The three of them walked out of the graveyard in awkward silence, the evening wind whistling through crooked trees as if even the air was laughing at them.
Shen Hao rubbed his temples. "We came out of school, took three turns… and ended up between tombstones. That has to be a cosmic record for getting lost."
Zhenyu floated a few inches off the ground like he always did, completely unfazed, arms crossed behind his head. "Relax, Shen Hao. I was just… appreciating Earth's artistic choices. Gravestones in neat rows. Very atmospheric."
Haoran gave his older brother a look. "You teleported us randomly, didn't you?"
Zhenyu smirked, clearly proud of himself. "Maybe. Builds character."
"Builds headaches," Shen Hao muttered, jumping down from a stone ledge back onto the street below. His shoes crunched against broken gravel as the trio finally left the graveyard behind.
They hadn't gone far when Haoran suddenly slowed down, his gaze lifting toward the fading sky. Shen Hao noticed the subtle shift instantly, the easygoing calm on Haoran's face was gone, replaced by the kind of sharp stillness that meant something was wrong.
"What is it?" Shen Hao asked, his voice dropping automatically.
Haoran didn't answer immediately. His eyes glimmered faint silver as faint rings of Qi energy formed inside his pupils, scanning techniques, advanced ones.
Beside him, even Zhenyu stopped floating, his feet finally touching the ground.
After a long moment, Haoran said evenly,
"Multiple energy signatures. Outer-atmosphere level. Not Concord scouts… not ours either. Someone else has marked this planet."
That made Shen Hao's stomach tighten.
For ten years inside the Echoing Mountain Realm, Earth had felt like a distant dream. Quiet. Safe. Small. But now… strangers from the stars were circling above like vultures who had smelled something rare.
As they started walking again, Haoran began speaking in that calm, teacher-like tone of his.
"Listen, Shen Hao. Rising too fast in cultivation attracts attention. Even in the Concord worlds, news spreads. A Demi-Conqueror peak in under fifteen years? That's the kind of talent entire factions kill or kidnap over."
"Kill or kidnap?" Shen Hao repeated sharply.
"Ascendant Hall," Haoran continued, ignoring his reaction, "likes to 'invite' geniuses to join them. Refusal isn't… usually an option. Then there's the Eclipsed Star Clan. Assassins. Efficient. Entire planets burned because one genius refused to join them."
Zhenyu grinned as if that part sounded fun. "Oh, and don't forget the Ninefold Veil. Information brokers. They sell coordinates, bloodline data, soul imprints… you name it. If someone paid them enough, even your breakfast schedule wouldn't be secret."
Shen Hao stared at both of them.
"You're telling me three different groups might want to either recruit me, kill me, or sell me like some rare beast?"
Zhenyu patted his shoulder cheerfully. "Congratulations, little brother. You're famous."
"Feels more like a death flag," Shen Hao muttered.
The sky above them suddenly rippled.
Not like clouds moving. More like… reality itself bending.
A streak of faint silver light broke through the clouds in the far distance, descending slowly, steadily, until it touched down somewhere beyond the treeline several kilometers away.
Even from here, Shen Hao felt the Qi radiating from it, cold, precise, heavy like a blade against the back of his neck.
Haoran's eyes narrowed. "Not Concord design. Not good."
Zhenyu tilted his head, looking far too entertained for the situation. "Finally, some excitement. I was getting bored."
"Bored?" Shen Hao snapped. "Something just landed on Earth radiating enough power to make my teeth hurt, and you're bored?"
Zhenyu shrugged. "I was promised cosmic danger. This feels promising."
They moved closer, sticking to the edge of the woods as the silver craft came into view.
It wasn't a spaceship, at least not like Earth would imagine. No metal hulls or engines.
This thing looked grown, not built, layers of silver-white material like overlapping scales, runes pulsing faintly between them. It radiated life the way trees did, like it was breathing softly.
Then part of it opened.
A single figure stepped out.
Tall. Clad in armor carved with symbols Shen Hao couldn't read. The runes pulsed faint red as though tasting the air.
The figure ignored everything, the wind, the strange sky, even Haoran and Zhenyu.
Its gaze locked directly on Shen Hao.
And then it spoke, voice calm but carrying across the field like thunder rolling over mountains:
"Which one of you is Shen Hao?"
The wind died instantly.
Even Zhenyu stopped smiling.
