The moon lingered over Tianyuan Academy like a silent guardian, casting a pale glow across the ancient spires and floating stone platforms. But beneath the surface, deep below the academy's sacred grounds, the true heart of the sect pulsed with hidden power.
A place long forgotten.
A place sealed from time itself.
And now, it was awakening.
---
Li Xuantian stood before the Celestial Vault—an obsidian gate embedded into the roots of the mountain, covered in ancient runes that shimmered faintly with golden light.
Four elders, summoned by the Headmaster, stood nearby. Even they had never entered this place. It was locked the day the academy was built—sealed by divine decree. Only the Headmaster possessed the key, and even he had never dared use it.
Until now.
"Are you certain about this?" the Headmaster asked, his voice heavy. "Even the previous generations feared what lies within."
Xuantian didn't flinch. "What lies inside is not what we should fear. What lies outside, waiting to return… that is the true threat."
The Headmaster sighed, then placed his hand on the gate. The runes pulsed.
> Click.
Stone mechanisms groaned like awakening titans.
The gate slid open with a low hum, revealing an endless spiral staircase, carved from celestial jade, descending into lightless depths.
Without hesitation, Xuantian entered.
---
As he descended, memories surged within him.
He remembered building this place.
Ten thousand cycles ago, the Eternal Heaven Sect foresaw the end—the collapse of empires, the disappearance of gods, and the rise of false cultivation, where spiritual depth was measured by flashy techniques and flashy titles.
He had built the vault to preserve true cultivation—the kind that required patience, clarity, and a soul capable of touching the Tao itself.
But even he had forgotten some of what he sealed away.
---
The final step led to a vast underground chamber. Pillars of glowing crystal reached up into darkness. At the center stood a massive stone table—upon it lay The Nine Scrolls of True Dao—each glowing with suppressed power.
They were not weapons.
They were laws—written records of cultivation techniques so pure they had been deemed dangerous. Forbidden even in his time.
Xuantian approached them slowly.
"These are the last truths of the cosmos," he whispered.
He placed his hand upon the first scroll. It recognized him instantly.
> BOOM.
A pulse of light erupted outward. The entire academy trembled. Thousands of students looked toward the central mountain as a pillar of golden energy shot into the sky and vanished into the stars.
Back in the vault, Xuantian's body floated into the air, encased in rings of ancient script.
---
Outside, trouble stirred.
The elders monitoring the event suddenly felt pressure descend from above.
Not spiritual energy—something else.
The sky darkened unnaturally. A crimson crack appeared between the clouds. From it, a voice whispered.
> "It has begun again."
A shadow formed in the sky, barely visible—a horned figure cloaked in fog and hatred. Its voice echoed through the minds of those sensitive to demonic qi.
> "He has awakened. The Eternal Soul. The Sealed One."
> "We must strike… before he remembers everything."
Then it vanished.
The Headmaster staggered. "This… this isn't just history. This is prophecy."
---
Back inside the vault, Xuantian opened his eyes.
His soul had touched the First Dao—the Principle of Void.
Memories that were locked away returned in waves.
He remembered the Elder Demon King, the war that consumed the heavens, and the betrayal by the other sects who feared his power. He remembered sealing away the truth to protect it from false disciples who sought shortcuts to power.
And he remembered something else…
A name.
> "Shen Luoyan."
A woman. His companion. A fellow cultivator who fought beside him till the very end. She had died in his arms… or so he believed.
But now a thread in the celestial web pulsed again—she might be alive.
Somewhere in this era.
---
Xuantian emerged from the vault hours later. The elders stepped back, sensing the change in him.
His aura was still at Qi Condensation—but it shimmered now. Not with raw power, but depth. As if he had stood in the presence of eternity and returned.
The Headmaster bowed low.
"I saw the pillar of light," he said. "You unlocked the first scroll."
Xuantian nodded. "I will not rush the others. Each one must be earned. Or the price will be too great."
The Headmaster hesitated. "And the demon…?"
"I felt it," Xuantian said, eyes dark. "A soul from the Old Abyss. It knows I've returned."
The Headmaster looked grim. "Then we must prepare the Academy."
But Xuantian shook his head.
"No. We prepare the world."
---
Elsewhere, in the ruins of the Southern Peaks, a dark ritual concluded.
A cult robed in black knelt around a bloodstained altar. Their leader raised a severed head toward the moon.
> "The Seal is breaking."
> "The one who once sealed the Abyss has returned."
> "We must awaken the False Immortal."
Beneath the altar, an ancient coffin began to crack open.
And a single eye—red as dying stars—opened inside.
---
Back at Tianyuan Academy, Yan Ruyue found herself walking through the quiet garden near the Celestial Lake.
She couldn't sleep.
She had felt something during the awakening—a thread connecting her to Li Xuantian. Not love, not yet. Something deeper.
Destiny.
Suddenly, she turned.
Li Xuantian stood nearby, watching the stars.
"Couldn't sleep either?" she asked softly.
He shook his head. "The stars don't sleep. Neither do I."
She hesitated, then asked, "That jade slip… the Eternal Heaven Sect… was it truly yours?"
"Yes," he said simply.
She swallowed. "Then… who are you really?"
He looked at her—not cold, not harsh. Just endless.
"I am the shadow of a forgotten age. The whisper of a truth this world rejected. I am Li Xuantian… the one who was once called Heaven's End."
Yan Ruyue's breath caught.
She wasn't afraid.
She was in awe.
And somewhere deep within her, a buried memory stirred.
She had seen him before.
---