Chapter 9: The Man Who Survived the Void
The first thing Han Feng did after leaving the Seven Lantern Repository was refuse to look back.
The second was abandon the road.
Alarms echoed in the distance as the glow of the containment formations spread across the rooftops of the compound. Han Feng moved through uneven terrain covered in dark stones and withered shrubs, keeping his pace steady.
He did not run.
A hurried escape would attract more attention than a calculated withdrawal. Any cultivator familiar with tracking techniques would expect an intruder to seek the nearest road and use it to put distance between himself and the facility.
Han Feng chose the opposite direction.
He crossed a narrow slope and descended into an ancient riverbed that had dried up long before the Convergence.
Wind swept between the rocks, carrying dust and fragments of dead leaves. Behind him, the repository remained illuminated by seven columns of light, although one of them had gone dark.
That single absence mattered more than all the remaining lights combined.
The containment system had been designed to withstand accidents involving convergence artifacts. Yet a momentary opening in the black container had been enough to interrupt its operation.
Han Feng did not believe the gray-mantled man had planned the incident.
The expression on the man's face had not been one of satisfaction. It had been genuine fear, accompanied by surprise.
That did not make him any less dangerous.
Someone capable of provoking an accident of that magnitude, then continuing to experiment with similar objects, was either dangerously ignorant or willing to sacrifice other people to achieve his goals.
Han Feng suspected the truth might involve both.
He stopped beneath the shadow of a rock formation and closed his eyes.
His spiritual perception spread gradually, without producing an obvious wave of energy. First, he examined the nearby terrain. Then he checked the secondary trails before finally directing his attention toward the road leading to Broken Bridge.
He detected no organized pursuit.
However, something unusual caught his attention.
Small points of energy were moving in different directions. Their movements were deliberate, as though groups of cultivators had been dispatched to block access to the surrounding region.
The Regional Council had reacted quickly.
That meant the incident would not be treated as an ordinary containment failure. Someone at the repository had probably already informed their superiors about the container's reaction, and the presence of an intruder would make the situation even more sensitive.
Han Feng had no interest in discovering which version of events would eventually appear in the official records.
It was enough to know that, from that night onward, anyone seen near the compound could become a suspect.
He removed the small stone tablet from beneath his clothing.
The object remained cold, showing no detectable fluctuation of energy.
Under the pale starlight, the inscription Vestige of Origin seemed less like a name and more like a warning left behind by someone unwilling to explain what they had discovered.
Han Feng did not bring it close to the Celestial Diagram.
He had already made the mistake of remaining too close to a phenomenon he did not understand. He had no intention of repeating that mistake merely to satisfy his curiosity.
He wrapped the tablet and returned it to his storage.
Then he continued walking.
He needed three things.
First, he had to discover what had happened to the employees transferred by the Council.
Second, he needed to understand why the gray-mantled man was searching for objects with similar characteristics.
Finally, he needed a way to leave the region without passing through the inspection posts.
The three questions might be connected.
They might also be entirely independent.
For now, treating them as parts of a single mystery would be just as dangerous as ignoring the evidence he had already gathered.
Han Feng preferred to follow facts, not force them into a convenient pattern.
By the time the sky began to brighten, Han Feng had reached a small abandoned village beside an ancient irrigation canal.
Only six stone houses remained. A dry well occupied the center of the settlement, and an observation tower stood at the far end with its roof collapsed.
He chose the most isolated building, inspected the interior, and settled behind a cracked wall.
That was when he noticed the change.
It did not originate from the Celestial Diagram or the stone tablet.
Instead, the spiritual energy flowing through the surrounding environment had begun to behave strangely.
For several breaths, the energy seemed to withdraw, like water pulled away by an invisible tide.
Then it returned in an irregular wave, carrying particles of primordial essence that normally would not have been found in this region.
The disturbance lasted fewer than ten breaths.
Han Feng opened his eyes.
The scarcity that followed the Convergence had taught cultivators to recognize even the smallest changes in available resources. In some regions, spiritual energy slowly accumulated again. In others, it vanished without warning.
The Council attributed many of these phenomena to instability around convergence zones.
But recent disturbances had begun appearing far from the best-known fissures.
This could be nothing more than a localized fluctuation.
Or something might be interfering with the balance between the two cultivation systems.
Han Feng did not attempt to investigate its source.
Instead, he activated the Art of the Celestial Veil and reduced his presence even further. If someone was tracking the aftermath of the repository incident, they would find no obvious spiritual signature worth pursuing.
