The stone above groaned.
Dust rained down in thin streams as the air thickened—like the tomb itself was holding its breath.
Lian Wei stood at the base of the spiral stairs, heart steady, eyes narrowed. He had no sword. No talisman. His spiritual core was barely active. But the Archive buzzed in his mind like a silent partner, feeding him data in the space between breaths.
[Energy signatures confirmed: Two targets. One categorized as Jin Cao. The other—unknown. Estimated arrival: 14 seconds.]
Jin Cao.
Of course.
Lian Wei clenched his jaw. That familiar rage stirred in his gut—but he didn't let it rule him. Not now. Not when knowledge had become his greatest weapon.
He turned back toward the chamber, eyes flicking toward the spiral formation etched into the floor.
[Suggestion: Reactivate glyphs and lower ambient light signature. Tactical concealment protocol available.]
"Do it," he murmured.
Blue light from the mosaic dimmed, fading into near-invisibility. The fragment on the pedestal lowered, embedding itself quietly into the stone with a soft hiss.
By the time the footsteps reached the base of the stairwell, the chamber looked like nothing more than a dead ruin.
Footsteps echoed—soft, cautious.
Then came the voices.
"…I told you he was dead," said Jin Cao's unmistakable sneer. "But Father wants confirmation. He thinks the Archive might have activated a fallback—whatever that means."
A second voice replied—low, almost bored. "We're wasting time. The Crimson Cloud forces are sweeping the upper ranges. If we're caught down here—"
"He's not caught. He's hiding," Jin Cao hissed. "That worm always slithers where others don't look."
Lian Wei recognized the second voice now—Fan Xue, a mid-tier disciple who had once been a favorite lapdog of Elder Jin. Not as cruel as Jin Cao, but just as spineless.
[Combat viability assessment: unfavorable. Recommend tactical misdirection.]
He crouched low behind the broken pedestal, watching the doorway. As the two disciples entered the chamber, their spiritual lights cast flickering shadows across the old formation.
They saw nothing.
Jin Cao stepped closer to the pedestal, his frustration evident in every movement. "Damn it… he was here. Look at the dust. Look at the prints!"
He knelt to inspect the grooves. "And the fragment is gone."
"Maybe it disintegrated," Fan Xue offered weakly.
Jin Cao's fingers curled into a fist. "Or maybe he's alive. And walking around with knowledge that should belong to me."
He stood and stepped toward the center of the chamber.
Right over the dormant formation.
[Proximity alert: Optimal activation range reached.]
Lian Wei didn't hesitate.
He pressed his palm to the side of the chamber wall, whispering the sequence the Archive had shown him just minutes earlier.
[Formation sequence initiated: Meridian Echo Pulse.]
The floor lit up in a burst of silent blue fire.
Jin Cao barely had time to scream before the glyphs flared beneath his feet, triggering a wave of destabilizing spiritual pressure. Not enough to kill—but enough to rip his aura out of sync and slam him into the wall like a ragdoll.
Fan Xue screamed. "What is this?!"
Lian Wei stepped out of the shadows, the Archive's glow framing his body with faint light. His eyes burned—not with rage, but purpose.
"Hello again, Senior Brother," he said calmly.
Jin Cao groaned, pinned beneath a collapsed fragment of the wall.
"You…" he spat blood, glaring up at him. "You should be dead…"
"I was," Lian Wei said. "And now? I'm everything you were afraid I could become."
Fan Xue backed away, hands trembling. "W-We don't have to fight—"
[Target fear response: escalating. Recommend memory disruption or spiritual tagging.]
"Go," Lian Wei said to him. "Tell Elder Jin what you saw. Tell him his son failed. Again."
Fan Xue didn't wait to be told twice. He scrambled up the stairs, disappearing with the sound of retreating footsteps.
Jin Cao coughed. "You think this changes anything? You're still nothing. You're just—"
Lian Wei crouched beside him.
"I'm not the same failure you used to beat in the courtyard," he said, voice quiet. "And I don't need to kill you to win."
He reached forward and pressed two fingers to Jin Cao's forehead.
A ripple of energy passed between them—a soft, blue flicker.
[Spiritual tag embedded. Tracking enabled. Subject can be monitored remotely.]
Jin Cao flinched. "What… what did you do to me?!"
"I learned," Lian Wei said simply. "And I'm still learning. That's what makes me dangerous."
He stood and turned away.
[New directive available: Trace origin of tomb and discover purpose of Node Sequence 1-A.]
He climbed the stairs in silence.
Above him, the world was still at war. The sects still schemed. The truth remained buried in countless ruins across the continent.
But Lian Wei had begun his ascent—not through strength, but through insight.
And now, with every step he took, the world's past trembled at the thought of being uncovered.