Wang Jie stood at the edge of the sect gate, his new armor fastened tight across his chest. It wasn't flashy, just dark leather with faint scale patterns, but Jin Hao recognized it instantly. He checked the tooltip just to be sure.
[Scaled Hide Armor – Divine Transformation Snake Skin – Defense Rank: Golden Core+]
Jin Hao blinked and leaned closer to the screen. "You seriously put on Divine Transformation snake skin like it's casual wear? What next, gonna use a Nascent Soul blade to chop onions?"
But Wang Jie didn't answer. He simply turned and stepped onto the broken stone path like he'd been preparing for this walk his entire life.
Jin Hao opened the map to check the travel distance. Ashfall Village was barely visible, way off in the fogged-out corner of the region. When he tapped it, a popup appeared.
[Estimated Travel Time: 112 Years – Qi Tempering Cultivator, Standard Pace]
He stared at the screen for a full five seconds. "What do you mean one hundred twelve years? You'd die of old age halfway there. You'd die of boredom before that."
He looked back at Wang Jie, who hadn't flinched. Instead, he knelt beside a moss-covered lantern near the gate, placed a hand on the stone, and wiped the surface clean. Underneath, a ring of faintly glowing runes pulsed with buried light — a hidden teleportation array.
Jin Hao's expression shifted instantly. "Hold up."
Wang Jie pulled a jade token from his sleeve and slid it across the formation in one smooth motion. The runes flared with light, casting soft blue arcs across the old stone.
[Destination Confirmed: Ashfall Relay]
Jin Hao leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. "No way. You knew that was there. You didn't even hesitate. You had the token ready."
He didn't like it. Not one bit.
This wasn't something a normal handyman should know. Not unless he had insider knowledge. Not unless he'd been trained or trusted by someone very high up in the old sect. And yet, this same guy had been bowing in the dust just days ago, begging for forgiveness like some abandoned disciple.
"Alright," Jin Hao muttered, still watching the screen. "I get it. You're either way more important than you let on… or you're really good at pretending not to be."
Wang Jie stepped into the center of the array just as the glow peaked. The air shimmered around him, his armor catching the light like polished obsidian. Then, with a soft pulse, he vanished.
[Teleportation Activated: Ashfall Region Relay – ETA: Arrival Imminent]
Jin Hao sat back in his chair, still watching the newly revealed section of the map. A distant icon blinked faintly where fog had just cleared, marking a location with the name:
Ashfall Village.
And wherever that teleportation sent him, Jin Hao had a feeling this was going to be more than just a village recruitment run.
The teleportation glow faded, and Wang Jie stepped out onto cracked stone surrounded by ash-covered hills. The sky was dim here, even though it should have been morning. Gray clouds hung low, and the wind carried the faint smell of burnt wood.
Ahead stood a wooden gate, leaning slightly to one side, its old carvings barely visible through layers of soot and dust. Just past the gate, a narrow path led down into a quiet cluster of houses nestled in the valley.
Jin Hao watched from the interface, eyes narrowed. "This place looks like it hasn't moved in a hundred years."
As Wang Jie approached the gate, a voice called out.
"Stop right there!"
An old man stepped forward, flanked by two younger villagers holding worn farming tools like weapons. His back was bent, and his beard was long and white, tied at the end with a strip of red cloth. His eyes were sharp, despite his age.
"Who are you to walk into Ashfall wearing those robes?"
Wang Jie stopped and bowed respectfully. "Disciple Wang Jie, of the Jade Immortal Sect."
The two men beside the elder tensed, and one even raised his tool slightly. But the elder didn't move. His eyes remained fixed on the armor, then the robes, then Wang Jie's face.
After a long silence, he exhaled. "You came late."
"I came as soon as I could," Wang Jie replied quietly.
"The sect…" The old man hesitated. "The sect was—"
"Destroyed," Wang Jie said, voice low and steady. "The halls are broken. The elders are gone. I am all that remains."
For a moment, no one said anything.
Then the elder closed his eyes and sighed.
Not in shock. Not in grief.
Just a long, tired breath. Like someone confirming what he already knew.
"I see," he said softly. "Then the vision was true."
Wang Jie looked up. "Vision?"
The old man nodded. "Yes. Many years ago, the Sect Master before last came here one final time. Ashfall was his birthplace, and this village was where his mortal kin remained. He told us then that the Jade Immortal Sect's fate had already been written in the stars. He said fire would fall. That jade would break. That the Immortal Mountain would kneel to ash."
