Moonfall Cliff loomed ahead like a wound carved into the world.
A jagged, impossible gash where the land simply ended, replaced by swirling, pitch-black void currents and floating shards of fragmented space.
Each step closer made the world bend—
Light warped.
The air rippled.
The sky twisted slightly, like a reflected image on disturbed water.
Wuya approached with slow, steady breaths.
His shoulder still bleeding.
His meridians suppressed so violently they burned.
His body weakened.
His vision slightly blurred.
Yet—
His eyes remained calm.
"…I've reached it."
The edge of Moonfall Cliff pulsed faintly, as if greeting him.
Or inviting him.
Or waiting to devour him.
He stepped toward the swirling void.
The ground cracked beneath him.
Wind spiraled upward from the abyss.
The Codex whispered:
[Sixth Sign-In: Final Phase]
[Condition: Approach the Void Currents Without Retreat]
Wuya inhaled.
He stepped forward.
---
THE VOID OPENS ITS EYES
As Wuya crossed the boundary, the world distorted.
The wind stopped.
The sound disappeared.
The colors drained.
Only blackness remained—
a vast, hungry emptiness swirling beneath the cliff.
The moment Wuya's foot reached the final meter of stable ground—
A lance of cold shot through his bones.
He stumbled.
Pain exploded down his spine.
The suppression talisman Elder Qiong Luo placed beneath the ground pulsed with malicious force, tightening around Wuya's meridians like chains.
His body convulsed once.
His breath halted.
Blood spilled from his lips.
He fell to one knee.
"…Not… yet…"
The void pulsed in welcome, like a beast tasting prey.
The ground beneath Wuya's feet cracked again.
A whisper rose from the abyss—
not a voice, but a feeling:
Fall.
Wuya grabbed the earth desperately to stay upright.
Pain tore through him again.
His vision shook.
His breath vanished entirely for a heartbeat.
He felt his consciousness slip—
Darkness pulling him downward—
Deeper—
Deeper—
Into the void.
---
BACK AT THE SECT — XUEYI BREAKS
Inside Elder Yun's courtyard—
Xueyi suddenly collapsed to her knees.
Her Moonveil Seal erupted with blinding silver light.
Her scream cut through the entire mountain:
"WUYA—!!!"
She clutched her chest desperately.
"MASTER—!!
HE'S DYING!!"
Elder Yun rushed to her side.
The seal's glow was so bright it illuminated the entire courtyard.
"Xueyi—calm yourself—!"
"I CAN'T—!!
I CAN'T—!!
I CAN FEEL HIM—!!
I FEEL EVERYTHING—!!"
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Her voice broke into choked sobs.
"H-He's in pain… his breath… slowing…
Master, he's… he's—"
Elder Yun froze.
"Is he…?"
Xueyi shook violently.
"He's slipping away!!"
The sheer agony in her voice tore Elder Yun's heart.
Without thinking, Elder Yun grabbed her disciple tightly.
"Hold on, Xueyi.
Hold on.
Wuya is strong—"
"No…
He's alone…!!
Master—!!
Why did we let him go—?!"
Elder Yun's lips trembled.
She had no answer.
Only regret.
---
THE TRUTH BEHIND MOONFALL CLIFF
Elder Yun's hand tightened.
"…Moonfall Cliff… it wasn't supposed to awaken."
Xueyi sobbed.
"Awaken? What do you mean—?!"
Elder Yun turned pale.
Her voice shook.
"That place was sealed thousands of years ago…
because cultivators who entered its boundary never returned.
Not even their souls."
Xueyi screamed again.
"THEN WHY DID WE LET HIM GO—?!"
Elder Yun felt tears burn her eyes.
"…Because fate demanded it.
The Codex demanded it."
"THE CODEX CAN GO TO HELL—!!!"
---
ELDER QIONG LUO PANICS
In his shadowy hall, Elder Qiong Luo leaned over a trembling disciple.
"What do you mean the suppression is… fluctuating?!"
"S-Sir… the talisman is burning uncontrollably—!"
Qiong Luo's face twisted in fear.
"What? It should suppress the boy, not—"
A boom rocked the hall.
The talisman he planted began to crack violently.
He felt its backlash surge toward him.
"No—!!
NO—!!"
He threw himself backward as the talisman shattered into dust.
A shockwave threw him across the room.
He slammed into a wall, coughing blood.
His eyes widened with dread.
"The void… reacted to him…?"
His hands trembled.
"What monster did Elder Yun bring into the sect…?!"
---
THE HEAVENLY OBSERVER SEES THE IMPOSSIBLE
Thunder shook the sky.
Above the mortal world, in the divine realm between realms, the celestial observer watched through a floating mirror.
The moment Wuya entered Moonfall Cliff's boundary—
The mirror twisted.
Cracks appeared across the surface.
The observer stumbled backward.
"N-No…
Impossible…!!"
He grabbed his staff.
"What… what IS he?!"
