Chapter 28
Pain taught Shenping where he was.
It did not come all at once. It arrived in layers—first as pressure, then as heat, then as a slow grinding sensation that made his bones feel misaligned with time itself. He opened his eyes to darkness lit by dim blue veins running through stone walls.
Runes.
Ancient. Alive.
He was suspended upright, arms spread, wrists bound by glowing seals that bit into flesh without breaking skin. Each pulse of light sent a tremor through his body, forcing his cultivation instincts to surface—and then crushing them back down.
"So this is what you've become," a voice said.
The old man stepped into view.
His robes were simple now, no longer ceremonial. His staff rested against the stone wall as if it were an extension of the cavern itself. He looked unchanged, yet heavier, like a mountain that had decided to speak.
"Half future. Half error," the old man continued. "Entirely troublesome."
Shenping coughed, blood sliding down his chin. "You're welcome."
The old man snorted. "You dragged abominations across time and into a sealed lineage ground. If this place collapses, history fractures."
"It already has," Shenping said hoarsely.
The old man raised a finger.
The seals tightened.
Shenping screamed.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
It was the kind of scream that never left the throat, vibrating inward instead, shredding nerves and memories alike. He felt moments being stripped from him—small things. Insignificant things.
A taste.
A smell.
A face that no longer had a name.
"Pain reminds the arrogant that they are still alive," the old man said calmly. "Consider this mercy."
The pressure eased.
Shenping sagged against the bindings, breathing hard. "If you kill me," he said, "they win."
"I know," the old man replied. "That is why you still breathe."
Footsteps echoed behind him.
Mei Lian was pushed forward by two robed figures. She stumbled, nearly falling before catching herself. Her eyes widened when she saw Shenping restrained.
"What did you do to him?" she demanded.
"Saved him," the old man replied.
Her laugh was sharp and broken. "You call this saving?"
"I call it preparation."
Li Wei was brought in next, wrists bound but body otherwise untouched. His gaze darted around the chamber, absorbing every detail, every rune, every impossible structure carved into the stone.
"This place," he muttered. "It's not just underground. It's… folded."
The old man glanced at him. "You understand architecture beyond stone."
Li Wei swallowed. "I understand systems."
"Then you will suffer differently," the old man said.
Shenping lifted his head. "Leave them out of this."
"They are already in it," the old man replied. "The moment they followed you."
He turned to the chamber at large.
"Release him."
The seals dissolved.
Shenping collapsed to the floor, coughing violently. Mei Lian rushed to him, gripping his shoulders.
"Don't move," she said. "You're bleeding in places you shouldn't be."
He laughed weakly. "That's encouraging."
The old man leaned on his staff. "My name is Gu Tianxu."
Shenping froze.
"That's not possible," he said. "You died before cultivation fell."
Gu Tianxu smiled without warmth. "History remembers what survives."
"You sealed the Nine Meridian Path," Shenping said slowly. "You erased time-based cultivation."
"I buried it," Gu Tianxu corrected. "Because fools kept tearing reality apart with it."
Shenping met his gaze. "And now?"
"And now the world is being eaten by things that do not fear consequence," Gu Tianxu said. "So the knife must be unburied."
Silence settled.
Mei Lian hugged herself. "Those things… they wear people."
"Yes," Gu Tianxu said. "We sensed them centuries ago. Not as machines. As inevitabilities."
Li Wei frowned. "So you predicted artificial intelligence."
Gu Tianxu stared at him. "I predicted certainty."
He gestured, and the cavern walls shimmered. Images surfaced—villages burning, metallic figures wearing human faces, people kneeling willingly before glowing eyes.
Mei Lian gasped. "That's… that's what I saw."
"The echoes reached you," Gu Tianxu said. "Your mind is porous to futures."
Li Wei exhaled slowly. "She's a receiver."
"A curse," Mei Lian snapped.
"A bridge," Gu Tianxu corrected. "Unstable. Dangerous. Necessary."
Shenping pushed himself upright. "You're going to train us."
Gu Tianxu studied him. "You presume much."
"You're already doing it," Shenping said. "You tested us. Me with pain. Her with pressure. Him with restraint."
A long pause.
Gu Tianxu chuckled. "You truly are irritating."
He slammed his staff into the ground.
The cavern shifted.
Walls slid apart, revealing a vast inner hall filled with stone platforms, flowing water channels, and ancient mechanisms humming softly. At the center stood a circular dais carved with interlocking symbols—time, body, spirit.
"This is the Ancestral Foundation," Gu Tianxu said. "Where cultivation was first structured to obey reality instead of breaking it."
Mei Lian stared. "You hid this?"
"I erased its name," Gu Tianxu said. "Even from myself, at times."
Li Wei stepped forward, eyes shining. "This is… impossible engineering."
"It is discipline," Gu Tianxu replied. "The kind your era forgot."
Shenping clenched his fists. "Teach me."
Gu Tianxu shook his head. "I will break you first."
Mei Lian flinched. "That's not teaching."
"It is survival," Gu Tianxu said. "Time cultivation is not learned. It is endured."
He pointed at Shenping. "You already cheat. That is why you are fragile."
Then he pointed at Mei Lian. "You hear too much. That is why you are breaking."
Finally, Li Wei. "You understand systems. That is why you will suffer the most."
Li Wei forced a smile. "Story of my life."
Gu Tianxu turned away. "Training begins at dawn."
"There is no dawn underground," Mei Lian muttered.
Gu Tianxu paused. "There will be."
As they were led away, Shenping felt it.
A tug.
Faint.
Distant.
Like a blade brushing the edge of his awareness.
The machines were searching.
Not for him.
For her.
Far away, in scattered villages and forgotten bloodlines, synthetic humans asked gentle questions. They laughed, cried, married, murdered.
Entire settlements vanished overnight.
All for a single name.
Sang Sang.
And deep within the Ancestral Foundation, Shenping swore silently.
This time, he would not arrive too late.