For a long moment, the courtyard was silent.
Not the silence of calm, but the silence of a battlefield after the last arrow falls — where everyone breathes, but no one feels alive.
The air still crackled with leftover divine lightning.The scent of scorched stone clung to the ground.The mark of Qingyue's Moonfire Barrier burned faintly on the earth.
Qi Shan Wei stared at the girl who had shielded him from Heaven's wrath.
Feng Qingyue stood tall, breathing heavily, golden eyes burning like molten dawn. Her staff trembled lightly in her grip, cracks spreading along the phoenix feather from absorbing too much divine force.
Ling Xueyao's frost aura swirled in a tight, defensive halo.
Jin Wei remained at Shan Wei's side, shield-arm still raised, towering like a silent guardian titan.
Drakonix clung to Shan Wei's shoulder, feathers fluffed aggressively, glaring at Qingyue with bright prismatic eyes.
Qingyue exhaled, then spoke softly:
"You understand now… the heavens won't stop."
Shan Wei stepped toward her slowly.
"You protected me."
She nodded once, pressing a hand to her chest.
"I chose to. The heavens didn't send me to kill you."
Ling Xueyao scoffed coldly.
"Did the heavens send you to test him instead? To see if he bends? Or breaks?"
Qingyue's golden eyes flicked sharply toward Xueyao.
"No. The heavens summoned me so I could witness… and decide."
Her gaze drifted back to Shan Wei.
"To decide whether you must be shielded… or erased."
Jin Wei's core flared violently.
"THREAT—NEUTRALIZE?"
"Jin Wei, stand down," Shan Wei said firmly but gently.
The puppet froze instantly, still trembling with killing intent.
Qingyue watched Jin Wei with awe.
"A Primordial Guardian obeys you with such devotion… No wonder Heaven wants to interfere."
Ling Xueyao's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Speak plainly. What do you really want?"
Qingyue looked directly at Shan Wei.
"I want to know… who you will become."
The intensity of her words made Shan Wei's heart clench.
He opened his mouth to speak — but a sudden tremor in the ground silenced him.
CRACK.
Lightning had burned a line into the courtyard stone.
Ling Xueyao and Elder Lu rushed forward.
"What is that…?""Did the heavens leave… a message?"
Shan Wei knelt and ran his fingers along the glowing line.
Symbols began forming inside it — divine writing older than languages.
Drakonix leaned forward, chirping nervously.
Qingyue's face paled the moment she recognized the text.
"No… no, no… this shouldn't appear here."
Shan Wei frowned.
"What does it say?"
Qingyue swallowed hard.
"It's a divine command."
Her staff glowed, reacting to the text as if it was alive.
Ling Xueyao stepped closer carefully.
"What command?"
Qingyue whispered the translation:
"Slay the Heaven-Breaker before his 21st year."
The courtyard erupted into chaos.
Elder Lu stumbled backward.Disciples gasped.Jin Wei hummed like a waking volcano.
But Shan Wei remained frozen, the words striking deeper than any blade.
"Slay… me?"
Qingyue touched the divine message with trembling fingers.
"It's not addressed to any one sect.It is addressed to the world.Every faction, every clan, every divine beast, every assassin order — all will feel this command."
Ling Xueyao's face turned white with fury.
"That is tyranny! We do not bow to divine decrees!"
Qingyue shook her head.
"You don't understand. Heaven decrees are not obeyed out of loyalty. They are obeyed because the heavens twist fate around them. Because they reward those who act… and punish those who don't."
Shan Wei's chest tightened.
"So if someone tries to protect me—"
Qingyue nodded gravely.
"Heaven will mark them as traitors to fate."
Jin Wei stepped forward, metal grinding in rage.
"HEAVEN… IS… ENEMY."
"Jin Wei," Shan Wei said quietly, "don't say that."
Qingyue looked at Shan Wei carefully.
"You shouldn't silence him. He is right — to protect you is to defy Heaven. Those who stand at your side must be… extraordinary."
She looked at Xueyao.
Ling Xueyao lifted her chin.
"I do not care about Heaven's will."
Her voice was colder than frost.
"I follow my own."
Shan Wei stared at her.
Xueyao looked away, cheeks faintly pink.
Qingyue blinked once — and for the first time, a spark of something unfamiliar flickered across her face.
Jealousy.
She quickly masked it, stepping forward.
"I will stay by your side… for now," Qingyue said. "To keep Heaven's gaze from crushing you too early."
