The wind was sharp in the north. It carried no scent of life—only the brittle stench of old bones, dried blood, and failed legacies.
Lin Chen adjusted his cloak as he stepped into the Bone Orchard. The desolate field stretched endlessly before him, filled with countless broken swords and shattered spirit tokens, buried half in snow, half in ash. A silent graveyard for cultivators who died dishonored—outcast, exiled, or worse, forgotten.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Mei Ling asked behind him, voice tight. Even she, who had faced vengeful spirits and shadow assassins, looked uneasy.
Lin Chen nodded. "The map from the Celestial Archives led here. Xu Mingyan hasn't been seen in ten years—but she was exiled after the Icefire Pavilion collapse. This is where broken legends come to vanish."
A low groan echoed across the flatland. Not a human sound—just the wind catching an old ceremonial gong, long forgotten. But it set Lin Chen on edge.
They found her near the base of a crumbling spirit monolith. She was wrapped in layers of mismatched robes, her body hunched and twisted. Long, silver hair fell in tangled mats over half her face. Her left eye was gone, a hollow socket of blackened skin, and frostbite had eaten away at the edges of her lips. But her right eye—gods, it still burned with brilliance. Ice and fire in one gaze.
Xu Mingyan.
Once a prodigy. The youngest Everfrost Core Awakener in Icefire Pavilion's history. Banished after she was framed for treason. Her cultivation shattered.
"You shouldn't be here," she rasped without looking up. "This is a place for ghosts and regrets."
Lin Chen stepped forward slowly. "I'm not here to mourn the dead. I came for the truth."
"Truth?" she chuckled bitterly, coughing into her sleeve. "Truth doesn't grow here. Only rot. Ambition, loyalty, betrayal—they all look the same in the snow."
He crouched before her, unafraid. "Then tell me what made you fall."
Her eye narrowed. "Why?"
"Because I might be next."
That made her pause. She looked him over now—not just a traveler, but something more. The way his qi pulsed quietly beneath the surface. The Cloak of Night flickering faintly at his side. The weight of the Phoenix in his aura.
"Lin Chen," she said, recognizing him. "The prodigy of the Verdant Sky Sect. The boy who walks with shadows and fire."
"That's what they call me," he said, voice low. "But I'd rather be remembered as someone who knew when to listen."
She studied him a moment longer, then sighed. "You want to know about the northern sects. The hidden pact between Snowveil, Ironhowl, and the Whispering Cliffs. The secret blades they aim at the Nine Heavenly Stars."
He nodded.
"Fine. But nothing is free. You restore part of my meridians—I tell you everything."
Lin Chen reached into his satchel and produced a small black pill. "This is a Phoenix Heart Ember Pill. It can't restore your core, but it can repair what's left. Let your qi flow again."
Xu Mingyan stared at it with shaking fingers. Her lips trembled, but she took it and swallowed it without a word. Moments later, she doubled over, gasping as flames briefly danced across her spine. Her shattered dantian flickered—dim, but no longer dead.
Tears welled in her remaining eye.
"You didn't have to," she whispered.
"I did," Lin Chen replied. "Because I needed to see what happens when someone like us is betrayed. What happens when the empire we serve decides we're disposable."
She wiped her face and sat straighter. "Then listen closely, Lin Chen. The north is preparing for war. Quietly, through trade routes and rogue cultivators. The Bone Pact was formed five years ago. They're waiting for the Nine Heavenly Stars to fracture—and your rise has stirred their hand."
"Why would they care about me?"
"Because you're not just a threat—you're a symbol. You have the Phoenix and the Cloak. The empire either kills you or crowns you. They're afraid you'll burn the old order down."
Mei Ling stepped forward. "Why are you telling him this now?"
Xu Mingyan turned to her. "Because the moment you offer someone hope—truly, selflessly—they remember who they were before the world broke them."
Lin Chen sat back on his heels. The truth tasted bitter. All this time, he'd believed in justice, in unity. But now he saw the cracks—how ambition twisted virtue, how survival bred betrayal.
"I saw myself in you," Xu said, her voice quieter now. "I fought for the Pavilion with everything I had. I was loyal, brilliant, feared. And when I uncovered a plot among the elders, they ripped my cultivation out and left me to rot here."
"What would you do if you could rise again?" Lin Chen asked.
Her lips twitched. "Burn them all. But that's not the path you want. Not yet."
He stood. "I won't become like them. I'll fight—but not with vengeance."
Xu Mingyan looked up at him with something like sorrow. "You say that now. But wait until someone you love dies screaming."
The wind howled again. This time, it carried the faint whisper of old prayers and broken oaths.
As they left the Bone Orchard, Mei Ling touched Lin Chen's arm.
"Are you alright?"
"No," he said honestly. "But I know what I have to become."
The snow beneath their boots crunched like dry bones. And in the distance, the ruined banners of forgotten sects flapped in the wind.