They spoke for less than an hour, but what passed between them would mark the next century.
Lian Yue was strange — older than her years, and yet raw with curiosity. She didn't speak like a child of sects or saints; she spoke like someone who remembered things she shouldn't.
"I see echoes when I sleep," she told him. "A hall of light. Five thrones. A fire that forgets to die."
Liu Feng's heart clenched. "You see the High Hall of the Divine."
She tilted her head. "Then you've seen it too."
Silence stretched between them, threaded by the hum of their spirits.
When she stepped closer, gravity itself seemed to lean toward her — stones lifted, dust spiraled, and even the light bent in slow arcs.
The Genesis System reacted instantly.
> [Caution. Field distortion exceeding safe threshold.]
[Recommendation: Maintain distance.]
He ignored it again.
"What do you want from me, Lian Yue?" he asked.
"To understand why the heavens gave us power," she said. "And why they fear what they've created."
He studied her eyes — calm, clear, but within them, a shadow coiled like smoke waiting for breath.
"You think they fear us?"
"I know they do," she said. "Because we are the balance they couldn't keep."
Before he could answer, a flash tore across the sky — lightning without thunder.
The ground convulsed, and an immense shape descended through the clouds: a Divine Construct, one of the god-temple's enforcers. It landed with a sound like metal prayer, wings of glass folded in geometric perfection.
Lian Yue's eyes widened. "They found us."
> [Alert: Divine presence confirmed. Class — Judgment Node.]
[Command: Run.]
Liu Feng's blade ignited in twin flames. "No. If we run now, they'll hunt forever."
The Construct's voice thundered through the valley. "Children of balance, cease your convergence. The prophecy must not unite."
Its chest opened, revealing a spinning orb of light — a containment core.
Lian Yue raised her hands, summoning the weight of gravity itself. "Then let's see if the gods can still bleed."
The mountain shattered.
Flame and starlight collided, fusing into a storm that burned without sound.
For a moment, their spirits synchronized completely — Phoenix and Serpent, creation and void.
The Divine Construct cracked down the center, its light flickering out.
But victory came with a cost.
As the light faded, Liu Feng saw blood on Lian Yue's palm — bright, celestial blue.
"You're hurt."
She shook her head weakly. "It's not blood. It's memory leaking."
Then she vanished, dissolved into light.
The system's voice dimmed into a whisper:
> [Synchronization complete.]
[Warning: The Phoenix thread has been marked by the Divine. Destiny acceleration imminent.]
[Prepare for convergence.]
Liu Feng stood alone amid the ruins, smoke rising like ghosts.
Above him, the night sky glowed with seven cracks of color — the same that had opened when he was born.
He realized then: the prophecy was not beginning
. It was continuing — through him, through her, through whatever came next.