He settled into meditation, but did not allow his awareness to drift.
The village remained silent.
Until he heard footsteps outside.
They were irregular.
Whoever was approaching placed most of his weight on one leg while dragging the other across the stony ground.
Han Feng remained motionless until a shadow appeared at the entrance.
A middle-aged man stood in the doorway.
His gray clothing was torn and covered in dust. Dark lines marked the left side of his face, extending from his temple down toward his neck. His right hand remained pressed tightly against his chest.
When he noticed Han Feng, the stranger attempted to retreat.
"Don't," Han Feng said calmly.
The man stopped.
"If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn't have made it to the doorway."
The stranger remained silent for several seconds.
Then he entered, leaned against the wall, and released a breath he seemed to have been holding long before reaching the building.
"You're not one of the Council's men."
"And you don't appear to be in a position to decide who I am."
The stranger gave a weak laugh, though the expression on his face remained unchanged.
"Fair enough."
Han Feng studied the dark markings on the man's skin.
They were not ordinary wounds.
The lines branched irregularly, forming small patterns that disappeared beneath the collar of his clothing. A faint fluctuation of energy surrounded them, but its circulation did not entirely conform to either cultivation system.
Part of it resembled spiritual energy.
Another part resembled distorted primordial essence.
The stranger noticed Han Feng's attention and covered his neck.
"I wouldn't recommend examining those too closely."
"I wasn't planning to."
"Then perhaps we can talk."
"That depends on what you have to offer."
The man took a deep breath.
"My name is Shen Rui. Until three days ago, I worked at the Seven Lantern Repository."
Han Feng showed no surprise, but his attention sharpened.
"In what capacity?"
"Registration and material evaluation. I wasn't a powerful cultivator or an important researcher. My job was to record what entered the facility, what left it, and who authorized each transfer."
He paused.
"That's why I was the one who prepared the documents when three employees were sent for special evaluation."
"The same employees who disappeared from the departure records?"
Shen Rui abruptly raised his head.
"How do you know that?"
"You haven't answered my question."
The man hesitated. Then he seemed to realize that he would not be able to control the conversation.
"Yes. The three employees. Two researchers and a formation specialist."
He lowered his gaze.
"They were supposedly being transferred to a Council analysis facility. But the transport documents were altered before reaching the central archive. I noticed because one of the signatures was wrong."
"What did you do?"
"Nothing."
Shen Rui pressed his hand more firmly against his chest.
"At the time, I decided it wasn't worth risking my life over three strangers. Then one of them managed to send me a message."
"When?"
"Last night."
Han Feng said nothing.
Shen Rui slowly removed his hand from his chest.
Between his fingers was a small, broken metal identification token. One side contained registration symbols. The other was crossed by a dark vertical line.
"He said they weren't in a Council facility," Shen Rui continued. "They were somewhere underground, inside a structure that didn't appear on any map."
He swallowed.
"His message ended with one sentence."
Han Feng waited.
"'Don't let them open the second door.'"
The metal token vibrated once.
Han Feng did not touch it.
"Where is the man who sent the message?"
"I don't know. The transmission was interrupted before I could reply."
Shen Rui's fingers tightened around the token.
"Shortly afterward, two men broke into my home and tried to take me. I managed to escape, but one of them struck me with something carried in a black case. These markings have been spreading ever since."
He pulled back his collar, revealing part of his shoulder.
The dark lines had spread across his chest and were beginning to climb toward his neck.
They did not appear to consume his flesh. His skin remained intact, as though the phenomenon were using his body merely to record something.
Han Feng observed from a distance.
"Were you contaminated by an artifact?"
"That's what I thought. But a healer examined the markings and said there was no poison, curse, or invasion of the soul."
Shen Rui's voice grew quieter.
"According to him, part of my energy simply ceased to exist. It wasn't drained. It wasn't sealed. It disappeared, and the space it occupied seems to be filling with something that shouldn't fit inside a human body."
Han Feng remembered the incident at the repository.
When the black container had opened, his spiritual perception had lost contact with the entire chamber. It had not been an ordinary obstruction or concealment technique.
For an instant, the surrounding space had seemed to lose its meaning.
Even so, he could not conclude that the two incidents shared the same origin.
"What brought you here?" he asked.
"I heard someone had infiltrated the repository during the accident."
"Rumors travel quickly."
"And because, before disappearing, my colleague wrote something else. He said a man had been searching for the materials recovered from the old road."
Shen Rui watched Han Feng carefully.
