.Chapter 25 — The Forbidden Weapon Awakens
The rain fell softly over the ancient courtyard, tapping like whispers across the stone tiles. A stillness blanketed the outer sanctum of the academy—one reserved for divine relics too dangerous to display and too valuable to destroy.
Luo Qingshen stood silently beneath the weathered archway, his robes damp but his gaze unbothered. He wasn't here for aesthetics. He was here because something had called him.
Something... older than time.
And it was waking up.
The Academy's Vault of Echoes was forbidden to most students, sealed by over nine celestial-grade formations. Only instructors and high priests of the Temple Circle had permission to enter. And yet, here he was—unseen, undetected.
The shadows parted for him as though they knew who he was.
Even sealed, the vault throbbed with buried power. Dozens of legendary weapons and relics slumbered within—each one strong enough to destroy armies. Yet Luo Qingshen's steps led him to only one thing.
At the very center of the vault, surrounded by ten binding rings of suppression, floated a jagged mass of black crystal. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat trying to remember how to beat.
[Detected: Dormant Forbidden-Class Artifact]
[Name: Worldcutter Shard — "Cradle of Thorns"]
[Origin: Unknown. Previous wielders: Extinct.]
It reacted the moment he stepped within ten meters. The suppression rings flickered—once, then again—failing to contain the resonance. Symbols began to glow across the vault walls in panic.
Luo Qingshen narrowed his eyes.
"Even asleep, it remembers me."
Elsewhere, alarms echoed through the upper towers of the academy. Elder priests shot to their feet, their eyes wide with disbelief.
"That seal—! Something's interfering with the Cradle of Thorns!"
"That's impossible! No one even knows how to access the vault!"
One of the senior instructors, a white-haired cultivator named Master Yunxiao, turned grim. "We may be witnessing the return of a wielder fated to destruction…"
Back in the vault, a faint wisp curled from the crystal shard and extended toward Luo Qingshen. It shimmered—a thorned tendril made of darkness and memory.
"You again," the voice said. It was not spoken, but felt inside his soul.
"You left me to rot in the void."
"You were too dangerous," Luo replied, voice quiet. "Even I couldn't save what you consumed."
The shard pulsed violently, and the seal rings burst into blue flame, failing one by one. Energy flooded the chamber. The air trembled. Weapons clattered inside their display cases. Somewhere deep beneath the academy, something howled.
A vision slammed into Luo Qingshen's mind—an ancient battlefield, skies ripped open, gods screaming as black thorns tore through reality. The Cradle of Thorns had once been his companion in a war that erased entire timelines.
And now, it wanted to return to his side.
[Warning: Synchronization with Forbidden-Class Artifact: 42%… 68%… 91%...]
[New Passive Trait Awakened: Devourer's Memory]
[Hidden Title Reunlocked: Monarch of Lost Roots]
Luo Qingshen exhaled slowly, reaching out.
"Sleep again," he whispered. "This world is not yet ready."
With a surge of divine will, he pushed the shard's power down—veiling it beneath layers of Void essence and silence. The shard reluctantly quieted, but not before one last tendril of thought reached him.
"You can delay me… but not forever. They'll come for you now."
At dawn, the academy was in uproar.
All major instructors were summoned. Divine arrays were rechecked. Yet no intruder was found. The only clue? A single message etched into the floor before the vault.
"Not sealed. Chosen."
Only one student dared to walk past the barricades later that morning—Luo Qingshen, calm as ever, sipping tea like nothing had happened.
But far above, in the floating city of Heavenreach, several factions stirred. The Oracle's Eye opened. The Herald of Chains awoke. The Empress of the Scarlet Moon summoned her spies.
Because the Cradle of Thorns had flared again—for the first time in ten thousand years.
And only one soul could've made it respond.