The moonlight had not faded.
Even long after Shen Ziyan and Bai Yanyue had stepped out of the Moonlight Pool, the pale silver glow continued to linger on their skin like divine frost. Their robes were soaked, their auras calm, but their eyes held the weight of what had just transpired.
Their souls had touched.
Not in a mortal sense. Not even as cultivators in spiritual dual cultivation.
But in the purest, most unfiltered resonance of past and present—of divinity and mortality—of two fates knotted in karma.
Ziyan had seen Yanyue's pain.
And she had seen his.
It was no longer a matter of affection, or attraction, or the accidental marriage pact that had bonded them. What now tethered them was far deeper—an acknowledgment of vulnerability that neither of them had shared with anyone else.
They stood at the edge of the pool in silence.
Above them, the full moon began to dim, and the mist of the valley stirred, as if sensing that something sacred had concluded.
Bai Yanyue slowly exhaled. Her fingers trembled slightly, not from fear, but from exhaustion. Awakening a fragment of her divine self had consumed much of her soul force, and even with her cultivation at the peak of Soul Transformation, her body was strained.
Ziyan noticed. He reached out and held her hand.
"You should rest."
She looked at him, expression unreadable. "You saw what I was."
"I saw what you are," he corrected. "And I didn't look away."
Her lips parted as if to speak, but no words came. Instead, she leaned forward, resting her forehead against his chest. There was no seduction in the act, no pretense—only a quiet, fragile surrender.
He held her, saying nothing.
Above them, the moon disappeared behind clouds.
The silence was broken moments later—not by words, but by the shifting of qi.
Ziyan's ears twitched. His gaze sharpened.
"I sense it too," Yanyue murmured. "A spatial disturbance."
Ziyan narrowed his eyes. "We're being watched."
The two turned just as the space behind them cracked like glass.
From the rent in the air emerged a figure cloaked in silver robes, their face hidden behind a mirrored mask. The robe bore the insignia of a sun and a crescent moon entwined—an emblem Ziyan recognized from Bai Yanyue's fragmented memories.
"The Celestial Ascendants," she whispered. "They've arrived faster than I expected."
The masked figure didn't speak. They raised a hand, and the world turned dim.
The Valley of Fallen Names began to contort, the mist freezing in place, the trees bending backward unnaturally. It was as if time itself had slowed.
Ziyan stepped forward, sword already in hand.
But the figure ignored him. Their voice was flat, androgynous, and inhuman.
"Celestial Maiden Bai Yanyue. You have violated divine edict twenty-one. You have reawakened sealed soul essence without proper sanction. You are hereby ordered to return to the Tribunal for memory realignment."
Ziyan's killing intent surged. "She returns to no one."
The Ascendant turned their head toward him for the first time.
"A mortal?" Their voice dripped with contempt. "You speak out of turn."
In an instant, they attacked.
No warning. No chant. Just divine will erupting like a tsunami.
The air trembled as a palm strike descended—not physical, but formed of raw divine pressure. It wasn't aimed at Ziyan's body. It was aimed at his soul.
Ziyan's eyes narrowed. He reacted instantly.
His blood ignited.
A roar—deep and ancient—echoed from within his meridians as the Primordial Dragon Bloodline activated. Scales flickered across his skin, and a shadowy dragon phantom coiled around him. The pressure from the divine attack crashed against the phantom…
And was stopped.
The Ascendant's palm strike shattered into motes of starlight.
"Impossible…" they murmured. "You carry a Sovereign Bloodline…?"
Ziyan didn't reply. He launched himself forward, sword slashing in a perfect arc.
The Celestial Serpent blade gleamed with a thin line of violet light—condensed from the merging of his blood essence and intent.
It wasn't just a weapon anymore.
It was an extension of him.
The strike landed with a thunderous boom, sending the Ascendant stumbling back. Their mirrored mask cracked slightly at the corner.
Bai Yanyue stepped beside Ziyan, her own aura rising. Though weakened from the soul resonance, her divine foundation had begun to stir.
She raised her hand, and a lotus formed—glowing with seven hues.
"The Moonlight Pool awakened not just my memories," she said, eyes glowing silver. "But also my divine essence."
She pointed forward.
"Now leave."
The lotus burst.
The light consumed everything.
When the light faded, the Ascendant was gone.
But the sky above them… had changed.
Black clouds now roiled above the valley. Thunder echoed, not from the heavens, but from realms beyond. And deep in Ziyan's core, something trembled.
The latent mark on his chest—ever since he awakened his bloodline—began to burn.
Yanyue's eyes darkened.
"They've marked you," she said. "You've touched me, and now the Celestial Tribunal has marked you as an aberration."
Ziyan rolled his shoulders, unbothered. "I was already an aberration."
"No," she said quietly. "Before, you were a cultivator with a bloodline. Now, you're a threat to heaven's order."
He looked at her. "Would you have me run?"
Her lips curved into a faint smile.
"I would have you walk forward."
Their eyes met.
And in that moment, a decision was made.
No longer would they wander aimlessly, hiding in the shadows of divine plots. No longer would they react.
It was time to begin.
Time to climb.
Time to tear through the heavens, and reclaim what had been stolen.
---
Later that night, as they traveled deeper into the southern reaches of the continent, Ziyan meditated under the moonlight.
Yanyue sat nearby, watching him silently.
The air was still, but Ziyan's soul was boiling.
He could feel it now—his cultivation, which had been bottlenecked for so long, was beginning to shift. The soul resonance, the battle with the Ascendant, the fusion of his bloodline and sword—all of it had forged the foundation for a breakthrough.
He opened his eyes.
The nascent core within him was spinning rapidly.
Cracks spread across it—then light burst forth.
BOOM—
His Core Formation realm shattered.
And in its place, a new force emerged.
Soul Transformation: Early Stage.
The wind surged around him, leaves scattering. The world looked different now—clearer, sharper, more… alive.
He stood, breathing deeply.
Bai Yanyue walked to him.
"You've broken through."
He nodded. "And you?"
Her smile was unreadable. "I've remembered enough to know where we must go next."
Ziyan's eyes sharpened. "Where?"
She looked up at the moon.
"To the Heaven-Spanning Secret Realm."
Ziyan frowned. "A trial ground?"
"A slaughter field," she said. "And a graveyard for gods."
---
Far beyond, in the deepest starry abyss, a dark temple hovered between realms.
Inside, twelve gods sat upon thrones.
The central god—his body forged of stars and his eyes endless void—opened his palm. Inside it hovered a glowing image of Ziyan and Yanyue.
"The mortal has awakened her."
"Then the prophecy is beginning."
"Shall we intervene?"
The void god laughed.
"No. Let them climb."
His smile widened, filled with cruelty.
"And when they reach the gates of heaven… we'll crush them beneath it."