"A man who didn't work for the Council, but who could enter and leave its facilities without obeying his superiors' orders."
Han Feng maintained an indifferent expression.
"That description could fit more than one person."
"He also said the man carried a black fragment."
Silence settled between them.
Shen Rui realized he had touched upon something important, although he did not know what.
Han Feng, meanwhile, understood that someone was distributing information selectively. The description might have been planted to attract anyone who possessed a fragment. Alternatively, it could be a deliberate attempt to guide interested parties toward the same destination.
Neither possibility was reassuring.
"Who told you about the man?" Han Feng asked.
"A woman who sold medicine near the road. She said a gray-mantled man had passed through and left instructions for anyone searching for the missing employees."
The gray-mantled man.
Han Feng recalled the figure he had seen on the hill near Salt Rest and later inside the repository.
The stranger had never attempted to capture him. Instead, he had seemed interested in discovering what Han Feng possessed and how far he was willing to go.
Now, the existence of a message apparently intended to draw people toward the missing employees suggested that the man was conducting some kind of selection.
Perhaps he was looking for collaborators.
Perhaps he wanted to identify people who knew about the old road.
Or perhaps he was gathering individuals capable of surviving exposure to the artifacts.
Han Feng disliked being guided by unseen hands.
"Do you know where this woman is?"
"Broken Bridge. She usually trades near the medicine market, but she changes locations frequently. If she's still alive, she might know who delivered the instructions."
Han Feng considered the possibilities.
He could abandon Shen Rui and continue traveling alone, preserving his own safety. The information he had received was already sufficient to confirm that the disappearances were not simply the result of an administrative error.
However, leaving the man in his current condition created another unnecessary risk. If his pursuers found him, they might extract everything he knew and eventually follow the same trail Han Feng intended to investigate.
"Can you walk?" Han Feng asked.
Shen Rui seemed surprised.
"I can."
"Then you'll accompany me to a village south of here. There's someone who can treat your injuries. After that, you can go wherever you wish."
"And you?"
"I'm going to Broken Bridge."
"To find the woman?"
"To find out whether she actually exists."
Shen Rui lowered his head, relieved for reasons he did not attempt to explain.
Han Feng made no promise to protect him. Nor did he claim that he would rescue the missing employees.
For now, his objective was simpler: keep a witness alive long enough to learn everything he knew.
They departed before noon, following a route that avoided the main roads.
Han Feng chose the path but allowed Shen Rui to identify landmarks along the way. The former employee knew the region and, despite his weakened condition, remembered routes used by small merchants to avoid the Council's inspection posts.
During the journey, the dark markings on Shen Rui's body advanced another few centimeters.
With each change, the man lost a little more strength, but he did not complain.
Han Feng noticed that the spiritual energy around him fluctuated at regular intervals, as though responding to something distant.
They reached a narrow ravine in the late afternoon.
Han Feng raised one hand, signaling Shen Rui to stop.
Three men stood at the exit.
They wore no official Council uniforms, but the equipment they carried was superior to that of ordinary mercenaries. Two held small metal plates in their hands. The third carried a black case secured with leather straps.
When he saw Shen Rui, the man holding the case smiled without warmth.
"You've caused us quite a bit of trouble."
Shen Rui went pale.
"They're the ones," he whispered. "The men who broke into my home."
Han Feng did not move.
"Hand over the fugitive," the man with the case ordered. "The Council needs to question him about the theft of confidential information. If you're uninvolved, you can continue on your way."
"If he were merely an employee accused of theft, you wouldn't have sent three cultivators to capture him on a secondary road," Han Feng replied.
The man's smile vanished.
"You talk too much for someone who doesn't understand what he's getting involved in."
"And you make too many threats for someone who needs three men to capture an injured clerk."
The pursuer's expression hardened.
He made a discreet gesture, and the other two spread out, attempting to block the sides of the ravine.
Han Feng recognized the formation of their positions.
They were not preparing for a conventional fight.
The metal plates were designed to register energy fluctuations, while the black case likely contained an instrument intended to neutralize or mark their target.
The operation had been planned to capture Shen Rui alive and eliminate any inconvenient witnesses.
The man holding the case opened it.
Dark mist spilled over the edge.
But instead of spreading through the air, it descended toward the ground, flowing across the stones and erasing the spiritual energy it touched.
Tiny fissures appeared in the rock, not from physical force, but because the energy sustaining the stone seemed to have been removed.
Shen Rui stumbled backward.
