The mountain was silent again. But silence in this realm did not mean peace.
It meant the world was watching.
Lin Xian stepped away from the frost-cracked cliff where Aurelia had stood. Her words still echoed through his mind—
> "When the ninth temple awakens… I will be your end. Or your beginning."
Was it a threat? A prophecy? Or something even more dangerous—hope?
He descended into the valley beneath the mountain, where the wind whispered no longer. The trees here were petrified, turned to stone by time itself. Cracks spread like veins across the terrain, and strange runes pulsed beneath the dirt with faint golden light.
> [System Alert: Ancient Divine Path Detected]
→ Classification: Path of Seals
→ Status: 1/9 Unlocked
→ Next Node Location: "The Grave of Skyfire Monarch"
"Skyfire…" Lin Xian murmured. "That god burned half a realm for sport."
> [Note: Skyfire Monarch's soul was sealed by a Forsaken Temple after the Divine Schism. Remnants may still linger.]
He cracked his neck, feeling the pull of Whisperfang against his back like it hungered for divine blood.
And he didn't mind.
---
The path wound downward into a valley that shimmered with heat mirage, even though no sun pierced the gray skies. Old banners fluttered, scorched and unreadable. Bones littered the cracked stone—some human, others not.
Lin Xian halted before a shattered monolith.
Upon it, a carved inscription pulsed faintly, reactivating as he approached:
> "Only those who walk with death beside them may enter."
He stepped forward.
The world bent.
---
🔥 Trial Realm: Grave of the Skyfire Monarch
Flames erupted from all sides. A crimson battlefield stretched endlessly—ashen sand, burning winds, skies choked with fireclouds. And at the center, seated atop a throne of molten iron—
The Skyfire Monarch.
Or what was left of him.
His body was skeletal, burning eternally. But his eyes still gleamed with divine hatred.
"You dare tread my grave, mortal?"
"I am no mortal," Lin Xian replied, raising both blades. "I'm what follows after gods fall."
The Monarch rose, fire cascading from his armor like a second skin.
Then he charged.
---
The fight was not fair.
Skyfire moved like an inferno given form—each strike melted the earth, each roar summoned solar flame.
Lin Xian dodged, flickered, parried—but his arm scorched, shoulder cracked, breath singed from the inside.
> [Health Dropping Rapidly – Activating Passive Skill: Ashen Rebirth]
His body healed as flames devoured him. And with each pain-fueled breath, his will burned hotter.
Then he saw it—beneath the Monarch's throne, hidden by the fire:
A black stone seal, pulsing with containment sigils.
> [Objective: Shatter the seal. End the Monarch's echo.]
He raced under a torrent of flame, stabbing Whisperfang into the sigils.
They screamed.
The Monarch roared. "You dare bind me again?!"
"No," Lin Xian whispered. "This time, I erase you."
With a final surge of Hellfire Draw, he cleaved through the core.
The realm shattered.
---
He awoke outside the trial gate, panting, smoking, but alive.
> [Seal Broken: 2/9]
[New Skill Unlocked: Infernal Bloodline (Passive)]
[New Ability: Flame Immunity – Tier I]
[Divine Points Gained: +45]
But then—
The wind changed.
And a new message flashed:
> [Alert: System Interference Detected.]
[Origin: ???]
[Message Incoming…]
And it was just one word:
"Found you."