Chapter 5 – The First Pulse
Night fell quietly over Ironpeak Sect.
Most outer disciples were asleep, recovering from exhaustion and fear.
Arin Vale was not.
He sat cross-legged inside his small stone room, a single dim spirit lamp flickering beside him.
Three days until the duel.
He closed his eyes.
The world shifted.
—
He stood once more beneath the cracked sky.
But something was different.
The barren land no longer felt completely lifeless.
The thin spirit vein he had awakened glowed brighter now, branching slightly like roots spreading beneath soil.
The single star above pulsed steadily.
Arin walked toward the vein.
He knelt and placed both hands against the glowing earth.
"I need more qi," he murmured.
The response was immediate.
The spirit vein brightened.
Energy surged through the ground and into him—purer and denser than any qi he had cultivated before.
But this time, Arin didn't withdraw.
He focused.
Directed.
Compressed.
He guided the energy back into the world instead of absorbing it all.
The barren land trembled.
The spirit vein thickened slightly.
A faint mist began to gather above the soil.
Moisture.
Not illusion.
Real.
Arin's eyes sharpened.
So growth required exchange.
Not theft.
Cultivation here was not about draining the world.
It was about building it.
The realization sent a faint ripple across the sky.
And then—
Time began to distort.
The faint mist condensed.
A tiny sprout pushed through the cracked earth.
Green.
Alive.
Arin stared at it.
He had only focused for what felt like minutes.
Yet growth had already occurred.
His mind calculated quickly.
Time here was faster.
Not drastically—
But noticeably.
If he cultivated here for one hour…
Perhaps only half that passed outside.
Or less.
His breathing slowed.
This was more than power.
This was advantage.
He closed his eyes again and began circulating qi between himself and the spirit vein in a controlled loop.
Energy flowed.
Returned.
Strengthened.
His meridians widened further.
His foundation stabilized.
The sprout grew taller.
And then—
The sky cracked.
A violent tremor shook the world.
Arin's eyes snapped open.
Above him, one of the fractures in the sky widened unnaturally.
Darkness bled through.
Not night.
Not emptiness.
Something deeper.
Colder.
Ancient.
A pressure descended.
It did not belong to this newborn world.
It felt… external.
Watching.
The single star flickered violently.
The spirit vein dimmed.
The tiny sprout bent as if crushed by invisible weight.
Arin stood.
His voice was calm.
"Who are you?"
No answer.
But the crack widened further.
For a split second—
He saw it.
An enormous silhouette beyond the fracture.
Vast.
Incomplete.
Like a shadow cast from another universe.
Then—
The shard at the center of the sky pulsed violently.
Light exploded outward.
The crack sealed instantly.
The pressure vanished.
Silence returned.
Arin stood motionless for several seconds.
His heartbeat remained steady.
But his thoughts moved rapidly.
This world… was not empty.
It had a past.
And something beyond it knew that it had awakened.
His consciousness was pulled back suddenly—
—
Arin's eyes snapped open in the real world.
The spirit lamp beside him had burned almost completely out.
Outside, the sky was still dark.
He had cultivated for what felt like hours.
But judging by the lamp—
Barely any time had passed.
Confirmed.
Time acceleration.
A slow smile touched his lips for the first time.
But before he could close his eyes again—
He felt it.
A fluctuation.
From outside his room.
Not from Darius.
Not from an outer disciple.
This aura was deeper.
Heavier.
An elder.
Arin immediately suppressed his qi completely.
The presence lingered outside his stone chamber.
Watching.
Sensing.
Then—
A quiet voice drifted through the wooden door.
"Interesting…"
Footsteps faded into the night.
Arin remained still.
Inside his dantian—
The single star burned brighter than ever.
And far beyond the sealed crack in the sky—
Something ancient had opened its eyes.