The first step the stranger took onto the sect's stone path sent a spiral of decay across the ground.
Grass curled inward, turned black, then disintegrated into dust.
Stone cracked beneath his feet.
Air thinned.
Disciples near the gate collapsed instantly, gasping for breath.
Xueyi clung to Wuya's arm with both hands.
"Wuya—!!
DON'T GO FORWARD—!!
I can feel him—
He's wrong!
He's really, really WRONG—!!"
Wuya gently placed his hand on hers.
"…Stay behind me."
Her grip tightened desperately.
"I'm not letting go."
Elder Yun stepped in front of disciples, spreading her sleeve to shield them from the unnatural decay.
"Retreat to the inner array!"
Disciples scrambled backward, terrified.
Lady Linghai raised her staff.
A golden sigil flickered into existence—
yet the moment it touched the air around the stranger, it flickered violently.
"Corruption…" she whispered.
The Sect Master approached slowly, aura rising sharply.
"Who are you?"
The silver-haired man stopped walking.
His eyes glowed like dying stars.
When he spoke, his voice sounded layered—
as if three voices overlapped slightly, each out of sync.
"I am… nothing."
A pause.
Then a faint smile.
"And everything your heavens have forgotten."
---
WUYA FEELS SOMETHING HE SHOULD NOT
Wuya stepped forward despite Xueyi's frantic resistance.
His pulse pounded.
Not from fear—
but recognition.
The stranger turned his gaze directly to him.
Their eyes met.
Wuya froze.
Inside his mind—
something pulsed violently.
—You know this one.
A whisper rose from the depths of his blood.
Not from memory.
But from instinct.
Wuya muttered under his breath:
"…Why do I… recognize him?"
The stranger's lips curved slightly.
"Yes…
Yes… you feel it…
the pull of the void between worlds…"
Wuya clenched his fists.
"…What are you to me?"
The stranger tilted his head.
"Not to you.
To what sleeps inside you."
Xueyi's breath trembled.
"Don't talk like that—
He's not a thing! He's Wuya!"
The stranger's gaze drifted to her briefly.
"Moonveil child.
You cling to the forbidden one very tightly."
Xueyi's face flushed crimson.
"That's NONE of your business—!!!"
Wuya stepped in front of her instantly.
"…Do not address her."
The stranger looked genuinely amused.
"Possessive already.
How… human."
---
THE SECT MASTER STRIKES FIRST
The Sect Master moved.
A blur of blue.
A flash of ancient Qi.
His palm descended like collapsing sky.
"Clear Sky Mountain Shatter—!!"
The air itself tore apart.
But—
The stranger merely raised one finger.
The Sect Master's strike hit the finger—
And dissolved into dust.
The Sect Master's eyes widened.
"What—?!"
"It is useless," the stranger said calmly.
"You wield energy tied to this world's laws.
I am… not of this world."
The Sect Master's pupils constricted.
"…Dimensional outsider."
Lady Linghai swallowed.
"The heavens forbid their existence."
The stranger smiled.
"The heavens forbid many things."
---
XUEYI UNLEASHES HER NEW ABILITY
The stranger stepped forward.
Xueyi screamed:
"DON'T TOUCH HIM—!!"
Her Moonveil Seal exploded into a storm of silver.
A barrier formed in front of Wuya—
thin, shimmering, trembling.
Pure moon-light.
The stranger paused.
"Ah…
The fourth bloom of Moonveil."
He examined the barrier gently.
"You should not have awakened this so soon, child."
Xueyi bared her teeth.
"Stay AWAY."
The stranger simply touched the silver light—
and it cracked instantly.
Xueyi fell to her knees, clutching her chest.
"Ah—!!"
Wuya caught her before she hit the ground.
"Xueyi!"
Her eyes were wet, breath shaky.
"I…
I tried…"
Wuya lifted her chin gently.
"…You protected me."
She nodded weakly.
And hugged him again.
"I'll always… always protect you…
even if my heart breaks…"
The stranger watched the scene with mild curiosity.
"Interesting.
Your heart beats in harmony with his fractured rhythm."
Xueyi glared at him through tears.
"You don't get to talk about his heart—!!"
---
LADY LINGHAI IDENTIFIES THE THREAT
Lady Linghai stepped forward.
Her voice was low, grim.
"You are dying."
The stranger chuckled softly.
"Am I?"
"You are rotting inside," she said.
"Dimensional corruption is eating you.
That is why everything you touch withers."
His smile widened.
"Correct."
The Sect Master frowned.
"…Why come here then?"
The stranger's eyes locked onto Wuya.
"…To see the one who is not supposed to exist."
