The cliffs of Crimson Hollow fell away like a broken mouth.
Sharp, jagged ridges jutted outward at strange angles, layered with dry moss the color of old blood. The spiritual mist here didn't move with wind. It pulsed—slow, rhythmic, like breath. Even from the hollow's rim, Long Yan could feel it.
Something was alive below.
Not truly alive. Not anymore.
[Warning: Sovereign Residue Detected]
Class: Aberrant Echo (Failed Ascension)
Subtype: Beast-Hybrid Mutation
Status: Awakened by Beacon Pulse
Estimated Combat Rating: Core Formation - Peak / Abyssal-Touched Variant
Long Yan's eyes narrowed. "It's stronger than I thought."
Luo Yanling crouched beside him, examining the descent. "There's only one way down—and no good place to retreat. The terrain is all wrong for defense."
Long Yan stepped forward anyway.
"We don't retreat."
They made their descent in silence, moving along an eroded path carved by time and collapse. Ash drifted in thin streams from crevices, and spiritual rot twisted old tree roots into spirals. At the base of the hollow, the mist was so thick it stung the skin.
And then—a sound.
Not a growl. Not a roar.
A gurgling cough—wet, rattling, and unnatural.
The fog parted.
And the creature stepped forward.
Its torso was vaguely humanoid but disjointed, like pieces sewn together. Its limbs were mismatched: one skeletal arm ending in a dragon claw, the other in a shriveled centipede-like limb. Where its head should've been was a mask—melted bone fused into a screaming dragon's face.
Its aura was warped, bent by failure.
This was a cultivator who had tried to ascend—tried to become something greater—and failed so catastrophically that his soul twisted into a living echo of that moment.
[Aberrant Echo Detected: Name Fragment—"Yan'qun"]
Memory Shard Match: 4% – Dragon Lineage Identified
Warning: Host may experience resonance
*Option: Synchronize to extract combat memories – Risk: Corruption 12%
Long Yan's body froze for half a breath.
He saw—without seeing—a flash of fire, of a great dragon screaming as its wings burned in a storm of divine light, a voice roaring "I WAS MEANT TO TRANSCEND!"
Then it was gone.
He shook his head, pushing the memory back.
[Memory Repression Engaged – Bloodline Seal Recovered: "Heaven's Ember Fragment"]
Luo Yanling stepped beside him. "You felt something."
He nodded. "He was one of us. Long ago."
"Us?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he walked forward and released his aura fully.
Fire swept outward in a spiraling ring, burning away mist and carving channels into the cracked ground. The Echo flinched—but did not retreat.
Then it charged.
The clash was brutal.
The Echo moved like a spirit half-trapped in time, blinking in and out of sight as if its own body couldn't decide whether to exist. It slammed into Long Yan with a sound like steel hitting bone. He caught its claw with his own, dragon scales forming up his arm as he twisted and threw the thing backward into a stone column.
It howled, then spewed a mist of blood-colored flame.
Luo Yanling responded instantly.
[Skill: Crimson Fang Slash – Level 3]
Her blade carved through the mist and struck the Echo's torso, drawing black ichor—but not slowing it. It shrieked and lunged at her, forcing her to roll aside as it lashed its centipede limb like a whip.
Long Yan appeared behind it.
[Skill: Sovereign Claw – Activated]
He raked his claw through its back, dragging out chunks of bone and spiritual essence. But the creature turned and bit into his shoulder with inhuman jaws—teeth sinking into dragonhide.
He didn't flinch.
He grabbed its head, eyes burning gold.
[System Prompt: Synchronize Fragmentary Memory? Accept Y/N]
Y.
[Memory Dive: Yan'qun the False Dragon]
A temple of glass.
A throne of molten gold.
He stood there, robed in black fire, his wings cracked, his bones burning.
"Let me in," he whispered. "Let me be more."
And the voice replied:
"You are not worthy."
He screamed, and in doing so, shattered.
Long Yan returned to his body with a sharp breath.
[Fragment Acquired: Sovereign Failure – Yan'qun's Insight (1/3)]
Skill Unlocked: Echostep (Teleport in Sovereign Domain – 5 meter range)
He vanished and reappeared behind the creature again.
This time, his claw glowed with crimson-gold light.
He drove it through the Echo's core.
It let out a long, shuddering sound—part moan, part sigh.
And died.
Silence returned.
Luo Yanling stood slowly, watching as the creature's body dissolved into embers, leaving only a single fragment behind—half of a dragon's mask, charred and broken.
Long Yan picked it up.
[Item Acquired: Mask of the Echoed Flame]
Effect: Allows communication with lingering Sovereign spirits (1 use per week)
"You looked like him for a moment," Luo Yanling said quietly. "The Echo. Your aura…"
"I saw what he became because he couldn't let go of what he wasn't."
"Are you afraid you'll become that?"
"No," Long Yan said. "Because I know who I am."
She stepped closer.
"You keep saying that. But I wonder—do you really? Or are you just borrowing strength from the one who came before you?"
He met her gaze.
"I don't borrow," he said. "I reclaim."
And for the first time, she didn't look skeptical.
They made camp within a broken alcove, high in the hollow's inner ledge. The stars above were muted, filtered through red mist. The air still tasted of blood and rust.
Luo Yanling sat near the fire, sharpening her blade.
Long Yan sat beside her, eyes distant.
After a while, she asked, "Do you remember who you were?"
"Not fully. But fragments come in battle. I think I was one of the Flame-Scaled Lords. We were defenders of something sacred. Then... something shattered us."
"And now?"
"Now I'm a remnant rebuilt. I've been given a second life—but the world thinks I'm a child with power."
"They'll learn," she said, not smiling. "You've already killed more than some sect elders."
He turned toward her.
"Why do you follow me?"
She stopped sharpening.
Then: "Because when you burn, you don't scorch everything around you. You only destroy what needs to be destroyed."
A pause.
"I've seen too many fire cultivators who only knew how to burn. You… know how to temper."
He looked at her, and for a moment, emotion flickered—not a flood, just a ripple.
Quiet. Real.
[Relationship Flag Raised: Companion Bond Strengthening – Luo Yanling]
Effect: Tactical Synchronization Rate Increased | +5% Joint Aura Surge Effectiveness
By the time they returned to Ashglass Ruins, Tao was waiting with a report.
"The beacon's signal is spreading. Three minor sects have begun movement along the outer ridge. One sent a messenger hawk."
"Which sect?"
Tao held out a scroll.
Long Yan opened it.
The seal was white flame—a Celestial White Serpent Sect emissary. Mid-tier power. Known for diplomacy through strength.
"To the Sovereign of Ashglass:
You rise like a spark beneath a dry forest.
We offer you tribute for an audience.
Decline, and we will take the conversation by force."
– White Serpent Envoy, Jiang Yueyin
Long Yan crushed the scroll in his claw.
"They offer tribute to leash a beast."
He turned toward the horizon, where flames from their beacon still flickered in the clouds.
"Let them come."