Jade Circle back to Pavilion Seventeen was quiet. No one dared follow him. No one dared speak his name.
But Wang Lin didn't walk like someone who had won a duel.
He walked like someone who had claimed a debt — a long-overdue payment collected in blood and silence.
He arrived at the pavilion just as the sky turned a deep orange, shadows stretching like long fingers across the cliff walls. Inside, he dropped his outer robe over the railing and knelt beside the cultivation platform.
He closed his eyes.
The fight still echoed in his limbs. Not just the pain. But the clarity. The rush.
And underneath it all… something stirred.
Heat coiled in his chest.
A pulse. Faint but rising.
The Celestial Dragon Bloodline wasn't just reacting anymore.
It was watching.
Listening.
Changing.
"Long Shan."
"Right here."
"Something's waking up in the bloodline."
"I know. You've pushed past the restraint layer. You're starting to stir ancestral fragments."
"That good or bad?"
"Both."
Wang Lin opened his eyes slowly.
The mist outside was beginning to shimmer with faint blue light, drawn to his presence like moths to flame.
"Your soul thread's strong enough now," Long Shan said. "I can offer you something new."
"I'm listening."
A small pause.
Then the system's voice returned, more deliberate than ever before.
"Do you wish to unlock the Universal Shop?"
Wang Lin raised an eyebrow.
"…Universal?"
"An extension of me. A network forged in the ancient blood, drawn from remnants of past legacies tied to this bloodline."
"It adapts to your needs. Offers you what you cannot find elsewhere — techniques, pills, tools, memories. But it does not come without cost."
"Nothing does."
"You'll use system points — earned through combat, dominance, and growth. No cheats. No charity."
"Just what you're ready to claim."
Wang Lin stood and walked to the edge of the pavilion, staring out over the mist.
His heart didn't race. His breath didn't quicken.
Only one word left his mouth.
"Yes."
"Universal Shop unlocked."
A blue ring appeared before him — quiet, unobtrusive, floating with a soft glow. Words and symbols shifted along its outer rim, changing faster than the eye could follow.
Then a single panel formed in the air before him.
[Universal Shop: Tier 1 – Initiate Access]
Available Points: 11
New Items Available:
Minor Healing Elixir (x1) — 3 SP
Silent Movement Technique (Low Grade) — 6 SP
Ironbody Reinforcement (1-Hour Buff) — 5 SP
Celestial Flame Seed (Locked) — 20 SP
Legacy Fragment [Unknown Origin] (Locked) — 30 SP
"Shop will evolve as your bloodline deepens. These items are echoes — echoes tied to what the Celestial Dragon once touched, burned, or shattered."
"No gambling?"
"No randomness. You pick. You pay. You endure."
Wang Lin stared at the list.
He wasn't foolish enough to waste points on minor buffs. Not yet. Not now.
But that last item… Legacy Fragment.
Thirty points.
Too far for now. But not unreachable.
He closed the panel with a thought.
"Save all points for now."
"Confirmed."
"And Long Shan…"
"Yeah?"
Wang Lin's voice was low. Firm.
"Don't let me become like them."
"You won't."
"I won't let you."
That night, he didn't train.
He sat outside the pavilion, eyes on the stars, hands resting on his knees. His hair danced in the wind like white fire.
He thought of the shop.
Of the fragments he'd one day reach.
Of the power that came from not being given a chance — but taking it.
And in that stillness, the bloodline inside him pulsed again.
Like it approved.
Or remembered.
Or both.
He closed his eyes.
The mountain wouldn't deny him again.
Not this time.
Not ever.