The deeper they traveled toward the Rift, the quieter the land became.
No birds. No insects. Not even wind.
Only silence—and the soft crunch of ash beneath their feet.
Long Yan walked at a steady pace, his senses extended like feelers into the void. Luo Yanling followed a few paces behind, her movements graceful despite the broken terrain. The Ebony Scale Plate gleamed faintly under the red-tinged light filtering through the abyssal clouds above.
"I'm surprised," she said at last, her voice soft but clear.
"About what?"
"You haven't asked about my cultivation techniques. My clan's secrets. Whether I'm a threat."
"I would know if you were," Long Yan said simply. "Besides, secrets don't interest me unless they interfere with my survival."
She gave a short laugh. "Practical. Cold, too."
"I'm not cold," he said, scanning the cliffs ahead. "Just not wasteful."
Luo Yanling didn't respond immediately. But she was thinking—he could see it in her eyes.
Good.
Let her think. Let her understand him not as a beast or a man, but as something in-between—calculated, yet not cruel.
By midday, they came upon a ruined spiritual shrine—half-swallowed by vines and cracked stone. The symbols on the altar had long faded, but traces of refined spiritual ore still remained.
Long Yan knelt beside a shattered brazier, running his fingers along the dust.
[System Notification: Refined Obsidian Essence Detected]
[New Forging Option Unlocked: Abyssforged Greaves (Tier 1)]
He rose, scanning the broken pillars around them. Some still hummed faintly with qi—remnants of a forgotten warding formation.
"We'll stop here for the night," he said. "This place is still spiritually anchored. It'll shield us from the abyssal energy."
Luo Yanling nodded and dropped her pack near a dry patch of earth. "I'll gather wood. If there's any that hasn't rotted."
He didn't stop her. She was learning how to travel with him—how to carry her weight without being asked.
It mattered.
By nightfall, the makeshift forge was lit.
Long Yan worked in silence, placing the purified ore into the brazier alongside scaled bone fragments and residual spirit ash from the shrine. The system interface hovered before him, outlining the alloy matrix. Symbols shifted and adjusted with his mental focus.
[Forging Initiated: Abyssforged Greaves]
[Alloy Composition: 46% Obsidian Essence | 31% Dragonbone Dust | 23% Void Residue]
He breathed out a stream of qi-infused mist—dragon breath, controlled and tempered. The flames flared with a metallic hue. The scent of iron and spirit stone filled the air.
Luo Yanling sat nearby, knees drawn to her chest, watching without speaking. The flicker of flames reflected in her eyes.
"You really are different," she murmured at last.
"I know."
"I don't just mean your form," she continued. "I've traveled with cultivators before. Men who tried to command loyalty. Others who demanded obedience. You do neither. You simply… act. And people follow."
"I don't need loyalty," Long Yan said, focused on the shaping alloy. "I need results."
"That's what worries me," she said, almost playfully. "I can't tell if you're someone I should admire—or fear."
He didn't answer.
The greaves took form—light, flexible, yet radiating dense pressure. He ran a hand across them, feeling the pulse of the abyssal ore within.
[Forging Complete – Abyssforged Greaves Created (Tier 1)]
[Effect: +10% Movement Speed | +12% Resistance to Abyssal Terrain]
Another step. Another piece of power crafted by logic, not desire.
He set them aside to cool.
"You'll need boots too," he said, nodding toward her worn soles.
"You don't have to keep giving me everything you make."
"I don't give them to you," Long Yan replied. "I equip my allies."
Later, after she drifted into trance meditation, Long Yan stood on a broken pillar, gazing toward the distant Rift. The energy was stronger here—thicker. He could feel the pull in his bones.
It wasn't spiritual qi. It was deeper—a resonance with something inside him.
His claws tightened slightly.
[System Alert: Dragon Vein Synchronization Reached – 40%]
[Milestone Triggered: First Draconic Technique Unlocked]
[Skill: Sovereign Pulse – Tier 1]
Description: Release a wave of dragon aura that disrupts spiritual flow in nearby enemies and forces submission from weaker beasts.
Interesting.
He tested it—his chest expanded as he inhaled deeply. With a sharp exhale, his qi surged outward in a pulse that rippled through the ruins.
Luo Yanling stirred, eyes flicking open.
She gasped—then stilled, staring at him with something more than curiosity this time.
"...That wasn't normal qi," she whispered.
"No," he agreed. "It wasn't."
In the morning, they tested the effect in the field.
Two minor abyssal beasts—a tusked crawler and a shadow panther—lunged from the brush as they crossed a cracked ridge. Long Yan stepped forward, eyes glowing with golden fire.
[Activating: Sovereign Pulse]
The wave rippled from him.
Both beasts staggered—disoriented, their aura fractured. The panther collapsed, whimpering, submitting instantly. The crawler tried to flee. Luo Yanling finished it with a quick thrust of her blade, the Ebony Scale Plate glowing with impact feedback.
The battle was over in seconds.
"You didn't even move," she said.
"I didn't need to."
Her eyes lingered on him a moment too long.
That night, they camped again—this time on high ground, overlooking the shimmering abyss ahead. A distant rift gate pulsed faintly, lighting the sky like a second moon.
Luo Yanling stood at the edge of their camp, hair caught in the faint breeze.
Long Yan approached, silent.
"You could have left me in the ruins," she said without looking at him. "You still could. Why haven't you?"
"You're useful," he said.
She turned to face him. "That's not the whole truth."
"No," he admitted. "It's not."
A pause.
She stepped closer. "Then tell me."
Long Yan studied her. She wasn't trying to manipulate him. She wasn't pushing for romance, validation, or safety.
She wanted truth.
And truth… he could give.
"In my past life," he said slowly, "I was a strategist. I served men who spoke of honor but acted with greed. I built empires that others destroyed with pride. I died quietly, stabbed in the back by those I saved."
Luo Yanling's expression softened.
"I was never weak," he continued. "But I was never strong enough to stand alone. Not in that world."
"And now?" she asked.
"Now," he said, "I won't serve anyone. But I'll build something better—with allies who think. Who adapt. Who don't need to be saved to be strong."
Her eyes glistened faintly—not tears, but reflection.
"You really don't see people as tools," she whispered. "You see them as parts of the whole."
"Correct," he said. "And if you become more than that… we'll see."
She smiled.
Genuine. Quiet. But real.
"I'll stay," she said.
"I didn't ask."
"I know. But I want to."
For the first time, he didn't calculate her worth.
He simply accepted it.
Far beneath them, in the darkened folds of the abyss, something ancient stirred.
It had felt the ripple of draconic energy.
And it remembered.
Not all dragons were extinct.
One still lived.
And it was rising.