The battle cries from the distant floating islands faded behind Lin Feng as he moved further into the Eternal Ruin's heart.
The air grew heavy, thick with a pressure that did not belong to the living. Each step forward felt like walking into the breath of death itself.
Even the Azure Sword trembled faintly in its sheath, humming a low, reverent tone.
Ahead lay a valley that seemed to exist between worlds — veiled in gray mist, filled with flickering shadows that whispered as if remembering the echoes of ancient wars.
The Whispering Tombs.
No map mentioned this place, and even Elder Bai had warned:
"Those who enter this valley never return. It is said the Sovereigns of old buried their weapons here — and their regrets."
Lin Feng stood at the edge of the valley and closed his eyes.
The whispers were not mere wind. They carried voices — faint, fractured, but filled with power.
"Sword of Azure… why did you betray the heavens?"
"The end was inevitable… light and flame cannot coexist…"
"He was not meant to fall… yet he chose to."
Each voice brushed against Lin Feng's soul, testing him, probing his will.
He stepped forward.
---
The moment he crossed the invisible boundary, time twisted. The gray mist surged, forming vague silhouettes — warriors of forgotten ages, their armors cracked, their eyes hollow but burning with lingering will.
They stood in silent rows, each holding shattered weapons — spears, blades, halberds, and axes.
All faced inward, toward a colossal sword buried deep in the earth.
It was enormous — hundreds of meters long, impaled into the ground like a monument of despair. Its surface was cracked, its runes dim, but the aura it exuded was unmistakable.
"This…" Lin Feng whispered. "This sword… it's the Azure Sovereign's second blade."
The Azure Sovereign's voice stirred faintly in his mind, heavy with distant memory.
"Yes. The Azure Starfall. The sword that sealed my fate."
The moment those words echoed, the whispers around Lin Feng grew louder. The spectral warriors began to stir, their heads turning toward him.
"He bears the Sovereign's flame…"
"The heir has returned…"
"Prove your worth, or share our silence."
The dead began to move.
---
Dozens of spectral figures lunged toward Lin Feng, their ghostly weapons burning with remnant divine energy. Their movements were fluid, coordinated — remnants of the army that once fought beside the Sovereign.
Lin Feng's eyes hardened. He drew the Azure Sword.
Azure light tore through the mist as he swung once — a clean, perfect arc. The nearest spirits dissolved into starlight, their expressions calm as if finding peace.
But more came. Hundreds.
"So, this is the test…" he muttered.
The air trembled as his Sword Domain expanded, merging with the lingering energy of the ruin. Each of his strikes became an echo of divine will — precise, unrelenting, and filled with the Sovereign's authority.
The battlefield turned into a storm of light and shadows.
For every specter he struck down, a new whisper followed — voices of the fallen recognizing him.
"His sword carries our master's mercy."
"He fights without arrogance — as the Sovereign once did."
Hours passed within moments.
When the mist finally settled, Lin Feng stood alone amid countless flickering lights — the lingering souls of the dead, now free.
---
At the valley's center, the massive sword pulsed faintly with azure light. Lin Feng approached, his steps steady despite the exhaustion pressing down on his spirit.
As he placed his palm against the sword's hilt, his consciousness was instantly pulled into a vision — a memory preserved by the blade itself.
He stood upon a battlefield under collapsing skies. Stars fell like meteors, and countless celestial armies clashed below.
At the forefront stood a man cloaked in azure robes — the Azure Sovereign himself, holding two blades: one blazing with heavenly flame, the other radiating cold starlight.
Across from him was another figure, tall and radiant, wielding the Heaven-Piercing Spear — the very same aura that Lin Feng had felt from Lu Cangxuan's lineage.
Their voices echoed across the battlefield.
Spear-Wielder: "You defied the Heavens, Azure Sovereign. For your arrogance, your name shall be erased."
Sovereign: "If defiance means protecting what is human… then let me be erased a thousand times."
Their clash shook the world. Galaxies shattered. Entire worlds dissolved.
But amidst the chaos, a woman's voice rang out — soft, filled with sorrow.
"Enough!"
A figure descended — a woman clad in flowing azure garments, wielding a mirror-like sword that resonated with Lin Feng's own.
"If both of you fight, all creation will perish," she cried.
The Azure Sovereign turned, eyes full of grief.
"Then I shall leave my will within the sword — and vanish."
The scene dissolved.
---
When Lin Feng's vision cleared, he was kneeling beside the colossal sword. Tears — not of sorrow, but of awe — streaked his face.
"So that's what happened… You didn't fall. You chose to vanish."
The Azure Sovereign's voice, faint yet serene, answered within his mind.
"I sealed my own essence within this world to preserve balance. But now, with you, the seals awaken. My time is near."
The sword beneath Lin Feng's hand pulsed once, and a surge of azure energy flooded into his body. His meridians glowed; the Azure Sovereign Physique advanced once again, stabilizing his peak Celestial Realm foundation.
At the same time, a fragment of memory imprinted itself into his soul — the Azure Starfall Technique, the lost art that could call down celestial flames from beyond the heavens.
---
But even as the power entered him, a tremor rippled through the sky above the valley.
Lightning cracked across the void, and a cold, mechanical voice echoed from the heavens:
"Unauthorized awakening detected. The Azure Sequence is not permitted to return."
The air turned heavy. The ruin's clouds churned, forming an enormous golden eye that gazed directly at Lin Feng.
The Will of Heaven itself had noticed him.
Lin Feng's azure aura blazed violently in response.
"You can watch," he whispered coldly, "but you cannot chain me."
He slashed upward. The Azure Sword roared, cutting through the clouds, severing the golden gaze itself. The heavens screamed and faded, retreating beyond the ruin's barrier.
---
As silence returned, the colossal sword beneath him began to sink, merging fully into the earth. A faint voice echoed one last time:
"My heir… the time draws near. When the nine awaken, seek the Mirror Sword. Only together can the cycle be broken."
The light faded. The valley returned to stillness.
Lin Feng sheathed his sword, his expression calm but eyes burning with determination.
"The Mirror Sword… the woman from the vision… Who are you?"
He turned and walked out of the valley, each step echoing with the silent approval of the countless souls that once served the Azure Sovereign.
When he emerged from the mist, the other sects were already waiting — and the sky above the ruin now glowed faintly azure, marking his silent claim to a fragment of its power.