The winds that danced over Whiteglass Lake shimmered with the weight of ancient silence. Silver waves glistened beneath an eternal moonlight, though no moon could be seen, only the pale auroras rippling in the sky. Deep beneath those waters lay the ruins of a civilization forgotten by time, and above it, on scattered isles that broke the surface like jade petals, lived the last water-born tribe of the Caldrith Dominion—the Nai-Lan.
Su Mengtian stood before the grand map of the Heavenly Spear Alliance within the Pavilion of Missions. Envoys flanked him—young, sharp-willed cultivators chosen from the Hall of Echoes and the Hall of Tempests, prepared for the task of diplomacy and allure. Behind them, Liao Yun, Director of the Pavilion, finished sealing the final scroll bearing Su Mengtian's royal decree.
"This is not conquest," Mengtian said, turning to face his envoys. His tone was calm, but his amber eyes carried the commanding gravity of the Sovereign. "You're not emissaries of dominance. You are messengers of unity."
Liao Yun bowed. "We've included offers to build a floating combat arena and a Sanctuary node under the guidance of Yune Yashara. The Nai-Lan people hold to sacred water rites. Our proposal includes protection of their ancestral grounds."
"That's not enough," Mengtian said quietly. "They've lived in isolation for centuries. They must feel respected, not merely accommodated."
Yueying stepped beside him, her silken robe fluttering like moonlight over a midnight river. "Then go yourself. If they demand the Sovereign, they must know what the Sovereign truly means."
Three days later, a diplomatic vessel glided over the mirrorlike surface of Whiteglass Lake. It bore the emblem of the Heavenly Spear Alliance, woven in a banner of azure and silver: a spear piercing the horizon beneath a radiant star. The ship, guided by elemental wind currents, came to rest near the largest floating isle—Lantherin, capital of the Nai-Lan tribe.
The island pulsed with natural elegance—crystalline pools, lotus-like structures grown from woven coral, and translucent walkways curved in graceful arcs over water gardens. Awaiting them at the Moonstone Pier was a procession of blue-robed warriors with helms shaped like curling tidewaves.
Su Mengtian stepped down, wearing ceremonial robes embroidered with flowing patterns mimicking cloud and stream. Behind him came Yueying and a small delegation of peace-bound Hallmasters—Baojin of Aegis, Kai Chan of Echoes, and Yune Yashara, the director of the Sanctuary of Beasts.
From the Nai-Lan side, a woman stepped forward, her skin shimmering like opalescent pearl, her hair cascading like melted silver down her back. Her presence stirred the lake winds. This was Princess Liuyue—the Azure Pearl of Whiteglass.
"You have come," she said in a voice like rippling tide. "But why should a Sovereign, whose feet tread realms of flame and steel, seek a realm of silence and water?"
Su Mengtian met her gaze without raising his voice. "Because silence echoes longer than sound. And water remembers what flame forgets."
The Nai-Lan gathered in the Moonshrine Hall, where an orb of condensed lake essence floated at the center like a breathing heart. Liuyue stood beside it, flanked by her court—priestesses, tidecallers, and battle-sworn.
"We ask for no war," Liuyue said. "We ask only that you recall our pain. Once, our kin were dragged into border wars, used for our healing waters and then discarded. The mainland calls us ghosts. The empires call us myths."
Su Mengtian nodded. "And yet your song remains."
The entire chamber fell silent. Even the orb pulsed slower, as if listening.
Mengtian's voice, soft as a child whispering into a seashell, began to hum a lullaby:
Where moon forgets, the tide shall keep, The echo sung in silver sleep, When hearts of glass and ocean weep, The Nai-Lan's breath the dream shall reap....
Liuyue staggered. Her hand clutched the edge of the shrine. Her eyes widened—not in fear, but in memory.
"That… that song… only my mother sang that. During the War of Wyrmfang… how do you know it?"
Su Mengtian didn't answer right away. Yueying took a step forward, her expression unreadable.
"He dreamed it," she said, her voice quieter than before. "Years ago, before even the Alliance was formed. One night, when the stars over Kun Island fell like rain, he woke murmuring a song that did not exist in any text."
