The Domain of Heaven's Selection was no longer calm.
Where mists once drifted like silent rivers, they now churned — tinted crimson by the scent of slaughter. The very air trembled, humming with distorted runes that flickered between light and void, as though the heavens were rewriting their own laws.
Deep within that warped forest of jade-colored stone, Lin Xuan crouched beside a massive root curving like a dragon's spine. His breathing was steady, but his pulse thundered beneath his skin — a quiet storm chained by will.
"They've entered," whispered Yu Ling, her silver eyes dim beneath the shimmer of spiritual light.
Her voice was soft, yet each syllable rippled through the Domain like rain upon still water. Her spirit sense spread outward, tracing threads of intent woven through the mist. In that web of killing will, she counted them.
"Seven," she said. "The Crimson Sect's elite. Their leader carries a fragment of the Heavenly Seal."
Lin Xuan's eyes darkened.
"The same Seal the Envoy used to open this trial?"
"Yes," she murmured. "Which means they were allowed to bring it here."
The realization hung between them like a blade. The Crimson Sect wasn't trespassing — they had Heaven's silent permission. A pact written in secrecy.
Lin Xuan pressed a hand to his chest. Beneath his robes, the shard of ancient jade pulsed — faint, steady, and growing erratic. Its rhythm no longer matched his heartbeat. It was as though something within the Domain was calling to it.
"They want what's inside me," he said quietly. "But Heaven itself doesn't know what I've become."
Yu Ling turned toward him, her eyes glowing faintly with resonance. "Heaven doesn't fear mortals," she said. "It fears those who can reflect it. That's what you are."
Her words lingered — half warning, half revelation.
Then the silence broke.
Lin Xuan's fingers brushed the dirt, and his consciousness spread through the roots — into the veins of qi that pulsed beneath the earth. The Domain whispered to him, its rhythm heavy with pain. Through that whisper, he felt them.
Seven killing intents. Controlled. Methodical. Ascetic.
The Crimson Heaven Hunters.
Each was a weapon forged through poison and oath. Their leader, masked and robed in dried blood, raised one hand. Runes shimmered across his mask, shaping an expression of tranquil cruelty.
"Targets confirmed: Lin Xuan. Female companion. Orders — recover the fragment. Erase all traces."
He lowered his hand.
And the forest moved.
Roots coiled like serpents, branches hardened into spears. The Domain itself bent to their will — its qi corrupted by the blood formation carved beneath their feet.
The air thickened, heavy enough to crush breath.
But Lin Xuan's expression… changed.
Not with fear — with recognition.
"Yu Ling," he whispered. "Do you hear it?"
Her brow furrowed. "Hear what?"
"The Domain," he said. "It's crying."
The jade shard flared.
Light spilled outward — cold, ancient, alive. For a heartbeat, the entire forest froze. The blood mist shattered like glass, scattering as radiant lines bloomed beneath Lin Xuan's feet.
Symbols — older than Heaven, older than Empire — pulsed in perfect rhythm.
Yu Ling's soul trembled. The sound was not heard but remembered. A voice from before memory itself whispered through her blood.
"He who draws from Heaven must endure the flow of the Dao."
The words echoed, vibrating through her lineage. And beneath them, another whisper rose — her ancestor's own:
"Balance him… or the Eternal Vein will consume all."
Yu Ling's spiritual resonance surged beyond her will. Threads of invisible vibration shimmered through the air — bending space just enough to distort the incoming strike.
When the first Hunter lunged from the mist, blade aimed at Lin Xuan's throat, that fraction of distortion shifted reality.
The blade missed — by less than a breath.
Lin Xuan's counterattack was soundless.
He caught the assassin's wrist, redirected the motion, and pressed his palm lightly forward. No explosion — only the faint sound of jade cracking.
The Hunter froze, eyes wide — then turned to dust.
The Domain drank his remains.
One down. Six remained.
Yu Ling stared at Lin Xuan, her expression pale with awe. "The Domain… it's obeying you."
He didn't answer. His eyes had turned faintly silver — not reflecting light, but law. The jade fragment in his chest pulsed harder, syncing with the world's rhythm.
Three Hunters struck together, merging blood formations midair. Crimson spears of qi screamed toward him.
Lin Xuan stepped forward.
The spears dissolved before reaching him — erased from existence.
The Domain bent around him like a river parting for its source.
Yu Ling gasped. "You're synchronizing with the Emperor's Domain—!"
"No," Lin Xuan said quietly. "It's synchronizing with me."
Above, the sky cracked open.
Not with thunder — but with eyes.
Countless divine lenses etched in runes opened across the heavens, each one gazing down. Heaven's sight — the will of the Selection, measuring deviation.
Far beyond that sky, the Heavenly Envoy stirred in her meditation. Her mirror trembled, reflecting Lin Xuan's form — shifting between man and something unrecorded by the Dao.
She whispered, "So… the Eternal Vein breathes again."
Her attendant bowed. "Shall I strike?"
"No," she said, voice like drifting frost. "If Heaven cannot silence him, let Heaven prove him false."
The mirror darkened.
Within the Domain, the remaining Hunters realized too late that the world had turned. The mists thickened, the ground quivered, and crimson sigils bled from their own bodies. Their formations reversed — devouring their wielders.
The last Hunter screamed a forbidden incantation and fled. Lin Xuan lifted his hand. The soil opened, swallowed him whole.
Silence fell.
Lin Xuan stood still, his aura no longer mortal — pulsing with the rhythm of a boundless, ancient flow. The jade fragment glowed faintly within his chest, whispering echoes of the First Emperor's voice.
Yu Ling stepped closer, her hand trembling. "You're changing," she said softly. "Each time you fight, the Vein devours more of you."
He looked at her, and for a moment, the storm in his eyes gentled. "I know. But if Heaven marked me for death… I'll breathe through Heaven itself to live."
Her eyes shone with quiet resolve. "Then I'll make sure you don't drown in the flow."
No romance — only a promise carved in survival.
Lin Xuan's faint smile flickered. "Then listen, Yu Ling. Tell me when the Dao begins to scream."
Far beyond the forest, a single bell tolled — deep, ancient, resonant. The signal of the next trial.
But beneath the earth, faint as a heartbeat, another sound answered — slow, deliberate, and alive.
"The Eternal Vein awakens."