Jin Hao sat up a little straighter.
"Wait. You're telling me some old dude actually fortune-telled the whole sect's destruction? That's not ominous at all."
The elder waved a hand, and the two younger men behind him lowered their tools. He stepped forward slowly, his gaze never leaving Wang Jie.
"Ashfall Village was once where the mortal families of many disciples lived," he explained. "Sons, daughters, siblings—those without cultivation. When war came or a sect fell, they came here. Some left. Some stayed. But this village has always remembered."
Wang Jie bowed deeply. "Then I am grateful for your memory."
The elder nodded, his voice quieter now. "You wear the robe, and you survived the fall. That is enough for us. Come. We will talk inside."
As the villagers led him toward the largest hall in the village, the wind stirred again, kicking up a swirl of ash behind them. The gates creaked as they closed, and for a moment, Jin Hao sat staring at the screen.
A hidden village, tied to a destroyed sect. A fortune told years before it happened. And a disciple who somehow knew a teleportation array no one else remembered.
"Okay," Jin Hao muttered. "This whole thing just got weirder."
The meeting hall of Ashfall Village was small, built from heavy old wood and reinforced with clay bricks that had blackened over time. Inside, the walls were lined with faded banners and carved plaques bearing unfamiliar names. It smelled of incense and aged herbs.
Wang Jie sat across from the elder at a plain stone table. A pot of tea steamed between them, untouched.
Outside, villagers murmured, some curious, some nervous. But no one interrupted.
"Elder," Wang Jie said carefully, "if our sect was destroyed... if the traitors scattered everything... how is it that Ashfall was never found?"
The elder raised an eyebrow but didn't seem surprised by the question. He lifted the teapot and poured slowly, steam rising in lazy spirals.
"You ask that like it's strange," he said. "But to us, it was always obvious."
Wang Jie frowned. "What do you mean?"
The old man set the teapot down and tapped the table once with his finger.
"This village bears the mark of the sect," he said, voice quiet but firm. "You may not have seen it, but it's here. Beneath the soil. In the air. Hidden in the light."
He gestured toward the window, where gray sky filtered through heavy curtains.
"A concealment formation," he continued. "Placed long ago. Empowered by the former Sect Master himself, and reinforced by elders who knew this place must never be found."
Wang Jie's eyes narrowed. "A formation… strong enough to hide an entire village?"
"Not just hide," the elder said. "Repel. Distort. Redirect. The array that protects this place was ranked high even in the old days. Its core was forged from a Sky-Soul Crystal. It bends light, scent, spiritual perception... even memory. Any cultivator below Nascent Soul would pass by without ever noticing us."
Wang Jie stiffened slightly. "And those above Nascent Soul?"
"They would see a wasteland," the elder said, lifting his teacup. "Dead qi. No life. No value. And no reason to stay."
He took a slow sip, then smiled faintly.
"It's not absolute, of course. Nothing is. But even if a Golden Core cultivator came here and set off a hundred detection talismans, this place would still look like an empty ruin."
Wang Jie leaned forward. "Then why did I find it?"
The elder's smile deepened. "You didn't. The formation let you in."
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Jin Hao, still watching from the screen, sat straighter.
"…Okay, what?"
The elder continued as if explaining something very normal. "The array reacts to qi signatures. Bloodlines. Sect codes. You wore the Jade Immortal robe. You carried the jade token. More importantly… you came as a disciple. Not a conqueror. The formation recognized you."
Wang Jie bowed his head. "I… didn't know."
"You weren't supposed to," the elder replied. "Most don't. Even the villagers are unaware. Only I bear the seal to speak with the array's core."
He reached into his robes and drew out a narrow slip of black wood, etched with a crescent-shaped carving and three golden lines.
"The Seal of Ashfall," he said. "Granted by the Sect Master before his final seclusion."
Jin Hao stared at the screen, trying to absorb it all. "So the old sect planned for this. They built an emergency safe zone… and never told anyone. Not even their own disciples."
The elder set the seal back into his sleeve.
"We were never meant to act," he said. "Only to remember. Only if the sect truly fell were we to open the gates again."
Wang Jie looked up slowly, eyes serious.
"It's fallen," he said.
The elder nodded. "Then the time has come."
Outside, the wind shifted slightly, and the ash in the air seemed to fall just a little slower.