The five traveled through the blood-red forest, deliberately avoiding the main path and following a dry stream bed. A faint metallic tang of blood hung in the air—lingering traces of the earlier battle, mixed with the land's own ominous aura.
"Where are we going now?" Shi Yue slung his stone shield, crisscrossed with cracks, over his shoulder, his honest face etched with worry. "That commotion must have alerted everyone."
"First, find a safe place to rest." Su Luo walked at the front, his hands brushing against the tree trunks along the way. Frost spread from his palms, probing for life signs in the surroundings. "Yun Che's condition is critical."
Indeed, Yun Che's face was as pale as paper, every step feeling like he treading on cotton. The backlash from forcibly replicating the three dragon pacts had been far worse than imagined—his consciousness felt split into countless shards, Yan Xi's battle instinct, Su Luo's cold calculation, and Shi Yue's unyielding will colliding relentlessly in his mind. Every breath sent a searing pain through his head.
Worse still, he could clearly "see" a faint fissure snaking through the center of the Void within him. It was no physical wound, but a rift on the spiritual plane, slowly leaching away his life force.
"Stop." Fan Tian spoke suddenly, his voice muffled beneath his hood.
Everyone halted. Since joining the group, the mysterious black-robed youth had spoken no more than ten words, yet each had cut to the heart of the matter.
Fan Tian stepped forward to Yun Che and held out his hand—his fingers were long and pale, wreathed in faint purple-black lightning. Just as his hand was about to touch Yun Che's forehead, Yan Xi grabbed his wrist.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Examining his soul damage." Fan Tian said calmly, his hooded gaze shifting to Yan Xi. "If you want him to end up a fool or a corpse in three days, I'll stop."
Yan Xi ground her teeth and released his wrist, her eyes still sharp with wariness.
Fan Tian's finger tapped lightly on the silver dragon mark on Yun Che's forehead. In an instant, a cool, tingling energy seeped into the depths of Yun Che's consciousness, like countless tiny lightning serpents, sorting through the chaotic memory shards.
"The core of the Void Dragon Heir's power is 'containment' and 'harmony'." Fan Tian murmured, half to himself, half to the others. "What you did earlier was 'contain' three utterly distinct dragon soul traits, but failed to achieve 'harmony'. They clash in your consciousness, like three dragons trapped in a cramped cage."
The lightning at his fingertips flared brighter. "Now, I'll give you a fourth cage."
Purple-black thunder power surged into Yun Che's body, not as a fourth clashing force, but as a "framework"—an invisible structure that separated the crimson, ice-blue, and earth-yellow energies. The chaotic collisions ebbed rapidly, and the headache began to fade.
Yun Che took a deep breath, finally able to think clearly. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet." Fan Tian withdrew his hand. "This is only a temporary reprieve. You must achieve true 'harmony' within three days, or the backlash will be ten times worse when this framework shatters. And the condition for harmony is—"
He paused. "Finding at least one of the Sun Luminary or the Moon Luminary. The dragon souls of light and shadow are the foundation of harmonizing all things."
"You know an awful lot." Su Luo stared at Fan Tian, a sharp glint flashing in his ice-blue pupils. "This knowledge is not for an ordinary dragon heir."
Fan Tian did not answer, only turning to the depths of the forest. "Someone's coming. Not pursuers. It's her."
Hardly had the words left his mouth when soft white light bloomed in the trees ahead.
It was not the blazing white of fire, nor the frigid white of ice crystals, but a warm, milky glow, like the first light of dawn breaking. Within the light, a slender figure stepped forward slowly.
She was a girl of about fifteen or sixteen, wearing the academy's standard dark green trial robe, but her collar and cuffs were embroidered with delicate silver moon patterns. She had rare silver-white hair, loosely tied up with a simple wooden hairpin, a few strands falling to frame her cheeks. Most striking were her eyes—her left eye a clear gold, her right a deep silver, with faint halos swirling in her heterochromatic pupils.
In her hand, she held a wooden staff half her height, its head inlaid with an egg-sized milky white crystal that emanated the light the others had seen.
