The following evening, the dogs began barking.
Not playful barking.
Warning.
Villagers stepped outside their homes cautiously. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the dirt road. Chickens scattered and a cart horse pulled against its rope nervously.
Ling Chen felt the danger before he saw it.
The same suffocating sensation from the night of the battle returned — but sharper now.
He stood beside Ren Tianhe near the burial hill entrance.
"…He came back," Ling Chen whispered.
Ren Tianhe nodded once.
From the road leading into the village, a figure walked calmly toward them.
The same dark-robed cultivator.
He did not hide his presence this time.
The air around him felt wrong, as if heat and cold existed together. Villagers instinctively stepped away from his path. None understood why — only that standing near him felt like standing near a cliff edge.
The man stopped twenty paces away.
He smiled.
"I wondered if you would run," he said to Ren Tianhe.
Ren Tianhe stood straight, staff in hand.
"I told you to leave."
The cultivator ignored him and looked at Ling Chen.
His eyes held fascination now, not mere curiosity.
"I have confirmed it," he said softly. "The Heavenly Dao truly cannot perceive you."
Ling Chen's chest tightened.
"What do you want?" he asked, forcing himself not to step back.
The man tilted his head.
"Understanding."
He lifted his hand slowly. The air grew heavy.
"You are something that should not exist. If Heaven cannot read you… then you are either a flaw…"
His smile widened slightly.
"…or an opportunity."
Ren Tianhe stepped forward, placing himself between them.
"You will not touch him."
The cultivator sighed.
"You misunderstand. I do not wish to harm the boy."
He paused.
"I wish to study him."
The ground trembled.
Dust lifted into the air around them, forming a faint circular pattern centered on the dark-robed man.
Ling Chen suddenly felt pressure pushing against his chest, making it hard to breathe.
Villagers retreated in fear.
Ren Tianhe's voice became firm.
"You overstep."
The old cultivator raised his sleeve.
The pressure shattered instantly.
Invisible force collided in the space between the two men. Grass flattened outward, and nearby stones cracked.
Ling Chen staggered backward.
This time the battle was unmistakable.
Not fast movements — but overwhelming presence.
The rogue cultivator's smile faded slightly.
"…So you choose to oppose me."
Ren Tianhe's eyes were calm.
"I chose the moment I stayed."
The man's gaze sharpened.
"Then you will die with your secret."
And the air around them ignited with unseen power, signaling the first true battle Ling Chen would ever witness — a clash not of weapons…
but of existence itself.