The suggestion came at a fork in the road.
They'd been walking since dawn, Lin Fang chattering about the conference. His voice carried that nervous energy of someone who'd never been tested on a stage this large. Jue Xuanyi walked beside him with that gentle smile, letting the younger man fill the silence.
The main road continued east through open plains. A smaller trail broke north into forested hills.
Jue Xuanyi stopped and looked at the northern path. "Actually, there's a shortcut through those hills."
Lin Fang paused mid-sentence. "A shortcut?"
"Ancient ruins. Mostly collapsed, but safe enough. We'd save half a day." He glanced at Lin Fang. "They're Azure Void aspected too. Might help you attune to spatial energy before the conference. Your master's inheritance would resonate there."
Lin Fang's eyes lit up. "Really? That would be… Brother Jue, are you sure it's safe?"
"I'll be right beside you. If anything happens, I'll protect you."
The promise hung in the air between them. Lin Fang smiled, trusting completely. "Then let's go."
They took the northern trail.
Inside Jue Xuanyi's mind, voices stirred.
Schemer Supreme: "The ruins are two miles ahead. Devil Court confirmed they're empty."
War Devil: "About fucking time."
Seduction Emperor's voice purred in his head "He trusts you completely. Well done."
Jue Xuanyi said nothing. Just kept walking. Kept smiling.
The forest canopy thickened as they climbed. Light dimmed to green-tinged shadow. The temperature dropped degree by degree until Lin Fang pulled his robes tighter.
"It's getting cold."
"Spatial aspected areas are always colder. The qi density shifts."
"You know a lot about this place."
"I read extensively during my seclusion. Ancient history is… fascinating."
The trail ended at a collapsed stone archway. Weathered steps descended into darkness. Ancient script marked the arch in characters so old they'd nearly worn away.
Lin Fang stopped at the entrance. "Brother, I'm sure it's safe, but are these ruins stable? What if there's a collapse?"
Jue Xuanyi placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be right beside you."
They descended.
The air changed immediately. It tasted of forgotten centuries, heavy with something that wasn't quite spiritual energy. Something older.
The underground chamber opened before them. Partially collapsed roof let sunlight stream through in dusty columns. Walls covered in faded murals showed Azure Void cultivators fighting demons, spatial rifts tearing reality like cloth. The stone floor was cracked but mostly intact. Ancient formations inscribed everywhere, dormant lines waiting for power.
"This place must be thousands of years old," Lin Fang breathed.
"Three thousand, roughly. Azure Void sect fell during the Crimson Sky War. This was one of their training grounds."
Lin Fang set down his travel pack. Opened his spatial ring with the careful reverence of someone handling treasures. He pulled out a pair of boots.
New ones, they were plain but well-made. The leather caught the filtered sunlight. "Brother Jue, I know this is silly, but… what do you think?"
Jue Xuanyi looked at them. "For the conference?"
"Father always said first impressions matter." Lin Fang laughed, embarrassed. "I don't want the sect elders to see a merchant's son playing cultivator. I want them to see someone serious."
He turned the boots over in his hands. "Stupid, right? Worrying about boots when I should focus on cultivation.
"
Jue Xuanyi stepped closer and examined them. "Not stupid at all. Presentation matters. You'll make an excellent impression, Brother Lin."
Lin Fang's smile was blinding. "You really think so? I've been so nervous. What if I'm not good enough? What if Master's inheritance isn't…"
"You're going to be fine." Jue Xuanyi's hand found his shoulder again. "Trust me."
"Thank you, Brother. For everything. For saving my family. For traveling with me. For believing in me."
"Of course, Brother Lin." Guilt and sympathy were utterly absent. All he felt was cold anticipation stretching through his chest like winter frost.
Lin Fang put the boots away with careful hands. "Alright. I should meditate. Master said I need to stabilize my foundation before the conference. Will you keep watch?"
"I'll make sure we're not disturbed."
Lin Fang sat cross-legged in the center of the chamber. The jade slip floated from his robes, hovering before him in soft green light. His eyes closed. His breathing steadied into the rhythm of cultivation.
Jue Xuanyi walked the perimeter.
His fingers traced the formation lines on the walls. Too casual to seem threatening. Just a curious cultivator examining ancient work. He stopped where multiple lines converged at a specific anchor point.
Formation Master: "There. The isolation array's core. Touch it."
Schemer Supreme: "Once activated, nothing gets in. Nothing gets out. Even Peak Saint senses will read it as natural spatial distortion."
He placed his palm against the wall.
Saint Realm spiritual energy flowed into the formation. The ancient array woke like something that had been sleeping for millennia. Lines began to glow faint blue, spreading across walls, floor, ceiling. The air pressure changed. Sound became muffled. Reality sealed itself into a bubble.
Lin Fang didn't notice. Eyes closed, senses turned inward focused on meditation.
The Azure Void Emperor's voice emanated from the jade slip. Ancient, carrying the weight of eons.
"Good, disciple. Your foundation strengthens. The conference will be your proving ground. When we arrive, I'll guide you to the legacy site. There, you'll claim what's yours. The complete Azure Void inheritance."
"Thank you, Master. I won't disappoint you."
"You already make me proud, child."