Han Feng felt the Celestial Diagram tremble beneath his consciousness.
This time, the pulse was not faint.
For an instant, two lines appeared within his perception.
One extended toward the Seven Lantern Repository.
The other crossed the ravine, passed beyond the mountains, and disappeared into a distance he could not measure.
The phenomenon lasted only a moment, but it was enough to confirm that the artifact carried by the pursuer was no ordinary tool.
Han Feng did not allow his expression to change.
"Put that away," he said. "You don't know what you're carrying."
"And you do?" the pursuer retorted.
"I know enough not to open it in the middle of a road."
The man gave a short laugh and ordered the attack.
The first cultivator charged from the left, gathering spiritual energy around his arms. The second attempted to circle Han Feng and reach Shen Rui. Their leader remained behind the case, apparently confident that the mist would prevent any meaningful resistance.
Han Feng moved once.
His left hand touched the first attacker's wrist, diverting the blow by a few centimeters. His other hand struck the center of the man's chest.
The impact produced no explosion and sent no one flying through the air.
It simply interrupted the man's energy circulation and dropped him to his knees, his arms temporarily unresponsive.
Han Feng pivoted.
He seized the second attacker by the clothing and threw him against a rock formation. Before the man could rise, a precise strike to the back of his neck rendered him unconscious.
Everything happened in fewer than three breaths.
The leader's confidence disappeared.
Han Feng advanced, but stopped when the dark mist rose abruptly.
The man had activated a second mechanism inside the case.
For a fraction of a second, the spiritual energy throughout the ravine vanished.
The environment became unnaturally silent.
The pressure struck Han Feng head-on.
His spiritual perception weakened, and his primordial essence encountered resistance as it circulated through his body.
This was not an ordinary sealing technique.
The artifact was attempting to remove the surrounding energy that supported cultivation techniques, creating a region where strength depended more heavily on the stability of the user's internal foundation.
Han Feng understood why the pursuers carried it.
Against a cultivator who relied entirely on external spiritual energy, it could be devastating.
But Han Feng did not rely entirely on external energy.
The Art of the Celestial Veil remained active, concealing the true depth of his essence. He adjusted his internal circulation, isolated the unstable flow, and advanced through the mist without releasing any grand technique.
The leader tried to close the case.
Han Feng reached him first.
Two fingers touched the man's wrist. A short movement diverted his hand, and a strike to his shoulder forced him to his knees.
The case fell.
Han Feng caught it before it hit the ground and closed the lid with his other hand.
The mist disappeared.
Spiritual energy returned abruptly, sending a wave through the entire ravine. Shen Rui fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
The two unconscious cultivators remained motionless.
Han Feng studied their leader.
"Who gave you this case?"
The man gritted his teeth.
"You think you can interrogate me?"
Han Feng pressed a point on his arm.
Pain immediately shattered the man's composure.
"I can do many things," Han Feng said. "But I prefer simple questions."
"The Threshold Society," the man finally answered. "They hired us."
"To capture Shen Rui?"
"To recover the registration token he stole. The employee wasn't supposed to escape."
Han Feng looked at the small metal object in Shen Rui's hand.
"And what's on it?"
"I don't know. We were ordered to recover the token and deliver it to our contact. That's all."
"The gray-mantled man?"
The pursuer hesitated.
It was brief, but enough.
"He's not our superior," the man admitted. "Nobody knows who he is. He appears when an important operation is underway, asks questions, then disappears."
He swallowed.
"Some say he works for the Council. Others believe he's one of the Society's founders."
"And what do you believe?"
"I believe he doesn't care whether we die."
Han Feng released the man's arm and removed the identification plate attached to his belt.
The symbol engraved on the metal matched the emblem of a clandestine organization. But there was a second mark, almost erased, on the reverse: three curved lines converging toward an empty space.
The same pattern Mei Qiu had shown him.
Han Feng kept the plate.
"Take your companions and leave. If I find you pursuing Shen Rui again, there won't be a second warning."
The leader looked at his unconscious companions, then at the black case in Han Feng's hands.
For a moment, he seemed to consider a desperate response.
Then he realized he had no advantage left.
He lowered his head.
Han Feng returned the case.
"And don't open it."
The three men departed as soon as they could move, carrying their injured companions.
Han Feng waited until their presences had disappeared from his perception before turning to Shen Rui.
"You could have killed them," the man said.
"I could have."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because dead men don't answer questions. And killing three people from an organization I don't understand might create more problems than it solves."
Shen Rui appeared to want to say something, but eventually gave up.
