Chapter Three : Hunters Do Not Hunt Prey Alone
Night in the City of the Ten Paths is not for sleeping.
It is for sale.
Information.
Blood.
Contracts.
Lin Chi sat in an abandoned back courtyard, surrounded by three circles carved into the ground. Xiao Yin watched him closely.
"Don't use sect energy," she said.
"They'll know."
He nodded.
Closed his eyes.
The legacy responded.
[Activation: Chaotic Purification]
Result: Random skill
Cost: Unknown
The ground trembled.
Then everything fell silent.
[Skill Acquired: Limit Break]
Effect: Temporarily surpasses the opponent's level
Constraint: Collapse after use
He opened his eyes.
At that very moment—
the walls exploded.
They entered.
Five of them.
Each bearing the symbol of a different sect.
Sect Hunters.
"Lin Chi," one of them said.
"Come quietly."
Lin Chi stood up.
Tightened his grip on the sword.
"I don't know quiet."
The battle erupted.
Techniques.
Clashes.
Blood.
Lin Chi used Limit Break.
The world slowed.
One strike…
dropped two of them.
Then the pain returned.
He dropped to one knee.
The third hunter raised his sword—
But Xiao Yin appeared behind him and stabbed.
"I told you not to walk alone."
Lin Chi rose slowly.
Under the dim light,
it was clear—
From this night on…
he was wanted.
By the sects.
By the city.
And by the legacy itself.
The Market Where Fate Is Sold
Only corpses remained in the courtyard.
And blood.
Lin Chi stood at the center, breathing slowly, the sword in his hand still dripping. The pain in his body had not vanished—it had turned into a cold weight, like a debt postponed.
The legacy did not speak.
That was worse.
Xiao Yin wiped her blade and scanned the surroundings quickly.
"The hunters won't come one by one anymore."
Lin Chi turned his head.
"Then we change locations."
She led him through hidden passages and stairways that only appeared to those who knew them, until they reached a low stone gate with no guards—yet the air around it was dense.
"The Market of Fate," she said.
"Here, no one asks who you are… only what you have."
They entered.
The noise hit him all at once.
Cultivators in strange clothing, bound beasts, masked elders, and treasures laid out on unguarded tables—because theft here meant instant death.
The legacy trembled violently.
[Pure Chaos Source Detected]
[Distance: Near]
Lin Chi moved without hesitation.
He stopped in front of a small black box, its lock deliberately broken.
The seller did not raise his head.
"What's inside is not sold for money."
"Then what do you want?" Lin Chi asked.
The man smiled, toothless.
"Something from you."
The legacy pulsed.
Lin Chi opened the box.
Inside…
was a piece of black bone, carved with an incomplete symbol.
[Treasure: Broken Path Bone]
Description: Remains of a pathless entity
Benefit: Stabilizes chaos
Cost: Loss of one name
Lin Chi did not hesitate.
He took it.
At that same moment—
a name vanished from his memory.
He did not know which name.
But the emptiness remained.
Xiao Yin stared at him sharply.
"What did you lose?"
He shook his head.
"I don't know."
But the legacy…
grew quiet.