Jue Xuanyi turned from the wall. Watched them. Master and student. Hope and promise. Future and destiny. Past and legacy.
His Fate Reader activated.
The world shifted. Threads of destiny became visible, most people's usually thin and gray. But Lin Fang's thread blazed gold in his vision. Not just bright but alive. Pulsing like a heartbeat, thick as rope. It coiled around the young man, reached up toward something vast and invisible in the heavens above.
This wasn't just a protagonist. This was Heaven's investment.
Fate Weaver's voice cut through his mind, sharp and urgent.
Fate Weaver: "Wait. His thread isn't just bright, It's ALIVE. Heaven's watching this one personally."
Schemer Supreme: "Then we proceed carefully. Weaken him first, steal his fortune piece by piece, then…"
War Devil: "NO. We've been caged for TWENTY YEARS.Twenty years far too long, I want to TASTE this!"
Soul Devourer: "The thread is so thick… I can almost taste the destiny from here…"
Heartless Sage: "If you kill him directly with that thread intact, Heaven will retaliate. The backlash will be severe."
Nameless One: "…The brighter the thread, the harder Heaven punishes its severing."
Jue Xuanyi stopped walking and stared at Lin Fang. At the blazing thread. At twenty years of isolation, of restraint, of carefully constructed masks pressing down on him like burial stones.
Jue Xuanyi's voice echoed with finality, "I know."
Schemer Supreme: "Then why are you still…"
"Because I've been in a cage for twenty years. And I'm tired of being careful."
War Devil: "FINALLY. Show them what you really are!"
Fate Weaver: "You'll regret this."
"Maybe. But I'll regret it while feeling alive."
He turned toward Lin Fang. The decision settled into his bones.
"You can stop meditating now, Lin Fang."
His voice cut through the chamber. Different. The warmth had drained away, leaving only polished stone.
Lin Fang's eyes opened. Confusion flickered across his face. "Brother Jue? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." He walked forward slowly, taking deliberate steps. "Everything is exactly as it should be."
Lin Fang stood, nervous laugh escaping."You're scaring me, Brother."
"Good. You should be scared."
The jade slip's light flickered. The Azure Void Emperor's voice sharpened. "What is this? Boy, what are you doing?"
Jue Xuanyi finally looked at the jade slip. His gaze landed on it dismissively, like examining an insect. "Ah. A spiritual remnant." He paused. "No. Something more. A soul imprint. Clever."
"Who are you? What manner of…"
"Azure Void Emperor. Peak Saint Sovereign in life. Died during the Crimson Sky War three thousand years ago." Casual. Reciting facts from a book. "You left your soul imprint in that jade slip, waiting for a successor."
The chamber went silent.
"How do you know…"
"I know everything about you. Your techniques. Your legacy." Jue Xuanyi's Saint Realm aura leaked out. It was not crushing, more like undeniably present.
"Your arrogance."
The temperature dropped. Frost began forming on the stone walls.
The Emperor's voice changed. "You're… Saint Realm. But your aura was perfectly suppressed. You deceived us from the beginning."
"Yes."
"A Saint Realm cultivator, traveling with my disciple under false pretenses." The voice carried confusion now, searching for understanding. "What game is this? A test? A trial?"
"It's not a game nor a trial." Jue Xuanyi stopped three paces from Lin Fang. "It's just hunger."
Lin Fang backed up until he hit the wall. "Brother, what's happening? I don't understand. You're not like this. You're…"
"Stop calling me brother, Lin Fang."
The words landed like a physical blow.
"What?"
"We were never brothers." That gentle voice, now stripped of all warmth. "I saved your family because you were available. I traveled with you because you had something I wanted. I listened to your dreams because they were amusing."
"No." Lin Fang shook his head. "No, you're lying. You helped us. You smiled. You…"
"I'm exactly what I appear to be." Jue Xuanyi tilted his head. "And what I appear to be changes depending on what I need."
Lin Fang tried to run. Hit the spatial barrier. It repelled him like touching solid ice. He bounced back, fell to his knees.
"There's nowhere to go. I sealed this place before you even started meditating."
The Emperor's voice rose, rage bleeding through ancient dignity. "You planned this, from the beginning. You DARE…"
"A spiritual dampening field?" The voice paused. "No. This is something else. Boy, what have you done to your cultivation base? Your core feels… hollow. Empty."
Jue Xuanyi's smile was cold. "Observant."
The isolation formation pulsed. The Emperor tried to extend his senses beyond the jade slip. Failed. The barrier wasn't just blocking spiritual sense, it was devouring it.
"This formation… it's not suppression. It's consumption. Where did you learn such a technique?"
"Does it matter?"
Lin Fang crawled forward, tears streaming. "Please. Brother, please. I don't understand. What did I do wrong?"
Jue Xuanyi crouched in front of him. "You did nothing wrong, Lin Fang. You were kind. Hardworking. Devoted to your family. You bought boots for the conference because you wanted to make a good impression."
His voice carried that gentle warmth again.
"In another life, you might have been a hero."
"Then why…"
"Because I want what's yours. And you can't stop me from taking it."
He placed his hand on Lin Fang's chest. Over his dantian. The Calamity Bone in his own chest flared to life.