Tianming rose, his breath still ragged, fists clenched. The whisper of the Heavenbreaker still echoed in his bones. Ash curled in the air like dying spirits, and the scent of burnt wood and blood choked the sky.
But he didn't flinch.
Behind him, the last embers of Linhe smoldered. Ahead — only the unknown.
He took one step.
Then another.
From the treeline, a voice cut through the silence.
"You shouldn't be alive."
Tianming turned sharply. A girl, robed in pale silk marked with the faded sigil of the Moon Lotus Sect, stood watching him. Her eyes glowed faintly — not with power, but with memory.
"Who are you?" Tianming asked.
"I am Mei of the Fallen Petals," she replied. "And you… carry the Heavenbreaker."
The sword at his back stirred, as if recognizing her words.
Before more could be said, the ground rumbled. Faint, almost imperceptible — but real.
Mei's face hardened. "They've found you."
From the shadows, figures began to emerge — slow, deliberate, cloaked in obsidian armor. Wraithbound Assassins. Silent executioners of the old regimes.
Tianming stepped forward, unsheathing the Heavenbreaker.
"I don't run anymore."
Mei moved beside him, her palms blooming with lotus-shaped energy.
Together, under the same ashen sky, the
forsaken stood their ground.
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