The warning arrived a week later.
From the sky, a thousand lights descended — not stars, but Divine Envoys, each one wrapped in sanctified armor forged from the remains of dead constellations.
Their descent ignited the horizon like dawn arriving too soon.
> [Alert: Celestial incursion detected.]
[Origin — The High Hall.]
[Objective — Termination of Phoenix Thread.]
BiBi Dong gathered the elders. "They mean to erase him," she said. "And any who shelter him."
The Hall erupted in arguments. Some begged to surrender the boy; others vowed to fight.
Through the chaos, Liu Feng stood silent, watching light bloom over the valley.
"Teacher," he said quietly, "open the inner sanctum."
She stared. "That's forbidden."
"Then I forbid myself from dying unprepared."
After a long pause, she nodded once. "Very well. But what you awaken there will never sleep again."