The note stayed pinned to the hut's door for three days.
No one touched it.
Not the disciples.
Not the wind.
Not even the night.
On the fourth day, Chen Mu finally broke the silence.
"We're being dared."
Lin Tian had already guessed. "Whoever left it wants us to answer."
"They want to see if we can."
The signature still pulsed faintly with spiritual thread — anchored not to a name, but to a signal frequency. The flare had a flavor: part fire, part memory.
And it matched what Chen Mu had felt in the Vault.
"F.H.," Lin Tian said, tapping the note. "You said this was a Vault mark?"
Chen Mu didn't respond right away.
Then: "It means Forgotten Hand."
"Another sect?"
"No. A remnant cell. Not everyone who survived the Hidden Flame collapse became a corpse. Some became ghosts. Others became hands."
"Of what?"
"Retribution. Or preservation. Depends who you ask."
[+4 BP for unveiling lost faction.]
Bluff Points: 159 → 163
That night, a second note arrived.
This one didn't glow.
It was tucked beneath Lin Tian's doorframe, wrapped in a dull brown string. Plain rice paper. Sharp handwriting.
If you want answers, bring fire to the ashwood gate.Midnight. Alone.No ring, no trick. Just flame.
Chen Mu bristled. "No ring?"
"They want to talk to me without you."
"No. Absolutely not."
"I have to."
"You have no idea who you're dealing with!"
"I don't. But I know this is how they talk."
Chen Mu hovered in silence, vibrating with restrained fury.
Finally: "Fine. But I'm breaking the rules the second something smells wrong."
The ashwood gate was an abandoned border arch between the outer sect and the old trial fields. Nobody used it anymore. The wood was gray and crumbling. The talismans long peeled away by wind and age.
Lin Tian waited with a small spirit lamp — a flickering globe of focused fire Qi. Not much. But it counted as a flame.
At midnight, someone stepped from the trees.
Not masked. Not cloaked.
A man.
Young-looking. Pale robe. Bare arms lined with tattoos—flame spirals coiled into chain marks that vanished beneath his sleeves.
He walked like someone used to pain.
"You answered," he said.
"I got your note."
"No," the man replied. "That was just a test. This is the conversation."
Chen Mu stirred, listening through Lin Tian's ears.
The man bowed, not low, but precise.
"Name's Jian. Forgotten Hand, Ember Division."
"Why reach out now?"
"Because the Vault opened. Because someone lit the spiral again."
Lin Tian studied him. "You were waiting."
"We are waiting," Jian said. "Scattered. Buried. But not gone. You lit a beacon. That makes you interesting. Or dangerous."
"Why not both?"
Jian smiled faintly. "That's the right answer."
The conversation lasted two hours.
Jian spoke in half-truths and symbolic echoes.
But the message was clear:
—The Forgotten Hand were remnants.—They had infiltrated sects across the region.—They didn't seek control. They sought balance.—And now, they wanted to know what kind of fire Lin Tian carried.
"You don't belong to them yet," Jian said. "So we're watching."
"Is that a warning?"
"It's a gift."
[+3 BP for threading a legacy-neutral dialogue.]
BP: 163 → 166
Jian handed over a sealed scroll before vanishing into the night.
On it, one sentence:
"The path of the Spiral is not straight. Trace backward to move forward."
Chen Mu hissed. "Riddle garbage."
But the system chimed.
[System Alert: Vault Key Sub-Script Unlocked][Legacy Expansion Available: Spiral Echo Step (Lv.1)][Effect: Temporarily mirror last spiritual technique used.]
"Wait," Chen Mu said. "Is that… a parry skill?"
"It copies?"
"More like replays."
Lin Tian focused.
A small spiral ignited in the air around his palm. The flame twisted backward, then snapped forward again—mirroring his last stance.
"I can use this," he murmured.
The next morning, the sect announced a new trial:
The Ember Pathwalk.
Traditionally used to test low-tier inner disciples, the trial forced participants to walk across a series of flame-infused arrays — each one designed to burn away false Qi flows, superficial resonance, and spiritual instability.
In other words: it was a trap.
For someone like Lin Tian, whose core cultivation had been built using a manual not from the sect, the arrays were a danger.
"Guo's name is on the trial list," Wei Yulan said, tossing a flier onto the floor.
"So's mine," Lin Tian muttered, reading the parchment.
"So what's the plan?" she asked.
"Survive."
"No," Chen Mu said. "We do better than that."
"We pass?"
"We break the arrays."
That night, Chen Mu studied the scroll left by Jian.
It was a partial reconstruction of Flame Divergence Theory, an old-school framework for interpreting spiral techniques in contrast to linear formations.
Most modern sects discarded it as inefficient.
But here, in Chen Mu's system-augmented mind, it was gold.
He projected a training matrix in the ring's inner space.
By morning, he had generated a single usable result:
[Technique Fragment Unlocked: Spiral Reversal Frame Lv.1]Effect: Disrupts incoming flame-based array logic for 2 seconds.
"Time to teach the kid how to argue with fire."
[+4 BP for decoding ancient counter-technique.]
BP: 166 → 170
The trial came fast.
Three days later, Lin Tian stood on a narrow bridge above a river of ash. The Pathwalk Array shimmered in the distance — seven floating platforms, each one etched with a different glyph.
Disciples lined the cliffs, watching.
Elders flanked the trialmaster platform.
And in the center?
Guo, smiling again.
"You came," Guo said. "Good. Now you can lose in public again."
Chen Mu smirked.
"You know what I like about him?" he asked.
"Nothing?" Lin Tian guessed.
"Exactly."
The trial began.
Lin Tian stepped onto the first array.
Fire flared.
The system kicked in.
[Pathwalk Platform 1: Fire Sense Alignment – Activated][Warning: Cultivation signature flagged as unverified.]
"Now!" Chen Mu shouted.
Lin Tian flared his Qi and invoked Spiral Reversal Frame.
The platform flickered — confused — then stabilized.
[Override Accepted: Resonance Match 87%][Pathwalk Passed.]
He stepped forward.
Platform two: defense.Platform three: movement.Platform four: core strength.Platform five: will.
This one hurt.
It forced him to relive why he began.
The shame. The hunger. The broken root.
But he walked anyway.
And on platform seven, the Spiral ignited under his feet, all on its own.
Not summoned.
Recognized.
The elders said nothing.
But they watched.
[+6 BP for surviving legacy verification.]
BP: 170 → 176
Later that night, back in the hut, Lin Tian lay on the floor, utterly spent.
"Still think we should've run?" he asked.
"No," Chen Mu said. "I think we keep walking."
Lin Tian smiled weakly.
Then passed out.
[System Status Panel – Chen Mu (Ring State)]
Bluff Points: 176Soul Strength: 8Current Vessel: Refined Jade Core Ring (Stabilized)Abilities:
Voice of Authority Lv.1
Soul Tap (1/day)
Resonant Presence (Passive)
Flame Memory Projection Lv.2
Ash Spiral Palm (Fragment)
Spiral Ember Step (Fragment)
Spiral Reversal Frame Lv.1
Manual Access: Beginner Cultivation Manual (Simulated)Current Objective: Prepare for sect judgment eventDisciple Status: Qi Initiation – Mid Stage (Flamebound)Legacy Flag: Ignited – Hidden Flame Echo (Stabilized)Known Array: Spiral Fire Refinement (Integrated)New Entry: Forgotten Hand (Watcher Cell Identified)Legacy Route: Flamebound Oath – Progressing