Han Feng examined the metal token from a distance.
Administrative records were engraved on one side, while a partially damaged sequence of numbers marked the other. The object contained little energy, but the dark stripe at its center seemed to absorb part of the light falling upon it.
It was not merely an identification token.
It was a registration key, perhaps connected to an internal system belonging to the Council or the Threshold Society.
The information did not reveal the fate of the three missing employees, but it offered a concrete lead.
Someone needed that token badly enough to dispatch an armed team and employ a dangerous artifact in the middle of a road.
Han Feng stored it without attempting to activate it.
By late afternoon, he had left Shen Rui in a small village protected by a simple defensive formation.
A local healer agreed to examine the man in exchange for a modest quantity of spirit stones. Han Feng paid in advance without revealing his identity.
Before departing, he gave Shen Rui a small pouch containing enough resources to last several days.
"Don't tell anyone what happened today," he advised.
"They'll keep looking for me."
"Probably. That's why you shouldn't return to your old home or try to find the missing employees yourself. If anyone offers you a quick solution to those markings, be suspicious."
Shen Rui nodded slowly.
"Will you find my colleague?"
Han Feng remained silent for a moment.
"I'll find out where he is."
He made no promise to rescue him.
Han Feng did not know whether the man was still alive, nor whether the underground structure described in the message existed near the repository or somewhere entirely different.
Making promises before understanding their cost was a form of recklessness he had learned to avoid.
When night fell, Han Feng resumed his journey toward Broken Bridge.
The region was busier than before. Council patrols had blocked two roads, and merchants were discussing a serious accident at the Seven Lantern Repository.
The stories varied.
Some claimed an artifact had exploded. Others insisted a group of researchers had been consumed by a forbidden technique.
Nobody mentioned the opening of the black container, and no official report acknowledged the presence of an intruder.
The absence of information was revealing in itself.
The Council wanted to control the narrative.
The Threshold Society wanted the registration token.
And the gray-mantled man appeared to operate between the two without belonging entirely to either.
Han Feng stopped on a hill overlooking the distant lights of Broken Bridge.
The wind carried a faint fluctuation of energy, similar to the one he had sensed in the abandoned village.
This time, however, the disturbance came with another sound.
A barely audible tone, like a bell heard through several layers of stone.
He placed a hand against his chest.
The Celestial Diagram remained quiet.
Even so, Han Feng felt that something had changed since the moment the container opened its vertical line.
He could not identify the change, and he did not trust vague impressions.
But the registration token, the markings on Shen Rui's body, and the artifact used by the pursuers all pointed toward consequences that extended beyond the incident at the repository.
Someone was learning to exploit the effects of the Convergence.
And that person appeared willing to test those discoveries on human beings.
Han Feng resumed walking.
Far away, that same night, the gray-mantled man received news that the team sent to recover Shen Rui had failed.
The messenger reported that two cultivators had been incapacitated and the third forced to reveal information. He also confirmed that the registration token remained missing.
The gray-mantled man listened without interruption.
When the report ended, the messenger asked, "Should we send another team?"
The man looked at the black stone container on the table.
Its vertical line remained closed, but a thin mark had appeared across its surface, as though something inside had pressed against the barrier without managing to break through.
"No," he replied. "If we send more men, he'll realize we're interested in him."
"Then should we abandon the token?"
"No. We should discover what he intends to do with it."
The messenger hesitated.
"What if he tries to open the record?"
For the first time, the gray-mantled man smiled.
"Then we'll learn whether he's merely curious or actually understands what he's carrying."
After the messenger departed, the man remained alone before the container.
He removed a black fragment from his pocket and placed it on the table at a cautious distance from the stone.
For several moments, nothing happened.
Then the fragment slowly rotated, turning its narrow end toward the container.
The man did not touch either object.
"Not yet," he murmured.
Something inside the stone answered with a vibration so faint that no instrument could have recorded it.
Far beyond the perception of cultivators, an invisible line seemed to extend between places that should never have shared the same space.
It did not fully close.
But for the first time since the Convergence, the two ends remained aligned long enough for something on the other side to notice the existence of an incomplete passage.
The response came neither as a voice nor as an image.
It was merely a distant pressure, resembling the attention of a consciousness that had discovered something it did not fully understand—and had decided not to look away.
The gray-mantled man went pale.
He did not know who had answered.
And for the first time in many years, he was no longer certain that the Threshold Society was directing the experiment.
Perhaps it was merely helping something find its way.