The Twilight Wastes were dead.
Not just lifeless, but… forsaken.
Dark clouds stretched across the horizon like ancient scars. The earth cracked underfoot, and black mist clung to everything like a suffocating shroud. Once, it had been a thriving region of cultivation. Now, it was the final resting place of countless sects lost to time—and home to the Shadow Sect.
Li Xuantian stood at the border, his silhouette barely visible in the twilight.
Behind him, two figures approached—Yan Ruyue, veiled and silent, and Jing Hao, a young cultivator who had insisted on following.
"You don't have to come," Xuantian said.
Jing Hao gulped but kept walking. "Master, I know I'm not strong yet. But I want to learn. I want to stand at the front when the darkness comes."
Yan Ruyue said nothing, but her presence was answer enough.
Xuantian gave a small nod.
"Then stay close. The Wastes do not forgive."
---
Inside the Wastes
As the trio crossed the cracked stone paths and shattered temple ruins, whispers began to follow them. Not voices… but fragments of souls, trapped for centuries.
> "Who dares tread here…"
"He returns… the Flame…"
"Too late… too late…"
Jing Hao's knees shook. "Master, this place… feels like it hates us."
"It does," Xuantian replied calmly. "Because I sealed it, long ago."
Yan Ruyue turned to him. "This is where your sect fought the Demon King?"
He nodded.
"A million years ago, my sect—Heavenfire Pavilion—faced the last Great Demon War here. We won. But at a price. I had to collapse the ley lines and seal the region. I thought… the evil would stay buried."
They arrived at the Wailing Gate, a colossal stone arch covered in talismans, many now torn or burned. It pulsed with corrupted qi.
Beyond it lay a chasm.
Floating above the chasm was a single black monolith, jagged and pulsing like a heart.
"The entrance to the Shadow Sect," Xuantian whispered.
And then the sky tore open.
---
Ambush
Figures descended from the clouds—dozens of masked cultivators clad in shadowy robes. Their spiritual auras were chaotic, tainted by demonic essence.
At the front hovered a man with blood-red eyes and a crown of bone.
> "Li Xuantian," he sneered. "The Flame returns to the ashes."
"Who are you?" Xuantian asked.
"I am Mo Tianlu, Shadow Elder and Warden of the First Seal. And you… are not welcome here."
Jing Hao drew his blade. "Master, we're surrounded—!"
But Xuantian raised a hand.
"I'll handle this."
With a simple step forward, his presence expanded—no, exploded. A spiritual pressure surged outward, pushing back the invaders like leaves in a hurricane.
Mo Tianlu grinned. "So the rumors are true. The lowest-ranked cultivator… holds the might of gods."
"I'm not here to fight," Xuantian said coldly. "I want the truth. The Crown was one of the Celestial Seals. I want to know what you're hiding. And why you're awakening them."
Mo Tianlu's smirk vanished.
"You… don't know, do you? You don't remember the True Heavens."
A silence fell.
"What did you say?" Xuantian asked, his voice tense.
Mo Tianlu laughed. "Even you, oh eternal cultivator, have forgotten. The Celestial Seals were not made to lock a power away. They were created to protect the Mortal Plane from what lies above."
"What lies above?" Yan Ruyue whispered.
> "The Heavenly Exiles," Mo Tianlu answered. "Gods who were cast out from the real Divine Realm. And now… they are waking."
With a flick of his hand, Mo Tianlu vanished into the mist—along with the masked attackers.
But not before leaving behind a final message:
> "You want the next seal? Then come to the Blood Moon Citadel, before the next eclipse. Or watch your world burn."
---
After the Ambush
Night fell fast in the Wastes. Xuantian and his companions found shelter in the ruins of an old shrine, once dedicated to a Celestial Dragon spirit.
Jing Hao tended to a wound on his arm, still trembling.
Yan Ruyue sat beside Xuantian, who stared into the fire.
"They know something," she said.
"I know," Xuantian murmured. "But something's missing. I've cultivated for a million years, but even I've forgotten… why the Celestial Seals were made. What the Divine Realm truly is."
"You were a god once, weren't you?"
He shook his head slowly.
"No. I was powerful. But never divine. I refused to ascend. Because I believed there was more to discover in the mortal world."
Jing Hao looked up. "Do you still believe that?"
Xuantian turned toward the boy and smiled faintly.
"Yes."
---
Back at Celestial University – Far North
Meanwhile, in the vaults of the Celestial Library, an ancient scroll began to unravel by itself. Dust danced around it. Glyphs glowed.
Elder Yun, one of the Grand Archivists, awoke to the change.
He walked in and saw the scroll float into the air.
It spoke in an old tongue:
> "Flamebearer has passed the first trial. The wheel of fate begins to turn."
And then it burst into flame—leaving behind a single line of text etched into the wall:
> "When the Seven Seals break, the road to godhood shall reopen… and the sky shall bleed."
---
Atop a Mountain Peak – Watching
High above the mortal world, a being in silver armor looked down.
Their eyes glowed with starlight.
"The Flamebearer walks toward truth," she murmured. "Will he become our savior… or our executioner?"
Behind her, seven thrones stood empty.
But not for long.
---