The first arrow pierced the night like a needle tearing silk. Then came another. And another. Within seconds, the skies above the capital were streaked with deadly light, glowing shafts of spirit-infused steel raining down with precise fury.But none reached Yunlei.He stood unmoving on the outer wall, arms clasped behind his back. A faint shimmer enveloped him—an invisible barrier humming with ancient power. As the arrows neared, they slowed, then stopped midair, hanging like trapped stars before crumbling to ash.From below, General Huo Ranshi scowled.“A barrier technique?” he growled. “No formation could block my signal volley.”“It’s not a formation,” one of his advisors whispered, voice trembling. “That’s bloodline qi—pure and awakened.”Huo’s eyes narrowed. “Who is this boy, really?”Atop the wall, Yunlei opened his eyes.The pupils had changed—no longer the calm black of a scholar, but flecked with gold, shaped like inverted teardrops. His aura twisted the air around him, bend

The banners of a dozen sects fluttered in the wind atop the walls of the capital, their sigils glowing faintly with renewed spirit-light. The restoration of the Hall of Seers had sent shockwaves across the provinces. Whispers turned into messengers, messengers into envoys, and now envoys were arriving with sealed scrolls, tokens of ancient allegiance, or ultimatums wrapped in silk.Inside the main chamber, the air was tense. Maps covered the central table, arcane wards hummed softly, and spirit crystals flickered as intelligence reports streamed in.“The fleet anchors off Stonebay,” Ruoqin reported, pointing to a glowing marker on the map. “Twenty-nine ships. Reinforced hulls. Each flying the black phoenix.”Zhao furrowed his brow. “We haven’t seen that banner in a generation. Last time it flew, it marked the Phoenix Revolt—southern loyalists who claimed the Imperial family had lost the Mandate of Heaven.”Yunlei narrowed his eyes. “And now they believe I’m a usurper.”“No,” said a vo

Even before Yunlei returned to the capital, the winds shifted.The skies above Tianzhao darkened prematurely, tinged with veins of stormfire—an omen known to elder monks as Heaven’s Second Warning. It hadn’t appeared in over five hundred years, not since the last war against the Revenant Host.Inside the restored Hall of Seers, incense smoke curled through geometric patterns etched into the marble. Twelve flame sconces lined the inner chamber, each representing a founder of the ancient Flameward Circle—a coalition of mystic defenders formed in times of existential peril. Eleven burned brightly.The twelfth remained cold.Yunlei entered, battle-worn but unyielding, flanked by Zhao, Ruoqin, and Li Meizhen of the Verdant Vow. His face bore the weight of the northern engagement. Though the revenants had been repelled, it had come at a cost—two squads lost, several elite wounded, and Harrow still unaccounted for.At the center of the chamber stood a solitary figure draped in crimson-gold r

By dawn, a mist coiled across Mirror Lake—dense, wet, and pulsing with spiritual distortion. The camp was silent but alert, its soldiers watching the lake with unease. Something ancient slumbered beneath the surface, something that hadn’t stirred in lifetimes.Yunlei stood on a jutting stone ledge at the lake’s edge, the wind tugging at his phoenixsteel robes. Beside him were Ruoqin, Zhao, and Meizhen, each bearing weapons that shimmered with awakened spirit runes. The rest of the Phoenix Vanguard remained behind the perimeter wards, forming a defense grid around the lake in case of emergence.“This gate predates the sect wars,” Zhao muttered. “Some say it was sealed by the first Divine Emperor himself. We’re not just stepping into enemy territory—we’re trespassing on forbidden memory.”Yunlei reached down and dipped his fingers into the water. Instead of ripples, the surface cracked like glass, revealing a lattice of crimson sigils beneath. “It’s not sealed anymore,” he said. “Someon

The gate of memory loomed like a ghost made solid—its surface a canvas of shifting scenes, each flickering between joy and ruin. As Yunlei stepped forward, the heat from his core responded, thrumming in resonance. The Forgotten Flame stirred within him, whispering in a tongue no mortal should understand.Behind him, chaos raged. The Vanguard fought with practiced fury, fending off the remaining Echoes. Each wraith moved with cunning malice, adapting, learning, returning from death as fragments only to strike again. But for a moment, the battle dulled into silence as all eyes turned toward the rising gate.Shen Rui knelt at the altar, his form flickering, unstable. “That door leads to the inner sanctum. The birthplace of flame. Beyond it lies the cradle of the Phoenix Sovereign’s soul. But none may pass without sacrifice.”Yunlei gripped his blades tighter. “What sacrifice?”Shen Rui’s smile was mournful. “Your fire. Your immortality. Your lineage. To awaken the Sovereign Flame is to u