The instant Lin Xuan crossed the threshold of the Preliminary Domain, the world changed.
The air thickened—every breath like drawing smoke through glass.
Mountains hung upside-down in the sky, rivers curved upward like silver serpents, and shards of moonlight floated through the mist as if trapped between moments.
Far behind, the roar of other cultivators faded to silence.
The path of Heaven's Selection had sealed itself, isolating him.
He exhaled slowly. Illusion and reality overlap here… this is no simple test.
From the void ahead came a rhythmic pulse—faint, like a heartbeat buried beneath stone.
The jade token in his sleeve answered with its own glow, runes bleeding through the cloth.
The two rhythms began to synchronize.
Then the earth split.
A tower of white fire erupted, painting the domain in molten gold.
Within it, countless shadows writhed: fragments of soldiers, banners, broken stars.
Their screams formed a single phrase that shook the heavens.
"He returns."
Lin Xuan dropped to one knee, blood spilling from his ears.
Visions cascaded through his mind—an empire drowning in light, a throne adrift among shattered constellations, and a man whose eyes held galaxies.
The same figure he had once glimpsed in the inn's reflection.
"Child of ash," the voice said, echoing inside his soul.
"You carry the shard that defied Heaven. Will you bow—or bear the burden?"
The jade token tore free of his sleeve and hovered before him.
Its surface cracked open like a chrysalis, revealing a core of blinding white metal.
Not stone—forged essence.
Inside it, a tiny sword of translucent light spun slowly, dripping motes of flame and starlight alike.
Pain lanced through Lin Xuan's chest as the sword pierced into his dantian.
Qi roared through his meridians, reshaping them in seconds.
When the agony faded, a faint brand glimmered between his brows—half rune, half blade.
He gasped. "A soul… and a weapon… both alive."
"The First Emperor forged his spirit into this seed," the voice whispered.
"Body perished, will endured. Now you carry both. Rise—or the heavens themselves will erase you."
The vision collapsed into darkness.
When he opened his eyes again, the Domain had quieted.
The mountains hung still, rivers glowed softly, and the jade token rested in his palm—whole once more, but pulsing like a second heart.
Far above, in the Observation Hall of Heaven's Mandate, the five Imperial Envoys stood before a trembling scrying array.
The image within flickered—runes destabilized, readings spiked into impossible ranges.
"What is that resonance?" one envoy hissed.
"Not mortal qi," another murmured. "It's creation-law—sealed since the age before ascension."
Their leader, the woman from the higher realm, narrowed her eyes.
"Do not interfere. If the shard has chosen a host, it's beyond our sanction. Heaven will judge the outcome."
Below, unseen by all, crimson mist coiled in the corners of the array room.
A faint chuckle drifted through the haze.
"The shard awakens at last… how convenient."
It was the Second Elder's voice—projected from deep within the Domain.
"The hunt begins."
Lin Xuan staggered to his feet.
Every step left faint sigils in the ground.
Power hummed beneath his skin, but so did danger—something vast had noticed him.
From the far horizon, red lightning split the sky.
The Crimson Sect's assassins had entered the Domain.
He looked down at the jade token, its glow steady now, like the calm before a storm.
"Then let it begin," he whispered.