Path of the Forgotten.

The mist hung heavy in the forest, coiling through the ancient trees like a living thing. Branches creaked overhead. The ground pulsed faintly underfoot — not with Qi, but something older. Something watching.

Lin Feng crouched beside a brook, washing blood from his knuckles. The last encounter had not been with a beast. It had been with a disciple — or something that once wore a disciple's face.

> "That symbol… I've seen it before." He remembered the strange carving etched into the man's neck — a symbol buried in the inner records of the sect. Not the outer library, but the hidden scrolls Han yu had once hinted at, during that passing conversation on forgotten cultivation paths. Paths that devoured rather than channeled, mirrored his own body more than the Qi arts of this continent.

Lin Feng exhaled slowly.

His breath steamed in the cold air. It curled unnaturally — spiraling inward rather than dispersing. Behind him, leaves rustled but he didn't turn. > "You've followed me long enough," he said calmly.

From the mist emerged Han Yu, eyes calm as a frozen lake. > "You're not easy to track."

> "You're not easy to lose," Lin Feng replied.

They stared at each other — not as enemies, not quite as allies. Something unspoken passed between them. Recognition. Wariness. A strange familiarity that neither fully understood.

Han Yu stepped forward and knelt on one knee by the brook. > "You've noticed it too, haven't you?" he murmured, brushing his fingers through the water. "The land is shifting. Spirit beasts are fleeing deeper. And the cultivators… they're changing."

> "Some don't even know it," Lin Feng said.

Han Yu nodded. Then looked Lin Feng in the eye. > "Do you?"

---

Meanwhile – Unknown Peaks

Lan Xueyin stood before a veiled stone monolith, half-buried beneath snow and time. A voice echoed beside her — ancient, female, echoing from the crystal talisman she held in her palm. > "You shouldn't be here yet, child."

> "I don't have a choice," she replied, voice cold. "He's changing too quickly."

> "Then you must decide. Will you delay him… or help him awaken?"

Lan Xueyin didn't respond. She looked up at the hidden sky. And for the first time…She hesitated.

---

Far Below – A Subterranean Chamber

In a dark place beneath the earth, sealed by runes and forgotten by time, the sound of chains filled the silence. Something moved.

Not fully alive.

A single word echoed from the black stone walls — written in a tongue that no living soul remembered. And across the continent… certain sleeping beings stirred.

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