stranger lifted his hand—
And reality bent.
Not Qi.
Not magic.
Not divine force.
Reality itself.
Space folded inward, forming spiraling lines that crackled like distant thunder.
Color drained from the courtyard.
The sky warped, bending like glass under heat.
Stone cracked.
Air thinned.
The mountain shook.
Xueyi pressed herself to Wuya's side.
"Wuya—!!
He's twisting the world—!!
Make him stop—!!"
Wuya steadied her with a hand on her shoulder.
"…Stay behind me."
"NO!!
I am staying with you—!"
The Sect Master thrust both palms forward.
"Clear Sky Celestial Shield—!!"
A massive sky-blue barrier formed around the inner sect.
It cracked instantly.
The Sect Master coughed blood.
"His power isn't from this world…"
Lady Linghai stepped forward.
Golden runes spiraled around her feet.
"Celestial Boundary Severance!"
A wave of golden light surged toward the stranger—
But dissolved before reaching him, like mud thrown into an endless void.
The stranger's eyes narrowed.
"Your laws cannot reach me."
He stepped forward lightly.
The ground beneath his foot rotted into dust.
Wuya's heart tightened.
Because every step the stranger took—
the vibration inside Wuya's bones grew stronger.
As if the man's presence pulled at something inside him.
Something ancient.
Something forbidden.
---
THE STRANGER'S TRUE INTENT
The stranger lifted his hand again.
Grey tendrils spiraled outward—
not Qi,
not spirit,
but dimensional fractures.
They danced like ghostly ribbons.
They reached toward Wuya.
The Sect Master leapt in front of him.
"Stay back—!!"
The decay tendril brushed the Sect Master's sleeve—
and half the sleeve disintegrated into ash.
The Sect Master's eyes widened.
"…What monstrous force is this…?"
The stranger spoke calmly.
"No force.
Just absence."
He pointed at Wuya.
"It calls to him."
Wuya frowned.
"…What calls to me?"
The stranger tilted his head.
"The emptiness between worlds.
The place where your kind originated."
Xueyi trembled violently.
"No…
No, he's not from any weird void place…
He's from HERE…
He's from our courtyard…
He eats my pancakes and complains about them—!!"
Wuya blinked.
"…I have never complained about your pancakes."
"Yes you did!! I saw your eyebrow twitch!!"
The stranger watched the exchange with a strange curiosity.
"You cling to him so tightly, Moonveil child.
It is… entertaining."
Xueyi hissed at him.
"SHUT UP!!!"
---
THE CODEX DOMAIN BEGINS TO OPEN
Inside Wuya's mind—
Something cracked open.
A blinding golden ring unfurled behind his consciousness.
[Emergency Shield Activation]
[Codex Domain Initiating]
[Dimensional interference detected]
Wuya inhaled sharply.
His pulse shifted.
A faint veil of golden light wrapped around him—
thin, transparent, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
The stranger's eyes lit up instantly.
"Ah…
There it is."
Wuya's breath tightened.
"What is it?"
The stranger smiled gently.
"Your bloodline is awakening its instinct.
It feels me.
It recognizes me."
Wuya stepped forward.
"…Explain."
The stranger stretched his hand toward the sky.
The clouds twisted overhead.
"Your kind once walked between worlds—
not living,
not dying,
simply existing."
Wuya's throat tightened.
"…My kind?"
The stranger nodded.
"You are the last remnant of that bloodline.
The heavens erased every other."
Xueyi clung to Wuya's arm.
"No…
No, he's not the last anything.
He's Wuya.
He's mine.
He's here.
He's alive."
The stranger's gaze softened faintly.
"That is why you must come with me."
Wuya's eyes narrowed.
"…Why?"
"Because your bloodline will awaken fully soon.
And when it does—"
He spread his hand.
The world dimmed.
"—this realm will collapse."
Silence.
Even the wind stopped.
Xueyi's breath hitched.
"…Wuya…?"
Wuya didn't move.
"…Explain."
The stranger approached slowly.
"When your bloodline activates…
the space around you warps.
Dimensions crack.
Laws distort."
He touched the air.
A hair-thin fracture appeared.
It pulsed—
as if greeting Wuya.
Wuya exhaled.
"…Why would my existence collapse the realm?"
The stranger smiled faintly.
"You don't belong in it."
---
THE SECT SHAKES
The Sect Master stepped forward again.
"That is enough!"
Blue light surged upward.
"Clear Sky Mountain Wall—!!"
Hundreds of sky-blue walls rose from the ground, blocking the stranger.
He touched one wall.
The entire wall decayed in a heartbeat.
Stone fell as dust.
The Sect Master staggered.
Elder Yun moved forward, sleeve sweeping outward.
