The air was no longer still.
Not in the mountains. Not in the sky. Not inside Wang Lin's chest.
The egg, sealed within his spiritual inventory, had begun to vibrate—not softly, not subtly.
Violently.
Every heartbeat echoed with its pull.
Every breath he took sent ripples through the spiritual field around him.
And deep inside his mind—
He saw it.
A flicker.
A flash.
A world that wasn't his.
A sky torn in half by wings so vast they blocked the stars.
A dragon. Unbound. Burning.
And then—shackled.
Chained to a mountain of ash by ropes made of souls. Screaming silently into the void.
Wang Lin's eyes snapped open, drenched in sweat.
The vision vanished.
But his pulse didn't slow.
| "You saw it, didn't you?" |
"…It was real?"
| "A memory. Not yours. The Void Dragon's." |
He clenched his fists.
"What was that place?"
| "The Outer Cycle. Where all Void Entities are cast before they fully awaken. Your egg carries fragments of it—memories bound in chains." |
Wang Lin stood in silence, eyes shadowed beneath his pale hair.
"I felt it," he whispered. "Its pain."
| "Not pain." | Long Shan's voice was quieter now. | "Rage." |
That night, Pavilion Seventeen pulsed with rising energy.
Even without runes, formations, or spiritual torches, the broken platform beneath Wang Lin lit with a subtle glow — a beacon invisible to most, but impossible to those sensitive to Void Qi.
The egg appeared before him again, called out by instinct — not summoned.
It hovered quietly, spinning with golden veins threading brighter than before.
And when he reached out—
The second crack formed.
Not by pressure.
Not by force.
But by recognition.
Wang Lin's touch didn't break it.
His will did.
And what emerged from the fracture… was a single, shimmering scale.
Small.
Violet.
Alive.
It floated into his palm and vanished—absorbed into his skin like ink into parchment.
He gasped, falling to one knee as his body screamed with cold fire.
| "Dragon Trait Assimilation: Stage Two Triggered." |
| "Initiating Trait: Void Pulse Core." |
[New Trait: Void Pulse Core] • Core Qi stores now feed from both spiritual energy and void field anomalies • Defensive regeneration increased • Attack speed +28% when Qi is under 30% • Secondary Heartform Awakening (Locked)
| "Wang Lin... this is a turning point." |
He looked up, panting.
"What do you mean?"
| "You're no longer just its wielder." "You're becoming its mirror." |
Wang Lin stood, spine straightening despite the burn tearing through his limbs.
His voice was low.
Controlled.
"I'm not scared."
| "Good. Because something just crossed into this realm." |
A moment later, the sky above the sect cracked open.
Not with lightning.
But with darkness.
A rift.
A tear in the spiritual atmosphere, wide as a canyon and alive with shadow.
From within it, a beast stepped out—ten meters tall, covered in ritual armor, six arms, and a head that held no face.
It landed in the outer forest with a tremor that reached the inner sanctum.
Elders rose from their meditation circles. Wards activated. Bells began to toll.
But the rift didn't close.
More were coming.
And every elder who tried to read the aura of the creature recoiled instantly, muttering the same word:
"Voidborn."
Back in Pavilion Seventeen, Wang Lin didn't flinch.
He tied the last fold of his robe, flexed his fingers, and looked up.
"They're not here by accident."
| "No. The dragon called them." |
"And if I don't stop them?"
| "Then this world breaks open before the egg does." |
He stepped into the wind.
And vanished.
As the Voidborn beast raised its first blade toward a sect patrol team—
Wang Lin appeared.
Right in front of it.
Unarmed.
Unshaken.
His voice cut the air like thunder.
"You're standing on my soil."
The beast didn't respond.
It just charged.
And Wang Lin smiled.
| "Time to show them what hatches when the heavens betray a dragon." |