The morning after the battle was still.
The corpse of the Envoy of Silence had turned to fine black ash. Its presence, once overwhelming, was now just a faint scar in the ley lines of the Border Sect ruins.
Liu Shen, Yu Meixing, and Lei Qing stood in the vault's deepest chamber, where the memory tablets had begun to hum softly—awakened by Lei Qing's released energy.
> "The Heaven's Pact stored memories here?" Meixing asked.
Lei Qing nodded, brushing her fingers across one.
The tablet flashed—then projected a flickering map.
Lines of energy crisscrossed a massive canyon in the west.
> "This isn't just a hideout," Liu Shen muttered.
"It's a stronghold."
---
The Silent Sanctum
Lei Qing pointed to an unmarked region labeled Blackglass Ravine.
> "It's shielded by the Void Veil Formation. Only memory markers can guide the way."
> "They store scrolls, blood pacts, and forbidden contracts there."
She turned to Liu Shen, her voice sharpened.
> "And they keep the Heaven's Witnesses—oracles who remember the original sin."
Liu Shen's eyes darkened.
> "The night they plotted my death."
> "We strike there next."
Yu Meixing looked cautious.
> "We just fought a faceless envoy. Won't they send worse if we attack a stronghold?"
> "Exactly," Liu Shen said.
He wasn't trying to avoid conflict anymore.
He was inviting it.
---
Preparing the Strike
Liu Shen knelt beside one of the old storage chambers and began crafting a message using sovereign qi and blood ink.
It wasn't a letter—it was a challenge, disguised as a sect heirloom's return ritual.
> "We send this to the Heaven's Pact," he said.
> "Let them believe we intend a parley. They'll lower the wards at Blackglass Ravine—just long enough."
Yu Meixing raised a brow.
> "And we storm it?"
> "No," Liu Shen said. "We expose it."
---
A Message Sent to Heaven
The final touch was added: a broken medallion belonging to one of the dead envoys, sealed in a box carved from Black Jade—an ancient diplomatic symbol.
Lei Qing infused it with a false memory stream of "negotiation."
The package would arrive at the Sky-Piercing Temple, where Jian Xu's influence ran deepest.
And in return, the heavens would open their door—unaware the devil was walking through.
---
Elsewhere: Heaven's Council Stirs
Inside the Celestial Chamber, a long table sat in eerie silence as Jian Xu read the message.
Behind him, Flamekeeper Linya stood, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.
> "He wants to talk?" she asked, voice skeptical.
Jian Xu smiled faintly.
> "He's too proud. If he sent this…"
> "He's baiting us."
Linya's lips curled.
> "Let him. When he arrives, we'll finish what we started."
---
Back at the Ruins
Liu Shen stood on a cliff overlooking the dawn.
> "Blackglass Ravine holds the key," he said to no one.
> "And once I retrieve it… not even the heavens will deny the truth."
Lei Qing stepped beside him, eyes sharper than they'd been since her awakening.
> "They feared you before."
> "But now?"
> "Now they'll remember why."