Su Mengtian finally looked up. "I thought it was just a dream. But now I believe it was a memory… not mine, but something older, perhaps passed to me in blood, or fate."
Liuyue bowed, her head touching the polished coral floor. When she rose, tears gleamed unshed in her eyes. "You carry not just power, Sovereign. You carry remembrance. We accept your hand."
Over the next few days, the diplomatic accords were inked in blue jade. The Nai-Lan tribe would join the Heavenly Spear Alliance under two banners: the Sanctuary of Beasts, where their tamed aquatic spirits would live protected and honored, and the Battle Arena, where their tidecallers could compete without shedding blood in war.
Yune Yashara personally swore guardianship over the Nai-Lan's sacred breeding waters. Elira Sorn, Warden of the Battle Arena, pledged that all Nai-Lan duels would be judged with fair witness and crystal-bound record.
In return, the Nai-Lan offered their deepest gift: the Tideloom Pearl, a living artifact capable of forecasting elemental imbalances across oceans—a treasure even Empires once hunted.
When the accord was sealed with rain-charged rites and spirit-chime dances, Su Mengtian stood upon the central platform of Lantherin's Tidehall and watched as the entire lake shimmered in reflection—sky and water momentarily indistinguishable.
Yueying stood beside him.
"You remember songs from dreams," she said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"I remember pain that wasn't mine," Mengtian replied. "And I will carry it like it is."
For a moment, Yueying looked away. But not before Mengtian caught the wet glimmer at the corner of her gaze.
Three days later, as they left Whiteglass Lake, a new fleet followed them—a host of watercrafts borne on winds and water beasts, sailing under the banner of the Heavenly Spear Alliance.
Liuyue led the convoy, clad now in silver-scaled armor and royal tide-robe.
The Azure Pearl had joined the realm.
And through remembrance, not dominance, the waters themselves followed the Sovereign.
As the mist curled low over the shimmering expanse of Whiteglass Lake, the waters now mirrored a new bond—etched not through conquest, but song, memory, and mutual respect. The Nai-Lan tribe's decision had sent ripples far beyond their crystalline grottos. Now, it was time to seal their place within the Heavenly Spear Alliance.
Su Mengtian returned to Tianzhen City with Princess Liuyue and her retainers in tow. The Sanctuary of Beasts, with its cascading terraces and flowing canals, had prepared an elaborate aquatic procession in their honor. Yune Yashara, the director herself, stood at the entrance in a robe interwoven with silver kelp silk and adorned with aquatic glyphs.
"You have brought not just an alliance, Sovereign," she said, bowing deeply to both Mengtian and Princess Liuyue, "but the return of kin long thought lost to solitude."
Liuyue smiled faintly. "We were not lost. We simply waited for the winds to carry us a worthy current."
That current was now Su Mengtian. As the Nai-Lan were formally inducted into the Sanctuary, beastkin from far-off underwater sanctuaries emerged—some traveling from flooded ravines beneath the eastern islands, others surfacing from submerged valleys near Frostveil Chasm. It was a convergence of kindred spirits long isolated by fear or forgotten treaties.
Princess Liuyue was offered the honorary title of Keeper of the Deep Harmonies, granting her advisory influence within the Sanctuary of Beasts on aquatic matters. It was the first such title given to a non-director.
---
In parallel, the Battle Arena, under Warden Elira Sorn, announced a special showcase tournament: The Calling of the Tides. Teams of mixed origin—land and aquatic—would participate in duels and trials, promoting camaraderie and martial respect. Liuyue herself would open the event with a ceremonial invocation.
But not all in Whiteglass Lake watched with joy.
Three other aquatic clans—the shell-armored Zhalan, the elusive river-dwelling Kauri, and the ink-weaving Okrin—had once vied for dominance over the Nai-Lan during the Era of Fragmented Wills. Now, they viewed her allegiance to Su Mengtian as either betrayal or opportunity.
From the jade-finned emissaries of the Zhalan, a diplomatic missive arrived: "Should the Sovereign of Heaven's Spear uphold the customs of fluid parity, we shall offer our own emissaries to negotiate parallel integration."
Xu Tian reviewed the message alongside Su Mengtian and Yueying. "It's not loyalty—they smell political tides shifting," Xu said. "Still, soft power gains harder footing in fractured lakes."
