The moon hung low over Everlight Sect, yet its glow never reached the garden where Lin Xun stood. The celestial koi swam lazily in their mirrored pond, unaware that the boy watching them had become the eye of a rising storm.
The scroll from Thunderhowl Sect still rested in his palm. His name—bold, red, damning—sat atop a list meant for assassins.
A bounty from the Blood Sect.
A death sentence soaked in ink and ill intent.
He burned it with two fingers.
Flame whispered into the breeze.
"I will not run."
---
The Invitation Beneath Shadows
Before dawn could stretch her fingers across the sky, a gentle knock came upon Lin Xun's chamber door. He opened it to find no figure, only a folded piece of starlight parchment hovering in the air.
He plucked it.
Unfolded it.
Read the elegant strokes.
> "Come to the Thousand Petal Pavilion before the second star rises. Come alone. —B.Z."
Bai Ziyan.
A thousand questions stirred in his mind. Was it a trap? A test? A political move? Or something else entirely?
But his feet were already moving.
He was drawn.
Not by beauty.
Not by curiosity.
But by a need to see if the stars could be as restless as flames.
---
The Thousand Petal Pavilion
Perched atop a floating lotus leaf large as a city plaza, the Thousand Petal Pavilion shimmered with crystalline beauty. Each petal was a memory of a sect ancestor, and within its walls, time moved like silk—slow and hypnotic.
Bai Ziyan waited there.
Seated upon a moonstone bench, she wore a robe of midnight violets and sunsilk silver. Her aura was muted, yet her eyes glimmered like galaxies—contained, boundless, secretive.
"You came," she said, without looking at him.
"You called," he replied.
A pause.
"Do you know what they call you?" she asked.
He approached.
"They say I'm a mistake."
She turned then, truly looked at him.
"They say you are a calamity."
He chuckled. "Then let them fear the storm."
---
Echoes from the Past
Ziyan stood and began to walk along the pavilion edge, where the petals arched like wings. Lin Xun followed, their steps soft on the starlit floor.
"You don't belong here," she murmured.
"I didn't belong in the outer court either. Or the wilderness. Or the ashes I was born in. But here I am."
"I'm not mocking you," she said. "I'm warning you."
She stopped and pulled out a small orb. Within it shimmered an image—a man wrapped in golden chains, burning eyes of rage, sealed beneath an ancient altar.
"This… is your father."
The world stopped.
Lin Xun's breath froze.
"Liar."
Ziyan turned to him, gaze deadly serious.
"No. The Everlight Archives don't lie. His name was Lin Tianxuan. Once a prince among sects. Until the five sects betrayed him and sealed him beneath the Forgotten Abyss."
Lin Xun's knees nearly buckled. The name—he had heard it whispered in dreams.
"You are his son, Lin Xun. You carry the blood of a man who nearly burned the heavens to ash."
---
Awakening the Truth
His vision pulsed red and white—memories not his own flashing through the walls of time.
A sword like a sun splitting sky.
A woman's scream over a cradle.
Flames devouring temples.
Chains forged from divine steel.
Betrayal.
Banishment.
Rage.
And then, silence.
He staggered.
Ziyan caught his arm, steadying him.
"Why show me this?" he rasped.
"Because," she whispered, "the Blood Sect isn't after you for who you are now—but for who you'll become."
"And you?" he asked.
She hesitated.
"I… don't know yet."
---
Heir of Ashes
The next day, Skyrect Sect's envoy prepared to return home. But Lin Xun didn't board the ark.
"I'm staying," he told Yun Qingyue.
She frowned. "Why?"
"To awaken what sleeps in my blood."
The Everlight Sect had agreed to let him remain as a temporary exchange disciple—an unprecedented move. But after his Realm Dance draw with Ziyan, the elders became curious.
And wary.
So Lin Xun trained under starlight.
He walked ancient halls, touched forbidden murals, and summoned flame without chanting.
He meditated on constellations until he began to see them breathe.
And as days passed, Ziyan continued to visit him.
Not every night.
But enough.
They didn't always talk. Sometimes, they just sat beneath the twin moons, watching the world breathe.
Sometimes she laughed.
Once, he did too.
And beneath all of it, the truth grew.
A spark of purpose.
A seed of fury.
A storm unborn.
---
Enemies in Silence
While the Everlight Sect debated his presence, not all were content.
Deep beneath the Lotus Archives, an elder with sunken eyes and hollow breath whispered to a messenger.
"Tell the Abyssal Path... we've found the son of Lin Tianxuan."
"And?"
"Tell them the seal weakens."
---
Flame, Star, and Blood
A week later, the next contest at the summit began—the Dual Dao Trial.
Pairs of disciples would combine their Dao Intent to navigate a realm constructed from illusion and tribulation. Fail, and their spirits would suffer injury. Succeed, and they would glimpse fragments of a higher path.
To everyone's shock, Bai Ziyan chose Lin Xun.
Gasps followed.
"Have you lost your mind?" asked a Voidspire elder.
"I'm testing mine," she replied.
As they stepped into the nexus gate, Lin Xun glanced at her.
"You trust me?"
"No," she said. "I'm daring the universe."
And then, light swallowed them whole.
They fell into a realm of frozen skies and burning oceans, where screams echoed without source and time flowed sideways. To survive, they had to fuse flame and starlight, trust and instinct.
They clashed.
They merged.
They suffered.
And in the end, they stood victorious.
When they emerged, their fingers touched for the briefest second—flame and
star dancing.
And the elders whispered.
> "Perhaps... the prophecy was real."
---
Above the clouds, a celestial eye opened for the first time in centuries.
And deep beneath the Forgotten Abyss, the chains of Lin Tianxuan cracked.