---
The clouds rumbled above the Tianxuan Range, ancient mountains that had seen the rise and fall of countless sects, dynasties, and legends. Wind howled like a beast stirring from slumber, sweeping through valleys, stirring leaves and destiny alike.
On the floating cliff where Ying Yue stood moments ago, only silence remained. Her presence was like a dream already lost to the wind.
But deep in the shadow of the mountains, in a secluded valley veiled from mortal sight, a ripple of energy spread across the land—silent, invisible, yet felt by all those who had the blood of cultivators in their veins.
A seal had weakened.
Something… no, someone was awakening.
---
Meanwhile — Feng Chan's Side
Feng Chan sat cross-legged inside a secluded cultivation chamber provided by the Nine Sects. His eyes were closed, but his mind raced with everything he had seen in the Book of Reversals. His heart beat like war drums. The truth he had witnessed wasn't just about his clan—it was about the balance of the entire cultivation world.
> "The heavens were manipulated. My family betrayed from within. And someone… someone powerful orchestrated it all."
A flicker of pain passed through his expression. He thought of Ying Yue's last words. "Until you prove your name in the Mainland, I do not know you."
That sentence had become his new mantra.
> "I'll make the heavens remember the name Feng Chan."
Suddenly, the formation around him lit up with golden light. Spiritual energy surged into his meridians, faster, denser than ever before. His foundation, once shaky, now began to stabilize. The inheritance he received was taking root.
He opened his eyes. "It's time."
---
Elsewhere — In the Abyssal Vault
Darkness. Silence. Eternity.
Chains of soul-forged metal groaned as something shifted.
A voice echoed across the void. Cold. Familiar.
> "He has awakened the First Seal."
Another voice responded. This one ancient, trembling with withheld laughter.
> "Then fate begins to crack. Send the Eyes of the Abyss. Watch his every move."
> "And if he gets close to the truth?"
> "Then he dies."
---
Back at the Sect Grounds
Feng Chan walked through the open courtyard. Disciples looked at him with new eyes. He had survived the Trial of the Mirror Gate—a feat only recorded once before in history.
Even elders gave him nods of acknowledgment.
But he didn't care for praise.
He looked up at the sky.
> "There's something coming. And I need to be ready."
His master, the ever-mysterious Tianyi, appeared beside him like a ghost.
> "You saw the first thread of truth," Tianyi said calmly. "But truth is like a blade—it cuts deeper the more you uncover."
Feng Chan turned to him. "How deep does it go?"
Tianyi's eyes flickered beneath his mask. "To the origin of the Heavens themselves."
---
Far Away — In the Main Villain's Temple
The main villain stood before a black altar, feeding it blood from an ancient vial.
A hooded woman stepped beside him. Her aura… hauntingly similar to Ying Yue's.
> "He's progressing faster than we expected," she said.
The villain smiled.
> "Good. Let him grow. Let him burn with ambition."
He leaned close to the woman.
> "And when the time is right… break him."
The woman didn't respond.
But her hand, hidden behind her cloak, trembled slightly.
---
> "And when the time is right… break him."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
The hooded woman remained still, her face hidden beneath layers of shadows. But behind the darkness, her eyes flickered with conflict. Memories—buried, chained, and silenced—threatened to resurface.
> Feng Chan...
His name echoed inside her, tearing at whatever remained of her will. But she said nothing. Not now. Not yet.
The main villain stepped away from the altar, his black robes flowing like a river of shadows.
> "Ying Yue," he said softly, almost mockingly, "you've walked far from the light. Don't pretend you can return to it."
She turned her gaze to him, calm but unyielding. "Light and dark are meaningless to those drowning in blood."
He smiled. "Then bleed for me once more."
---
Back at the Nine Sects' Hall
Feng Chan stood before the ancient elders of the Nine Sects. Their eyes bore into him—scrutinizing, measuring, doubting. Some were skeptical. Others intrigued. But none could deny the truth anymore.
He had become a variable.
A rising force.
> "You have returned from the Mirror Gate Trial," one of the elders said. "And awakened an inheritance no one dared claim."
Feng Chan nodded. "I seek permission to enter the Sealed Battlefield."
A silence fell across the hall. Even Tianyi's eyes narrowed behind his mask.
