Chapter 3: Marked by Flame, Watched by Ice
The cold of the Black Ash Ridge deepened in the days that followed, but within Lin Sheng, the ember only grew warmer.
Each night, beneath the ruined tree near Ash Spring, he cultivated in silence. No manual guided him—only instinct, pain, and memory. His body trembled with each cycle. But slowly, surely, the chaotic fire inside him began to take shape.
He didn't yet understand what his cultivation path would become.
But something inside him had awakened.
And something else… was watching.
---
Far above the ridge, in a carved-out pavilion formed of crystal and moonstone, Mu Yanyu stood beside a frostmirror.
The reflection showed Lin Sheng meditating.
Her gaze never left him.
> "He's reached the Core Foundation realm in days… without pills, without guidance. No mortal body can do that."
Elder Feng Jiu, the Mu Clan's ice-hooded protector, furrowed his brow. "The mark on his chest—it burns with layered time essence. He may carry a primordial curse… or something older."
Yanyu didn't speak at first.
Then quietly, she said:
> "He's not a cultivator… he's a restart."
---
Back in the mine barracks, Lin Sheng's name had begun to spread.
Slaves whispered it when guards weren't near.
> "The boy who survived the shaft…"
"He walks again, stronger every day…"
"No food, no pills, but his eyes glow now—dim fire."
Even Taskmaster Duan Zhen noticed. One night, drunk on black grain wine, he pulled Lin Sheng aside.
"You… brat… you think you're special?" Duan growled.
Then without warning, he drew his Iron Spirit Dagger, thrusting it straight toward Lin Sheng's heart.
The blade struck flesh.
But it did not pierce.
Duan blinked.
Lin Sheng stood frozen, but the wound refused to open. The dagger tip cracked.
A faint circle of law symbols spun on his chest—only for a blink.
The dagger shattered. Duan stumbled back, pale.
"You're… not human."
Lin Sheng met his eyes and said nothing.
---
That night, when Duan Zhen vanished without trace, no one asked questions.
But Mu Yanyu knew.
From her frostmirror, she had seen what happened:
The moment the blade touched Lin Sheng's heart, a seal had activated. A phantom of flame—shaped like a dragon—had emerged, devoured the dagger's spirit, and vanished.
And yet, Lin Sheng had shown no awareness of it.
> "He carries something divine. But he doesn't know."
Elder Feng Jiu turned to her.
> "Should we report this to the Pavilion Master?"
Mu Yanyu shook her head.
> "Not yet. Let's see what he becomes."
---
Elsewhere in the Mountain Kingdom, storms gathered.
In the Celestial Qin Clan's Hall of Records, a jade seer trembled.
A scroll—ancient and forbidden—had begun to burn.
The title read:
"The Heaven-Born Restart: Holder of Law Flame and Time Womb."
The flames formed a single word before devouring the scroll:
"Lin."
A crimson bell rang deep within the Celestial Hall. And from the throne of jade stars, Qin Zhenxu, Patriarch of the Celestial Qin Clan, opened his eyes.
> "A remnant has awakened. Begin the hunt."
---
Back in the mine, Lin Sheng awoke from a dream.
He had seen a black sky bleeding gold, and a crown of light shattered into a thousand domains.
He didn't understand it yet. But something inside whispered:
> "You were never born… to kneel."
---
Thus begins the stirrings of war, and the return of a name erased by heaven.