Heavenly Rebirth: The Outcast Return

The Forbidden Zone

Chapter 7: The Forbidden Zone

The wind was colder in the Forbidden Zone.

Black mountains pierced the sky like jagged teeth. Dead forests stretched for miles, their trees long since petrified by cursed energy. No birds. No beasts. No sound.

Xuan Long stood at the edge of a cliff, his cloak fluttering in the wind, eyes locked on a narrow trail carved into the stone face below.

Behind him, Mei Lin approached, wrapped in a black robe. Her steps were lighter now, but her aura flickered — still unstable.

“You’re sure this is the place?” she asked softly.

He nodded. “The shard from the Soul Beacon pointed here. The Hall of Silence lies beneath these mountains. And if the message my mother left behind is real… then the truth about my bloodline is down there.”

They walked in silence.

Each step deeper into the Forbidden Zone felt like wading into death itself. The air grew heavier. The land itself seemed to resist them — groaning underfoot, whispering echoes of pain and memory.

Eventually, they reached a gate.

Ancient. Sealed.

Carved from obsidian and bone.

Symbols pulsed faintly on its surface — dragon script mixed with Celestial glyphs. Only someone with both bloodlines could open it.

Xuan Long stepped forward, pressing his palm against the center.

The symbols flared.

The gate cracked open.

A surge of wind swept through — thick with the scent of dust, incense, and something darker.

They entered.

Inside was a cavernous hall lit by floating flames.

Dozens of statues lined the path — each depicting a different Devourer across the ages. Some wore crowns. Some carried weapons. All bore the same burning eye on their foreheads.

At the far end stood a throne.

Empty.

And behind it… a wall of light.

A voice echoed as they approached:

“You who carry the mark… kneel and awaken the memory.”

Xuan Long stepped forward, ignoring the sting of pressure pushing him down. He knelt before the light — and the throne began to glow.

A figure emerged from the wall of light — a hologram of a woman with long black hair and the same golden eyes he saw in his dreams.

His mother.

She smiled softly.

“My son. If you are hearing this, then you’ve survived. The seal has broken. The Devourer Flame has returned.”

Xuan Long’s fists clenched.

“I loved your father. A celestial general, proud and cold. I was born of the Abyss Flame Line, a forbidden bloodline they hunted to extinction. Our union broke laws written in the stars. So they came for us.”

“He died protecting me. I fled with you in my womb.”

Mei Lin stood beside him, tears in her eyes.

“The Celestial Court will not forgive your awakening. But you are not just a Devourer. You are the bridge — the only one born of both sky and flame.”

The light flickered.

“To survive, you must master the Final Path. Deep below this chamber lies the Well of Echoes. It will show you the past. But beware…”

“It may also awaken what sleeps beneath.”

The image shattered.

A section of the floor opened, revealing a dark staircase descending into the depths.

They didn’t hesitate.

The descent was long, silent. The air grew colder, heavier with every step. Eventually, they reached a chamber filled with swirling mist and a single black pool — its surface still, yet rippling like it breathed.

Xuan Long stepped to the edge.

“What now?” Mei Lin asked.

“I enter,” he said. “Alone.”

“Why—?”

“Because if I fail… the thing beneath should only take me.”

Before she could protest, he stepped into the pool.

The world went black.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a battlefield — one from ten thousand years ago.

Above, flaming cities fell from the sky. Titans of flame and light clashed across mountain ranges. Cultivators wielding stars fought against Devourers cloaked in shadows.

He saw his ancestors. Saw the power they unleashed — power that consumed realms.

And then he saw why they were hunted.

One Devourer — a man whose face resembled Xuan Long’s — lost control of the flame. It devoured an entire continent, consuming not just enemies… but allies, innocents, even reality itself.

“This is what they fear,” the War Immortal whispered. “This is what you carry.”

Suddenly, the battlefield vanished.

Xuan Long stood in the void.

A voice called out.

“You walk the edge of destruction. You carry the fire that cannot be caged.”

A shape emerged — a shadowy version of himself, eyes burning, face twisted.

“Devourer… or savior? Choose.”

The shadow lunged.

In the real world, Mei Lin stood over the pool as it began to ripple violently.

A black hand shot out.

She gasped — ready to defend.

But it was Xuan Long.

He emerged, drenched in flame and shadow. Runes covered his arms. His eyes glowed with twin flames — black and gold.

He had seen the truth.

He had chosen.

“I won’t become that monster,” he said. “I’ll wield the flame… my way.”

But then — the ground shook.

The pool behind him began to boil. The wall behind the chamber split open, revealing a sealed prison door covered in celestial chains.

And it was cracking.

“Something else woke up,” Mei Lin said, stepping back.

“No,” Xuan Long whispered. “Something watched me. And now it’s coming.”

The seal exploded.

From within the darkness… a hand of bone and starlight emerged, followed by a voice that rattled the mountain:

“The Devourer returns. Then so shall I.”

Far above, across the continent, priests of the Celestial Court knelt before a vast mural.

A new prophecy had appeared.

“When flame and void combine… the gods shall fall.”

And the war… would begin again.