Midnight cloaked the Spire of Harmony in a silken hush. The temple’s luminous glow had dimmed, its many levels now still, save for the occasional flicker of patrolling guardians. But in the lower sanctum, beneath the meditation halls, beneath the sacred pools, something stirred.Jin stood at a wide balcony carved into the cliff face, arms folded, his gaze scanning the distant lights of Yunji. Even at night, the capital pulsed with life—unaware of the storm gathering within their mountain refuge.Aya was recovering in the Temple of Inner Flame, watched by healers and guarded by silent monks. Her spirit remained intact, but Jin had seen the toll the trial had taken. She had walked the edge of annihilation and returned with her essence unscorched. But he knew something had changed.She had communed with a Flame Wyrm. That was no small feat. That was divine.Still, it wasn’t her strength that worried him. It was the reaction of the Seer.Behind him, soft footsteps approached. Jin didn’t t

Snow fell like a whisper from the heavens, blanketing the world in silence. The Kirin Heir, the Flame-Touched Maiden, and the Silent Blade rode through the mountain pass, their cloaks whipping in the bitter wind. The Northern Reaches were as beautiful as they were deadly—a land carved by gods and forgotten by men.Jin pulled his hood lower, eyes narrowing as he scanned the jagged terrain. “We’re close. The Temple of Stillness lies just beyond the Veiled Hollow.”Aya, bundled in thick furs, peered over her horse’s mane. “You said your father… lives here?”“‘Lives’ is a generous term,” Jin said. “He exists. Alone. Surrounded by silence and the ghosts of his choices.”Lanri’s tone was dry. “So, just like his son.”Jin didn’t argue.The wind shifted, carrying a scent of frost—and something fouler. Decay. Burnt steel. Jin raised a fist, and they halted.“Something’s wrong,” he said.Lanri slid from her horse and drew her twin sabers. “I feel it too.”Aya’s breath quickened. “What is it?”J

Aya’s body was weightless, suspended in a void where time and space twisted like silk in a storm. There was no up, no down—only searing light and a pressure building deep in her chest.A voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere at once."Who are you?"The flame inside her pulsed. Her memories—fractured, blurred—rose and fell like waves.“I am Aya of the Golden Flame,” she whispered, though the void carried no sound."Liar."The world around her cracked like glass.Suddenly she stood in a courtyard—familiar yet wrong. The stone tiles bore the insignia of the Temple of Resplendent Dawn, where she had trained as a girl. But the monks were faceless, and the skies burned crimson.She looked down. Her hands were covered in ash.A voice spoke behind her."You failed us."She turned.Master Liang stood there, robed in mourning black, his eyes full of sorrow. But he had died—Aya had watched him die during the siege of Bright Hollow.“I did everything I could,” Aya said, backing away.“You ran.

Jin’s hand dropped instinctively to the hilt of his sword as the Covenant Shades emerged from the shadowed wings of the temple hall. Their presence was wrong—too smooth, too deliberate, like actors in a play whose purpose was blood.The silver-masked one—clearly their leader—gave a slight bow. “My name is Veyr of the Sixth Circle. By order of the Eternal Mandate, you are to surrender the girl, the Soulfire fragment, and abandon this place.”Aya stepped forward, eyes glowing faintly. “You came too late, Veyr. The Temple has already accepted me.”Veyr's expression didn’t change. He glanced at the still-lit braziers, the awakened glyphs, the partially opened sanctum door beyond the altar. “Yes. A mistake we intend to rectify.”With a flick of his fingers, the two Shades behind him raised their black jade spears.Lanri cursed under her breath. “Void-jade. They’re here to kill.”Jiāng Ren moved faster than thought. He flung a talisman forward, bursting into radiant flame mid-air. The glyph

The tunnel beyond the Codex’s chamber was unlike anything they had ever encountered.It was alive.Walls of shifting crystal pulsed with dim light, casting shadows that moved without cause. Glyphs slithered along the ceiling like silver serpents, their patterns reshaping with every step. The air hummed—not with magic, but with memory. Each breath Jin took was laced with echoes of ancient battles, oaths sworn and broken, love and betrayal.Aya walked ahead now, sure-footed and radiant. The Soul Codex hadn’t merely bonded with her—it had transformed her. Her presence was different. Heavy. Electric. Divine.Jiāng Ren trailed behind, fingers grazing the wall, absorbing fragments of arcane script. “This place… it’s a living archive. The Path of Ten Thousand Trials. Every chosen heir of the Codex walked it. Few survived.”“Perfect,” Lanri muttered. “Why walk a safe road when we can dance with ghosts?”“Do not mock them,” Aya said softly. “Some of these echoes… they died for us.”Jin’s eyes