The morning mist hung over the Divine Lotus Sect like a living veil, curling around the marble pillars and cobblestone paths. Liang Yuxin adjusted the strap of her basket, eyes scanning the courtyard, though her heart thumped unevenly.
Dreams of fire and shadows had clawed at her sleep, flickering in memory like warnings she could not name. She shook her head, trying to push the unease away, but it clung like a second skin.
"Yuxin! Stop staring at the clouds or you'll trip over your own feet," Mei Lian's voice rang out, bright and teasing. Her amber eyes sparkled as she leaned lazily against a pillar, one hand on her hip.
"I… I don't know," Yuxin murmured, gripping the basket tighter. "Something feels… off."
Mei Lian snorted, plucking a sprig of silverleaf from the herb garden. "You worry too much. Maybe the heavens are bored. Perhaps a handsome immortal will show up and whisk you away from this monotony."
Yuxin rolled her eyes, but before she could respond, a sharp rustling echoed from the Forbidden Grove. Shadows twisted between the gnarled trees, moving fast, deliberate, alive. Her pulse jumped. Something—or someone—was approaching.
A figure stumbled into the clearing, masked and bleeding along the shoulder. His aura radiated danger, suffocating yet magnetic. Gray eyes, sharp and commanding, met hers. "Move aside," he said, low and urgent. "Or you will be caught in this."
Before Yuxin could even react, a pack of rogue demons leaped from the mist, claws slicing through the air with metallic shrieks. Panic surged, but instinct took over. She raised her hands, trembling.
A silver shield erupted from her palms, hurling the demons back with an invisible force. Yuxin staggered, staring at her glowing hands. This was not training. This was power she had never known she possessed.
The masked figure stepped closer, his gaze locked on hers. "You have a dangerous gift," he said. "One that will draw eyes from realms you cannot imagine."
Mei Lian's voice trembled, breaking the tension. "Yuxin! Who—what is this guy?!"
He ignored her. His gaze lingered on Yuxin for a heartbeat too long before hardening. "The world you know is not safe. Not for someone like you."
And then, as abruptly as he appeared, he vanished. Where he had knelt, a single silver-and-gold feathered insignia shimmered in the dust. Yuxin's fingers brushed it, and a spark raced through her veins. Her chest tightened; her heart thumped in a rhythm she didn't understand.
A shrill horn echoed from the sect gates. Someone—or something—was coming. Yuxin's grip on the insignia tightened. Danger was moving closer, and she wasn't ready.
From the courtyard, Chen Hao emerged, leaning against the railing with a calm, calculating expression. "You're staring at nothing again," he said, his jade-green eyes sharp. "Did you get into trouble in the herb gardens last night?"
Yuxin flinched. "It's not nothing! Something… happened," she said, though she didn't know how to explain it.
Lan Qing, the sect healer, stepped out gracefully from the shadowed corridor, her silver-blonde hair glinting in the sun.
"Restlessness can be dangerous in a mortal with latent power," she said softly. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce through Yuxin's thoughts. "Do not ignore the signs, young one."
Mo Yan, the mischievous demon apprentice, peeked nervously from behind a pillar. "Uh… did anyone else see that masked guy?" he squeaked, ears twitching.
Before Yuxin could answer, a gust of wind swept through the courtyard. In the reflection along the distant mountain peaks, crimson eyes glimmered. Huo Tian watched silently, smirk twisting his sharp features.
Always watching, always waiting.
Yuxin clenched her fists around the insignia. Her pulse raced as if the object was alive, feeding her heartbeat. Chen Hao stepped closer. "You shouldn't touch strange artifacts without knowing their origin," he warned, tension rising in his voice.
Suddenly, movement at the treeline caught her attention. A shadow lunged—another demon, larger, teeth bared. Mei Lian screamed, frozen in place. Before it could reach them, a blur of white-gold appeared, faster than her eyes could follow.
Zhan Rui—masked, lethal—swooped in, hands grabbing Yuxin and pulling her behind him as the demon crashed to the ground.
Her breath caught. Gray eyes met hers for a heartbeat, intense and unyielding.
Desire, fear, and confusion ignited in her chest like wildfire.
"You have no idea what you're stepping into," he whispered, tone sharp yet threaded with something unspoken, something that made her pulse stutter.
From the shadows, Elder Xianwei watched silently, expression unreadable. "The prophecy stirs," he murmured to no one in particular. "And she has awakened too soon."
Yuxin's mind spun. Questions flooded her: Who was he? Why did her chest burn when she touched the insignia? And what was coming—something she could already feel pressing against the edges of her calm mortal life?
Zhan Rui vanished again, leaving only the shimmering insignia. Yuxin stared at it, heart pounding. Danger was here. Desire had appeared in its most confusing form. And everything she thought she knew about her life was gone.