The morning fog still clung to the western mountains when the silver bell rang, three slow chimes that echoed across the continent.
It wasn't an ordinary bell. It was the summoning call for all major sects, something that hadn't happened in decades.
Inside the great hall of Azure Sky Sect, the air was thick with tension. The stone walls shimmered faintly with old runes, and the scent of burning sandalwood mixed with the weight of spiritual pressure. Dozens of elders sat around a circular table carved with the intertwined symbols of a dragon and a phoenix.
Elder Shen, the sect's master, leaned forward, his long gray beard brushing against the blue silk of his robe. His voice was low, but it carried the weight of command.
"It has been two months since the mist in the Eastern Valley appeared again,"
he began, his eyes narrowing.
"Now our diviners speak of a disturbance, a pulse unlike anything recorded before. Who among you dares say it means nothing?"
Silence followed. Even the flames from the torches seemed to shrink.
Then, a young woman stood. Her face was pale, but her gaze steady.
Lin Qian, a disciple known for her rare gift, the resonance sight, the ability to glimpse echoes of a soul's past.
She bowed slightly.
"I won't deny the signs, Master Shen. But this pulse... it doesn't feel like a storm coming. It feels like something that was asleep, and now, it remembers."
A faint murmur spread among the elders. Some frowned in disbelief; others clenched their fists, already afraid of what that might mean.
Elder Shen gestured calmly. "Speak clearly, child. What did you see?"
Lin Qian looked distant, her eyes reflecting something far beyond the hall.
"When I meditated, I saw the world crack like glass. Between the fractures, a light swirled, black and white, bound together. And then, a voice whispered..."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"It said, 'I will challenge the law of the world once more.'"
The hall erupted.
"That's impossible!" one elder shouted.
Another whispered in disbelief, "Those words… they belong to the Heir of the Primal Law! But that legend is older than any of us.."
The noise grew until Elder Shen raised a hand. The hall fell silent again.
He stared into the flames at the center of the room, his expression unreadable.
"If that heir truly walks this world again," he said softly,
"then the balance we've clung to will shatter. And when balance breaks... the heavens demand correction."
Lin Qian swallowed hard, pressing a trembling hand to her chest.
"I feel… connected to it somehow. But every time I try to see his face, the mist hides him."
"Do not seek further," Shen said sharply, his tone like steel.
"Truth revealed too early destroys those unready to bear it."
The young woman bowed her head, but her thoughts were elsewhere.
When Elder Shen turned away, his hand slipped beneath his sleeve, and there, hidden from all eyes, lay a small fragment of black stone, pulsing faintly with light.
The same stone that once resonated in the valley where Jian Wu disappeared.
He closed his fingers around it and whispered under his breath,
"If you've truly returned, Jian Wu... then this world will tremble again."
Outside the hall, clouds gathered above the peaks. Lightning flickered behind them, weaving blue threads across the sky.
And far away, deep within the forgotten valley, a single stone eye cracked open, glowing faintly, as though the mountain itself had begun to remember.