The Lamp-Bearing Covenant had just been founded. Across the Nine Continents, hearts stirred with hope.But on the seventh dawn—
the heavens twisted.Above the Nine Heavens, cloudless and silent, crimson rain began to fall.Wherever the blood-red droplets touched:Cultivators lost their azure glow;Commoners' eyes, once clear, clouded over again with forgetfulness."It's the Rain of Forgetting Dust!" Bai Ying cried, face pale as ash.
"Heaven's Dao is erasing every trace of the Ninefold Mirror Realm from all minds!"Beneath the Heart-Lamp, Xie Wuchen stood unmoved—raindrops evaporated into blue mist three feet from his body.But in the distance, disciples clutched their heads, weeping:"Who am I? Why am I here?"Worse still—
citizens of Zhongzhou pointed at the Heart-Lamp and asked:"What is this thing for?"Even Sect Master Xuanwei murmured, dazed:"When… did Qingming Sect pledge to a new path?"Existence itself was being unmade.[East Sea – Cliff of Severed Delusion]Lin Xiaofan—the boy who once saved a dog, now the Covenant's first disciple—sat cross-legged on the cliff's edge.
His azure aura flickered wildly as he struggled to break through to the Second Realm: Severer of Delusion.
To succeed, he had to confront his deepest attachment.Suddenly, the sky split open.
A golden eye formed in the void, voice booming like divine judgment:"Lin Xiaofan! You cultivate heresy! Your sin is unforgivable!
Ninefold Thunder Tribulation descends upon you!
Survive it—and you may return to the orthodox path.
Fail—and sink into eternal oblivion!"Lin Xiaofan gritted his teeth:"I don't believe it! Master said true tribulations arise from within—how can Heaven impose one from outside?!"But the lightning struck anyway.First strike: shattered his left arm.Second strike: incinerated his meridians.Third strike: pierced his soul-core.As he lay dying, a phantom of his mother appeared, tears in her eyes:"My son… abandon this evil path. Come home.""Mother?" he sobbed, reaching out——but the blue lotus mark on his chest burned like fire.In that instant, clarity struck:"My mother… died years ago! This is illusion!"With a roar, he dragged his broken arm across the cliff face, writing in his own blood:"My name is Lin Xiaofan.
I awakened the Guardian of the Dust-Heart in Zhongzhou.
My master is Xie Wuchen.
This is truth—unerasable!"The moment the final stroke was made, azure light erupted to the heavens!"Severer of Delusion—awakened!"The heavenly eye shrieked in fury—then exploded into nothingness.—This was no true tribulation.
It was the Heart-Scouring Tribulation: Heaven's counterfeit trial, forged to shatter a cultivator's very foundation by weaponizing love and memory.[Zhongzhou – Platform of Inquiring the Dao]Xie Wuchen gathered the remnants of the Covenant. Fewer than a hundred remained.One whispered in despair:"If even our memories are stolen… how can we fight back?"Xie Wuchen said nothing.
He drew his wooden sword and traced a circle in the earth."Look."Within the circle shimmered visions:
—Lin Xiaofan's blood-written oath,
—the blue lotus blooming beside a dog's nest,
—Leng Qianshan's snapped sword…Every truth that had ever happened—still lived in that circle, vivid as the day it occurred."Heaven's Dao can erase memory," Xie Wuchen said, voice ringing like a temple bell,
"but it cannot unmake what has already been.
As long as one person remembers, truth remains alive."Bai Ying suddenly collapsed to her knees, tears streaming.Her black robes dissolved, revealing silver-white ceremonial vestments. A blue lotus bloomed on her forehead."I remember… everything."
"I am the First Guardian of the Heart-Memory, tasked with preserving the recollections of all living beings.
Heaven commanded me to delete all traces of Luo Qingyi—for she was destined to unravel its design.
I refused. So it stripped my rank, cast me into ten thousand lifetimes as a Soul-Guide…
waiting for this day."She raised her hands, divine energy surging into the Heart-Lamp:"By my divine essence, I summon every unextinguished heart in the Nine Continents—
BURN!"Instantly, across the land:In Hundred Herbs Valley, Willow hugged her granddaughter:"I remember! Hall of the Dust-Heart shall never fall!"At Celestial Sword Pavilion, Leng Qianshan carved into stone with his broken blade:"Celestial Sword Pavilion—reforging the heart!"In the Western Wastes, a former blood thrall roared to the sky:"I'm going home!"Countless wills converged as rivers of light—pouring into the Heart-Lamp above Zhongzhou!The flame surged ten thousand zhang high, shattering the Rain of Forgetting Dust.Those whose memories had been stolen gasped as truth returned—and cried as one:"We remember!"[Nine Heavens – The Bronze Wheel]Deep in the wheel's core, the will of Heaven's Dao trembled with rage:"Insects dare gather will against Heaven?
Activate Final Protocol—
'Epoch Zero': Erase Xie Wuchen and the Ninefold Mirror Realm from all existence. Reset the world!"The wheel spun faster, rust spreading—yet now glowing with an eerie crimson light.On earth, Xie Wuchen felt it. He looked up.Slowly, he drew his wooden sword.
The jade casket hung from its tassel, Luo Qingyi's faint soul-light pulsing within."You wish to erase me?" he smiled softly.
"But you forgot—
I haven't walked alone for a long time."He raised his sword toward the heavens and declared:"Lamp-Bearing Covenant—heed my call!
Use me as the conduit! Gather the will of all beings!
Forge the Great Wall of Memory—
to shield this world's truth… against Heaven's lie!"The hundred disciples answered as one. Their azure light fused into a vast dome.Within it appeared a million faces:
—the child from Lin River Town,
—the old man from Willow Creek,
—the fisherman of the East Sea,
—the blood thrall of the Western Wastes…All those whose hearts had been reawakened.The crimson rain struck the barrier—
and vanished like snow in boiling water.For the first time, the will of Heaven's Dao emitted something akin to fear.Xie Wuchen closed his eyes and whispered:"Qingyi… you said you'd wait for me in the Ninth Realm.
But if that realm is you…
then I'll shatter it myself—just to stand beside you."The Heart-Lamp blazed brighter than sun or star—
and for the first time in eternity,
its light pierced the cracks of the Bronze Wheel.(End of Chapter Fourteen)