Shen Hao felt his heartbeat slam once against his ribs, because whoever this was… their aura wasn't just strong.
It felt ancient.
The air between them felt like it had turned solid.
Shen Hao didn't answer immediately. He simply stood there, arms loose at his sides, eyes narrowed on the figure who had just descended onto Earth like it owned the place.
Beside him, Zhenyu leaned over to Haoran and muttered just loud enough for Shen Hao to hear:
"See? He's already making dramatic entrances like I do. I like this guy."
Haoran shot him a look. "Not the time."
The figure stepped closer, boots leaving faint red ripples in the grass where it walked. That aura pressed harder with every step, level five Beginning Realm if Shen Hao had to guess, maybe higher, except it wasn't the raw power that made his shoulders tense.
It was the precision.
This man's cultivation didn't spill or flare like ordinary cultivators. It was compressed, sharpened into something surgical. Like if he chose, the entire clearing would vanish in a single motion.
"You are Shen Hao," the man said again, not a question this time.
Shen Hao's jaw tightened, but his voice came out calm. "And if I am?"
The figure finally stopped a few meters away. Then, to Shen Hao's surprise, it didn't attack. It didn't threaten.
It simply tilted its head and said a name Shen Hao had never heard before:
"The Astral Tribunal has taken interest in you."
Shen Hao blinked. "…the what now?"
Haoran's face changed slightly at those words. Not fear, but recognition.
"Great," he muttered under his breath. "The Tribunal moves faster than I thought."
Zhenyu grinned like this was the best thing to happen all week. "Oh, this is getting fun. First Ascendant Hall, now the Astral Tribunal? Little brother, you're collecting factions like stray cats."
Shen Hao turned on both of them. "Would someone like to explain why groups I've never even heard of suddenly know my name?!"
The armored figure didn't clarify. Instead, he reached into a belt clasp and produced a small sphere of faintly glowing crystal. It hovered above his palm, runes flickering across its surface.
"This contains your record," the man said simply. "Your cultivation progress. Your combat patterns. Your… potential."
The way he said potential made Shen Hao's skin prickle.
"We watch all rising talents," the man continued. "Some we guide. Some we erase before they become… problems."
"Erase?" Shen Hao repeated sharply.
Haoran finally stepped forward, placing himself casually between Shen Hao and the stranger. His expression was calm, but his hand rested lightly on the hilt of the short blade at his hip.
"Enough speeches. State your faction's intent before I assume it's hostile."
The man regarded Haoran in silence for several long seconds. Then he said three words:
"Summon your master."
Shen Hao almost choked.
"You want Mo Han?!"
The man didn't answer.
Inside Shen Hao's mind, Mo Han's voice finally stirred, calm as always:
"Do not summon me. Not yet. He isn't here to fight."
Shen Hao kept his expression blank. "My master isn't exactly in the habit of answering random invitations."
The figure's eyes glowed faintly through his helmet. "He will. Eventually."
Then, without warning, he tossed the crystal sphere lightly into the air. It dissolved into a thousand fragments of light that scattered like fireflies and vanished.
Message delivered.
Without another word, the armored man turned and began walking back toward his strange silver vessel.
He paused once, just before stepping back inside, and glanced over his shoulder at Shen Hao.
"Grow stronger quickly, Earthborn. The next ones who come will not speak first."
And with that, the vessel sealed itself shut.
A low hum rolled through the clearing as it lifted silently into the sky, shrinking to a silver point before vanishing completely.
The wind returned. The birds began chirping again.
Only then did Zhenyu exhale dramatically.
"Well," he said cheerfully, "that didn't feel ominous at all."
Shen Hao dragged a hand down his face. "Haoran. Zhenyu. Someone explain. Now."
Haoran finally turned to him.
"Astral Tribunal," he said evenly, "judges rising powers across hundreds of systems. If they think someone will destabilize the balance, they… remove them."
Shen Hao stared. "And they think I will destabilize things?!"
Zhenyu laughed. "Little brother, you hit Demi-Conqueror peak before most people finish their first century of cultivation. Of course they think you're dangerous."
"This isn't funny!" Shen Hao snapped.
"Sure it is," Zhenyu said lightly. "Right up until they actually try to kill you. Then it'll be slightly less funny."
Haoran ignored them both. His gaze was still fixed on the empty sky where the vessel had vanished.
"If the Tribunal knows his name," he said quietly, "others will too. We need to move before this planet becomes a battlefield."