Sky-Splitting Canyon lived up to its name—a massive fissure in the earth as if the heavens themselves had cloven the world in two. Its towering, wind-scoured cliffs were a natural amplifier of sound and energy, a place where secrets were laid bare to the sky. It was here, in this desolate and powerful place, that the last free souls of the old Luo Region gathered.
They arrived not as the bright-eyed youths who had entered the secret realm, but as shadows etched with grim purpose. There were no joyful reunions, only terse nods and eyes that held the reflections of personal hells. Lei Gang's lightning crackled with a sullen, suppressed fury. Feng Zhi's movements were tighter, his humor extinguished. Lin Xian'er's healing light seemed dimmed by a pervasive grief. Bai Wei's sword intent was sharper, colder. Elder Sister Lian's moonlit aura was shrouded in a deeper darkness. Luo Ying stood slightly apart, a solitary figure whose home was now a void.
Ye Fan stood before them, the core of their storm. The anguish and rage had been compressed into a diamond-hard resolve. He didn't need to ask what they had found. It was written in the grim set of their jaws, the hollow look in their eyes.
"He hasn't just conquered the land," Ye Fan's voice was low, cutting through the howling wind. "He's conquered its soul. He turns our strengths into his tools, our families into his servants. This is not a war of territory. It is a war of extinction."
One by one, they reported their findings, painting a complete and horrifying picture of the Eternal Dragon Phoenix Dynasty. The Phoenix Empress leading armies. The enslaved Matriarch. The prodigious toddler Tyrant. The dissolved sects and redistributed titles.
"We cannot face this head-on," Feng Zhi stated, his mind already working on their impossible odds. "His power is absolute. His control is total. We are a handful against an empire."
"Then we do not face the empire," Ye Fan said, his eyes glowing with an inner light. "We face him. We cut the head from the serpent. But to do that, we must first become a needle sharp enough to pierce its scales."
A plan began to form, born of desperation and cunning. They would not raise an army. They would become a blade.
Lei Gang would use his knowledge of the old Scarlet Thunder territories to map Blackscale Guard patrol routes and find blind spots. Feng Zhiwould infiltrate the new bureaucracy, using his merchant clan's connections to become a minor official, becoming their eyes inside the beast. Lin Xian'erwould seek out the remnants of the healing groves, finding those who secretly despised the new order and establishing a network for information and sanctuary. Bai Weiand Elder Sister Lian would seek out other dissidents, the talented and the angry who had been cast aside by the new regime, and begin training them in secret. Luo Ying's task was the most crucial:using her spatial affinity, she would begin the painstaking work of finding or creating a flaw, however tiny, in the Citadel's spatial defenses.
Their strategy was one of subtle, relentless erosion. They would be ghosts, weakening the foundation of the Dynasty until the moment was right for a single, decisive strike at the Ancestor himself.
As they swore their oaths under the cold canyon stars, something extraordinary happened. High above, the constellations seemed to shimmer. Destiny Arrays, ancient and invisible formations woven into the fabric of the world that reacted to moments of profound karmic shift, began to pulse.
To Ye Fan's eyes, and those of his companions, faint threads of golden light became visible, streaking across the night sky from all directions before converging on their position. It was a sign. The Heavens themselves were acknowledging their vow. They were the focal point. Other "fated ones," heroes and heroines of destiny scattered across the land, were being drawn into their narrative. Their cause was just. Their battle was ordained. Hope, thin and fierce, flickered in their hearts for the first time.
---
In the depths of the Black Dragon Citadel, the Ancestor felt the shift. The Destiny-Severing Array he had woven into the Citadel's foundations shuddered, its constant, subtle drain on Ye Fan's luck experiencing a minute but undeniable backlash.
[Alert: Significant Karmic Reaction detected. Destiny Arrays activating. Convergence of 'Fated Ones' detected at Sky-Splitting Canyon.]
[Target Ye Fan's Luck: +5% (Temporary Surge). Resolve: Fortified.] [Analysis: Host's actions have successfully galvanized Target into becoming a true 'Protagonist', uniting a cohort of destiny-bound allies.]
The Ancestor wasn't annoyed. He was delighted. A worthy opponent made the game so much more interesting. The weed was fighting back. Time to pour on a new kind of poison.
He had felt the powerful, ancient soul within Ye Fan's jade pendant during the battle in the secret realm. A beautiful master, a guide. Every hero needed a mentor. And what was the most efficient way to break a hero?
He turned his attention inward, to the strand of his own soul he had planted within Su Wan—the fake nascent soul that was his eyes and ears within the Empress.
He found her in her chambers, gazing at a map of the new "Heartland Domain," a possessive light in her eyes. Through their connection, he poured a new narrative into her mind, not as a command, but as a "divine insight."
My love, he thought-spoke to her, his mental voice a caress. The heavens tremble at our union. They send a flawed, angry boy to challenge our eternity. But his power is not his own. It is lent to him by a parasitic spirit, an ancient ghost trapped in a jade pendant. She uses him, feeds on his destiny for her own resurrection. She whispers lies, turning a son against his own mother...
Su Wan's eyes widened. The idea took root instantly, perfectly fitting the narrative of a heaven that opposed their love and a son who had been led astray.
We must save him from her, the Ancestor's voice was full of false compassion. We must reveal the truth. You must speak to your son, when the time comes. You must tell him you love him. That you forgive him. And you must beg him to see the serpent coiled at his ear, the witch who steals his life for her own...
He fed her the words, crafting a script of maternal love and concern designed to shatter Ye Fan's trust in his most crucial ally.
Simultaneously, the Ancestor began a deeper, more insidious working. Focusing his immense spiritual power through the System, he reached out across the vast distance, not to attack, but to subtly influence the energy around Ye Fan's pendant. He wove a barely perceptible strand of discordant energy, a spiritual impurity designed to mimic the faint, inevitable corruption of a soul that had clung to life for too long.
It was a masterstroke. He wouldn't break them with force. He would plant a seed of doubt. He would make Ye Fan's greatest protector look like his most subtle predator. The decisive battle would not be fought with swords and spells alone, but in the mind of the hero, where the most delicate lies could become unshakeable truths.
The stage was set. The heroes were planning their war of liberation. And the villain, smiling in the darkness, was already poisoning its wellspring.