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Chapter 3: Whispers Beneath the Surface
Yue awoke to the sound of wind whistling through broken pipes.
It wasn't the noise that stirred her—it was the cold. The kind that slipped under skin and wrapped around bone. She sat up slowly, her bandaged leg stiff, her breath fogging faintly in the air. Across the shelter, Shen Liang sat where he had the night before, still and silent, like a shadow that had forgotten how to sleep.
"You didn't rest," she said.
He didn't look at her. "Didn't need to."
Yue frowned. "That's not human."
He gave a soft snort. "Neither is the sky. Get used to it."
She looked away, hugging her knees to her chest. The firestone's glow had faded to a soft orange, barely enough to keep the darkness at bay. Somewhere beyond the collapsed store above, thunder rumbled. But there were no clouds. No storms. Just the echo of shifting ley-lines and spiritual turbulence scraping across the fractured firmament.
"I dreamed of them again," she murmured.
Shen Liang's eyes flicked to her, sharp.
"The dead?"
She nodded slowly. "Not just voices this time. Faces. Places. A name I don't know how I know."
She looked up, meeting his gaze.
"Qingxuan."
Shen Liang stiffened.
He hadn't heard that name in centuries. Not since before the collapse. Not since the old sects had fallen and the immortal palaces were turned to dust. That name had been buried with the rest of the world.
"I used to think I was cursed," Yue said, her voice quieter. "Hearing whispers, seeing ghosts no one else could see. But they don't want to hurt me. Most of them are just... afraid. Lost."
"Residual soul fragments," he muttered. "Left behind after the Skyfall. You're a spiritual medium—probably awakened through trauma."
She looked at him blankly.
He sighed. "It means you can see through the veil. Hear what lingers."
"I know what it means," she snapped. "I'm not stupid."
He raised a brow, but said nothing.
Yue looked down at her leg. "My mother had the same ability. She called it the Moon-Ear. Said our bloodline had carried it since the old dynasties."
"What happened to her?"
"She tried to guide a corrupted spirit into the afterrealm."
"And failed."
"No." Yue's voice dropped. "She succeeded. But it took her with it."
Silence.
Shen Liang studied her carefully. The girl was no ordinary scavenger. Bloodline traits like that were rare—especially ones that still functioned in this post-cultivation wasteland. Most lineages had withered when the ley-lines shattered. The few that remained... were watched closely by Heaven's Will.
"She gave me her seal," Yue said softly, reaching into her ragged tunic. She pulled out a pendant—a coin-shaped talisman etched with complex symbols. Spirit ink. Sect script.
Shen Liang felt a flicker of recognition.
That wasn't just a bloodline token.
That was a fragment of a sect's core formation.
"Where did she get this?" he asked sharply.
"She said it was passed down from Qingxuan Sect. Whatever that was."
"It was..." He paused. "...the last sect to challenge Heaven before the collapse."
Yue blinked. "Then that makes you—?"
"No one important," he cut in. "Not anymore."
But she didn't miss the shift in his voice. The weight behind the words.
She tucked the pendant away.
"We need to move," he said. "The dungeon opened two sectors north. If the core pulse reaches this area, the corruption will spread."
"Dungeon?" she asked. "Like... old-world game dungeons?"
"No," Shen Liang said. "These are alive. Remnants of battlefields, broken realms, or fallen temples. They form where the spiritual fabric is weakest. Places where Heaven's law loses grip."
"And what's in them?"
"Monsters. Artifacts. Forgotten memories. Sometimes... things better left buried."
---
They left the shelter before sunrise.
Yue moved slowly but steadily, using a metal rod as a crutch. Shen Liang kept pace beside her, scanning their path with eyes that had once watched stars burn. The city seemed more silent than usual. Even the corrupted flora had retracted. The awakening dungeon was drawing in ambient Qi—and with it, everything sensitive to spiritual pressure had gone still.
They reached the edge of Sector 7 by midday.
It had once been a business district—towering spires of glass and data-hubs that pulsed with economic cultivation. Now it was hollow. Quiet. Buildings torn open like flesh. Screens still flickered on some walls, replaying broken advertisements and fragmented news reports from the day of the Skyfall.
At the center of the sector, something glowed.
A jagged crevice had opened in the earth, lined with black stone and glowing glyphs. Spiraling upward from it was a column of blue light—pulsing with the rhythm of a heart that did not beat.
[Dungeon Detected: Forgotten Court of the Void Kings]
Difficulty: Unknown (Unstable Realm Anchor)
Entry Limitation: 2 Entities
Condition: Must Possess a Void Affinity OR Forgotten Karmic Lineage
Status: Tier I Awakening in Progress... 6 hours remaining
Yue stared, wide-eyed. "It knows us."
"Not 'us'," Shen Liang said. "Me."
"And... maybe you."
She glanced at him sharply. "Why?"
"Because you carry Qingxuan's core."
He reached into his robe and pulled out a coin identical to hers—but dark, cracked, and humming with residual fury.
"They were once a pair," he said. "Soul-forged talismans used to open higher realms. Your mother's legacy wasn't just a bloodline. It was a key."
Yue clutched hers tighter.
"And you?" she asked quietly. "Who were you to them?"
"I was the one who betrayed them."
The wind howled softly through the dead towers.
Before she could ask more, the dungeon pulsed again—and Shen Liang's interface reappeared.
---
[System Prompt: Dungeon Anchor Compatible with Host Signatures]
Do you wish to enter the Forgotten Court?
Estimated Instability Timeframe: 6 hours before Anchor Collapse
Warning: Host Soul Signature May Trigger Legacy Trials
---
He turned to Yue.
"I can go alone," he said. "You don't have to—"
"No."
Her voice was steady.
"You said we walk together. That's how I'll survive. And if this place knows my blood, maybe it has something to give back."
He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded.
Together, they stepped into the light.
The world bent around them.
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