"Hello." The girl spoke, her voice clear and soft, like a mountain spring trickling over stone. "My name is Ye Li. I'm looking for someone—or rather, I'm looking for the Void Dragon Heir."
Her gaze fell on Yun Che, and both her gold and silver pupils glowed faintly. "That's you, isn't it? I can feel your Void is on the brink of collapse."
Yan Xi immediately stepped in front of Yun Che, flames flaring in her palms. "Who are you? How do you know all this?"
"I mean no harm." Ye Li smiled, a warm smile that made people lower their guard involuntarily. "In fact, I'm here to help you. Or rather, to fulfill my destiny."
She raised her staff, and the light from the crystal on its head grew softer, rippling outward like water waves and enshrouding the small area where the five stood. Miraculously, the metallic tang of blood in the air faded rapidly, and even the heavy, oppressive dragon might weighing on them lightened considerably.
"What's this..." Shi Yue stared in wonder at the cracks on his shield—they had not healed, but they had stopped spreading.
"Moon Luminary power: harmony and healing." Ye Li said softly, then looked at Yun Che. "You are the Void, the vessel. They are fire, ice, earth, thunder—the contents. But without a 'catalyst' between the contents, they will eventually repel each other and shatter the vessel."
She stepped forward a few paces, and under Yan Xi's watchful gaze, extended a finger, tapping it lightly at Yun Che's chest.
In an instant, Yun Che felt a gentle, moon-like power pour into the chaotic Void within him. Unassuming yet incredibly tenacious, it wove itself like the finest silk net between the crimson, ice-blue, earth-yellow, and purple-black energies, slowly separating, buffering, and harmonizing them.
The fissure stopped spreading.
"I can only stabilize it temporarily." Ye Li withdrew her hand, her face paling slightly. "True harmony requires the power of the Sun Luminary. Light and shadow, creation and harmony—neither can exist without the other."
"You're the Moon Luminary?" Su Luo asked.
Ye Li nodded. "I am the inheritor of the Moon Luminary of this generation. From the day I awakened, I knew my destiny—to find the Void Dragon Heir, help the Seven Luminaries gather, and stop the Second Night of Annihilation."
The air froze in an instant.
"The Second... Night of Annihilation?" Yun Che repeated the words, remembering what Master Qingyang had said. "What is that?"
Ye Li was about to answer when her expression suddenly changed, and she whipped her head toward the western forest. "Hide!"
Before the words faded, she waved her staff, and a soft white light screen enveloped the six of them. The screen quickly turned transparent, then vanished completely—not invisibility in the visual sense, but a more sophisticated barrier that warped perception.
Almost the moment the barrier was complete, three figures stepped out of the western forest.
They were three middle-aged men wearing the academy's elder robes, but the hems of their robes were embroidered with eerie dark purple patterns. The leader was a gaunt man with a sinister face, an eye patch covering his left eye, his exposed right pupil a grotesque vertical slit, like a reptile's.
"The aura vanished right here." A stocky elder muttered, his voice hoarse and unpleasant. "That brat can't have gone far."
"We must capture him before he fully harmonizes his power." The one-eyed elder said coldly. "Master said once the Void Dragon Heir achieves initial harmony, he will begin to actively attract the remaining Luminaries. Catching him then will cost us ten times as much."
They searched the area for a moment, and the stocky elder even summoned a palm-sized black soul beast covered in compound eyes. The beast circled in the air, letting out a confused hiss, clearly unable to detect the six hidden within the barrier.
"Strange. The dragon source traces are still fresh here..." The one-eyed elder frowned.
"Someone must be aiding him." Spoke the third elder, who had remained silent until now—a plain-faced middle-aged woman, unremarkable enough to blend into any crowd, but her knuckles were abnormally thick and calloused. "That girl Yan Xi, and the Su boy, they're likely with him."
The one-eyed elder snorted. "It doesn't matter. We control the secret realm's exit; they have to come out eventually. Send the order—all Shadow Guards form a formation at the exit. Capture the target on sight—no mercy."
