"There are two kinds of death in this world—To perish in oblivion, or to fall shaking the heavens.""The Hollow Fate bearer before you… chose the second."
Ash drifted softly onto Lâm Mạc's palm.
The three Divine Guards had vanished into nothingness—no corpses, no lingering auras, as though they had never existed at all.
Yet amidst the scattering dust, a fragment of jade fell quietly to the ground. It pulsed with a faint trace of energy—so weak it seemed no more than a mortal's trinket.
Lâm Mạc picked it up.
The moment his fingers touched it, a voice echoed in his mind—not from any of the slain enemies, but from a soul… long sealed within the jade.
"If you are the next to hear my voice… then the Hollow Fate has not yet been extinguished."
The voice was hoarse, heavy, like that of one who had suffered torture—but each word carried a weight that rippled through his soul sea.
Lâm Mạc narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you?"
"My name is… Tang Cổ.The first to awaken the Hollow Fate… ninety thousand years ago."
A tremor surged through his body.
In that instant, countless fragmented memories flashed across Lâm Mạc's mind—distorted, unclear, as though warped by the will of Heaven.
"I once believed I was the only one.But I was wrong.The Heavenly Dao never allows what lies beyond its grasp to endure for long."
"In those years, I reached the seventh stage of the Primordial Life Path.But in the end… I was betrayed."
"Not by enemies.But by others… who once bore the Hollow Fate as I did."
Lâm Mạc stood frozen.
"Then… there were others like me?"
Tang Cổ answered:
"There were.And all of them are dead."
"Because we carried something Heaven cannot contain—a will that does not belong to this world."
A vision flared within the jade—a figure clad in ashen armor, seated amidst a sea of flame.Blood soaked the earth.His eyes—filled with sorrow.
Tang Cổ let out a bitter chuckle.
"I once thought I could forge a world free of Heaven's decree.""But just as it was taking form… the Divine Temple moved against me."
"They didn't just kill me.They erased my name… from history."
Lâm Mạc remained silent.
This was no longer a path to seek enlightenment.It was a war… to preserve the very right to exist as a being born outside fate.
Tang Cổ continued:
"You are the final hope.""But do not repeat my mistake—you need not lead anyone."
"Just live. Just keep walking.""The Primordial Origin will shape the Dao on its own."
The last light in the jade flickered—then faded.
A final glimmer slipped into Lâm Mạc's palm, marking his skin with a new sigil—one distinct from the Hollow Fate brand.
Etched in blood:
[Stage Two – Hollow Body Self-Manifestation]
BOOM—!!!
A flash of lightning tore open the sky in the distant heavens—a signal that the Divine Temple had detected the transmission.
Lâm Mạc clenched his fist.
"Tang Cổ. You have fallen.But that dream… I shall carry it forward."
"If all Hollow Fate bearers have been erased from history…""Then I… shall be the first to carve my name back into it."