The wind over Skyrect's inner sanctum had changed. Since the Twin Flame Trials, Lin Xun had become more than a name—he had become a presence. Disciples watched him with awe. Elders spoke of him with caution. But none knew the weight he carried, nor the storm that gathered just beyond the horizon.
As he stood by the Moon-Crested Balcony, his eyes fixed on the northern sky where the Everlight Sect's celestial city floated in the clouds, his mind replayed the last line of the invitation.
> "Let destiny weave its tale."
Destiny, it seemed, had threads soaked in blood.
---
A Journey Among Starlight
Three days later, Lin Xun departed Skyrect Sect under the escort of two flame envoys and one frost swordmaster. A radiant ark, carved from star-jade and rune-etched silverwood, bore them through the heavens.
He stood at the prow, robes dancing in the wind, gaze sharp as a spirit saber.
Behind him, Yun Qingyue approached, her tone crisp.
"You'll be among the elites of the five great sects. Speak carefully. Fight wisely. And don't provoke Bai Ziyan."
Lin Xun chuckled. "But provoking her might be… inevitable."
She raised a brow. "Don't be foolish. The Everlight Sect is no friend to ours. Ziyan is the heir apparent, born with the Celestial Light Body. You stand in fire. She, in stars."
He turned, flame flickering in his irises.
"Then let stars and fire meet."
---
The Everlight Domain
The sky shifted.
The heavens opened.
And the ark passed into a realm unlike any Lin Xun had seen. Islands of light floated in a silver sea. Pillars of pure star qi pierced the clouds. Towers spiraled infinitely into the sky, their walls glowing with constellations older than the sun.
At the summit of the central island, the Grand Star Hall pulsed like a beating heart.
There, the summit would begin.
Lin Xun stepped off the ark onto a silver bridge flanked by starlight serpents. As they hissed past him, he felt something ancient stir in his blood—a familiarity with the stars he couldn't explain.
The flame within him flared.
Yun Qingyue noticed.
"You felt it, didn't you?"
He nodded slowly. "Why do the stars call me?"
She didn't answer. But her eyes held worry.
---
The Gathering of the Five
The Grand Star Hall was a coliseum carved from moonstone and void-crystal, suspended in the cosmos.
At its center, five thrones floated in a ring: Skyrect, Everlight, Voidspire, Thunderhowl, and the Abyssal Path.
Below them, hundreds of elite disciples gathered—each chosen from their sect as its rising star.
When Lin Xun entered, conversations paused.
He walked slowly, head held high, flames crackling gently around his shoulders like a quiet storm. The emblem of the Azure Flame Emissary shone on his robe.
A disciple from Voidspire leaned to another.
"That's the flame boy who bested the Phoenix Spirit?"
"More like the bastard child of frost and fire," came another sneer from Abyssal Path.
He ignored them.
Until he heard her voice.
"It seems the embers walked all this way just to chase the stars."
He turned.
There she was—Bai Ziyan.
She stood at the edge of her throne dais, robes woven from nebula threads, eyes glowing like twin cosmos. Her presence outshone even the sky.
Lin Xun inclined his head.
"Or perhaps the stars descended to warm themselves in flame."
A murmur rippled through the coliseum.
She smiled faintly. "Bold words. Let's see if you can back them."
---
The First Contest: Realm Dance
The summit was more than politics—it was a test of might, unity, and supremacy.
The first contest was the Realm Dance, a coordinated battle between sect representatives within an evolving spatial illusion.
Each sect sent one challenger.
Everlight sent Bai Ziyan.
Skyrect sent Lin Xun.
They stepped into the crystal ring together, surrounded by mirrors of space and time. Each mirror led to a fragment of a realm—some hellish, some divine.
As the dance began, Lin Xun found himself in a forest of molten glass, Ziyan hovering above on a lotus woven from constellations.
"You know," she said, flicking her fingers and summoning a beam of starlight, "most flames flicker out when they reach the void."
Lin Xun raised his hand. A swirling sphere of frostfire condensed into a comet.
"Maybe this one was born in the void."
They clashed.
Star met flame.
Frost warped time.
Light bent space.
Their silhouettes blurred across shifting realms—ocean temples, inverted mountains, desert moonscapes.
Spectators watched, jaws slack.
They weren't fighting to win. They were fighting to see.
To understand.
To challenge.
And in each blow, each step, something unspoken passed between them.
Not affection.
Not rivalry.
But a strange recognition.
As if two pieces of a puzzle were testing their fit.
The contest ended in a draw—unprecedented.
Daozi frowned. Bai Ziyan simply descended with a smirk.
"Interesting."
---
Aftermath and Intrigue
That night, as starlight bathed the Everlight gardens, Lin Xun stood alone by a celestial pond. Silver koi swam through constellations reflected in the water.
"You fought well today," a voice said behind him.
He didn't turn.
"You watched closely."
A man in a dark robe stepped from the shadows, eyes gleaming like cold fire.
"I represent Thunderhowl Sect. We're interested in your… lineage."
Lin Xun's jaw tightened. "I'm not for sale."
"But you are being hunted."
The man tossed a scroll onto the stone beside Lin Xun. "Read it. Your enemies grow bolder. Even now, the Blood Sect moves."
He vanished.
Lin Xun picked up the scroll.
Inside were names.
Faces.
A bounty.
And at the top—his.
---
The stars twinkled
above.
The lotus shimmered in its chamber.
And far beyond, in a cavern of blood, a mask was raised.
War was no longer a whisper. It was a breath on his neck.
And Lin Xun… was no longer running.