> "That place has been closed for five hundred years," another elder warned. "Those who enter… don't always return."
Feng Chan stepped forward. "If answers lie behind death, then I will walk through death."
---
Later That Night – Training Grounds
Lightning danced across the sky. Feng Chan stood alone, facing three spirit puppets—each stronger than the last.
His blade moved like a dragon's claw, cutting through wind and resistance. His cultivation base, which once trembled at the Foundation Realm, now approached the peak of Core Transformation.
Sweat poured. Muscles burned. But his resolve was steel.
Tianyi watched from the shadows.
> "His growth is abnormal… almost unnatural," Tianyi murmured. "That inheritance—it's not just power. It's awakening his bloodline."
Another figure appeared beside Tianyi—hooded, ancient, eyes glowing blue.
> "Do you still intend to keep him in the dark?" the figure asked.
Tianyi didn't answer.
Because he knew—
Truth was a double-edged sword.
---
In a Secret Room — Ying Yue Alone
She clutched a pendant around her neck, its surface cracked, flickering with faint light.
> Feng Chan... why did it have to be you?
Tears welled up in her eyes, but they never fell. She had chosen her path long ago. And now, it led her away from him.
But deep within, a sliver of hope remained. A whisper she couldn't silence.
> If he reaches the Sealed Battlefield… everything will change.
---
At the Main Villain's Fortress
The main villain stood before a map that spanned the known realms. His finger moved across it—past empires, ruins, sects… and finally, the land of Feng Chan's birth.
> "He walks the path of fate… but fate bends to power."
He looked up at the stars, where a strange constellation had just appeared.
> "Soon, boy. Soon you'll learn that blood, fate, and destiny… mean nothing without strength."
And somewhere in the shadows, an old enemy of Feng Chan's family stirred.
---
> "Soon, boy. Soon you'll learn that blood, fate, and destiny… mean nothing without strength."
The words rolled off the main villain's tongue like poison—ancient, venomous, deliberate. His fingers curled, and the constellation glowing above twisted unnaturally, as though the very stars were obeying his will.
Behind him stood his most loyal subordinates—each one powerful enough to shake empires, yet they knelt in silence, awaiting their master's command.
One of them, a cold-eyed woman cloaked in crimson silk, stepped forward. Her aura was demonic, her presence suffocating.
> "Should I send the Shadow Envoys to test him, my lord?"
The villain's lips curled into a sinister smile. "No. Let him grow... Let the boy think he has control."
He raised his hand, and from the air emerged a burning scroll sealed with dark energy. As he touched it, runes flared with bloodlight.
> "But once he enters the Sealed Battlefield, activate the Soul Lock. His bloodline holds the key. We'll rip it from him if we must."
---
Back in the Northern Mountains – Hidden Temple
Feng Chan sat cross-legged, surrounded by glowing orbs filled with ancient memories. His mind was a storm of images—memories that weren't his.
A battlefield soaked in divine blood.
A dying god whispering a forbidden truth.
And a face… her face.
> Ying Yue.
She was there, in the echoes of the past. Dressed in robes of silver and violet, standing beside a man with golden eyes. Her expression… conflicted.
> "Prove yourself to the world, Feng Chan," the memory-echo of Ying Yue said, voice trembling. "Until then… you and I are nothing."
Feng Chan's eyes snapped open. The vision faded, but the weight remained.
He clenched his fists.
> "I will prove it. Even if the heavens must fall."
---
Elsewhere – Deep Beneath the Mainland
Master Tianyi stood before an ancient door made of jade and bone. Symbols glowed across its surface—symbols older than the current cultivation age itself.
He touched the center rune.
> "It's beginning," he murmured.
From behind him, a voice emerged—one not heard in millennia.
> "Are you ready to break the balance?"
Tianyi didn't turn. "The balance was broken the moment he was born."
---
At a Forgotten Shrine – Ying Yue's Secret Chamber
Ying Yue knelt in front of an altar carved from moonstone. She placed the cracked pendant down and whispered an old incantation.
For a moment, the room shimmered. And then—an image appeared.
Feng Chan. Training. Bleeding. Rising.
She closed her eyes, torn.
