The wind carried a sharp bite as Lian Yu and Jin Mu descended the final steps of the temple. The morning sun rose slowly above the jagged peaks of the mountain range, scattering golden light across the distant valleys. Lian Yu didn't speak. He walked with purpose, each step reverberating with a newfound steadiness.
Jin Mu, in contrast, kept glancing at him as though unsure whether to stay silent or ask the many questions burning in his eyes.
"You're certain you want to come to the Nine Rivers Sect?" Jin finally asked, adjusting the strap of the blade on his back.
"I'm not joining your Sect," Lian Yu replied without slowing down. "I'm looking for answers."
"Well, the elders might give you some," Jin said. "Depending on how… interesting your story is."
Lian Yu didn't answer.
His mind kept drifting to Yan Xi. That name stirred something in him—like a half-remembered dream. The memory of her voice, calm and piercing, lingered more than it should have.
A promise?
He pressed a hand to the pendant under his robe. Its hum had softened but hadn't stopped since he left the temple.
"We're close to the edge of the Broken Star Ridge," Jin Mu said. "From here, we follow the valley east for half a day."
As they moved, the terrain changed. The sharp mountain stone gave way to smoother hills and narrow trails that twisted between towering cliffs. Strange trees with silver leaves stretched across the sky like ancient guardians. Mist clung low to the earth, moving as though it had a will of its own.
Lian Yu stopped at one bend and turned his gaze outward. He could finally see it—the world beyond the temple.
Vast and boundless.
"Tell me," Lian Yu said suddenly, "how does your world work?"
Jin Mu blinked. "You mean the cultivation world?"
Lian Yu nodded.
"Well… it's divided into six great realms," Jin said, eager now that he had a question to answer. "Each realm is further split into nine stages, called Steps of Ascension. Most people in the sects barely reach the third realm—the Earth Soul Realm."
"And above that?"
"The true legends," Jin said. "After Earth Soul comes Sky Root, then Star Condensation, then the Celestial Bridge… and beyond that—no one really knows. They say only Heaven's Chosen ever reach the peak."
He paused, then added, "But those kinds of cultivators haven't appeared in centuries."
Lian Yu didn't react.
He was still processing. Something stirred in him again—as though he had once known this system. Not from books or scrolls. From experience.
"I can't sense your realm," Jin Mu added, glancing at him again. "What step are you on?"
Lian Yu stopped walking. He looked down at his hand and flexed it slowly. Energy pulsed in his fingertips—steady, refined, quiet.
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But I feel... complete. As though nothing inside me is missing."
Jin stared at him. "That's… that's not possible. Even a Nascent Core cultivator has lingering flaws in their energy flow. Perfection doesn't exist."
Lian Yu gave him a look. "Maybe your understanding of perfection is flawed."
Before Jin could reply, the ground beneath them trembled slightly.
A low hum echoed from the side of the trail.
Both men turned.
Near a tree with cracked white bark, a strange light shimmered in the earth. It was faint—almost like the glint of dew—but it pulsed at the same rhythm as the pendant on Lian Yu's chest.
He moved toward it.
"What is that?" Jin asked, drawing closer but staying behind him.
Lian Yu knelt beside the glowing patch of soil. With a cautious hand, he brushed the loose earth away.
Beneath it lay a small, smooth stone tablet no larger than his palm. It was dark gray, veined with golden threads that pulsed softly.
The moment his fingers touched it, a shock of energy surged up his arm and struck his mind.
Visions flooded him.
A battlefield scorched under storm clouds. A figure clad in black and gold standing atop a mountain of corpses. A name, shouted in defiance by thousands—but the sound was muted. Muffled. Erased.
The vision shattered as quickly as it came.
He staggered back, clutching the tablet to his chest.
"What was that?" Jin demanded, eyes wide.
Lian Yu stood, the tablet still humming in his hand.
"It's a relic," he whispered. "One of the three."
"You just found it in the ground?" Jin said, incredulous. "That can't be coincidence."
"It's not," Lian Yu said. "It was calling to me."
He turned the tablet over. Symbols etched across its surface began rearranging themselves, forming a sequence of rings that glowed faintly.
Then, something else shifted inside him. A thread of knowledge unlocked. It wasn't memory—it was… instinct. As though the relic had reconnected a severed part of his soul.
Jin Mu looked at him with a mixture of awe and concern. "Just who are you?"
Lian Yu looked to the sky.
"I'm someone the heavens tried to forget."
The tablet's glow dimmed, becoming dormant—but Lian Yu could still feel its presence, like an extension of his body. He tucked it into his robe carefully.
"We should move," he said. "Your Sect may have more to tell me."
They continued east, the landscape growing more alive the farther they went.
Strange birds sang from the treetops. The mist had vanished, replaced by warmth and the smell of wildflowers. A stream cut across the trail, crystal clear and humming with spiritual energy.
Jin Mu broke the silence. "You know… most people need years of cultivation just to awaken their core. You… picked up a relic like it was waiting for you."
"It was," Lian Yu said.
"Does that mean you really were… someone powerful?" Jin asked hesitantly. "In a past life or something?"
"I wasn't just powerful," Lian Yu replied, voice quiet. "I was dangerous enough that Heaven itself struck my name from existence."
The words hung in the air.
Jin didn't speak again.
They reached a ridge by late afternoon. Beyond it, nestled in a valley surrounded by waterfalls and cliffs, lay the Nine Rivers Sect. Tall towers of jade and stone rose into the sky, connected by glowing bridges. Spiritual beasts soared above its peaks.
Lian Yu paused.
For a moment, he felt a pull—like something within the Sect recognized him.
Or feared him.
"We're here," Jin said.
Lian Yu nodded.
But as he took a step forward, his pendant pulsed once more. A whisper brushed his ear—soft, distant.
"The first is found… but beware the second."
He turned sharply. No one was there.
But he knew the voice.
Yan Xi.