There was no sky. No earth. No boundary.
Ling Xuanye opened his eyes to a world made of silence. His body trembled, soaked in cold sweat. The color around him had bled into shades of charcoal and ash. Smoke curled at the edge of his vision not from fire, but from something alive. Something watching.
The ground beneath him cracked with every step, forming a spiraling trail into darkness. Behind him came the sound of thousands of footsteps… yet no one was visible.
Then came the whispers.
You should not exist. You are a vessel. You will awaken... or be consumed.
Figures emerged from the smoke. They had no form—just faces. His face. Twisted, pale, stitched with shadow. Their mouths opened in silence, but their eyes screamed.
When will you awaken?
He turned and ran.
His lungs burned. His legs moved through a world that warped with every step. The air pressed down on him like a sea of invisible hands.
The whispers turned to laughter.
Then—
The ground collapsed.
Xuanye fell.
A moment later, he landed on something solid. Cold. Sticky.
He stood amidst a battlefield. Corpses of cultivators stretched across the earth. Weapons half-buried. The sky bled black flames. Screams echoed between broken mountains.
Above all floated a shadow, robed in gold and ash, holding a blade that carved stars.
And Xuanye remembered.
Not from stories.
From inside.
He was not dreaming. He was watching a memory.
A lone figure fought the heavens. They called him traitor. They called him emperor.
"Void Sovereign, your karma ends here!"
The voice boomed. Then the world cracked.
Xuanye clutched his head.
Voices screamed in his mind. His skull pounded. His meridians ached. Blood spilled from his mouth.
"No… this isn't me… I don't want this…"
But the memory did not stop.
The emperor fought armies. Won. Bled. And was betrayed.
A woman in white, eyes wet with grief, drove a sword of heaven through his back.
Pain exploded through Xuanye's chest.
He screamed.
He knelt.
His heart felt like it would tear apart.
Then the serpent demon appeared—its presence familiar. From another's dream. But now… it stared at him.
"You are not ready."
Black flame coiled around its fangs.
Xuanye raised his hands—but they were shaking. Powerless.
A blade of spirit energy stabbed into his ribs.
He fell forward, gasping.
"I... I can't..."
The smoke curled in.
Meanwhile: Su Feilí's Illusion Deepens
She stood in her childhood courtyard, holding her mother's hand.
Her father smiled at her, pouring tea.
"You're safe now," he said.
"You'll never need to fight again," her mother whispered.
Peace. Warmth. Home.
But each time she asked about the outside world, their smiles faded.
"You don't need to remember that," they said.
"You were never strong enough," her mother whispered.
Feilí's heart ached. She shook her head.
"This… this isn't right."
The tea turned red.
The table cracked.
Their hands became claws.
"Stay."
The world shuddered.
From above, a golden thread shimmered into the sky.
"Feilí."
Xuanye's voice.
"Come back. I need you."
She looked toward it. Her parents stepped in front of her.
"You don't want to leave us, do you?" they asked. Their eyes were empty.
She backed away.
"You're not my parents."
They lunged.
Then the world exploded in ash.
Feilí screamed.
She fell again—into another illusion. This time, even deeper.
And waiting for her there… were her real parents.
Smiling. Silent.
She ran into their arms.
"I just want to be here... a little longer."
Outside:
Her body lay limp.
The threads pulsed faster.
Her Qi flickered like a candle in a storm.
And the golden eye above slowly descended from the shadows—focusing directly on her chest.
Something inside her spirit… had begun to shine.
To be continued...