The departure from the Jade Capital was a spectacle of imperial wealth. A line of thirty carriages each draped in the finest white silk of the Northern Empire stretched across the main thoroughfare. These weren't ordinary vehicles they were spirit-carriages inscribed with mid Grade stabilization arrays that allowed them to glide over the roughest terrain as if it were a paved palace floor.
Xuan Ye sat on the driver's bench of the Third Princess's personal carriage. To the passing elite he looked like a nondescript servant his eyes fixed on the horses manes. But internally his Ink Wash Heart was vibrating in resonance with the sheer amount of Qi surrounding him.
The convoy was a moving fortress. At the front rode the Royal Guard led by a commander in the high Foundation Establishment realm. At the rear two personal attendants of the Princess both in the mid Foundation Establishment realm kept a constant vigil.
"Move with purpose!" the commander barked his voice reinforced by a sliver of Qi. "We are heading to the Holy Sanctuary. Any delay is an insult to the White Lotus!"
Xuan Ye lowered his head further. He could feel the eyes of the city on them. Among the crowds he sensed the distinct Weight of different factions. There were spies from the Iron Soul Hegemony their presence metallic and cold. There were scouts from the Azure Sea Federation smelling of salt and dampness. And then there were the Geniuses of the capital watching with envy as the Princess headed toward the center of the world.
As the carriage passed through the final gate of the capital the Book of Fate began to map the ley lines of the earth.
[Current Location:Outer Rim of the Jade Capital]
[Status:Entering the Great Transit Plains]
[Ink-Wash Heart:20% Progress]
The Great Transit Plains was a massive expanse of golden grass that separated the Northern Empire from the central regions. It was a No Man's Land where the laws of the four empires were thin and the influence of the 12 Holy Sects began to take over.
"Xuan Ye. Enter the carriage."
The voice came from behind the silk curtains. It was Zhao Ling.
Xuan Ye hesitated just long enough to appear respectful before slipping through the curtains. The interior of the carriage was larger than it looked from the outside a spatial expansion technique of high Grade quality. It smelled of jasmine and something sharper like burning cedar.
Zhao Ling was seated on a pile of furs a jade slip floating in front of her. She didn't look up as he entered.
"The journey to the Holy Sanctuary will take ten days if we use the spirit ways" she said her green eyes flicking across the text on the slip. "During this time you will not just be a page. You will be my researcher. I have brought the restricted records of the Northern Heroic Lineage. I want you to look for a specific name."
Xuan Ye knelt on the floor his posture humble. "Whatever the Princess requires. What name should I search for?"
"Xuan Wu."
Xuan Ye's heart now a vessel of ink throbbed. Xuan Wu was a name buried in the deepest shames of the Xuan family. He was the Cursed Ancestor who had vanished five hundred years ago. Legends said he had tried to create a technique that didn't use Qi but used something deeper void energy itself. He was the reason the Xuan family had been demoted from a high tier sect to a mid tier power in the capital.
"I will look Your Highness" Xuan Ye said his voice steady.
She handed him a stack of old yellowed scrolls. These weren't the common records from the basement. These were high Grade ancestral biographies bound with threads of spirit gold.
As Xuan Ye took the scrolls he allowed a tiny thread of his Unwritten Ink to seep into the paper.
[Scanning Restricted Biographies...]
[Detected:Hidden Ink Layers]
[Processing...]
While he pretended to read he was actually absorbing the life of Xuan Wu. He saw flashes of a man standing before the Ancient Twin Towers screaming at the sky. He saw the man being struck down not by a Hero but by a hand of shadow that reached out from the stars.
He didn't vanish, Xuan Ye realized. He was deleted. But he left a Backdoor in the family bloodline "is That's why the Book of Fate chose me. I am the manifestation of the error he started."
"Is something wrong?" Zhao Ling asked her Heavenly Eyes narrowing as she caught a flicker of something in his expression.
Xuan Ye looked up with a confused frown. "It's just... the writing here is very strange Your Highness. It feels like the ink is trying to move on the page. It makes my head spin."
Zhao Ling sighed a hint of disappointment in her gaze. "It is the intent of the author. A mortal mind struggles to process the will of a Nascent Soul scribe Just do your best. Find any mention of the Twin Towers in his later years."
She went back to her own study leaving Xuan Ye to his struggle.
