2026-07-16 23:43:41The words lingered in the silent hall. “The last keeper... of the Primordial Immortal Scripture.”
Chen had never heard that name before, yet the moment the title reached his ears, something deep within his soul trembled in response.
Above the jade chessboard, countless golden symbols spun faster and faster, their soft radiance washing over the old immortal’s weathered face and revealing an expression shaped less by age than by an unbearable loneliness.
Chen swallowed hard before asking, “Was it... the Scripture that brought me here?”
The old man gave a single nod. “It did.”
A chill ran through Chen. “Am I dead?”
A faint smile touched the old man’s lips. “If you were, we would be having a very different conversation.”
Relief swept through Chen, but it lasted for only a heartbeat before another question rose to take its place. “Then... where is my body?”
“It remains beneath the abandoned ancestral mountain,” the old man said, pointing towards the sky.
As he spoke, the old man calmly moved a white chess piece. Click.
The crisp sound rang through the palace like the toll of a distant bell. “Only your consciousness stands before me.”
Chen lowered his gaze. “So... this is a dream?”
“No,” the old man responded, observing him one more time
Chen asked, looking at his body, “An illusion?”
“No,” the old man finally adjusted himself
“Then what is this place?” Chen asked with so much anxiety
The old man turned his eyes toward the endless sea of stars beyond the palace. “This is the final sanctuary of a forgotten inheritance.”
He said, his voice softening. “It is a place that exists outside the flow of mortal time. For every breath you take here...” He brushed his fingers lightly across the chessboard. “...not even a heartbeat passes in your world.”
Chen’s eyes widened.
Such a place should have been impossible, yet after everything that had happened since he discovered the broken jade, impossible no longer felt like an adequate word.
The old man studied him in silence for a moment before saying, “You have accepted this more easily than most.”
Chen let out a bitter laugh. “My life stopped making sense a long time ago.”
That answer drew a chuckle from the old man. “I suppose it did.”
A heavy stillness settled between them, and in that stillness Chen finally gave voice to the question that had haunted him since childhood. “...Why me?”
The old man did not answer at once. Instead, he extended a hand toward the chessboard.
At his touch, the swirling runes dissolved into a mirror-like surface, and ripples spread slowly across it. An image began to emerge.
A newborn child lay wrapped in faded blue cloth, crying beneath a sky streaked with crimson clouds.
Chen’s breathing caught in his throat. “...That’s me.”
“Yes.”
The image shifted again. A woman held the infant close to her chest. Her face was pale with exhaustion, but her eyes were full of warmth so deep it ached to look at her.
Beside her stood a tall man with a sword in his hand, its blade shimmering with silver light. Neither face was clear, and yet Chen knew. “My...” His voice shook. “My parents...”
The old man nodded. “They loved you beyond measure.”
Those words struck Chen harder than any blade ever could.
All his life, he had believed they had abandoned him. Every insult hurled by the other disciples had only buried that belief more deeply inside him.
“No family would leave behind a useless child.”
“Even your parents gave up on you.”
He had heard those words so often that, over time, they had stopped sounding like cruelty and started sounding like truth.
Yet the image before him told a different story.
The woman lowered her head and kissed the child’s forehead while tears streamed down her face. The man’s hand trembled around the hilt of his sword as though he were preparing to face a battle he already knew he could not survive.
Then the image froze.
Chen’s voice dropped to a whisper. “What happened to them?”
The old man closed his eyes for a brief moment. “They died.”
The answer was simple, and its simplicity made it merciless.
Chen lowered his head. Somewhere deep within himself, he had expected those words, but hearing them aloud still hollowed something out inside him.
“They did not die because they abandoned you,” the old man said, his tone growing firmer. “They died because they refused to.”
The mirror changed once more.
