There were burn marks on Lin Tian's door the next morning.
Small ones. Scorched into the wood, no deeper than a thumb's width, but deliberate. Three of them, equidistant. A symbol.
Not of the sect.
Not of a clan.
But a warning.
Chen Mu stared from the ring, silent for a long moment.
"…He's escalating."
"Guo?"
"Someone connected to him. Probably acting with Hu's permission. Maybe without it."
"It's a message."
"No," Chen Mu corrected. "It's a dare."
[+2 BP for recognizing hostile political signaling.]
Bluff Points: 91 → 93
Lin Tian didn't clean the door.
He just left it open.
By the third hour of morning, the message had spread. Outer disciples passed slower than usual. A few glanced in. One girl dropped her herb pouch and didn't bother picking it up.
Fear. Not of Lin Tian. But of being near Lin Tian.
"They're isolating you," Chen Mu said.
"They've been trying."
"No—they're getting better at it."
[+1 BP for cold social pattern awareness.]
BP: 93 → 94
Later that afternoon, Wei Yulan returned.
She ducked inside without a word, dropped a small cloth bundle onto the table, and stared at the burn marks on the door.
"They're branding now?" she asked dryly.
"They're testing who reacts."
"Well, here I am."
She sat, unwrapped the cloth, and revealed three small jade slivers—sharp, polished, inscribed with warding runes.
"Formation fangs," she said. "You lay these down at three points and activate the convergence. Creates a reactive blast."
"For defense?"
"For drama," she said. "You're going to need both."
[+3 BP for acquiring symbolic countermeasures.]
BP: 94 → 97
Chen Mu hovered silently above them.
Yulan glanced at the ring. "Your ghost friend still watching?"
"He's always watching."
"You might want to tell him something. I think someone else is looking for you."
Lin Tian raised an eyebrow.
Yulan tossed over a folded slip of cloth. Inside: an emblem. A flame spiral—half-burned, half-stitched with gold thread.
"Found it outside the archives. Someone left it where I'd see it."
Chen Mu's voice was tight. "That's not sect-made."
"No. It's old."
"It's mine," Chen Mu said quietly. "Or was."
[+2 BP for passive legacy reclamation.]
BP: 97 → 99
That night, they didn't train.
They sat.
Quiet.
The fire in the brazier crackled low. The spiral array lay in the center of the room, still unfinished. The calibration had stalled at 38%.
Chen Mu opened the system manually.
[System Prompt: Additional calibration inputs required.][Suggested Target: Known fire-based legacies, minor or major.][Spiritual Stability Check: PASS][Resonance Alignment: Acceptable.]
"I need another flame," Chen Mu said.
"Where do we find one?"
"We don't."
"…Then who does?"
"Someone watching us."
In the early hours before dawn, Lin Tian received a summons.
Not from Hu. Not from the sect.
This one bore no seal. Only a single line:
"Come to the southeast furnace at moonset. Come alone."
Chen Mu sighed.
"That's where they keep the old pyre kilns."
"Traps?"
"Maybe."
"Doesn't matter."
Lin Tian stood, cleaned his robes, and walked out into the dark.
The southeast furnace wasn't in use anymore. The kilns had gone cold. The soot clung to the walls like ghost ash.
He waited fifteen minutes before the figure arrived.
They wore a traveling robe. Face wrapped. Voice low.
"You have something that doesn't belong to you."
"I have a lot of those."
"You're holding a key."
"Not sure I've found the door yet."
The stranger approached slowly, movements deliberate.
"I've seen what you're drawing. The array. The flame. The echo."
"Then you know I'm not the one making it happen."
"No," the stranger said. "But it's happening through you."
They tossed something onto the ground between them.
A fragment of stone. Spiral-carved. Singed.
Chen Mu nearly flared.
"That's the third piece," he whispered.
The stranger turned to go. "Don't die yet."
Then vanished into the shadows.
[System Notice: Spiral Fire Refinement – Calibration 52%][Resonance Signature 3/4][Thread Integration: 67%][New Keyword Unlocked: Ember Vault]
[+3 BP for cryptic legacy progress.]
BP: 99 → 102
Back at the hut, Lin Tian sat cross-legged while Chen Mu replayed the stone fragment again and again in the ring's memory.
"This was part of the original core," he murmured. "We're rebuilding something."
"Or reawakening it."
"Same thing."
Lin Tian looked down at the ring. "If we find the last flame, what then?"
Chen Mu didn't answer for a long time.
Then: "Then we burn everything in our way."
[System Status Panel – Chen Mu (Ring State)]
Bluff Points: 102
Soul Strength: 8
Current Vessel: Refined Jade Core Ring (Stabilized)
Abilities: Voice of Authority Lv.1, Soul Tap (1/day), Resonant Presence (Passive)
Manual Access: Beginner Cultivation Manual (Simulated)
Current Objective: Complete Spiral Flame Reconstruction
Disciple Status: Qi Initiation – Mid Stage (Stable)
Legacy Flag: Kindled – Hidden Flame Echo (Active)
Known Array: Spiral Fire Refinement (Calibration 52%)
New Entry: Ember Vault (Locked)