Outside the carriage the sky began to turn a deep shade of violet. They were entering the Dead Zone of the Plains a region where the Qi was unstable and the spirits of fallen soldiers from the ancient wars still lingered.
Suddenly the carriage jolted. A high pitched whistle cut through the air followed by the sound of exploding formations.
"Ambush!" the commander screamed.
Xuan Ye felt the atmosphere change. The warm jasmine scent was replaced by the smell of sulfur and decayed flesh.
[Warning:Non-Standard Qi Detected]
[Type:one of the 6 Demonic Holy Sects— The Ghost Wail Path]
Through the silk curtains Xuan Ye saw shadows rising from the golden grass. They weren't human. They were puppets made of bone and stitched skin the trademark of the mid tier demonic sects that lurked in the borders.
"Stay down Xuan Ye!" Zhao Ling commanded standing up and drawing a sword made of pure emerald light.
She stepped out of the carriage her late Qi Gathering aura erupting to protect the carriage.
Xuan Ye sat in the dark interior of the carriage alone. He didn't hide under the furs. He sat cross legged and allowed the Book of Fate to open.
The Demonic Sects are a nuisance, he thought. But their Ghost Wail techniques are based on soul vibration. If I can absorb the logic of a Ghost-Wail puppet I can reach beyond 20% of the Ink-Wash Heart before we even see the White Lotus.
He closed his eyes. He didn't use his physical hands. He projected a thread of Unwritten Ink through the spatial walls of the carriage.
Outside the guards were fighting for their lives. Zhao Ling was a blur of emerald light cutting through the bone-puppets with a grace that befitted a Royal. But for every one she destroyed three more rose from the grass.
Xuan Ye's ink thread found its target—a puppet that had managed to latch onto the side of the carriage.
"Absorption," he whispered.
The puppet didn't break. It froze. The silver fluid in its joints the Life given to it by the Demonic Master was sucked dry.
[Absorbing Ghost-Wail Essence]
[Acquired: Resonance of the Departed — early Grade]
[Ink-Wash Heart: 21% Progress]
Xuan Ye felt a chill in his soul. He could now hear the screams of the puppets. Not as noise but as a frequency he could manipulate.
He didn't stop there. He reached out further. He didn't care about the guards or the Princess's safety. He cared about the Script.
Who sent these puppets? he wondered. A demonic sect wouldn't attack a Royal convoy unless they were paid or unless they were looking for something.
He traced the source of the control threads. They led deep into the grass to a figure standing on a mound of skulls. It was a man in tattered black robes a mid Foundation Establishment elder of the Ghost Wail Path.
The Elder was laughing his eyes fixed on Zhao Ling. He didn't notice the thin thread of black ink crawling through the air toward him. It was invisible to Qi senses. It was silent to the ears of the world.
"You have a very loud soul Elder," Xuan Ye murmured in the dark of the carriage. "Let's turn the volume down."
The ink thread touched the Elder's neck.
The laughter stopped. The bone puppets in the field all collapsed at once their strings severed by a logic they couldn't comprehend.
Zhao Ling stood in the field her emerald sword glowing panting as she looked around at the sudden silence. "What... what happened?"
"The Elder! He's dead!" a guard shouted.
They found the Demonic Elder on his mound of skulls. There wasn't a mark on him. He just looked... empty. Like a book that had all its words erased.
Xuan Ye retracted the ink. He felt the rush of power.
[Ink-Wash Heart: 25% Progress]
[Evolution Starting:The Ink-Wash Vision]
He quickly lay down on the floor of the carriage and pulled the furs over him.
A moment later Zhao Ling stepped back into the carriage her face covered in light sweat. She saw Xuan Ye shaking? under the blankets.
"It's over Xuan Ye" she said her voice weary but curious. "The enemy died of a sudden soul collapse. It seems your luck is even stronger than I imagined."
Xuan Ye poked his head out his eyes wide with fake terror. "Did... did the Demon from the waterfall follow us Your Highness?"
Zhao Ling looked at the jade slip on the floor. "I don't know. But whatever it is it seems to be clearing our path."
She sat down and began to meditate.
Xuan Ye turned his head away a small sharp smile hidden by the shadows.
I'm not clearing your path Your Highness, he thought. I'm just eating the obstacles before you can.
The convoy began to move again. The Holy Sanctuary was only nine days away. And with his new Ink Wash Vision Xuan Ye could finally see the Errors in the world around him.
The mystery was growing. The game was intensifying. And something Unwritten has started to appear.