Su Mengtian nodded. "Let them come. Let every fragmented kin know that unity through memory and meaning is stronger than dominance."
---
## Echoes of Memory
The spirit-chime melody that had changed the course of the meeting with Liuyue continued to echo in Su Mengtian's thoughts. At twilight, as Yueying walked the Skybridge Garden beside the Heavenly Soul Palace, she turned to him.
"You remembered a mother's song… one sung during a border war before you were born. And you said you heard it in a dream?"
Su Mengtian paused. "It was like listening through water and time. When Liuyue sang it… the memory struck me not in the ears, but the heart."
Yueying frowned, uncharacteristically silent for a long moment.
"Do you think it's possible," she finally said, "that some bloodlines don't carry just power—but echoes of memory?"
He turned to her, eyes burning with the flicker of understanding. "Not reincarnation. Not prophecy. A legacy of knowing… deeper than time."
In her silence, Yueying's posture shifted just slightly. She wasn't just pondering—it unsettled her. As if a secret too dangerous to speak had been stirred.
The Calling of the Tides was held beneath the semi-floating arc of the Battle Arena's new eastern wing—an amphitheater built with flood-gates and tiered rings that could be submerged or elevated at will. Teams of cultivators representing the ten Halls faced Nai-Lan fighters in contests of skill, spirit, and unity.
From the Hall of Tempests, Lan Qiu led a group that rode surging whirlwinds over water, hurling stormlaced spears.
From the Hall of Aegis, Baojin's disciples formed lotus-shaped formation circles upon rafts that resisted every crashing wave.
Even the Hall of Shadows surprised many: Ji Yeyan's agents used water reflections as portals to ambush and vanish, unsettling even the most attuned Nai-Lan defenders.
But the audience never jeered, only cheered. The waterfolk learned of the land. And the landfolk… learned that the lake held wonders beyond depth.
In the final match, Liuyue herself faced Yueying.
Yueying bowed low before drawing her blade.
Liuyue placed two fingers to her lips and whistled.
The chimes responded.
Their duel was a dance of radiance and song, blades and currents. At the final moment, when Yueying's lightblade brushed Liuyue's shoulder and Liuyue's whip of moonwater grazed Yueying's wrist, both halted.
They bowed.
It was a draw.
And the crowd rose to its feet, cheering not for victory—but for unity.
Later that night, as Su Mengtian stood at the overlook of the Twin Guardian Mountain Gate, Xu Tian joined him.
"You've given them peace. You've brought peoples to one name. But something still weighs on you."
Su Mengtian turned his gaze to the stars. "That melody… it wasn't the only one."
Xu Tian's eyes narrowed. "You've heard more?"
He nodded slowly. "They come only in dreams. Places I've never been. Words in languages I do not know—but understand. And every time, I wake with a feeling that they are not dreams. They are calls."
Xu Tian placed a hand on his shoulder. "Then we must prepare for more than peace, Sovereign. For not all echoes are from the past. Some… are warnings."
The success at Whiteglass Lake was not just a regional alliance. It became a model. Envoys were sent to other culturally isolated or ideologically wary factions.
In the snowy south, beastkin of frost-river descent received tales of Nai-Lan integration. In the volcanic east, fire-dancers of the shattered Ember Isles began building spirit-bridges to communicate with Whispersteel agents.
And in the far north, where a long-abandoned Hall once vanished beneath starlight, a solitary beacon flickered…
The world was watching. The Heavenly Spear Alliance had not just power, but presence. A realm of Halls, cities, departments, and sovereign ideals now held a voice so resonant it reached even the silence beneath the lakes.
As the Calling of the Tides concluded, Su Mengtian, flanked by all ten Hallmasters, stood atop the Waterborne Dais.
He raised his hand.
The crowd silenced.
"From the winds that cross the heavens to the tides that cradle us in silence, we have heard each other. We have remembered not only strength—but the heart of who we are. Let this moment be a hymn not of conquest, but of becoming."
Princess Liuyue stepped forward and sang one final time. The spirit-chimes rose in gentle resonance, caught by the breeze.
Yueying closed her eyes.
And for a moment, across realms, waters, and hearts—there was harmony.