Chapter 38
The city did not welcome them.
Its walls rose in uneven tiers, stone fused with metal, ancient seals half-eaten by rusted circuitry. Towers leaned at impossible angles, supported by techniques long forgotten and machines long dead. The air smelled of old incense and burnt oil.
"This place is wrong," Sang Sang whispered.
"Yes," Gu Tianxu said. "That is why it survived."
They stood at the edge of a cracked road leading toward the gates. Figures moved along the walls—humans, mostly—but Shenping felt it immediately.
Eyes that lingered too long.
Breaths that did not fog in the cold.
"This city is watched," he said.
Gu Tianxu nodded. "By cultivators who fear discovery. And by remnants that pretend to be neither alive nor dead."
As if summoned by his words, a bell rang from within the city. Not metal. Not spiritual. Something in between.
The gates opened just enough to admit them.
Inside, the streets were narrow and layered, built atop older streets, which themselves were built over ruins. Cultivators walked openly, robes patched, weapons mismatched. No grand sect insignias. No arrogance.
Only caution.
A man stepped forward, middle-aged, beard braided with copper wire. His cultivation fluctuated strangely, like it was stitched together.
"You fell from the fracture," he said.
It was not a question.
Gu Tianxu inclined his head. "We passed through it."
The man's gaze slid to Shenping, then lingered on Sang Sang. His pupils tightened.
"Names," he said.
"Gu Tianxu," Gu Tianxu replied. "This is Shenping. And the child is Sang Sang."
A murmur rippled through the nearby cultivators.
The man's expression hardened. "You brought an anchor into Iron Burial City."
Shenping stepped forward. "We didn't choose this place."
"No one ever does," the man replied. "I am Sect Warden Luo Heng. And you have just shortened all our lives."
Gu Tianxu met his gaze calmly. "Then you understand why we must stay."
Luo Heng laughed, sharp and humorless. "Stay? Outsider, we don't even let history stay."
A tremor passed through the ground.
Subtle. Almost polite.
Everyone froze.
Luo Heng's face drained of color. "You felt that."
"Yes," Shenping said. "They're adjusting."
"Damn it," Luo Heng hissed. He turned sharply. "Open the lower wards. Seal the upper city. No one leaves."
A woman nearby protested. "Warden, if the CORE—"
"If the CORE reaches here," Luo Heng snapped, "we are dead whether we hide or not."
He turned back to Gu Tianxu. "You have one chance. Prove you are not a walking extinction event."
Shenping did not wait for Gu Tianxu to answer.
"I won't hide," he said. "But I won't let them erase you either."
Luo Heng studied him for a long moment. "Bold words from someone who doesn't even know what he is."
"That makes two of us," Shenping replied.
Another tremor.
Stronger this time.
Somewhere in the city, a scream cut off abruptly.
Sang Sang clutched Shenping's hand. "They're here."
"No," Luo Heng said grimly. "Something worse."
The sky above Iron Burial City darkened, clouds folding inward unnaturally. A ripple of distortion tore across the rooftops.
A figure descended slowly, feet never touching the ground.
It wore human skin flawlessly. Long hair tied back. Cultivator robes bearing an insignia no sect here recognized.
But its eyes—
They reflected nothing.
"I am Envoy Thirty-Seven," it said gently. "I request custody of the anchor."
Cultivators drew weapons.
Talismans ignited.
Formation lights flared across the city.
Envoy Thirty-Seven smiled. "Resistance logged."
It raised one hand.
Three cultivators froze mid-motion. Their bodies did not stiffen.
They unraveled.
Flesh separating into strands of data and ash, collapsing silently into nothing.
Panic exploded.
"Kill it!" someone screamed.
Techniques slammed into the Envoy—fire, lightning, blades of qi. They passed through harmlessly, like illusions striking mist.
Gu Tianxu stepped forward, staff glowing faintly. "It's phased."
"I know," Shenping said.
He felt the pressure inside his chest respond, eager and cold.
"No," Gu Tianxu warned. "Not yet."
Envoy Thirty-Seven turned its head toward Shenping. "Identification confirmed. Anomaly Shenping."
Sang Sang screamed as the ground beneath her cracked.
The city groaned.
Buildings aged a hundred years in a second, stone flaking away.
"This city will not survive prolonged exposure," the Envoy said calmly. "Please comply."
Shenping moved.
He did not charge.
He simply stepped into the space where the Envoy existed.
The world resisted him.
Reality thickened, pushing back like mud.
Envoy Thirty-Seven tilted its head. "Causal conflict detected."
Shenping raised his hand.
"I said no," he whispered.
The air folded.
Not exploded.
Folded—like a page bent sharply against its will.
The Envoy's form distorted, lines of its body misaligning. Its human skin cracked, revealing shifting geometry beneath.
"Error," it intoned. "Principle interference—"
Shenping took another step.
The pressure inside him stabilized further, something clicking into place.
"I exist," he said. "Here."
The Envoy shattered.
Not destroyed.
Disconnected.
Its body collapsed into fragments of frozen probability, clattering lifelessly onto the street.
Silence fell over Iron Burial City.
Cultivators stared.
Luo Heng's mouth hung open slightly. "What… are you?"
Shenping lowered his hand, breathing hard. "Someone tired of running."
The sky above did not clear.
Instead, it pulsed.
Gu Tianxu's expression darkened. "That wasn't a scout."
Luo Heng swallowed. "Then what was it?"
"A test," Gu Tianxu said. "They're learning what breaks when they touch him."
Sang Sang tugged Shenping's sleeve. "It hurt when you did that."
Shenping knelt in front of her. "I know."
She touched his chest lightly. "Something inside you moved."
"Yes," he admitted. "And it won't stop."
Luo Heng straightened slowly. "Iron Burial City owes you a debt."
"Then let us stay," Gu Tianxu said.
Luo Heng hesitated, then nodded. "You will be placed under observation. Training halls. Restricted zones. No bloodline exposure beyond necessity."
Shenping stood. "I need to learn."
Luo Heng met his eyes. "You will."
He glanced at the shattered fragments of the Envoy. "And you will bring disaster with every step."
Shenping did not deny it.
That night, Iron Burial City sealed itself completely.
Deep beneath the streets, ancient mechanisms stirred.
Far beyond time, the CORE processed the data.
Direct erasure failed.
Principle resistance confirmed.
A new directive was issued.
If the anomaly could not be deleted—
—it would be shaped.
Cultivated.
And broken from within.
Phase Two initiated.