---
THE TRUTH BEGINS TO SURFACE
The stranger raised his arm.
The sky dimmed slightly.
Clouds twisted.
A strange static crackled.
"Eternal Void," he said softly,
"do you remember us?"
Wuya stiffened.
"…Remember who?"
The stranger's face twisted in faint amusement.
"The others."
Wuya's breath stopped.
"What… others?"
"You are not the first born of that bloodline.
And you will not be the last.
You simply… awakened too early."
Wuya's eyes darkened.
Inside his mind—
The Codex pulsed violently.
[Warning: External entity attempting memory provocation]
[Host bloodline fragment reacting]
[Block immediately?]
Wuya whispered:
"…What memory… are you speaking of?"
The stranger stepped closer.
"Do you remember the realm that collapsed before the heavens formed?"
"…No."
"Do you remember the city of silent stars?"
"…No."
"The children born without sound…
the ones Heaven refused to record…?"
"…No."
The stranger nodded slowly.
"You will."
Xueyi trembled behind Wuya.
"W-Wuya… don't listen to him… he's lying…"
The stranger turned to her calmly.
"Oh?
And what will you do when the boy remembers—
that he is not born of this world's rules?"
Wuya stepped forward.
His voice low.
"…Stop talking to her."
---
THE SECT MASTER INTERVENES
The Sect Master unleashed his aura.
His voice thundered across the courtyard.
"That is enough."
He formed dozens of ancient runes in the air.
"Clear Sky Domain—SEAL—!!"
A massive barrier formed around the stranger, shimmering like a sky-blue prison.
For a moment—
everything froze.
The stranger examined the barrier calmly.
He placed his hand on it—
And pushed outward.
The barrier cracked.
Then shattered.
Wuya felt the shockwave hit his bones.
The Sect Master staggered backward, coughing blood.
Xueyi screamed.
"SECT MASTER—!!"
Lady Linghai caught him.
"You are fighting an entity outside our laws.
Do not overextend."
The Sect Master wiped the blood from his lips.
His eyes hardened.
"Wuya.
Do not let him near you."
Wuya nodded.
"…I wasn't planning to."
---
THE CODEX AWAKENS ITS DEFENSE
Inside Wuya's mind—
The Codex roared to life.
Golden light swirled violently.
[Emergency Protocol Activated]
[Internal Domain Opening]
[All bloodline interference will be blocked]
Wuya inhaled sharply.
His vision flickered.
His heartbeat steadied further—
defensive pulses emerging beneath his skin.
The stranger's eyes lit up.
"…So.
The Codex awakens its shield."
He stepped forward again.
Wuya felt something cold pierce into his skin—
not physically,
but like a whisper brushing his soul.
Xueyi felt it too.
She clung to his arm, trembling violently.
"Wuya—!!
Something is trying to pull you—!!
DON'T GO—!!"
He held her hand.
"…I'm not going anywhere."
The stranger smiled faintly.
"We shall see."
---
THE STRANGER MAKES HIS FIRST MOVE
He raised his hand.
A ripple of grey energy surged forward—
silent, deadly, impossible to sense.
Wuya's eyes widened.
But before it struck—
Lady Linghai intercepted.
She slammed her staff into the ground.
A golden ripple exploded outward.
"Celestial Boundary—!!"
The two forces collided.
A shockwave tore through the sect.
Disciples fainted.
Trees snapped.
Stones cracked.
Wuya and Xueyi were pushed backward.
Elder Yun shielded them both.
Linghai slid back three meters—
but remained standing.
The stranger lowered his arm.
"…You resist well for a divine."
Linghai wiped a drop of blood from her lip.
"You are violating the mortal world."
"I am violating nothing," the stranger said.
"I am reclaiming what belongs to us."
---
WUYA STEPS FORWARD
The stranger looked directly at Wuya.
Then he said something that made the entire sect freeze.
"Eternal Void child.
You were never meant to be here."
Wuya's breath stopped.
A silence fell.
Then the stranger whispered:
"You belong to the world that died."
Xueyi gasped.
"No—!!
NO, HE DOESN'T—!!
HE BELONGS WITH US!!
HE BELONGS WITH ME!!"
The stranger ignored her.
"Come with us.
Return to the forgotten dimension.
Return to where your bloodline originated."
Wuya stepped forward.
His eyes cold.
"…I belong where I choose."
The stranger tilted his head.
"Then your choice… is rebellion."
Wuya didn't look away.
"I've had enough of people deciding where I should stand."
The stranger smiled faintly.
"Then stand, child."
He raised his hand—
And the entire mountain began to tremble.