---
The wind was quiet inside the ruins of Azure Crown.
Too quiet.
As if the air itself had stopped breathing.
Li Tianming stood alone in the shattered chamber, blood dripping from his left hand, where the new skill mark had formed — a spiraling sigil of silver thread and dark fire burned into his palm.
> [Skill Acquired: Soul Thread]
[Capacity: 3 memory anchors per battle]
[Cooldown: 12 hours]
[Warning: May trigger memory corruption or soul feedback]
He stared at the floating black shard — the second Chaos Memory Core — as it dissolved into him.
And then…
> [Bloodline Override – Activation Detected]
[First Thread Sealed: Echo #001 – "Kuro-Yue"]
Tianming staggered.
His mind warped.
And suddenly—
---
[Memory Sync: Kuro-Yue — Fragmented Thread #1]
She stood in a black test chamber.
Wires in her spine.
Eyes glowing.
A voice echoed from a glass monitor:
> "Your feelings for the Chaos Lord are anomalies. Suppress them."
She screamed.
They activated the Mind Leash.
Blood ran from her ears.
And still, she whispered:
> "Even if you erase me, I'll wait for him…"
Tianming gasped.
The pain was his now, too.
He gripped his skull, breathing hard.
> "This power isn't just strength…
It's a curse."
---
[Meanwhile – Northern Fringe, Dragon Country]
In the shadows of the Silent Cliffs, a group of children were being trained in secret — scarred, blindfolded, marked by strange seals.
Each one a failure.
Each one a discarded version of something greater.
An old man in black silk stood before them.
> "The Lord of Chaos has remembered something he shouldn't."
> "So now… we send something he's already forgotten."
He opened a coffin behind him.
Inside, a boy slept.
He looked exactly like Li Tianming — but younger.
And smiling.
---
[Back – Azure Crown: Surface Level]
The system buzzed.
> [Host Condition: Memory Feedback = Mild]
[Temporary Trait Amplified: Emotional Sync]
[You now feel echoes of those whose minds you thread.]
Tianming exhaled slowly.
> "Kuro… what did they do to you?"
But there was no answer.
The only thing ahead now — was the east.
Where the next signal pulsed like a heartbeat.
> [Next Chaos Memory: Located – Crownfall Gravepath, beyond the Bleeding Trees]
[Estimated Distance: 60 km. Estimated Threat Level: Catastrophic]
He took one last look at the ruined Azure Crown…
Then turned to leave.
But a figure was already standing in his path.
A boy.
Barefoot. Pale.
No older than twelve.
Eyes like mirrors.
> "Tianming," the boy said with a smile.
"Do you remember me?"
> "Who are you?" Tianming asked cautiously.
The boy tilted his head.
> "You made me… in your first life. You were lonely."
> "You called me 'Brother.'"
Tianming felt something break inside his memory.
A childhood echo —
A name screamed once in a dream.
> "Yuan…"
> [Warning: Rogue Soul Detected – Threaded Construct Class]
[Status: Unstable Copy of Original Personality Layer]
The boy smiled wider — eyes now glowing red.
> "I missed you.
But they told me…
If I killed you, I could become real again."
Tianming's blade lit up in a flash.
> "I don't kill children."
> "Oh, I'm not a child anymore," Yuan whispered.
> "I'm the monster you made… when you were still a god."
The sky above Azure Crown shattered again — a ripple of Chaos thunder cracking open a soulstorm.
Black lightning fell.
Dead trees bloomed in reverse.
And Yuan attacked.
---
Mini-Boss Battle: Mirrorborn Yuan
He moved faster than any child should — teleporting mid-sentence, flickering between smiles and screams.
Tianming barely dodged a blade made of pure soul-essence.
> [Trait: Mirror Instinct – Adapts to opponent's fighting style after 10 seconds.]
[Trait: Thread Leech – Can steal one memory from opponent if damaged.]
> "He's like me…" Tianming growled.
"But wrong. Twisted."
Tianming activated Reflective Dissonance, countering a flash-strike and slamming the boy into a collapsed pillar.
But Yuan just laughed.
> "I remember when you cried in the Vault.
I remember when you begged them to save Yue'er."
"And I remember what you did when they said no…"
Tianming froze.
A memory tried to surface.
Something dark.
Something locked.
> [Bloodline Override Available – Thread: Yuan?]
[WARNING: Risk – This memory is corrupted.]
Tianming's grip trembled.
> "Do I really want to remember…?"
---
[Far Above – Architects' Observatory]
The Empress of Chains stood with the Oracle of Dust, watching Tianming through a dimensional mirror.
> "He found the child?"
> "He's remembering the moment he became a monster."
> "Good," the Empress said.
"That means he'll either break… or finally awaken the Third Eye."
---