BENEATH HEAVENS GAZE

Chapter 8 – The Jade Token

The morning fog had barely lifted when the young cultivator appeared at the edge of the mountain. He was drenched, carrying nothing but a torn cloak and a small bag that jingled with the faint sound of metal.

He staggered into the clearing where Chen Fi was tending to his herb patch, seemingly exhausted. His face was pale, and his Qi was erratic—like someone who had been running for days without rest.

Chen Fi didn’t look up from his work. He felt the boy before he saw him—felt the thread of desperate, wild energy weaving through the air, a broken pulse of someone who had touched too much too quickly.

The boy stumbled forward.

“Please... I— I need help,” he gasped. “I can’t... I can’t keep running from them…”

Chen Fi’s fingers paused around a delicate root. He finally turned, his expression unreadable, as the boy fell to his knees, clutching at the ground.

The boy’s face was covered in grime and sweat, but his eyes shone with something deeper—an unspoken plea.

“I... I don’t know where else to go. They’ll kill me. They’ll take it,” he muttered, eyes wild.

Chen Fi’s gaze shifted to the boy’s hand, where he gripped a small jade token—a smooth, green piece of stone engraved with an ancient symbol. It glowed faintly, pulsing with a subtle light.

Chen Fi’s breath caught for the briefest moment.

The boy caught the flicker of recognition in his eyes. “You— You know this?”

Chen Fi stood slowly, wiping his hands on his robe. He approached the boy, who flinched as if expecting to be struck, but Chen Fi merely looked at the jade token.

“That jade…” he murmured. “Where did you find it?”

The boy’s hand tightened around the token. “I... I don’t remember. I’ve had it since I was a child. But they… they’re coming for me. The sects, the cultivators... they’ll kill me to get it. Please, help me.”

Chen Fi stared at the boy for a moment longer, his expression unreadable. Finally, he nodded.

“You’re not being hunted by just anyone. Whoever wants this token is willing to destroy everything in their path to claim it.”

The boy’s face went pale. “What is it? What’s so special about it?”

Chen Fi said nothing for a long time, before reaching out and taking the jade token from the boy’s trembling hand. As his fingers brushed against the stone, a faint hum ran through the air—a ripple of Qi that seemed to span across the very fabric of the world.

For a moment, Chen Fi closed his eyes. The past—long buried—stirred, fragments of memory shifting like dust through the corners of his mind. He saw himself, standing on the edge of the void, holding a token exactly like this one.

“This token…” he murmured, “was once mine. A relic of a past I thought long forgotten.”

The boy looked up, his eyes wide with disbelief. “You… you had it?”

Chen Fi said nothing. The years had erased much of his past, but something deep inside him recognized this token. It was tied to an ancient power, something that had once been used to seal away dark forces from the world. A relic of his former life, when he was not a hermit, but something far more dangerous.

“You should leave,” Chen Fi said quietly. “They will come for you.”

The boy looked desperate. “But where will I go? I can’t run anymore. If I keep going, I’ll die.”

“You’re not running from them,” Chen Fi replied. “You’re running from yourself.”

He stared at the boy, his expression softening just slightly. “I won’t let them take you. But you must trust me. Whatever they seek, it’s not just the token. They’re looking for a door—and you, boy, are the key.”

The boy swallowed hard, trembling. “A key? To what?”

“To something that will either save or destroy this world.”

---

Meanwhile, far from the mountain, the Black Flare Sect was in turmoil.

Sect Master Weng Zu sat in the heart of the grand hall, his fingers steepled before him as he listened to reports from his spies.

“An ancient relic has resurfaced,” one of the Shadow Crows said, their voice low. “A jade token, tied to an old power.”

Weng Zu’s eyes narrowed. “A jade token? Where?”

“In the hands of a boy. He is being hunted by multiple sects.”

“The token is significant, then.”

“Yes, Sect Master. But there is something else... someone else. An entity from the past has been stirred. A cultivator beyond even our reach.”

Weng Zu’s lips curled into a smile, though it was cold. “Then we must find him. The boy... is of no concern. But this other... this cultivator... we will break him.”

---

Back on the mountain, Chen Fi stood alone, gazing into the distance. The sky was darkening, and the winds began to shift once more.

The boy, now standing, looked at him with a mixture of fear and gratitude. “You’re… you’re not going to leave, are you?”

Chen Fi glanced down at the jade token, still pulsing gently in his hand. “No. I’ll take you to safety. But first… we must return to the place where it all began.”

The boy’s eyes widened. “Where?”

Chen Fi met his gaze, his voice low and steady. “To the Voidcrest.”