Path of the Forgotten.

The lake should have shown reflection. It showed nothing.

Lan Xueyin stood across from Lin Feng, her breathing slow, but her heart unsettled. For all her pride, she could not explain what she was sensing.

> "This shouldn't be possible," she thought. "Even the lowest beast leaves an echo in the basin… Why does he leave nothing?"

The moon above shone brighter — drawn unnaturally toward the lake. Its light bent, not reflected, as though Lin Feng himself absorbed even the gaze of the heavens. Lan Xueyin spoke quietly, invoking the moonlight refinement mantra.

> "Through the lake, through the mirror, may spirit be seen — what is true, what is hidden, awaken within." Spiritual light bloomed from her body — a faint silvery-white flame that pulsed in rhythm with the lake's energy. Her aura slowly extended outward, forming an ethereal bridge toward Lin Feng.

He didn't move, but the moment her aura touched him— Snap.

A flash of white—And it shattered. The lake surged violently. The bridge crumbled into sparkling dust, dispersing before it could reach him.

Lan Xueyin staggered back, eyes wide. For a moment, just a moment—she had glimpsed something.

Not his past, but an absence. A nothingness deep enough to drown thought.

> "No. That wasn't a soul. That was… something older. Hungrier." She clenched her fists, her pride refusing to yield.

> "One more time." She poured her energy out again, weaving a thinner thread — this time less forceful, more curious.

And this time…It was Lin Feng who moved. His eyes half-closed. The barest breath escaped his lips, not in words, but in… response. A thread reached back.

A memory.

---

Lan Xueyin's Mind – A Shared Vision

She saw a barren sky. No stars. No moon.

A battlefield where black flames roared in silence. Mountains shattered into ash. Cultivators in golden robes fell one after another — not from wounds, but as if time had abandoned them. In the center stood a man. Barefoot. Burned. Laughing. He looked like Lin Feng, and yet not.

There was something in his eyes. A cold, profound despair... not because he had lost. But because he had won and still found no meaning. Then the man raised his hand—And the moon cracked.

---

Back in the Basin

Lan Xueyin gasped, stumbling back. Her knees hit the water. Her forehead dripped with sweat. Lin Feng stood still, as though nothing had happened. She looked up at him, eyes narrowed—not in disdain, but genuine fear.

> "That vision... It wasn't just a warning. It was a reminder."

> "You've done this before."

He didn't answer because even he wasn't sure what she had seen.

---

Elsewhere – The Archives Beneath the Sect

Han Yu's lamp flickered as he flipped through torn pages of restricted history. His eyes were focused, but his mind burned with unease.

> "The Nihility Root… erased by decree of the Heaven-Sealing Order. All records forbidden."

He turned the next fragment. His hand froze.

> "And the one who bore it last…"

"Was said to have destroyed an entire moon to halt karma's judgment."

He leaned back slowly, remembering Lin Feng's fight. The fire. The stillness. The way reality seemed to… twist.

> "No," he whispered. "He's not just dangerous."

> "He's the trigger."

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