The morning was quiet.
Too quiet.
Even the birds had stopped singing.
Jiang Han stood on a rise just east of the shrine ruins, overlooking a narrow trail where the mist pooled like a breathing lung. The Ember Pulse he'd practiced still tingled in his palm—residual energy flickering under his skin.
He turned his head as Lin Yao and Yue approached.
"I don't like the silence," Jiang Han said.
"It's never this still," Yue agreed, nocking an arrow to her shortbow. "Spirit beasts would've stirred by now."
"Which means something's hunting them," Lin Yao murmured.
Bo Ren appeared behind them, staff in hand, brows furrowed. "I saw it. Half a kilometer west. Movement. Not a beast. Too fast. Too direct."
Jiang Han's gaze sharpened.
"Show me."
---
The group crept through the woods, each step cautious, each leaf disturbed a warning. Jiang Han kept his flame thread ready, wrapped around his forearm like a bracer. His fingers traced the scroll he'd memorized the night before—Ember Pulse still only 34% synced, but usable.
Lin Yao stayed close behind. No weapon yet—but she carried salves, herbs, and quiet resolve.
Bo Ren halted near a fallen log, crouching low.
"There," he whispered, pointing through the branches.
Jiang Han leaned forward.
What he saw stopped his breath.
A humanoid figure knelt by a tree—clad in tattered robes, its head cocked unnaturally to the side. Long fingers pierced the earth like roots.
It wasn't breathing.
It wasn't alive.
A Collector.
Worse, it was no longer passive.
Its head snapped toward them suddenly—sensing spirit presence.
Bo Ren cursed under his breath. "We're exposed."
The Collector rose—jerky and wrong. From beneath its robes, black veins pulsed across its arms. Chains of shadow unfurled like snakes from its spine, writhing toward them.
> "Jiang Han—get distance!" Bo Ren shouted.
But Jiang Han didn't run.
He stepped forward, eyes blazing.
"Let me try something."
---
The Collector struck.
One chain lashed forward like a whip, cutting the air.
Jiang Han leapt sideways, rolling behind a tree. The bark exploded into splinters where the chain hit. He sprang up, flame thread coiled into a whip.
> "Flame Thread – Crossbind Form!"
He snapped it at the ground between them, triggering a ring of fire to erupt in a half-moon arc—forcing the Collector to step back.
Bo Ren hurled his staff like a spear—striking the creature in the shoulder. It staggered but didn't bleed.
"No soul core," he muttered. "It's a husk."
"Then we burn it," Jiang Han growled.
The Collector launched two chains this time—one for him, one for Yue. Yue ducked behind a tree, loosing an arrow that hit the Collector's leg. It didn't flinch.
Jiang Han exhaled sharply.
> Now.
He planted his feet, held out his hand.
"Soulforge Art – EMBER PULSE!"
A roar of fire erupted from his palm—compressed into a tight beam, spiraling outward.
It hit the Collector square in the chest.
There was a shriek.
Smoke and black steam billowed from the impact point.
The chains writhed—and for a moment, the creature faltered.
Then it charged.
> Still moving? That wasn't enough...!
It was faster now—closing the gap.
Jiang Han barely managed to dodge a chain slash that cut through a tree behind him. The shockwave knocked him down.
"Damn it—my affinity's still too weak—!"
"Han!" Lin Yao's voice cut through the air.
He turned—and saw her kneeling, her hands glowing faint green.
He knew that aura.
> Wood-type spiritual resonance… she's awakening?
"Let me… try!" she cried.
The herbs in her pouch swirled into the air, glowing faintly. A web of green vines sprouted from the soil—her spiritual essence pulling from the roots.
The vines lashed upward—catching the Collector's foot just long enough for it to stumble.
"Now!" she screamed.
Jiang Han gritted his teeth. Energy surged through his arms.
One shot left.
He poured every ounce of flame into the next strike.
> "EMBER PULSE – OVERLOAD FORM!"
The fire shot out—not a narrow beam, but a wide, exploding cone. It hit the Collector full in the torso.
This time—it didn't rise.
Its body collapsed, twitching. The black veins sizzled, the chains burned away. The forest fell still again.
Silence.
Then a system chime:
> You have defeated a Corrupted Entity: Collector Husk (Low-Tier)
+55 EXP
+Soul Resonance Activated
+Affinity Bonus: Flame +1 / Sync +4%
Level Up: Level 3 Achieved
New Perk: Soulforge Progression I – Skill creation efficiency increased by 10%
Soulforge Genesis: 5% Awakened
Jiang Han stumbled, catching himself on a branch. He exhaled slowly, the fire dying in his fingers.
"Still standing," he said, smiling faintly.
Lin Yao ran to him, eyes wide. "You—your arms are shaking!"
He looked down. They were—burned along the edges.
"I overloaded the pulse. Worth it."
Bo Ren approached slowly, nodding once. "You just killed something half the sect elders won't face alone."
Yue whistled low. "And you're thirteen. Damn."
Jiang Han turned to Lin Yao. "You awakened."
"I… I don't know how," she said, trembling. "I just wanted to help. The energy... it answered me."
He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"That's how it always begins."
---
That night, they returned to the shrine.
Jiang Han sat under the stars again, arms wrapped in salve-soaked bandages. The others slept nearby, exhausted but alive.
And for the first time… he wasn't just surviving.
He was leading.
Not just Lin Yao now—but others.
> Soon, I'll need to teach. Form bonds. Build.
The fire inside him pulsed.
But so did a new feeling.
A memory.
Of why he had come back.
Of the universes lost… and the Immortal Realms still waiting.