Path of the Forgotten.

The skies had darkened earlier than usual.

Rain whispered through the leaves, soft and deliberate — as though the heavens themselves were trying not to disturb what stirred below.

Lin Feng walked along the outer cliff trail, the mountain wind curling around him. He wore no sect robes today — only simple black cloth and his broken sword across his back, bound tightly in old spirit rope.

He was not lost in thought. No — he was listening. To the wind and rocks shifted, the branches bent — to the hidden pulses beneath the world that now rose like breath beneath his feet.

Ever since that night…Something inside him had started moving.

---

In the inner sect's Third Division Courtyard, laughter echoed from the pavilions, laced with arrogance.

A young cultivator with cold features and jade-colored eyes sat on a carved stone throne. His name was Meng Xuanye, top three among the inner disciples, and rumored to have nearly entered the Core Seat last year.

He toyed with a talisman in his palm.

"This Lin Feng," he murmured. "A wild dog from the outer sect dares cripple Wei Zicheng… and now walks like he's untouchable."

Another disciple beside him snorted. "Let us humble him."

"No," Meng Xuanye said. "Let the mountain humble him." He smiled. > "Release the Cold-Mist Serpent in the East Ravine."

> "But that beast is—"

> "Untraceable. If it kills him, it's nature's will. If not… I'll see him at the Selection Trial."

---

Back on the Trail – East Ravine

Lin Feng had felt it. A figure that slithered beneath the grass, unseen. He turned just as the fog thickened — unnaturally fast.

Then it came.

A serpent. Over ten meters long, fangs dripping cold mist, scales reflecting pale moonlight. Its eyes were too human, as if it remembered hatred.

> "A spirit beast… but wrong," Lin Feng muttered.

The serpent struck. He didn't dodge.

He stepped forward, hand reached up — not with Qi, not with techniques.

With something else. A pulse. A resonance.

The serpent's body jerked mid-strike, its scales flickering. Its movements lost their rhythm.

Lin Feng's palm connected with its head. A silent thunderclap exploded and the serpent collapsed — not dead, but unmoving, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Lin Feng stood above it, confused. Shaken.

> "I didn't… kill it." He knelt, placed a hand on the beast's skull.

And saw…Chains. Ancient. Endless. Wrapped around its soul and then they vanished.

> "Something's wrong with this continent," he whispered.

---

Far Away – Han Yu's Cliff

Han Yu opened his eyes.

His star-patterned pupils shimmered faintly in the dark. > "He's awakening faster than predicted."

He reached for his jade scroll, fingers hovering. > "But… someone else is interfering." He paused.

Because he was no longer alone on the cliff. A robed figure stood behind him — face hidden, aura completely suppressed.

Yet Han Yu did not flinch. > "Who sent you?"

The figure remained silent. Then dropped something. A folded talisman.

Han Yu picked it up, eyes narrowing. It bore no name but it pulsed with a very old script.

> "A warning," the stranger finally spoke. "If he awakens too soon… everything falls."

Then they were gone.

---

Elsewhere – Deep in the Northern Mountains

In a ruin untouched by time, the silver-eyed girl sat beneath a shattered stone statue. She traced her fingers along ancient marks on the ground — a formation so complex, even Heaven had forgotten it.

Her voice barely moved the air. > "He's close."

The ground beneath her trembled faintly. As if agreeing.

And a voice echoed within the stone — one only she could hear. > "Then prepare him… or destroy him."

She closed her eyes. > "I'll do.....neither