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Chapter 4: The Heaven-Origin Spiritual Root (Part I)
“The first seal...”The Forgotten Immortal’s fingertip came to a halt a breath away from Chen’s forehead.Golden light gathered at its tip. It was no brighter than a candle flame, yet its radiance made the entire celestial palace tremble as though it could no longer bear the force awakening within it.Beyond the open hall, billions of stars pulsed in unison, while the endless rivers of starlight flowing through the void suddenly reversed their course.Beneath Chen’s feet, the giant chessboard dissolved into countless glowing runes that spiraled upward around him like living dragons.Every instinct within Chen screamed at him to retreat.His body wanted to step back, to turn, to flee, because every fiber of his being understood that the moment the old man’s finger touched him, the life he had known would vanish forever.The Forgotten Immortal seemed to read the fear in his eyes. “There is still time to refuse.”Chen blinked, startled by the offer. “...Refuse?”“If I break the first sea
Chapter 3: The Forgotten Immortal (Part IIII)
Dark figures surrounded a burning village while the heavens themselves seemed to split apart under waves of terrifying spiritual power.The man fought alone, one sword against countless enemies. Every strike shattered mountains, and every swing painted the sky with rivers of light.Even so, he was hopelessly outnumbered.Within a glowing formation, the woman held the infant tightly against her chest as golden chains wrapped themselves around the child’s tiny body, one after another, before sinking beneath his skin.Chen stared in horror. “What are they doing?”The old man answered quietly. “They sealed your destiny.”The hall fell into a suffocating silence.“They... what?” he asked “They sealed your spiritual roots,” The old man said without sympathy Chen’s mind went blank. “My... spiritual roots?”The old man nodded. “They were never broken.”Each word crashed into Chen like thunder. “They were sealed.”The world seemed to tilt beneath him. “No...” His breathing turned ragged. “Th
Chapter 3: The Forgotten Immortal (Part III)
The words lingered in the silent hall. “The last keeper... of the Primordial Immortal Scripture.”Chen had never heard that name before, yet the moment the title reached his ears, something deep within his soul trembled in response.Above the jade chessboard, countless golden symbols spun faster and faster, their soft radiance washing over the old immortal’s weathered face and revealing an expression shaped less by age than by an unbearable loneliness.Chen swallowed hard before asking, “Was it... the Scripture that brought me here?”The old man gave a single nod. “It did.”A chill ran through Chen. “Am I dead?”A faint smile touched the old man’s lips. “If you were, we would be having a very different conversation.”Relief swept through Chen, but it lasted for only a heartbeat before another question rose to take its place. “Then... where is my body?”“It remains beneath the abandoned ancestral mountain,” the old man said, pointing towards the sky.As he spoke, the old man calmly mov
Chapter 3: The Forgotten Immortal (Part II)
These images did not feel like art. They felt like memories etched into stone. He slowed as his gaze settled on one particular carving. It depicted a child standing beneath nine blazing suns.The child looked impossibly small against that divine and terrible light, yet there was nothing fragile in the figure’s posture.Above the child floated a single sentence written in golden script that Chen had never seen before. And yet, somehow, he understood it.He whom Heaven cannot command.A chill ran down his spine. Before he could study the mural any further, a faint sound echoed somewhere ahead. Click.The noise was small, but in the vast silence of the palace it sounded impossibly clear.Chen lifted his head.Another click followed. Then another. The rhythm was precise and measured. Someone was playing a game.He followed the sound through a series of winding corridors until the palace opened into a vast circular chamber beneath the stars. The hall had no roof. Above it, the cosmos stret
Chapter 3: The Forgotten Immortal (Part I)
Darkness pressed against Chen from every direction.It was not the darkness of night, nor the soft emptiness that waited behind closed eyes. This darkness felt older than either of those things, deeper than shadow, as though he had drifted into a place where light had never been born.His consciousness moved through the endless void like a leaf carried by an invisible current. He did not feel himself falling. No wind brushed against his skin.No sound reached him except the slow, steady rhythm of his own heartbeat, which seemed unnaturally loud in the vast silence.Am I... dead?The thought rose instinctively.The last thing he remembered was collapsing beside the ruined statue after the broken jade dissolved into golden light and vanished into his body. After that, there had only been pain, a whisper in his mind, and then nothing.Had Zhao Feng returned while he lay helpless?Had the strange power hidden inside the pendant consumed him?He tried to move. Nothing happened. His body re
Chapter 2: The Broken Jade Pendant (Part III)
There was no amusement in his voice. Only weariness. Only the bitter emptiness of someone who had been pushed too far, too many times, and no longer knew how to explain himself even to his own heart.“Protecting a broken pendant...” he murmured.His gaze lifted to the empty forest, where Zhao Feng and the others had vanished. “...when I cannot even protect myself.”His voice faded into the stillness. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then the jade grew warm.Chen froze.The heat spread slowly through his palm, not sharp enough to burn and not wild enough to frighten. It was gentle. Deep. Almost intimate, as though some ancient presence had reached out and touched him with careful recognition.His heartbeat began to pound. The largest fragment rose from his hand. Chen’s breath caught. Then a second fragment lifted into the air. Then a third.Within moments, every shattered piece had begun to float. He stumbled backward, staring. “What is—”He never finished.Golden threads spilled o
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