Observing a while,he exited the energy domain.
He decided to take a walk before having dinner.
The wind carried the scent of fresh herbs and simmering broth from the kitchen window, a sure sign that dinner was nearing completion.
Yet Tian Yi's heart felt too heavy to sit still. Ever since Uncle Tian had guided him in Qi channeling the weeks before, his mind had been teetering on the edge—between clarity and confusion, between awakening and something darker.
With the sky tinged gold and the shadows growing long, Tian Yi slipped out of the house. The dirt path behind the courtyard, scattered with fallen peach blossoms, led him to his usual retreat—a lone tree standing on a gentle slope, overlooking the woods beyond.
As he walked, his thoughts stirred.
Why do these dreams keep haunting me? What are they trying to tell me?
His heart went back to the dreams he had been having recently,for some reason he hadn't had them since uncle tian came….
The dreams had started small—flickers of memory, vague images—but now they stretched longer and deeper, filling his sleep with cryptic symbols and haunting sensations.
Recently,during during the day, he sometimes felt as if something was watching him from behind the veil of reality.
Reaching the tree, he exhaled deeply and sat down, resting his back against the bark. The breeze cooled his skin. His eyelids, heavier than usual, began to droop….
"I'll just close my eyes for a moment," he whispered.
The world bled away.
He was standing in an endless sky, or perhaps a void—it was impossible to tell. Stars pulsed around him, but they were wrong. Some twisted, some bled. A massive bronze ring floated above, inscribed with runes he couldn't read.
Then came the hum.
That same infernal hum, like ten thousand voices whispering behind a wall of time. The symbols swirled around him, as if trying to burrow into his mind.
Tian Yi… Tian Yi… the whispers seemed to chant.
A colossal eye opened in the void. Slitted, reptilian, and ancient beyond measure. He tried to look away, but it pinned him in place.
Then a second voice rose, deeper than oceans, smoother than silk:
"You are the fated one of Heaven. You will devour fate. And yet, you forget…"
He screamed, reaching out, but the dream warped again. Mountains fell from the skies. Chains shattered. Blood rained upward.
And in the center of it all, he saw… himself. Laughing. Crying. Burning. Rising.
Back in the real world, Uncle Tian had been sitting cross-legged in meditation when he suddenly flinched. His spiritual sense trembled violently. It was like a stone being thrown into still water—Tian Yi's Qi had become chaotic, disturbed. Something was wrong.
Without a moment's hesitation, Uncle Tian leapt to his feet and flew down the corridor,
His robes billowed as he followed the trail of spiritual fluctuation.
The signal led him to the grove. There, beneath the peach tree, Tian Yi lay slumped against the bark, face pale, body twitching, soaked in sweat.
Uncle Tian's eyes narrowed,baffled as to what happened.
He knelt beside the boy, placing two fingers against his forehead. The contact was like touching ice and flame at once—his consciousness couldn't reach Tian Yi's.
"He's trapped in his own mind," Uncle Tian muttered. "A dream realm… but something far deeper than a dream."
He shook Tian Yi's shoulder. "Wake up. Now."
But Tian Yi's breath only quickened. His lips parted in a silent gasp, his fingers clawing at the air.
Inside the dream, Tian Yi fell.
Endless black.
Then—
He stood before a gate carved from obsidian and bone. Behind it, screams. He reached for it, not by choice, but by instinct.
As his fingers touched the gate, his reflection flickered across its surface: both eyes glowing with astral diagrams…
And then the voice again:
"You will awaken… but not unchanged."
Suddenly His eyes flew open.
Tian Yi bolted upright with a ragged gasp. Every inch of his body was soaked with sweat. His vision was hazy, chest heaving like he had run for miles.
Uncle Tian exhaled in relief and stood back, giving him space.
"You're awake," he said softly.
Tian Yi blinked several times, trying to regain his bearings. The tree, the night, the cool wind,the moon on the sky—they were all real again.
"I…" he began, voice hoarse. "It happened again."
Uncle Tian crouched beside him. "You've had them before??,the dream?"
Tian Yi nodded slowly. "Yes, but this time… it was worse. Deeper. Everything felt so real. I saw… things. A ring floating in the void. Symbols. A gate made of bone. I even heard voices, speaking directly to me."
Uncle Tian's brow furrowed. "Did they say anything specific?"
Tian Yi hesitated. "One voice called me the fated one of Heaven. Saying I would devour fate??. That I forgot something important."
Uncle Tian's expression darkened at once. "Don't share anymore details,the karma would rub off on you and me,young master"
"Karma?how??" Tian Yi asked, suddenly fearful.
"These aren't mere dreams,young master,They're echoes."
"Echoes of what?"
Uncle Tian stood slowly, folding his hands behind his back. "Of a life you've long forgotten—or perhaps one that was never meant to be remembered.These dreams may be the key to unlocking the truth."
Tian Yi's shoulders sagged as he wiped his face. "I couldn't control anything in that dream. It felt like I was being shown something… but why now?"
Uncle Tian looked up at the darkening sky. "Because your spirit has begun to awaken. The act of channeling Qi yesterday likely stirred something buried deep within you. It was only a matter of time."
A long silence passed between them.
Tian Yi finally asked,
"What should I do now?"
Uncle Tian turned to him. "We prepare. From now on, you must take note of every detail of these dreams—no matter how faint or fragmented."
"And if I hear that voice again?"
"Then you talk back," Uncle Tian said firmly. "You're no longer a child hiding from the dark. You're a cultivator. And soon, you'll be something far more."
As they walked back toward the house, the stars above began to shimmer.
But somewhere in the heavens, far above even their reach, the eye blinked once more—and smiled.