"But Master said we need him alive..."
"Master wants the intact Void Dragon Heir." The one-eyed elder cut him off. "But if we can't have the intact one, a broken one will do. After all, we only need his Void Source. Whether the vessel lives or dies is irrelevant."
The three searched for a little longer, finally leaving empty-handed, their figures disappearing into the dense forest.
Inside the barrier, the six held their breath until they were certain the elders were truly gone, then Ye Li dispelled the invisibility.
"They're academy elders?" Shi Yue stared in disbelief. "How could they..."
"Traitors." Yan Xi ground her teeth, flames nearly bursting from her eyes. "No wonder the Soul Reavers could tamper with the secret realm so easily—there's a mole in the academy's upper ranks!"
"More than a mole." Su Luo analyzed calmly. "The leader is Mo Yuan, Vice Hall Master of the Punishment Hall. The stocky one is Zhao Hun, the Logistics Deacon. The woman is Sun Yun, the Library Steward. All three hold high positions in the academy, with great power."
"You know them?" Yun Che asked.
"The Su clan is a prominent medical family, with close ties to the academy." Su Luo explained briefly. "These three have impeccable reputations in the academy—Mo Yuan, in particular, is known for being impartial and iron-fisted. I never thought..."
"The deeper the disguise, the greater the damage when the betrayal comes." Fan Tian spoke suddenly, his voice tinged with a complex emotion. "I've seen many like them."
Ye Li sighed softly. "That's why I said we must find the Sun Luminary as soon as possible. Until the Seven Luminaries are gathered, our power is incomplete. And the enemy has infiltrated the academy's core—perhaps even higher—"
Her words were cut off by a deafening crash in the distance.
It was not the sound of battle, but the rumble of a colossal mechanism activating. Immediately after, the entire secret realm began to shake violently, and black, fissure-like lines snaked across the sky.
"What's this... the secret realm's core has been activated?" Su Luo's face paled. "Someone is forcibly altering the secret realm's rules!"
Hardly had he finished speaking when the bronze tokens at everyone's waists blazed to life simultaneously, projecting a light screen. On the screen stood Elder Mo Chen, the trial overseer, but his face was contorted with an ugly grimace, his voice thick with suppressed rage:
"All trial-takers, attention! An unknown anomaly has occurred in the secret realm's core! The trial is ending early! Repeat, the trial is ending early! All personnel must proceed to the nearest teleportation array within one incense stick's time—coordinates have been sent to your tokens! Those who fail to arrive on time will face the consequences!"
Nine glowing dots appeared beside the screen, marking the locations of the nine teleportation arrays. But Yun Che noticed the light from three of the dots was fading rapidly—the arrays were being destroyed.
"A trap." Fan Tian said coldly. "They've blocked some exits, forcing us toward specific teleportation arrays. There's definitely an ambush there."
"Then what do we do?" Shi Yue asked.
Ye Li looked at Yun Che. "You have two choices: risk the teleportation arrays and fight your way out, or... head to the deepest part of the secret realm."
"The deepest part?" Yan Xi frowned. "What's there?"
"The secret realm's core." Ye Li said. "It's also a relic left by the First Seven Luminaries a thousand years ago. There's a backup teleportation array there, leading directly to the academy's Forbidden Grounds—only the inheritors of the Seven Luminaries can activate it. But the problem is—"
She paused, a flicker of worry crossing her heterochromatic pupils. "The partial remnant soul of the First Sun Luminary slumbers there. If my senses are correct, that remnant soul... is on the verge of losing control."
"What does losing control mean?" Yun Che asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like." Ye Li's voice dropped. "The Sun Luminary represents 'creation' and 'light', but when it loses control, it becomes 'destruction' and 'scorching flame'. The First Sun Luminary fell in the Night of Annihilation a thousand years ago, consumed by overwhelming grief and resentment. After a thousand years of festering, that remnant soul has likely twisted into something... monstrous."
Another deafening crash shook the air, and the black fissures in the sky spread wider. Screams of agony echoed in the distance—clearly, someone had already met their end.
