CHAPTER 15 (Part 1)
The Key Opens
The mountain wind was cold that night.
Zheng Wen Te stood alone outside the Trial Chamber, staring at the mist-covered peaks.
The sect lights below flickered like distant stars.
Everything felt unreal.
Only days ago, he had been a broken man in an apartment on Earth, asking Heaven for sleep.
Now…
he was standing in an immortal sect, carrying an orb that could open karmic roads.
Disciple Liu approached quietly.
His arrogance was gone.
He held a small pouch in his hands.
"Outer disciple Zheng."
Zheng Wen Te turned slightly.
"…What do you want?"
Liu hesitated.
Then he sighed.
"I don't know what you are."
"I don't know why Shangdi marked you."
"But…"
He extended the pouch.
"Inside are spirit stones and a basic cultivation manual."
Zheng Wen Te blinked.
"Why help me?"
Disciple Liu's smile was bitter.
"Because if you really are tied to Heaven…"
"Then you're either the sect's greatest chance…"
"…or its greatest disaster."
He lowered his voice.
"The elders won't say it aloud, but the moment you leave this mountain…"
Others will come.
Zheng Wen Te's stomach tightened.
"Others?"
Liu nodded.
"Golden Qi attracts predators."
"Demonic cultivators."
"Rogue immortals."
"Even higher sects."
He looked toward the clouds.
"And if the Heart-Severing Immortal truly exists…"
His voice trailed off.
Zheng Wen Te clenched the pouch.
The weight was small.
But the meaning was heavy.
"…Thank you."
Disciple Liu stiffened, as if unused to gratitude.
Then he turned away.
"Don't thank me."
"Just survive."
The wind howled again.
Zheng Wen Te looked down at his palm.
The orb shimmered faintly.
Warm.
Patient.
Like it had all the time in the universe.
The ancient elder's words echoed:
When the time comes… it will open the road.
Zheng Wen Te whispered into the mist:
"…Time has come."
He sat cross-legged on the stone path.
Closed his eyes.
And placed both hands around the orb.
At first, nothing happened.
Then—
the orb pulsed.
Once.
Twice.
A third time.
The air around him began to vibrate.
Mist spiraled inward.
The mountain itself seemed to hold its breath.
Zheng Wen Te felt it—
a thread.
A pull.
Not toward the sect…
but toward somewhere impossibly far.
A place bound to his soul.
His chest tightened.
He did not want to go.
He was afraid.
But fear did not erase karma.
He opened his eyes.
"…Alright."
"I'm coming."
The orb suddenly flared.