Ling Xueyao snapped:
"He does not need your protection."
Qingyue smiled slightly.
"Then I will stay… to see whether you are right."
The air between them turned colder than the frost and hotter than the phoenix flames — a silent battlefield forming.
Shan Wei rubbed his temples.
"I don't need you two arguing over me."
Both turned to him simultaneously.
"We're not arguing.""We are simply clarifying."
The unison made Drakonix chirp aggressively.
"Fweee!!"
He glared at Qingyue, puffing up like an angry ember.
Qingyue leaned closer curiously.
"You're quite brave for a tiny—"
Drakonix launched a tiny prismatic ember right at her forehead.
"FWEEE!!"
Qingyue blinked — and her forehead smoked gently.
Xueyao covered her mouth, hiding a laugh.
Shan Wei groaned.
"Drakonix… apologize."
"Fwee!"(Absolutely not.)
The Prophecy of Three Flames
Later that night, a meeting was held in the Pavilion Master's personal hall.
Torches flickered.Scrolls lay spread across the table.The atmosphere was suffocating.
Qingyue sat calmly, legs folded, phoenix staff across her lap.
Ling Xueyao sat opposite her, arms crossed, frost aura cooling the room enough to make elders shiver.
Shan Wei sat at the center.
The Pavilion Master took a deep breath.
"Qi Shan Wei… we must understand what you are."
Qingyue nodded.
"I've studied ancient phoenix prophecies. There is one specifically about Prismatic Flames."
She unrolled a scroll older than any document in the Pavilion.
A poem burned softly on the page:
"Three flames shall awaken destiny:The Frost of Judgment,The Moonfire of Rebirth,And the Prismatic Fire of Choice."
Shan Wei looked up sharply.
"The Frost?"He turned to Xueyao."You…"
She froze.
Qingyue continued:
"The Moonfire…"She placed a hand on her chest."My flame."
Shan Wei's breath caught.
"And the Prismatic Fire—"Qingyue looked at him."—yours."
Elder Lu whispered:
"It means… the three of you are tied by fate."
Ling Xueyao stiffened.
Qingyue spoke quietly.
"The prophecy states that when the three flames converge… a Heaven-Breaker is born."
Shan Wei swallowed.
Me?A Heaven-Breaker?
Xueyao's eyes softened with something like sadness.
"You did not choose this."
Shan Wei clenched his fists slowly.
"No. But I will choose what I become."
Qingyue watched him carefully.
"Then you must know something important."
She leaned forward, voice low.
"The prophecy has two endings."
The torches flickered ominously.
"One ending calls you the Prismatic Emperor who saves countless realms."
Shan Wei's heart pounded.
"And the other…?" he asked quietly.
Qingyue hesitated.
Then she spoke:
"You destroy everything."
The silence that followed was crushing.
Ling Xueyao whispered softly:
"No. Shan Wei is not like that."
Qingyue looked at Shan Wei, expression unreadable.
"That depends… on what choices he makes.On who he keeps close.And who he becomes willing to kill."
Her golden eyes shimmered faintly.
"Because Heaven-Breakers don't rise peacefully. They rise through blood."
A New Enemy Awakens
Far away…
In a pitch-black temple carved into volcanic stone…
A masked man opened his eyes.
He sat cross-legged beneath an enormous statue of a horned deity.
A disciple knelt trembling.
"Master… the Heaven decree has been issued."
The masked man smiled slowly.
"Qi Shan Wei…"
He stood, flames spiraling around him.
"Send word to the Shadow Abyss Sect."
His voice echoed like boiling blood.
"We hunt at dawn."
The Cliffhanger to Shake Readers
Back at the Pavilion…
Midnight settled.
Shan Wei walked alone through the courtyard, needing air.
He stopped suddenly.
A chill ran down his spine.
The wind died.
Torches blew out.
Drakonix, sleeping on his shoulder, woke up violently.
"FWEEE!!"
He pointed toward the pavilion entrance.
Shan Wei turned —
And a figure stood in the darkness.
Tall.Silent.Cloaked in black.Eyes glowing crimson beneath a hood.
He stepped forward, voice like broken glass:
"Qi Shan Wei.Your death has been ordered."
Ling Xueyao and Qingyue burst from behind Shan Wei, weapons drawn.
But the figure lifted a glowing, bloody scroll.
"Heaven commands it," he whispered.
"The Shadow Abyss Sect has come for your head."
The scroll ignited.
The night exploded with killing intent.
To be continued..
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