> "Why now? Why must you be the one to face this?"
A tear rolled down her cheek and struck the pendant. It glowed for a moment… then cracked further.
> "If you walk too far into the dark, Feng Chan… I may not be able to pull you back."
---
At the Nine Sects' Sacred Ground
Thunder roared above the sacred grounds. Disciples from all sects gathered as a grand announcement echoed across the land.
> "By decree of the Nine Sects—Feng Chan, bearer of the Ancient Mirror Inheritance, shall enter the Sealed Battlefield in seven days!"
Gasps filled the air. Whispers erupted like wildfire.
> "He's really going in?" "Isn't that a suicide mission?" "They say only the fated ones return…"
Tianyi, from the high dais, watched Feng Chan quietly. His eyes were unreadable.
> You are not ready… But maybe that's the point.
---
> "You are not ready… But maybe that's the point."
Master Tianyi's eyes narrowed as he watched Feng Chan disappear into the training pavilion.
The wind whispered through the high trees surrounding the sacred ground, carrying with it the scent of blood, old incense, and something darker—an omen. He turned his gaze skyward. The clouds above the Nine Sects' ground had begun to swirl, unnaturally drawn toward a central point.
A celestial storm was forming.
> "The heavens are stirring," he muttered under his breath. "It's already begun."
A cloaked figure stepped beside him—his presence silent, yet powerful. The Grand Elder of the Heavenly Abyss Sect.
> "You placed all your hopes on that boy?" the Elder asked, frowning. "He is talented, yes, but foolish. Unrefined."
Tianyi's lips curled slightly. "And yet… he is the only one who saw the mirror and didn't go insane. You know what that means."
The Grand Elder's face darkened. "Don't say it."
> "He carries it. The Primordial Flame."
Silence.
That single phrase changed everything.
The Grand Elder staggered slightly. "That should be impossible… that lineage was wiped out in the War of Origins."
> "Not all of it," Tianyi whispered. "And now, everything we buried… is about to rise."
---
Somewhere Far from the Sect – A Forgotten War-Torn Valley
Feng Chan stood at the edge of a cliff, the wind lashing against his face. Before him, lay the path to the Sealed Battlefield—the sacred, forbidden land where generations of cultivators had perished without leaving a trace.
> "This is it," he muttered. "The place where legends are born… or broken."
Beside him stood Bai Mei, the cold sword maiden of the Snowwind Sect, her long white hair fluttering.
> "You don't have to prove anything to anyone," she said softly.
> "Yes, I do," Feng Chan replied, eyes locked on the horizon. "Not for them. For myself."
He reached into his robe and pulled out a bloodstained cloth—a piece of his mother's sash, the only remnant of the past they had destroyed.
> "They took everything. My family, my pride, my future. I'll carve it back with my own hands if I have to."
Bai Mei didn't speak. She just stared at him, expression unreadable.
> "What if you die in there?"
Feng Chan's answer came like a blade: "Then I die standing."
---
Meanwhile – In the Shadows of the Enemy
The main villain, cloaked in void-colored robes, walked through a hall of corpses—his enemies, all drained of their souls. At the end of the hall, a woman stood—his most dangerous servant.
Her name was Xie Ran. A fallen genius. Once, she had been the fiancée of a righteous master. Now, she was known as the Blood Saintess.
> "Feng Chan is nearing the Sealed Battlefield," she reported. "Do we act now?"
> "No," the villain replied. "Let him walk into the pit himself. He is still useful."
Xie Ran's eyes shimmered with an unreadable emotion. "You fear him."
> "I respect the chaos that follows him," the villain replied. "And I intend to be the one who controls it."
---
Within Ying Yue's Realm – Midnight Garden
Ying Yue sat alone beneath a glowing sakura tree, petals falling in slow motion, like frozen time.
She touched her lips—remembering a kiss that never happened. A future that never began.
> "I told him we had no bond," she whispered. "But why does my heart ache every time he bleeds?"
A hand reached toward her shoulder.
> "You still have time," her clan sister said.
> "No," Ying Yue replied. "The moment he steps into the battlefield… his fate is no longer mine to shape."
Lightning flashed across the sky. A storm was coming.
And it had a name:
> Feng Chan.
To be continue