"No time to hesitate." Su Luo said. "Vote. Teleportation arrays, or the core?"
Yan Xi raised her hand first. "The core. Better to take the risk than fall into the traitors' hands."
Shi Yue hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand too. "I'll follow the group."
Fan Tian: "The core."
All eyes turned to Yun Che.
He felt the Void within him, temporarily stabilized by Ye Li's power, and the growing call from the depths of the secret realm—a call laced with a twisted, searing heat, like a sun burning itself to ash while incinerating everything in its path.
But deep within that call, he heard a faint, yet unmistakable...
Cry.
Like a soul trapped in eternal flame, crying out for release.
"To the core." Yun Che made his decision. "I think... I have to go."
Ye Li looked at him deeply, then nodded. "Then let's go. I know the way."
The six turned and headed deeper into the blood-red forest, in the exact opposite direction of the teleportation arrays.
They had no idea that at the very moment they made their choice, a far greater upheaval was unfolding at the Dragon Sovereign Academy outside the secret realm.
Before the closed meditation chamber of Master Qingyang in the academy's main hall, three black-robed figures stood silently. The hems of their robes were embroidered with silver dragon marks—exactly the same as those on Mo Yuan and the others' robes.
The door of the meditation chamber slid open slowly, and Master Qingyang stepped out. The kind old man everyone knew now had cold, sharp light burning in his eyes.
"You've finally dared to show yourselves?" Master Qingyang's voice was calm, but the dragon might radiating from his body twisted the very air.
The lead black-robed figure chuckled and removed his hood—revealing a gentle middle-aged face known to every soul in the academy: the Transmission Elder, Ling Xiaozi.
"Senior Brother Qingyang, long time no see." Ling Xiaozi's smile was still warm. "We've come to ask you to... rest for a while."
"With the three of you?" Master Qingyang sneered.
"Of course not." Ling Xiaozi clapped his hands.
From the shadows behind him, five more figures stepped forward. Two of them were none other than Elder Mo Chen, who should have been overseeing the trial in the secret realm, and the academy's Grand Steward, Elder Baili.
Master Qingyang's pupils constricted slightly. "Even you two..."
"Times have changed, Senior Brother." Elder Mo Chen sighed, yet there was little remorse in his eyes. "The mistake of a thousand years cannot be repeated. The pact between dragon heirs and dragon souls was always a fraud. We... are merely correcting it."
"So you threw in your lot with the Soul Reavers? With those maniacs who slaughter dragon heirs and extract dragon souls?" Master Qingyang's voice finally cracked with suppressed fury.
"No." Ling Xiaozi shook his head, his smile turning eerie. "We never 'threw in our lot' with anyone. Because the Soul Reavers were founded by us."
The air before the meditation chamber froze solid.
And in another corner of the secret realm, a group of seven young dragon heirs raced toward the core relic. At the center of the group was a boy with brilliant golden hair and a sunny smile. His eyes were pure gold, like two little suns, and a warm, bright aura radiated from his body.
At his waist hung a golden token carved with a sun pattern.
On the back of the token, a line of small characters was etched:
Sun Luminary Inheritor, Light Heir, Luo Chenguang.
The boy suddenly stopped, lifting his head to gaze toward the secret realm's depths, a flicker of confusion crossing his golden pupils.
"What's wrong, Brother Chenguang?" a companion asked.
"I feel... someone is calling me." Luo Chenguang said softly, then shook his head, his sunny smile returning. "Must be my imagination. Let's go—we have to find the exit before the secret realm collapses completely."
He stepped forward and continued on his way, unaware he was heading in the exact opposite direction of Yun Che and his group.
And in the depths of the core relic of the secret realm, the golden flame that had burned for a thousand years—sensing two distinct yet kindred auras drawing near simultaneously—
Swelled to twice its size in an instant.
Within the flames, a twisted human face loomed faintly, letting out a silent roar.
A roar of grief, of resentment, of madness.
And a hint of...
Longing for release.