The descent felt endless.
Lei and Lin Yue walked down the spiral staircase, their path lit only by the flickering blue glow of Lei's Qi. The walls were covered in ancient carvings—roots entwining stars, fallen beasts, broken chains… and cultivators with black flames burning from their cores.
"This place..." Lin Yue whispered, "it's not just old. It's forbidden."
They reached the bottom—a vast cavern with a black lotus blooming at its center. It pulsed slowly, like a beating heart. Around it, eight massive statues circled the lotus, each representing a long-lost sect that once opposed the Heavenly Order.
A voice echoed—not spoken, but pressed into their minds.
"One root falls. Another rises. You are the seed of rebellion."
As Lei stepped forward, the ground trembled. From the shadows emerged a figure—dressed in crimson robes, face half-covered in obsidian metal, eyes glowing with the same light as the Fallen Root.
"You shouldn't be here yet," the man said, drawing a blade shaped like a jagged fang. "But fate is never polite."
Lin Yue moved beside Lei, weapon drawn. But Lei held out a hand. "Who are you?"
The man's lips curled. "I am the Echo of what you might become... if you lose yourself to power."
He lunged.
Their clash shook the cavern. Lei's lightning crackled against the stranger's dark fire. Lin Yue darted in and out of the chaos, forcing the enemy to divide his attention.
But this wasn't a battle to win. It was a test of resolve.
As the black lotus flared, Lei reached deep into the root within him—summoning its energy not as a weapon, but as a part of himself.
"I am not your shadow," he shouted. "I am my own storm!"
The figure paused... and vanished into mist.
In his place, a black shard remained—cold, sharp, and ancient.
Lin Yue picked it up. "This… this is a memory fragment. A key."
As they stood before the pulsing lotus, a new path opened—upward, not back. Toward the truth above the heavens.