The night sky over Blackroot Mountain was unusually clear, stars stitched across it like scattered runes etched by ancient gods. A full moon loomed above, casting silver light over the jagged cliffs. But to Li Tian, it wasn't peace it was an omen.
He stood atop the secluded peak, the wind tugging at his robes like invisible hands trying to pull him back. The aftershock from his previous battle had finally settled, but something darker was stirring. The veil had lifted slightly, just enough to let whispers through.
"Li Tian…" A voice, not his own, echoed within his thoughts. Cold. Calm. Familiar. It wasn't the System.
He sat cross-legged on the rough stone, trying to steady his mind. A faint pulse stirred within him not energy, not qi. Something older. Something inherited. It wasn't just cultivation anymore. It was… memory.
Flashes returned.
A figure clad in white armor.
A blade drenched in fire and sorrow.
A betrayal beneath a cherry blossom tree.
The memories weren't his or rather, they were… just from a lifetime buried deep within his bloodline. The more he focused, the more his breathing synced with an ancient rhythm. And then it struck. A realization. He wasn't the first Li Tian to touch this realm's truth.
Suddenly, a rumble shook the cliffside. From below, dark figures scaled the path, shrouded in shadow, their movements synchronized like a tide of assassins. At least ten, maybe more.
But they weren't mercenaries.
They were hunters.
And Li Tian was their prey.
Meanwhile, within the Temple of Ashen Veins…
Zhao Fan paced in a chamber lined with obsidian mirrors, each reflecting not just image, but fate. His left hand twitched, a faint scar from their last encounter still fresh. He had underestimated Li Tian—once.
"High Priest," a hooded acolyte said, kneeling. "The scouts report he has awakened the Primordial Vein."
Zhao Fan's lips curled. "Good. Let him burn brighter… it will make his fall more beautiful."
He turned to the largest mirror, where an image flickered Li Tian meditating atop Blackroot. The High Priest raised a dark crystal. "Track him. Test him. If he survives this next wave, initiate Phase Two."
The mirror went dark.
Back at the peak…
Li Tian opened his eyes. The first of the shadow-hunters leapt toward him. He didn't flinch. Instead, he whispered something the wind carried far and wide:
"...Unshackle."
The System didn't chime like usual. No announcement. No glow.
Just silence.
Then
A pulse exploded from his core.
It wasn't qi.
It wasn't spiritual force.
It was Will.
The kind that bends metal and memories.
His figure blurred and reappeared ten meters behind, as if space had folded for him. One hunter froze mid-air, his body split in two by a thin arc of silver light.
Li Tian exhaled.
First Form: Echoing Void Step.
The others didn't pause. They moved faster, weaving strange sigils in the air—dark techniques drawn from forgotten tombs. But Li Tian's feet never touched the ground again. He danced between them, his movements guided more by instinct than logic.
The battle wasn't loud. No shouts. No clang of weapons.
Just precision.
Just art.
When the last hunter fell, Li Tian remained standing barefoot, bleeding, but unshaken. In his palm, the mark of the Bloodline Glint glowed faintly.
The system voice finally returned.
[Hidden Technique Awakened: Soul Trace Memory.] [Progress: 6% Recovered.] [Caution: Bloodline Suppression Detected.]
Li Tian narrowed his eyes.
Suppression?
Where was it coming from?
Suddenly, a faint thread of pain crawled up his neck like someone tugged on his very soul. The scenery shimmered, and he found himself not on the mountain anymore, but within a strange corridor made of mirrors and smoke.
"You shouldn't be here yet," a girl's voice whispered.
He turned sharply.
A child?
No older than ten, dressed in white, barefoot and pale. Her eyes glowed an eerie shade of violet.
"Who are you?"
"I am the remnant of your First Memory. You broke the seal too early."
The mirrors cracked, and light began leaking in revealing hundreds of other versions of Li Tian, each fighting different battles, walking different paths. Some lost. Some victorious. Some… not even human.
"You must choose," the girl said, her voice distorting.
"Choose what?"
"Which version of yourself you'll let die."
The corridor shattered
Li Tian woke up again. Still on the cliff. Still bleeding.
But something was missing.
He couldn't remember which memory had been taken.
And that scared him more than the hunters.
Far off, in a hidden chamber beneath the Northern Mountains, a figure with red eyes opened a scroll sealed for centuries. It bore one name:
"Li Tian."
And a warning:
"Should he awaken before the Moon-Eclipse, the tether between realms will rupture. He must not survive past the 33rd Gate."
The figure smiled grimly.
"So… you've begun."