The clouds above Hollow Gorge churned with a ghostly hue, casting a sickly glow over the jagged cliffs. Jayden Cross stood at the edge of the ravine, wind slashing at his robes, his heart thrumming with a mix of awe and apprehension. Below, a thick silver mist churned in unnatural spirals — the Bone-Eating Mist, a phenomenon feared by even the strongest cultivators.
Behind him, Lena approached, her steps light but steady. "You're sure the next Dragon Rune is down there?"
Jayden nodded. "The Bone-Eating Mist devours the flesh of the unworthy… but deep inside the gorge lies the Flame-Scripted Jade. According to Master Yoru's map, it's tied to my father's bloodline."
Lena's eyes narrowed. "And once again, you go alone."
"I have to. This test is for those who carry the Dragon Mark," Jayden said, glancing at the glowing mark beneath his palm. "If someone without the bloodline enters, the gorge will crush their meridians instantly."
She stepped closer, slipping a talisman into his hand. "This suppresses external soul attacks. You'll need it."
He hesitated, then pocketed it. "Thank you."
And without another word, Jayden leapt over the cliff.
The descent was brutal.
The deeper he fell, the heavier the mist became — not just in substance, but in presence. It clawed at his skin, hissed against his protective chi barrier, and whispered forgotten names into his ears.
He touched down lightly on a cracked ledge halfway down the gorge. Visibility was nearly zero. His skin stung. From the stories, the mist had once consumed an entire sect that sought to weaponize it — only bones had been recovered.
Jayden knelt and opened his storage pouch, removing the pill he'd refined just two days before — the Bone Binding Pill, a fourth-grade creation meant to reinforce skeletal integrity. He swallowed it in one gulp, then activated his chi sense, sending pulses outward like sonar.
Something moved in the mist.
He turned just in time to see a shadowy figure lunge from the gloom, claws extended, eyes glowing with eerie crimson light. Jayden struck first — his body reacted before his thoughts did, muscles twisting instinctively into Flowing Dragon Form.
His foot slammed into the creature's chest, sending it tumbling into the mist — but not before it raked his arm, tearing through his sleeve and leaving a shallow wound that sizzled with necrotic venom.
"Wraith beasts," he muttered, pressing his palm to the cut and channeling heat through his veins to burn out the poison.
He pushed forward, the air growing colder. He passed shattered statues carved into the canyon walls — warriors frozen in agony. Perhaps victims. Perhaps defenders.
He stopped when he reached a circular platform suspended by stone chains over the heart of the gorge. At its center, floating above an altar of jade, was a glowing orb of flame — the Flame-Scripted Jade. Inside, he could see carvings swirling like a living language.
The moment his foot touched the platform, the mist shrieked.
Three figures emerged from the mist.
No faces. No voices. Only shapes of ancient cultivators clad in armor made of wind and bone. Guardians of the Flame-Scripted Jade.
Jayden's hands clenched into fists, his chi blazing. He activated his Chi Compression Art, forcing his internal energy to condense to its most lethal form. His body hummed like a bowstring.
The first guardian attacked — a spinning cyclone of kicks that shattered the air. Jayden responded in kind, unleashing the Third Form of the Dragon: Sky-Thresher Claw. His palm carved through the air, deflecting the kicks before smashing through the guardian's chest, dispersing it into mist.
The second came at him with a spear made of condensed wind. Jayden dropped low, evading the thrust, then countered with a series of rapid palm strikes that sent shockwaves echoing into the chasm.
The third was different.
It didn't attack.
It spoke.
"You carry the mark… but do you carry the memory?"
Jayden frowned. "What do you mean?"
The guardian raised its translucent hand, and the flame orb split open like a flower — revealing a vision.
Jayden was no longer standing on the platform.
He stood in the past.
The world around him was ash and ruin. Martial sects burned. Skies cracked with lightning.
A man stood at the center of it all — tall, bare-chested, wrapped in blood-soaked robes. His eyes glowed gold, and on his back blazed a dragon formed of pure flame.
Jayden knew, instinctively, who he was looking at.
His father.
The vision played out like memory: Jayden's father roaring as he faced down ten elite cultivators. His strikes tore through space. His chi burned like the sun. One by one, they fell — until a final figure emerged: cloaked, faceless, wielding an artifact shaped like a severed dragon's head.
The man muttered a curse, and Jayden's father screamed as chains of dark chi wrapped around him, pulling him into the void.
And then, blackness.
Jayden gasped as the vision ended.
"You saw," the third guardian said.
"Who was that last figure?" Jayden demanded.
"The one who bound your father? He was once a friend. Now, a betrayer. He hunts your bloodline still."
Jayden stepped forward, his voice low. "Tell me his name."
But the guardian only bowed.
"If you seek truth, take the Flame-Scripted Jade. Let it burn the lie from the world."
Jayden approached the altar. The moment his fingers touched the jade, fire surged through him — not destructive, but enlightening. He felt a seal in his chest crack open, releasing a flood of ancestral knowledge:
Pill recipes lost to time
Dragon techniques sealed since ancient dynasties
Maps, secrets, and hidden martial ruins
And deeper still — a whisper from his blood.
"The man who took your father… walks beneath the name 'Master Orrin'…"
Jayden's eyes flew open.
Back at the surface, Lena turned as a burst of flame erupted from the gorge. Jayden soared upward, riding a trail of dragon-shaped fire. His eyes glowed with knowledge — and fury.
He landed, breathing hard.
"You found it," Lena said.
"I found more than that," Jayden replied.
He turned toward the northern sky, where an old enemy had just received a new name.