2025-07-29 19:59:05
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The Flameward Circle
Even before Yunlei returned to the capital, the winds shifted.The skies above Tianzhao darkened prematurely, tinged with veins of stormfire—an omen known to elder monks as Heaven’s Second Warning. It hadn’t appeared in over five hundred years, not since the last war against the Revenant Host.Inside the restored Hall of Seers, incense smoke curled through geometric patterns etched into the marble. Twelve flame sconces lined the inner chamber, each representing a founder of the ancient Flameward Circle—a coalition of mystic defenders formed in times of existential peril. Eleven burned brightly.The twelfth remained cold.Yunlei entered, battle-worn but unyielding, flanked by Zhao, Ruoqin, and Li Meizhen of the Verdant Vow. His face bore the weight of the northern engagement. Though the revenants had been repelled, it had come at a cost—two squads lost, several elite wounded, and Harrow still unaccounted for.At the center of the chamber stood a solitary figure draped in crimson-gold r
The Revenant Host
The night after the Oathfire ceremony was eerily quiet. No drums of war, no murmurs in the courtyards—only the soft hum of wards encasing the Hall of Seers. Yunlei stood on the highest terrace, robes fluttering in the wind, his hand resting on the marble railing. From this height, he could see lanterns glowing throughout the city like stars scattered across the earth.Below, a new order had begun to take shape.But deep within the mountains to the north, far from the light, something older had awakened.The Revenant Host had returned.---Three days north of the capital, the air twisted with spiritual decay. A mist clung to the ground, thick and acrid. It hissed against qi-infused soil and corroded the protective charms left by border sentries. No beasts moved. No birds cried. Even the insects had vanished.At the center of this desolation stood an obsidian monolith cracked with veins of red fire. Around it, a host of armored figures emerged from the mist—silent, inhuman, their eyes g
Ashes and Oaths
The banners of a dozen sects fluttered in the wind atop the walls of the capital, their sigils glowing faintly with renewed spirit-light. The restoration of the Hall of Seers had sent shockwaves across the provinces. Whispers turned into messengers, messengers into envoys, and now envoys were arriving with sealed scrolls, tokens of ancient allegiance, or ultimatums wrapped in silk.Inside the main chamber, the air was tense. Maps covered the central table, arcane wards hummed softly, and spirit crystals flickered as intelligence reports streamed in.“The fleet anchors off Stonebay,” Ruoqin reported, pointing to a glowing marker on the map. “Twenty-nine ships. Reinforced hulls. Each flying the black phoenix.”Zhao furrowed his brow. “We haven’t seen that banner in a generation. Last time it flew, it marked the Phoenix Revolt—southern loyalists who claimed the Imperial family had lost the Mandate of Heaven.”Yunlei narrowed his eyes. “And now they believe I’m a usurper.”“No,” said a vo
The Empire Remembers
Ash hung in the air like mist, carried by winds still thick with the scent of scorched qi. Across the field outside the capital, soldiers and cultivators moved among the wounded and the dying—some offering aid, others simply stunned.No trumpet had signaled the end of battle, yet none could deny it: the fighting had stopped because the will to fight had been shattered.Yunlei stood in the center of it all, silent as stone.Behind him, Zhao approached slowly, his white robes now darkened with blood and smoke. “You shouldn’t have revealed yourself,” he said under his breath. “Not like this. Half the world just saw you break a general in one strike.”Yunlei didn’t respond.Instead, he bent down and lifted the shattered piece of Huo Ranshi’s armor from the ground. It had been forged from ghost-steel—impervious to mortal blades, known to deflect even some spiritual attacks. Now it was cracked clean through, as if it had been glass under a hammer.“I warned him,” Yunlei murmured. “He chose
The Forbidden Coffin Opens
The first arrow pierced the night like a needle tearing silk. Then came another. And another. Within seconds, the skies above the capital were streaked with deadly light, glowing shafts of spirit-infused steel raining down with precise fury.But none reached Yunlei.He stood unmoving on the outer wall, arms clasped behind his back. A faint shimmer enveloped him—an invisible barrier humming with ancient power. As the arrows neared, they slowed, then stopped midair, hanging like trapped stars before crumbling to ash.From below, General Huo Ranshi scowled.“A barrier technique?” he growled. “No formation could block my signal volley.”“It’s not a formation,” one of his advisors whispered, voice trembling. “That’s bloodline qi—pure and awakened.”Huo’s eyes narrowed. “Who is this boy, really?”Atop the wall, Yunlei opened his eyes.The pupils had changed—no longer the calm black of a scholar, but flecked with gold, shaped like inverted teardrops. His aura twisted the air around him, bend
A storm from the West
The moon had barely risen over the Imperial City when the storm began.It wasn’t the thunderous roar of weather, but the silent pressure of qi—massive, suffocating, deliberate. Cultivators on rooftop patrols paused, their senses prickling like fur brushed against lightning. Birds in their cages grew restless. Even the spirit trees near the Emperor’s Garden curled their leaves inward, as if bracing for a tide of unseen violence.Yunlei stood atop the Observatory Tower, cloak fluttering in the rising breeze. He felt it too—like a sword drawn halfway from its scabbard, the edge already whispering blood.“They’ve come,” Ruoqin said, her voice quiet as she stepped beside him.“From the west?” Yunlei asked, eyes narrowing toward the distant hills beyond the capital walls.She nodded. “The Seventy-Sixth Banner of the Black Fangs crossed Yulong Pass two hours ago. That’s a death march force. Not scouts. Not a warning. They’re here for war.”Yunlei’s jaw tightened. The Black Fangs were elite e
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