Lin Xuanji slept the way exhausted people sleep: instantly, deeply, and with the grace of a sack of potatoes.
But somewhere past midnight, as the wind settled and Heavenly Peak fell quiet, something tugged gently at the corners of his mind.
Not the System.
Not the mountain.
Something older.
A faint warmth stirred behind his eyelids—like a memory he had forgotten how to remember.
He found himself standing in a vast expanse of darkness.
No ground.
No sky.
Just an endless void.
"…Hello?" he called.
His voice echoed endlessly.
Then light flickered—brief, broken, like a candle trying to survive a storm.
A silhouette appeared. Tall. Blurry. Familiar in a way that made his chest tighten without explanation.
"Who… who are you?" Lin Xuanji whispered.
The silhouette stepped forward.
But just as its face began to form—
The world cracked.
A sharp, splintering noise tore through the void, like fragile glass breaking under pressure.
Lin Xuanji clutched his head. "Wha—AAAH!"
The light shattered.
The darkness collapsed.
A voice—soft, pained, far away—murmured through the breaking world:
"Not yet… you're not ready…"
And everything snapped.
---
Lin Xuanji gasped awake, drenched in sweat, heart pounding like a drum being played by a drunk drummer.
He sat up, groaning loudly as he wiped his forehead.
"System," he croaked, "why… why was I dreaming about horror films?"
(Host experienced a subconscious memory disturbance.)
"Subcon—what now?"
(Memories that were sealed attempted to surface.)
Lin Xuanji froze. "Memories? What memories? I only remember Earth and then waking up here!"
(Those are not the only memories sealed.)
Lin Xuanji stared at the darkness of his hut, his pulse racing faster. "System… what else is sealed?"
(Information restricted. Host is not prepared.)
"That's not an answer!"
(It is the only answer available.)
Lin Xuanji threw his blanket off. "Great! Fantastic! Now I can't even trust my own dreams!"
He paced in his hut like a man trying to burn off panic. "Why did I hear 'not yet'? Not yet what? And who—"
He froze mid-sentence.
Because he realized something.
Whoever that silhouette was…
It felt familiar.
Deeply familiar.
Like a name on the tip of his tongue.
His chest tightened.
He didn't know why.
He hated it.
He inhaled shakily. "System… is this going to keep happening?"
(Yes.)
Lin Xuanji slapped the air. "THAT WAS NOT THE ANSWER I WANTED!"
(Frequency will increase as cultivation grows.)
He covered his face. "Perfect. Just perfect. Nightmares as a reward for improvement."
He stepped outside to calm down.
The mountain air was cold, but refreshing.
The moon hung above the peak like a lantern watching everything silently.
Ruolan's hut was dark.
Feng Xiao's had a faint ember glow at the edges—her physique reacting lightly in her sleep.
Ling Xueyin's hut… had no light, but he felt a strange pressure from it, like she wasn't really sleeping.
He decided not to think about that.
He sat on a rock, hugging his knees. "System… why do I feel like someone is waiting for me?"
(Because someone is.)
Lin Xuanji's breath hitched. "Who?"
(Information restricted.)
He groaned into his sleeves. "Why do I even bother asking…"
The mountain hummed softly beneath him, calming, almost protective.
He didn't notice Ling Xueyin quietly stepping out of her hut, watching him silently from a distance.
Her eyes softened with a mixture of sadness and relief.
"…Soon," she whispered to herself, voice carried away by the wind. "But not yet."
Lin Xuanji rubbed his face. "Okay. Enough drama. Tomorrow… tomorrow I pretend none of this happened."
He stood and walked back into his hut, forcing sleep back upon himself.
The mountain stayed awake.
Watching.
Guarding.
Waiting.