CHAPTER 19 — The Orb Awakens
The pavilion did not sleep.
Even when night fell, the air remained tense, as if something unseen paced the halls.
Zheng Wen Te sat alone on the cold stone floor.
No bed.
No comfort.
Only silence.
And the immortal's final words still echoed in his bones.
"I will destroy what you love again."
He swallowed hard.
He didn't know what love even meant anymore.
His family was gone.
Earth was shattered.
The heavens had abandoned everyone.
So why…
Why did those words hurt?
His fingers tightened around the small orb Shangdi had given him.
It looked ordinary.
A pearl no larger than a fingernail.
Yet it felt warm.
Almost… alive.
Zheng whispered:
"What are you?"
No answer.
He exhaled bitterly.
Of course.
Divine gifts never came with instructions.
He closed his eyes.
He remembered what the outer sect elders had shouted before.
"Sit."
"Breathe."
"Sense the Qi."
Zheng tried.
Inhale.
Exhale.
At first, nothing.
Only the ache of his mortal body.
Only hunger.
Only the crushing weight of failure.
Then—
A flicker.
A strange warmth stirred deep in his chest.
Like an ember buried under ash.
Zheng's eyes snapped open.
"…Qi?"
He focused harder.
The ember pulsed.
And suddenly—
The orb reacted.
A thin golden thread slipped from it, floating into the air like silk.
Zheng froze.
The thread touched his forehead.
The moment it did—
BOOM.
His mind shattered open.
Not pain.
Not madness.
A flood.
He saw—
A river of stars.
A wheel of lives turning endlessly.
Countless worlds blooming and dying.
And within them…
Him.
Not Zheng Wen Te.
Not a broken businessman.
But another man.
Clothed in ancient robes.
Standing beneath a blood-red sky.
A woman before him, eyes filled with betrayal.
A sword between them.
His own hand trembling.
Then—
The scene collapsed.
Zheng gasped violently, coughing as if drowning.
The orb dimmed.
The thread withdrew.
His entire body shook.
Sweat drenched his back.
His heart hammered like war drums.
He stared at the pearl in horror.
"That…"
"That was me."
His voice cracked.
A karmic memory.
A life he had forgotten.
Outside the pavilion…
The air changed.
A presence stirred.
Cold.
Watching.
The immortal's voice drifted faintly through the walls:
"So…"
"You've begun to remember."
Zheng clenched the orb.
Fear and desperation twisting together.
"What did I do…?"
Silence.
Then her whisper, sharp as a blade:
"Cultivate faster."
"Before the truth kills you."