The Broken Bridge of Souls now lay behind them, its lattice glowing faintly as though it remembered the trials passed. The triad—Lin Dong, Yan Shu, and Lu Chen—stepped onto the next shard of the Hidden Veil, a realm that shimmered with spectral light and pulsing currents of Yuan energy. Here, the air vibrated with the whispers of forgotten history; every particle of space carried a resonance older than any mortal memory. Lin Dong’s staff hummed, sensing an energy that thrummed beneath the void itself. The Hidden Veil was alive with relics of the past, fragments of divine history preserved between realms, and the next celestial trial awaited. Ahead, embedded within a crystalline fissure, was an object that glimmered with both warmth and warning—a relic forged from the very first flames of the Flame Emperor, its aura echoing through Lin Dong’s soul before he even laid eyes upon it. “The Relic of Old Flame…” Yan Shu breathed, awe threading through her voice. “It’s said only the chosen

The Hidden Veil stretched onward, corridors of cosmic energy folding upon themselves, twisting in impossible geometries that seemed to defy both logic and time. The Shattered Gate behind them had dissolved into faint glimmers, like distant stars fading into the void, leaving Lin Dong, Yan Shu, and Lu Chen in a chamber of awe-inspiring scale. Before them, the center of the chamber pulsed with a deep azure light, faintly rippling like water disturbed by an unseen force. The floor itself seemed translucent, revealing beneath it a network of starstreams and Yuan currents converging in patterns older than any memory. This was no mere gateway—it was a Skyfall Portal, a cosmic threshold linking the Hidden Veil to realms untouched by mortal footsteps. Lin Dong stepped forward, staff ignited with a golden-orange hue that resonated with the portal’s rhythm. “This… is the next path. The Ascension Path stretches far beyond the Wilderlands,” he murmured. The relic in his hand hummed in response,

The corridors of the Hidden Veil quivered under a pulse unlike anything Lin Dong had felt before. The crystalline walls hummed, refracting starlight into fractals that danced like living sigils across the infinite space. He could feel it in his bones—the emergence of something older, smarter, and infinitely more dangerous than the Rift Hunters they had just defeated. “Everyone, stay alert,” Lin Dong warned, his staff crackling as the Nine Flames shimmered with faint hints of cosmic resonance. “This one… it’s not just an echo of the Veil. It’s aware. It can anticipate.” From the core of the corridor, a tear in reality itself blossomed, radiating dark light. The air vibrated with tension, each particle of dust suspended as if holding its breath. Then it emerged. The Second Rift. It was massive, incomprehensible in scale, a living convergence of void and starlight, yet its movements suggested intelligence and cunning. Unlike the first Rift, this entity didn’t attack recklessly—it cir

The air above the fractured bridge shimmered like molten glass, fractal light dancing across the void where realms converged. Lin Dong’s footsteps echoed across the crystalline planks of the bridge, each footfall resonating against the pulse of unstable Yuan currents. The bridge was alive, not merely a path but a vessel of creation itself—a conduit connecting shattered fragments of the Hidden Veil. The slightest misstep could plunge him into the abyss, dissolving both body and spirit. Three flames burned within his core, coiling like serpents of light and energy: the physical flame, born of his corporeal mastery and the strength of his mortal will; the spiritual flame, the manifestation of his consciousness, intent, and clarity; and the divine flame, a nascent celestial spark fed by fragments of the Hidden Veil itself. Each burned fiercely, yet unevenly. One surged while another flickered; one roared while another hesitated. The imbalance was palpable, and Lin Dong felt the weight of

The air above the rift shimmered like liquid gold, rippling under the influence of forces far beyond mortal comprehension. Lin Dong’s triad flames burned brighter than ever, their harmonics resonating with the currents of the Upper Realm. He had seen fragments, glimpses of divine towers, rivers of liquid light, and storms that were more alive than any mortal sky—but now, something stirred with intent. A low hum vibrated through the bridge, deep enough to resonate in the bones. It was not wind, nor the echo of his own flames—it was awareness. Lin Dong’s eyes narrowed, sensing the approach of a force that belonged not to the Hidden Veil, but to the Upper Realm itself. This was the first true celestial adversary, a being born of the Upper Realm’s essence, tasked with guarding the Ascension Path. From the swirling currents of light and energy, a figure materialized. Towering, radiant, and impossibly fluid, it seemed to shimmer between states of matter and energy. Its form resembled a wa