The return was not immediate.
Khaelor did not allow simple departures, and the Empire did not open portals to a continent that did not officially exist on its public maps. For three full days, Lin Ye remained in a border region of the continent—a place where distortions were less aggressive, yet still present enough to prevent precise localization. Kael-Ur stayed nearby, not as an escort, but as a temporal anchor. His mere existence—warped yet stable—kept the environment from folding unpredictably around Lin Ye.
"You won't leave as you arrived," Kael-Ur said on the final night. "The Empire does not tolerate changes it cannot record."
Lin Ye sat on a low rock, watching fragments of the landscape slowly rearrange themselves in the distance. Since his experience within the spatial memory zone, he had learned not to stare too long at any single point. Space here remembered too much, and persistent observation was a way of provoking it.
"I don't intend to hide what I am," Lin Ye replied. "But I don't intend to explain it either."
Kael-Ur let out a short laugh.
"A wise choice. Explanations are more dangerous than secrets."
When the portal activated, it was not a stable structure like those of the Empire. It was a forced coincidence—a point where three spatial trajectories overlapped for a limited span. Kael-Ur stopped short of crossing it.
"I won't follow you," he said. "If I did, the Empire would know too much."
Lin Ye looked at him.
"Will we meet again?"
Kael-Ur held his gaze for a long moment.
"That depends on whether you survive what comes next. And on whether you choose to remain yourself… when you're given the option to be something else."
The portal collapsed behind Lin Ye with a dry sound, like a book snapping shut.
When his feet touched solid ground, the air was different. Cleaner. More rigid. Too orderly.
He was back in Auralis.
Not at the Southern Front, but in a secondary imperial city—one that served as an administrative node and information-gathering hub. Symmetrical towers, streets laid out with mathematical precision, formations embedded in every important building. Everything was where it was supposed to be.
The fragmented clock reacted immediately.
Not with rejection.
With caution.
The world here was stable, but that stability was imposed rather than natural. Every fluctuation was contained, every anomaly monitored. Lin Ye felt dozens of detection systems brush against his existence like curious fingers, yet none managed to lock onto him completely. The foundations he had gained in Khaelor did not make him invisible… they made him ambiguous.
He was intercepted before he could take twenty steps.
"Lin Ye," said a familiar voice. "You're late."
Zhao Wen stood beside a half-active sealing formation, accompanied by two figures in dark robes. They radiated no overt pressure, but their presences were dense, carefully contained.
"Time behaves differently in Khaelor," Lin Ye replied calmly. "I assume you already knew that."
Zhao Wen studied him closely.
"We knew you wouldn't return the same," he said. "But we didn't know how much you would change."
He gestured, and the formation dispersed.
"Come. There are people who wish to see you."
The chamber he was led into was neither a sealed vault nor an official office. It was a wide hall, soberly furnished, with no visible imperial symbols. Even so, Lin Ye felt the pressure of authority the moment he crossed the threshold. It wasn't martial power—it was historical weight.
Three people awaited him.
One was Zhao Wen.
The second was an elderly man with dark skin and completely white hair, seated in a relaxed posture but with a piercing gaze. Lin Ye immediately sensed that the man was not entirely present on the same plane as they were.
The third was a young woman of ordinary appearance, except that her shadow did not align perfectly with her body.
"Lin Ye," the old man said calmly. "I am Xu Liang, Custodian of the Deep Record."
Lin Ye inclined his head slightly.
"I don't appear in many records," he replied.
Xu Liang smiled.
"That is precisely the problem."
The woman spoke next.
"I am Shen Rui," she said. "I represent a faction that does not appear in decrees or banners."
Zhao Wen added,
"They are here because the Empire has reached a preliminary conclusion about you."
Lin Ye remained silent.
Xu Liang leaned forward.
"You survived Khaelor without awakening an active bloodline. You endured concepts that devour entire cultivators. And most importantly… you did not attempt to claim them."
"That makes you a dangerous variable," Shen Rui continued. "But also an opportunity."
Zhao Wen placed both hands on the table.
"The Empire will not execute you," he said. "Nor will it openly protect you."
"Then what will it do?" Lin Ye asked.
Xu Liang answered without hesitation.
"It will release you."
The silence that followed was heavy.
"Release me?" Lin Ye repeated.
"We will remove you from the Southern Front and from active military records," Zhao Wen explained. "You will have no rank, no official mission, no direct backing. But you will also face no immediate restrictions."
Shen Rui added,
"In return, the Empire will observe. Not with orders… but with consequences."
Lin Ye understood immediately.
"If I cause a major distortion…" he said.
"We will act," Xu Liang confirmed. "Without warning."
Lin Ye took a deep breath.
"And if I do nothing?"
Xu Liang looked at him with interest.
"That, young man, is what concerns us most."
Zhao Wen slid an object across the table—a plaque different from the previous one, dark gray in color, bearing a faint mark shaped like a broken line.
"This will allow you to travel through imperial territories without being detained," he said. "It's not permission. It's an acknowledgment of a tolerated anomaly."
Lin Ye took the plaque.
The fragmented clock vibrated softly.
"Where will I go?" he asked.
Shen Rui smiled faintly.
"Wherever the world begins to fail."
The old man Xu Liang closed his eyes.
"Because those failures are increasing."
Lin Ye stood.
"Then I suppose this is an agreement."
Zhao Wen nodded.
"A temporary one."
When Lin Ye left the hall, the sky over the imperial city looked perfectly normal—too normal. Yet for the first time since his journey had begun, Lin Ye felt it clearly: beneath that ordered surface, time was tightening.
And this time, it wasn't bleeding at a single point.
It was bleeding everywhere.
Far away, in a deep layer of reality, the Eye of the Throne adjusted its focus once more.
The bearer had returned to the board.
And now, the Empire could no longer pretend he did not exist.