissed as she settled into the cushion.
"Stiffness?"
"The flight," she admitted, rubbing her paralyzed thigh. "Sitting in one position for six hours... my hips are locked up. And my Qi... it feels stagnant."
This was the hidden cost of her injury. It wasn't just that she couldn't walk. The spinal break at the T4 vertebrae had severed the Du Meridian—the main highway for Spirit Energy.
Before the accident, she was a Stage 6 genius. Now? She was barely Stage 1. She could pilot the tank using mental commands, but she couldn't cultivate. She couldn't reinforce her body. She was fragile.
"Let's get you to the bath," Jiang Fan said, reaching for the handles of her chair.
"Wait." Yun Xi walked in, looking serious. She held a scroll sealed with blue wax.
"A letter arrived," Yun Xi said. "From the Eastern Sage Sect."
The room went quiet. The Eastern Sages were recluses. They didn't send fan mail.
THE BROKEN HEAVEN SCRIPTURE
Ten minutes later, in the War Room.
Gu Ling scanned the scroll with her optical sensors.
"It is an invitation," Gu Ling stated. "Grandmaster Azure, the Sect Leader, claims to have heard of the 'Iron Phoenix'. He says he has a technique specifically designed for... 'broken vessels'."
"Broken vessels," the Empress muttered, looking at her hands. "Flattering."
"It is called the Broken Heaven Scripture," Gu Ling continued. "It teaches a cultivator to reroute their Qi flow. Instead of using the spine as the central pillar, it uses the Heart Meridian and the Upper Dantian."
Su Qing gasped. "That's dangerous. If you miss-channel, your heart explodes."
"But if it works," Gu Ling looked at the Empress. "You could regain your Stage 6 power. Maybe even higher. You would still be paralyzed physically, but your Qi would be unhindered. You could cast spells without the tank."
The Empress stared at the scroll.
To be strong again. To not just be a pilot, but a Cultivator.
"We're going," she said instantly.
"Ling," Jiang Fan frowned. "The Eastern Sage Sect is located inside the Maze of Reflections. It's a Mind-Dungeon. It digs up your worst traumas and makes you fight them."
"I fight my trauma every morning when I have to ask you to put my socks on," she shot back. Her eyes were burning. "Jiang Fan, I love the tank. I love that you carry me. But I am tired of being fragile. If a stray arrow hits me when I'm out of the armor, I die. I want to be able to protect myself. I want to be able to protect you."
Jiang Fan looked at her. He saw the desperation.
He sighed.
"Fine. Pack the bags, Yun Xi. We're going to a dungeon."
THE NIGHT BEFORE
That night, the atmosphere in the royal bedroom was heavy.
Jiang Fan was performing the nightly routine—checking her skin, stretching her legs to prevent contractures.
He lifted her right leg, bending the knee toward her chest. It was stiff today.
"Relax," he murmured, massaging the hamstring.
"I can't," she said, staring at the ceiling. "My body is fighting you."
"Your mind is fighting me," Jiang Fan corrected. He set her leg down gently. "You're scared of the Maze."
"I'm not scared of monsters, Jiang Fan."
"I know."
He crawled up the bed and lay beside her, propping his head on his hand.
"You're scared it won't work. Like the Dragon Heart."
She turned her face away. A single tear tracked into the pillow.
"What if I'm just broken, Jiang Fan? What if there is no workaround? What if I'm just... half a person forever?"
Jiang Fan reached out and turned her face back to him.
"You aren't half a person. You're the most terrifying person I know. You scare fish-men. You shoot krakens."
He kissed her nose.
"But if you want your magic back, we'll get it. I'll punch every ghost in that maze if I have to."
She buried her face in his chest.
"Just... hold me? My legs are cold."
"They're always cold," he smiled, pulling the duvet over them. "That's why you have me. I'm a tactical heater."
THE MAZE OF REFLECTIONS
Two days later, they stood before a massive shimmering portal in a valley of mirrors.
The Eastern Sage Sect didn't have a door. They had a riddle.
