Path of the Forgotten.

Night had fallen again, but the ruins didn't sleep. Neither did the shadows.

Lin Feng walked alone now, deeper into the fractured underground where others dared not go. The slip of paper burned gently in his robes — a silent reminder of the girl who had vanished, and the symbol she left behind. > "When they offer aid, do not trust…"

He hadn't seen another disciple in hours. Not that he minded. Something inside him had begun to stir again — a deeper resonance. His senses had sharpened unnaturally. He could feel the breath of rats a dozen steps away. Hear the faint heartbeat of something beneath the stone. And more worryingly he could hear.....thoughts.

Not clearly. But fragments, whispers that weren't his.

> "He's close…"

"…still breathing? That's impossible…"

"The ruins rejected him. So why does the air obey?" They came from no mouths. Yet they circled him like birds.

---

Elsewhere — A Room of Black Mirrors

Far above, beyond even the sect elders, in a hidden hall surrounded by dark crystals, several hooded figures observed through water-filled basins. The images wavered — all showing Lin Feng, walking, still alive. One of them spoke, voice ancient and male: > "It awakened again."

A second voice: "The last time was seventy years ago."

The first replied coldly: "We buried that boy ourselves."

A third figure — smaller — finally said: > "This one isn't from our records."

The room went quiet. > "Then whose?"

---

Back in the Ruins

Lin Feng turned a corner — and stopped. Someone stood there, motionless. Face pale. Sword unsheathed. Eyes glassy.

A fellow disciple — outer sect robe, but something was wrong. > "You… alright?" Lin Feng asked carefully. The figure didn't blink. Then lunged.

But it wasn't a martial attack. It was silent, desperate, filled with fear.

Lin Feng deflected — and felt nothing in the blade. No Qi. No intent. Only madness.

He knocked the attacker unconscious with a single strike. As the body slumped, something slipped from the disciple's robe. A crumpled drawing of Lin Feng's face.

> "They're sending them," he muttered. But who?

---

Not Far Away – Han Yu Sees all perched atop an overhang, Han Yu watched the chaos begin to ripple outward. > "The mark is noticed now…" He frowned.

> "You've drawn the attention of more than this realm, Lin Feng." > "And they're coming."

From behind, a voice: "Do you intend to help him?" Han Yu didn't turn but said:

> "If he falls now, we all die later."

Silence....then a whisper of wind — and the speaker was gone.