Heaven - Sundered Path

Scene 1 — The Day After Glory

The arena was silent.

The banners had fallen, the disciples had returned to their peaks, and yet Lin Xun remained awake — seated in lotus beneath the Peachfire Tree, the same place Su Ruyan once appeared in his dreams.

His Qi had calmed. His blood pulsed like the tide.

But his soul...

Flickered.

"They saw me," he murmured.

He reached inside his robes and held the shattered pendant. Now that the Void Gate Seal had fully revealed itself, he could feel it: a faint heartbeat, as if the object itself waited… for something.

Then came the message.

A spirit crane descended — cloaked in blue fire — and dropped a scroll sealed with three talismanic rings.

"To Lin Xun," it spoke aloud. "From Elder Hai Chen. Urgent."

Scene 2 — The Invitation to Heaven's Border

The letter was brief.

"Leave at dusk. Come alone. To the Waning Moon Pavilion, west cliff of Hollowfang Peak."

"Your answers lie in the sealed crypt."

Lin Xun hesitated. He knew what this meant. Not a reward — not training.

This was an inquisition.

Scene 3 — The Secret Council

The Waning Moon Pavilion sat at the very edge of Dustwind Sect — a cliffside building built in the oldest style of the sect, predating its official founding. The sky always seemed darker here, the stars less trusting.

Inside, Elder Hai Chen sat at the center of a rune circle.

With him stood:

Mistwalker Xu, the masked master of illusions.

Grand Elder Fei Rong, keeper of ancestral records.

A stranger: a man in starlight robes with no presence — clearly from the Celestial Observation Office.

"You have been called," Hai Chen said, "because your existence violates the Harmony of Heavens."

"Your pendant bears the Void Sigil. Only one other bearer existed — the tyrant Xu Tianheng."

Lin Xun didn't flinch.

"Then I stand in his shadow. But I am not him."

Fei Rong raised a binding artifact.

"Prove it. Enter the Chasm of Memory — let the Sect see your soul."

Without hesitation, Lin Xun stepped inside.

Scene 4 — Soul Trial: Echoes of Xu Tianheng

In the soul domain, Lin Xun walked once more as Xu Tianheng.

But not in battle.

He was in a temple, barefoot, kneeling at a shrine to Su Ruyan. His palms were bleeding from some vow.

"I gave the world a kingdom," Tianheng whispered. "But I could not give you peace."

He turned, and his face was not wrathful — it was hollow.

Lin Xun saw then: Xu Tianheng had once loved truly.

"He wasn't born a tyrant," Lin Xun said aloud in the trial. "He was made one by betrayal… and grief."

And with that, the illusion collapsed.

He was cast out of the soul trial — not broken, but stronger.

Scene 5 — Judgment and Warning

The elders were silent.

The Celestial Observer finally spoke:

"His soul retains fragments of Xu Tianheng. But his decisions are his own."

"Then mark this," Hai Chen said. "Lin Xun walks the edge of Sealbreaker fate. He must be watched — but not caged."

"Unless he opens the Sixth Gate, in which case the Pact of Three Realms will be broken."

Lin Xun bowed low, even as fire flickered in his gaze.

"I will not kneel to Heaven," he said, "but I will not betray this world either."

"Not unless it betrays me first."

Scene 6 — Training Begins: The Heaven-Resisting Fist

Back on his own peak, Lin Xun found a scroll left in secret by Hai Chen: a technique created in defiance of celestial martial law.

Heaven-Resisting Fist, Vol. I — forged by mortal hands during the Godfall Era.

The technique was wild, without balance — built to destroy aura chains and divine formations. It required not just Qi, but resentment, clarity, and conviction.

He began at once.

Using friction of stone and blood to temper his bones.

Absorbing resonance from broken celestial fragments.

Rebuilding his pulse to synchronize with lunar turbulence.

Each motion bled pain and insight.

And in the distance, a storm began to form.

Scene 7 — The Heavens Respond

Far above, in the Star-Graven Palace, emissaries gathered.

"The Sealbreaker walks," said one.

"And he refuses the fate written."

A young voice — cold, cruel — echoed in the hall:

"Then let me rewrite it."

From the shadows stepped a girl no older than sixteen, clad in pale robes, with a third eye glowing in her forehead.

"Yun Ruo, Daughter of the Heavenly Inquisition."

"Send me to the mortal realm. I will meet this Lin Xun. And I will end his path before the sixth gate opens."