[ System Alert: Dungeon Detected. ] [ Name: The Maze of Reflections. ] [ Rules: Physical strength is irrelevant. Your enemies are your own insecurities. ]
"Great," Jiang Fan muttered. "My insecurity is running out of snacks. This should be easy."
"Stay close," the Empress said. She was in her War-Lotus Mark II (the tank), but she looked small inside it.
They rolled into the portal.
The world dissolved.
When the light cleared, they weren't in a hallway. They were separated.
THE EMPRESS'S TEST
Zhao Ling sat in her tank. But the cockpit was dark. The screens were dead.
"Jiang Fan?" she called out. "Gu Ling?"
Silence.
Suddenly, the scenery changed. She wasn't in a dungeon.
She was back in the Forest.
She saw herself lying against the tree, her spine shattered. She saw the beast raising its paw.
But this time, Jiang Fan didn't save her.
"No," she whispered.
She saw the beast strike. She saw herself die.
Then, the scene shifted. She was in the Throne Room. But she wasn't the Empress. She was a beggar, dragging her useless body across the floor, begging for coins. Her father sat on the throne, laughing.
"Useless," the Phantom Emperor sneered. "Broken doll."
"Stop it!" Zhao Ling screamed. She tried to fire the tank's cannon. Nothing happened. The tank had no power.
"You are nothing without the machine," the Phantom whispered. "You are just meat in a can."
Zhao Ling trembled. This was her fear. That without Gu Ling's tech and Jiang Fan's strength, she was nothing.
She looked at her paralyzed legs.
"I can't move," she cried. "I can't fight!"
Is that true? A voice echoed. It wasn't Jiang Fan's voice. It was her own.
You can't walk. But can you fight?
She remembered the flight harness. She remembered the feeling of the wind. She remembered Jiang Fan telling her: The meat is the important part.
She closed her eyes. She stopped trying to use the tank. She stopped trying to move her legs.
She focused on her heart.
"I am not the machine," she whispered.
She visualized her Qi. It was blocked at her spine, a dam of scar tissue.
"If I can't go down," she gritted her teeth. "I'll go up."
She pushed the energy. Not down to her legs, but up. Into her chest. Into her arms. Into her mind.
It hurt. It felt like burning fire.
"I AM ZHAO LING!"
She opened her eyes. They weren't brown anymore. They were glowing white.
CRACK.
The cockpit of the tank exploded outward—not from an attack, but from the sheer pressure of her aura.
She floated up out of the wreckage. She wasn't standing—her legs still hung limp beneath her. But she was hovering, suspended by a tornado of Spirit Energy swirling around her upper body.
The Phantom Emperor screamed as the white fire incinerated him.
THE REUNION
The illusion shattered.
Zhao Ling fell.
"Gotcha."
Jiang Fan caught her before she hit the mirror floor.
She was panting, sweating, her nose bleeding. But she was smiling.
"Did you see that?" she gasped, clutching his robes. "I flew. Without the chair."
"I saw," Jiang Fan smiled. He looked around. The mirrors were all shattered. "You broke the dungeon, Ling. Again. We really need to stop breaking things."
An old man with a long white beard appeared from the shadows. Grandmaster Azure.
He looked at the wreckage of his maze. He looked at the woman in Jiang Fan's arms.
"Pass," the Grandmaster said simply.
He tossed a scroll to Jiang Fan.
"The Broken Heaven Scripture. You figured out the first step on your own: Acceptance. You cannot fix what is broken, but you can build over it."
The Grandmaster vanished.
Jiang Fan looked at the scroll. Then he looked at the Empress.
"Stage 6?" he asked.
"Give me a week," she wiped the blood from her nose. "And I'll be Stage 7."
She looked at her tank, which was smoking nearby.
"But carry me for now. I think I blew a fuse."
"Tactical Backpack, engaging," Jiang Fan groaned, lifting her onto his back. "Let's go home. I need a nap, and you need a bath."
[ System Quest Complete: The Mirror Maze. ] [ Reward: Cultivation Restored (Modified). ] [ Side Effect: The Empress is now a glass cannon. High damage, zero durability. ]