By ArkGodZ | DaoVerse Studio
The early morning breeze whispered through the gardens, carrying the damp scent of night-blooming flowers. Jian Yu still sat by the edge of the lake, his eyes fixed on the reflection of the moon.
"You didn't save me..."
That voice. That face wrapped in golden smoke. He didn't know her. But something inside him… did. Like a memory from another life, or another pain.
The Dao pulsed in silence. And for the first time, Jian Yu did not fear it.
He only wanted to understand.
The next morning, the corridors of the Cloud Sky Sect felt wider. Quieter. The disciples no longer looked at him with disdain—but with caution. Some stepped aside. Others just watched, as if he were a living painting of something they couldn't comprehend.
"Getting used to this?" Yuan asked, appearing beside him like a soft shadow.
"Used to what?" Jian Yu replied, not meeting her gaze.
"To the fact that no one knows how to treat you anymore," she said with a faint sigh. "Not even me."
He turned to her. Yuan looked serious, but not distant. And somehow, that hurt more than any silence.
"Are you afraid of me, Yuan?" he asked.
She hesitated for a second, then turned her eyes toward a cherry tree still in bloom.
"I'm afraid… that I no longer know what you are," she whispered. "If it's really you looking at me… or the desire inside you."
Jian Yu said nothing. Because he didn't know either.
The silence between them wasn't uncomfortable, but suspended—like something wanted to be said, but didn't know how.
Then, the soft glow of a jade transmission stone lit up in Jian Yu's robe.
He pulled it out slowly. A summons.
"The Hall of Forbidden Records…" he murmured.
Yuan raised her eyes, worried.
"They're sending you there? Now?"
Jian Yu nodded.
"You're going… alone?" she asked.
"It's the only way this path can begin," he replied softly.
The Hall of Forbidden Records was more tomb than library. Hidden behind internal walls and sealed with ancient glyphs, only cultivators above the Celestial Core Realm were usually allowed inside.
But Jian Yu didn't need to ask.
A veiled disciple was already waiting.
"Elder Qian has granted you restricted access… by affinity," she said, placing her hand on a spiritual stone. The seal on the door unraveled like mist.
He entered.
Inside, the air was old. Thick with dust, residual energy, and silence. The shelves were bowed with age, holding scrolls marked by blood and wrapped in layers of forbidden talismans.
One scroll, in particular, called to him.
As if it knew he was there.
He pulled it from the shelf. The seal shimmered at his touch, and the scroll unrolled on its own, revealing a single phrase written in dark ink:
"Every forgotten desire, once remembered, devours what once repressed it."
Beneath the line, a symbol—the same one that had appeared on the scroll Yuan had opened days ago.
Then more text:
Primordial Dao of Desire. Origin: Unknown. Classification: Uncontained. Results: Collapse or Ascension.
Jian Yu closed his eyes.
The scroll burned in his hands and turned to ash.
Outside, Yuan was waiting. But she didn't look directly at him.
"I heard you went to the forbidden hall," she said. "What did you find?"
"Nothing that gave me peace," Jian Yu replied.
"Then why don't you stop?"
He inhaled slowly.
"Because something is calling me… and for the first time, it feels like I'm the one answering."
Yuan bit her lip, thoughtful.
"And if what's calling you isn't really you?" she asked. "What if it's something that… wants to use you?"
"Then let it try," he said calmly.
"You're not going to fight it?"
"No. I'm going to understand it. And only then… will I choose."
Yuan looked at him with eyes full of doubt—and something else. Faith. Or perhaps, stubborn hope.
"They won't let you be for long," she said softly. "You know that, don't you?"
"I know," Jian Yu replied. "That's why I won't stay."
Her eyes widened.
"You're… leaving?"
"Not yet. But soon. I need answers that aren't here. And maybe… memories that aren't mine."
That night, in his silent pavilion, Jian Yu stared at the sky. The stars felt farther. The world, quieter.
But within him, the Dao pulsed.
And at the edge of his consciousness, the shadow of the golden woman appeared once more.
No voice. No face.
This time, she simply reached out her hand to him.
When Jian Yu touched her, he didn't feel flesh. Nor warmth.Only the certainty that she knew him… better than he knew himself.
End of Chapter.
Next Chapter: Shatter of the Mist