"You're still alive. That's either impressive or unfortunate."The voice came from the shadows at the edge of the stronghold. Chen Mo spun, his scales flaring, his eyes blazing. A figure stepped forward. Tall. Gaunt. Robes of gray. Eyes that had seen too much."You," Chen Mo said."Me.""You're the one who helped me escape the Lower Heavens. The one who gave me the recipe.""Yes.""Why?"The immortal smiled. It was a tired, broken thing."Because I've been waiting for someone like you for a thousand years."---Chen Mo didn't trust him.He had learned long ago that help always came with a price. The immortal had appeared when he was desperate. He had given him the recipe. He had given him hope. And then he had disappeared."You left," Chen Mo said. "You helped me, and then you vanished.""I had things to do.""What things?""Things you're n

"You came. After all this time, someone finally came."The voice was a whisper. A broken, desperate whisper. It came from everywhere and nowhere. It came from the walls. From the floor. From the air itself.Chen Mo stood at the center of the prison, his scales burning with golden fire, his eyes fixed on the figure before him. It was a god. But not like any god he had ever seen.The figure was chained to the wall. Not with iron. Not with magic. With something older. Something darker. Its body was thin, emaciated, broken. Its eyes were empty pits. Its voice was a ragged whisper."What are you?" Chen Mo asked."I am what remains. I am what they left behind. I am the forgotten."---The god stirred.Its chains rattled. Its body shifted. Its empty eyes found Chen Mo."You're the Dragon Lord," it said. "I can smell the bloodline on you.""Yes.""You've come to free me.""I

"The knowledge was a blade. And now he had to decide who to cut." Chen Mo stood at the window of the stronghold, his eyes fixed on the horizon. The golden clouds were darkening. The fractures were spreading. The Devourer was coming. And he had the answer. The one thing that could save everyone. The one thing that could destroy everything. "Mo?" Meng Yao's voice was soft. Concerned. "Mo, what's wrong?" He didn't turn around. "Nothing." "You're lying." "I'm not." "You're lying. I can hear it in your voice. I can see it in your shoulders. I can feel it in my heart." --- She walked to his side. Her gray eyes were bright. Her smile was gentle. Her love was absolute. "Tell me," she said. "I can't."<

"She heard everything. And it broke her heart."Meng Yao stood in the shadows of the corridor, her body frozen, her breath caught in her throat. She had come to find Chen Mo. She had come to comfort him. But she had found something else.She had found the truth."The only way to stop the Devourer is to give it what it wants," the immortal said. "The fragment. Meng Yao. She has to return to the void.""And if she doesn't?" Chen Mo's voice was hollow."Then the Devourer will consume everything. Every realm. Every life. Every soul.""There has to be another way.""There isn't. You know that."---Meng Yao's hands were shaking.She had known. Deep down, she had always known. She was a fragment. A piece of something terrible. A shard of the void.But hearing it. Hearing the truth from someone else. Hearing the sacrifice that was required. It broke her."No," she whispered