Her Qi pulsed through dozens of disciples, shielding them.
Linghai's eyes narrowed as she stepped beside Wuya.
"Your presence here endangers everyone," she said to the stranger.
The stranger nodded.
"And that is why I came alone."
Wuya frowned.
"…Alone?"
"Yes."
He touched his chest gently.
"Others like me… would not come peacefully."
Wuya's heartbeat froze.
"…How many are there?"
"Not many."
The stranger smiled faintly.
"Not enough to rebuild.
But enough to retrieve you."
Xueyi shook her head violently.
"No!!
No one is retrieving him!!
He's staying here—!!"
The stranger looked amused.
"And what will you do if he tears open reality by accident?"
Xueyi opened her mouth—
but no words came.
Wuya placed his hand on her shoulder.
"…I won't tear anything open."
The stranger nodded slightly.
"You say that now.
But when your second bloodline ring awakens…
you will understand."
---
LADY LINGHAI SEES THE CORRUPTION
Linghai's golden eyes narrowed.
"You said your kind collapsed.
Yet you walk."
"Yes," the stranger replied.
"And no."
He pulled back his sleeve.
Xueyi gasped.
His arm was rotting.
Blackened.
Skeletal.
Decaying, yet held together by strands of shimmering grey energy.
He exposed his side.
More rot.
Elder Yun paled.
"You're dying."
The stranger nodded.
"Our dimension collapsed.
We survived only as… fragments."
Wuya's breath caught.
"…Fragments?"
"Yes.
Pieces of beings once whole.
Held together by void.
Driven by instinct.
Seeking what remains of our lineage."
He looked at Wuya.
"You."
---
THE STRANGER OFFERS A CHOICE
He raised his hand toward Wuya again.
No hostility.
No violence.
Just quiet, eerie calm.
"Wuya.
Come with me.
Return to the silent dimension.
Awaken there.
Where your existence will not tear worlds apart."
Xueyi hugged Wuya tightly.
"No—!!
No no no—!!
He's NOT going anywhere!!
He belongs HERE!!
With Master!!
With me!!
With everyone!!
He's not some dimension ghost!!"
Wuya looked the stranger in the eyes.
Then said quietly:
"…No."
The stranger blinked once.
"Why?"
"Because I choose my path.
Not the heavens.
Not some forgotten dimension.
Not you."
The stranger exhaled softly.
A sorrowful sound.
"You do not understand what your awakening will bring."
Wuya's eyes remained steady.
"Then I will learn."
---
DIMENSIONAL DECAY STRIKES
The stranger lifted his hand.
Not to attack.
But because something inside him cracked.
His body shook.
Grey fractures spread across his chest.
"Ah…
Already…?"
He staggered once.
The corruption surged.
Lady Linghai's face hardened.
"He's losing control—!!"
The stranger groaned.
"This body… won't last…
much longer…"
He touched his chest.
Fragments of grey energy burst out.
The air screamed.
The ground split.
Reality tore open in thin cracks.
Xueyi was thrown backward.
Wuya caught her before she hit the ground.
The stranger's voice echoed with three overlapping tones.
"Wuya!!
Before I fade—!!
Listen—!!"
Wuya stood firm.
"Speak."
The stranger forced his collapsing body upright.
"You were never meant to exist in this world.
Your father hid you here.
Your bloodline—
was forbidden.
Erased."
Wuya's breath stopped.
"My father…?"
The stranger's fragmented face twitched.
"He—
he… fought Heaven…
for you…"
Wuya froze.
"…What?"
Xueyi gasped.
The Sect Master stiffened.
Linghai's eyes widened.
The stranger reached desperately toward Wuya—
his fingers falling apart.
"He is…
searching for you…
across dimensions—
across realms—"
Wuya's pulse thundered.
"Tell me—!!
Tell me where he is—!!"
The stranger's body flickered—
rotting—
shredding—
falling apart—
He whispered:
"Find… the… First…"
His body collapsed into dust.
And the courtyard fell silent.
---
WUYA STANDS ALONE
Dust drifted on the breeze.
No one spoke.
Wuya clenched his fists slowly.
His heartbeat pounded in his ears.
His father.
Searching.
Dimensions.
Collapsed.
Forgotten bloodline.
Forbidden.
Xueyi hugged him tightly from behind.
"Wuya…
are you okay…?"
He didn't answer.
Because something inside him—
the fragment the stranger mentioned—
was pulsing violently.
The Codex buzzed in his mind.
[Warning: Bloodline Resonance Detected]
[Evolution Ring 2: Approaching]
[Host must stabilize soon]
Wuya exhaled.
"…I'm fine."
Xueyi didn't believe him.
But she held him anyway.
And the world around them felt…
a little more fragile.