Path of the Forgotten.

The dawn was veiled in mist.

Lin Feng sat alone at the foot of the meditation peak — not to cultivate, but to listen. The usual pull of qi around him felt distant, like it had grown afraid. No birds sang. No wind stirred. Only the sound of water dripping steadily from the cliff behind him.

Yet within him, something stirred... echoes. From where? He didn't know. But they weren't his. Not yet.

> "Why do I remember a battle I've never fought?"

"Why do I grieve for people I've never seen?"

He clenched his fists, staring at the pale grooves of his palm. Faint lines, but beneath them — something burned quietly. He didn't speak of it. He hadn't told anyone that since waking, he had stopped sensing the world in the same way.

Qi wasn't gone.

But it had thinned around him, as if avoiding his core. As if trying not to be devoured.

---

Outer Sect Council Hall – That Same Morning

The hall was abuzz. Elders in dark blue robes sat in a crescent formation, their expressions unreadable as the Seventh Elder stood calmly at the center.

> "We will send thirty disciples to the outer ruins in two weeks," the Seventh Elder said. "This includes our rising talents... and our uncertainties."

A senior steward frowned. "Lin Feng?"

"He will go."

"But—"

"He's drawn fate. If he dies there, the heavens chose it. If he survives…"

He didn't finish.

Because every elder in that room was thinking the same thing.

> "Then we no longer get to decide what he becomes."

---

Hidden Moon Pavilion – Inner Sanctum

Lan Xueyin stood before a sealed pool of silvery water — the Moon Mirror Spring. Even now, she could still feel the absence from last night.

> "He wasn't resisting. He was sleeping." Her fingers hovered above the surface. It refused her entry.

> "Is this what Master warned me of?"

"The shadow that doesn't come from the heavens or the earth... but from behind the veil of memory itself?" She turned away, robe billowing, and murmured to herself:

> "Lin Feng… If you awaken too soon, even the heavens won't forgive you."

She would go to the ruins too.

---

That Night – Beneath the Outer Sect

Han Yu stood at the edge of a spiraling tunnel deep beneath the disciple quarters — a place only he knew how to enter. The underground shrine pulsed softly with ancient runes — time-worn symbols that flickered as if dreaming.

In the center, he placed a single piece of jade — one etched with Lin Feng's name.

The runes responded. And a voice echoed faintly in the dark:

> "So the vessel has returned…"

Han Yu didn't react. He simply whispered:

> "No. Not yet."

"But if he breaks too early, all this burns again."

And the shadows trembled in response.

---