Chapter six: Missions, Secrets, and the Dragon's Curse
Lin Yu's Mission: The Field of Ten Thousand Screams
Three nights after his battle with Li Yuyan, Lin Yu stood before the Demonbone Sect's Mission Stone.
Elder Qian himself assigned it.
"Retrieve the Soulbrand Ember from the Field of Ten Thousand Screams," the elder said. "Only the bold survive."
The Field was an ancient battlefield—abandoned, cursed, and sealed with the death cries of immortals.
Many had gone. Few returned whole.
Before he left, Li Yuyan found him. She threw him a talisman. "To shield your soul—once. After that, you're meat."
He studied her carefully.
"Why do you help me?"
"Because if you die, this Sect loses something more dangerous than you."
Xue'er's Secret Alliance
Xue'er, her heart burning with the vision of her father, crept into the Forbidden Archives of Cloud Crystal Sect.
There, she met a figure in robes of pale smoke—Elder Shen, once branded mad, now forgotten in the dark.
"You look like the man who bled here," he whispered, blinking through time. "The beast who died for love."
Xue'er showed him the pendant. He trembled.
"This is the seal of a divine dragon. He wasn't a beast. He was a protector."
"Who was he?" she asked.
"Your father… was named Long Tian. He died before knowing you."
A beat. Then:
"And he was betrayed."
Her pulse roared. The truth shattered her stillness.
"By who?"
Elder Shen looked down.Then up."Your mother."
Mu Yuelan's Choice
In a silver-sky valley, Mu Yuelan trained Xue'er under a waterfall of frozen time. Her lashes trembled as she watched her daughter wield the Ice-Blood Sword.
Each move reminded her of him—the man she had once tamed, used, and… come to regret.
She turned away and whispered to herself:
"Forgive me, Long Tian. I had no choice. I had to feed them your soul… to save her."
Behind her, a scroll from the Upper Plane elders floated down: "Kill the girl if the dragon awakens."
Mu Yuelan's fingers trembled as she burned it to ash.
"No," she said to the wind. "Not again."
But across the Void, her family's shadow stirred.
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Ashes of the Battlefield, the Choice of Power*
The sky was dead above the battlefield.
Ash rose in slow spirals, and the land was nothing but burnt bones, cracked steel, and whispers of warriors long gone.
Lin Yu stepped forward, wrapped in a talisman's glow. His breath misted black.
**"Soulbrand Ember,"** he murmured. "Let's see what's worth my life."
The moment his foot touched the cracked altar stone, the **earth screamed**.
Spirits surged, clawing at him with transparent hatred. But his bones shimmered—his blood roared.
**Dragon blood.**
He unleashed **Infernal Maw of Bonefire**, its upgraded form **Obsidian Hellflame Maw**, devouring the dead in silence.
From the ashes rose a throne of bone. Upon it sat a mummified corpse… with **dragon horns.**
"You wear my blood," it whispered. "Then you must be worthy."
And it attacked.
They fought in fire, will, and memory. The corpse's last scream unlocked something inside Lin Yu.
His **cultivation surged**—barriers shattered like rotten glass.
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Wish System Activation**
A chime echoed in Lin Yu's mind.
> **\[Wish System Activated – Advancement Detected]**
> **Realm Ascended: Bone Foundation to Bloodcore Realm (Early)**
>
> Select Your Reward:
>
> 1. +1 Middle Realm Cultivation Boost
> 2. New Ancestral Beast Bloodline (Crimson Sky Roc)
> 3. Immortal Technique – *Crimson World Step (Movement Art)*
He hesitated.
Speed or strength… or bloodline.
Then he whispered:
**"Give me the Crimson Sky Roc bloodline."**
Pain tore through him—his spine warped, wings flickered beneath skin, and his senses sharpened beyond human.
> \[New Passive Trait: Sky Sovereign Vision – grants perception through illusions and high-speed tracking.]
He smiled.
"Let them come."
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Confronting the Past: Xue'er and Mu Yuelan**
Xue'er found her mother alone on the cliff of starlight wind.
"Tell me the truth," she said. "Was my father… a beast? Or a man you betrayed?"
Mu Yuelan did not turn.
"Both. He was the man I loved… and the beast I destroyed to save you."
"And would you do it again?" Xue'er asked.
Silence.
Then Mu Yuelan whispered:
**"Yes. I would die a thousand times to keep you alive… even if it means killing him again."**
Xue'er turned away, tears mixing with fury.
The pendant in her palm burned with silent rage.
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