Because Wuya's presence in Moonfall Cliff—
Made the void ripple in reverse.
The abyss recoiled.
As though it feared him.
The observer whispered:
"He does not fall into the void…
The void falls away from him."
---
BACK TO THE CLIFF — WUYA'S FALL
Pain pulsed inside Wuya's body.
His vision faded.
The void swallowed sound and light.
He could not breathe.
He could not move.
He felt himself falling—
One more inch—
one more shift—
and he would slip fully into the abyss.
His fingers scraped the earth—
But he could not hold on.
His strength drained faster than he could resist.
He whispered weakly:
"…Xueyi…"
The void pulled harder.
He lost his grip.
His body tilted forward—
And he fell.
Downward.
Into the maw of nothingness.
Into death.
---
THE SIXTH SIGN-IN TRIGGERS FULLY
As his body fell—
The Codex inside him exploded with golden light.
Its voice thundered in his mind.
[Sixth Sign-In Activated]
[Condition Met: Death Imminent]
[Offering Reward…]
A flood of symbols washed over Wuya.
They etched themselves into his bones.
Into his breath.
Into his blood.
[Reward: Void-Breath Physique — Stage 1]
[Effect: Breath Contracts and Expands Within the Void]
[Effect: Void Resistance +40%]
[Effect: Spatial Distortion Tolerance +25%]
[Effect: Danger Detection Increased]
[Gift: One-Time Passive — Fall Without Falling]
Wuya's body stopped mid-air.
Hovering above the abyss.
Like gravity had paused.
Like the void couldn't decide whether he existed.
His eyes opened weakly.
"…The Codex…"
His body trembled.
But he was alive.
Barely.
---
WUYA'S EVOLUTION BEGINS
The Codex pulsed.
[Beginning Integration…]
Wuya's bones resonated with foreign force.
His breath altered.
His body felt lighter—
but heavier—
but weightless—
all at once.
Void energy seeped into him.
Twisting.
Reshaping.
He bit down on his lip as waves of pain tore through him.
"…Urgh—!"
His veins burned.
His meridians pulsed violently.
His suppressed meridian seals shattered like glass.
The Demon Vein Resonator's influence dissolved instantly.
Elder Qiong Luo felt the backlash miles away.
Wuya's bloodline stirred—
Something ancient.
Something forbidden.
Something that Heaven had tried to erase.
His entire body glowed faintly with black-gold light.
Void energy and celestial resistance fought inside him—
And Wuya endured silently.
He whispered:
"…I won't die here."
His fingers clawed into the cliff edge again.
He pulled himself upward—
Slowly—
Agonizingly—
But steadily.
---
XUEYI'S MOONVEIL EXPLODES
Back at the sect, Xueyi screamed again.
Her Moonveil Seal burst into a violent silver blaze.
Her eyes glowed same silver.
Her aura surged like a storm.
Elder Yun grabbed her but nearly got thrown back.
"Xueyi—!!"
Xueyi trembled.
"Wuya… his breath…
It changed…
It CHANGED—!!"
Elder Yun blinked rapidly.
"What?"
"I can feel it!!
He's not dying—
He's… evolving!"
---
WUYA STANDS
Wuya dragged himself back onto the cliff edge.
He lay on the ground, gasping.
His vision blurred for a moment —
then cleared.
His shoulder wound stopped bleeding.
His meridians felt lighter.
His breath felt deeper.
Space itself seemed… softer around him.
The void currents swirling below no longer pulled him.
Instead—
They circled him.
Like predators that no longer dared bite.
Wuya exhaled slowly.
"…I survived."
The Codex whispered:
[Sixth Sign-In Complete]
[Host Evolution: Beginning]
He sat up.
Looked into the void.
And said quietly:
"…I'm not done."
---
THE HEAVENS TREMBLE
Above the cliff—
Clouds cracked.
Thunder rolled.
Lightning spiraled into impossible patterns.
The celestial observer gasped.
"What is this—?!
His presence is altering…
the laws of the void itself?!"
He slammed his staff down.
"He must die before he finishes evolving!"
Storm clouds gathered.
Lightning struck downward—
Toward Wuya.
---
WUYA LOOKS UP
He saw the lightning descending.
He did not move.
He did not flinch.
He simply said:
"Not today."
A faint ripple of void energy expanded from his body.
When the lightning struck—
It bent around him.
And vanished.
The heavenly observer's heart stopped.
"…The heavens cannot strike him?"
The storm broke apart.
The clouds fled.
Even Heaven—
feared Wuya.
---
WUYA STANDS ALONE
Wind circled around Wuya gently.
The void currents calmed.
The cliff edge grew stable beneath his feet.
Wuya looked toward the distant mountains, where the sect lay hidden.
His breath softened.
His voice tender.
"…Xueyi.
I'm coming back."
He turned his back to the cliff—
And walked away from the void.
Stronger.
Sharper.
Changed.
The Sixth Sign-In was complete.
And the world would never be the same.