Yao Xi's POV
Something shifted in the world.
It wasn't loud. Not a tremor or a lightning strike.
Just a pulse.
Like a heartbeat beneath the earth.
Yao Xi felt it while meditating, her sword across her lap. One moment the world was still — the next, it exhaled something old.
Something buried.
She opened her eyes.
Outside her window, birds took flight in every direction. Leaves rustled without wind. The sky dimmed — not with clouds, but with memory.
She stood.
The ring, she thought.
---
Jiang Xuan's POV
He hadn't meant to trigger anything.
He was only holding the ring.
He hadn't even put it on.
But the moment his fingers closed around the black band again, the sigil in his mark glowed faintly — and the space around him shivered.
It was like… something heard him.
Not in words.
In recognition.
And somewhere far away, something answered.
---
Elsewhere — at the edge of the Crimson Desolation.
A monk knelt in a ruined courtyard where fire once rained and nothing grew.
For decades he had waited.
Meditated.
Chanted the old names in silence.
Now he rose, slowly.
The cracks in his skin glowed faintly gold.
He turned to the altar behind him, long collapsed and buried in dust.
It lit up.
Without flame. Without energy.
Just presence.
He whispered a single name.
"Shenlian…"
---
Back in the sect…
Elder Wen burst into the Grandmaster's chamber without knocking.
"Did you feel it?" he demanded.
The Grandmaster nodded, hands already moving across the sky map.
"The First Temple."
"It activated?"
"Something in it did. It's faint, but real."
Wen gritted his teeth.
"So the boy—"
"Has begun to stir the past."
The Grandmaster's eyes flicked toward the south.
"And that means the others will follow."
---
Jiang Xuan's POV
He stood in the clearing behind the sect, alone again. The ring hadn't moved. It hadn't spoken.
But he could feel eyes.
Not the kind watching from shadows.
The kind looking through time.
He clenched the ring in his fist and closed his eyes.
"What are you?"
No answer.
Just a cold calm in his chest.
Like part of him already knew.
---
Yao Xi found him there, standing beneath the old elm tree.
"You triggered something."
"I didn't mean to."
She stared at the black ring still clutched in his hand.
"It doesn't matter. The world doesn't care about your intentions anymore."
He looked up, jaw tight.
"Maybe it never did."
She walked up beside him, hands behind her back.
"There are other Temples. If one has stirred—"
"They'll all wake up," he said.
She nodded.
"Then we have two options. Run. Or meet what's coming."
He turned to her, voice steady.
"I don't run."
"Good," she said, drawing her sword just an inch from the sheath.
"Then let's start preparing."
---
Far away, deep in the Stormsea Mountains.
A statue shattered.
Not from impact — from recognition.
Beneath it, a young girl knelt in prayer, eyes wide as the wind screamed around her.
Behind her, a dozen cloaked figures dropped to their knees, chanting something they didn't understand.
But one voice cut through them all:
"The Lord remembers."
And the world — quietly, faintly — began to remember with him.
---
Jiang Xuan's POV
By sunset, the sky was sickly gold. Clouds hovered too low, as if drawn by memory instead of wind.
Jiang Xuan remained near the rear courtyard, where the sect rarely patrolled. The ring stayed cold in his palm, yet everything around him felt different — like the world was holding its breath.
He didn't speak. Didn't move.
He just listened.
And eventually, something came.
---
The first stranger arrived as the moon rose.
Not with fanfare.
Not with a horde.
Just a single figure wrapped in black robes, face covered by a silver mask etched with ancient runes.
He approached the gate like he belonged there.
The disciple guarding the outer entrance stepped forward.
"Halt. Name and sect."
The masked figure tilted his head.
Then said, in a clear, aged voice—
"I bring offering to the Lord of Echoes."
The disciple blinked. "What?"
Before he could say more, the gate rippled with a wave of spiritual energy — so refined, so ancient, it bypassed every modern formation.
The gate opened itself.
---
Jiang Xuan felt it immediately.
His mark flared.
He turned toward the mountain path and started walking.
By the time he arrived at the gate, the masked man was already kneeling.
He bowed so low his forehead touched the stone.
"Your return is earlier than we expected," he said. "But the First Temple heard the call. And so we answer."
Jiang Xuan stared at him.
"I don't know you."
"You don't need to," the man replied. "Your soul remembers. That is enough."
Yao Xi appeared behind him, silent, sword at her side.
"What do you want?" she asked.
The man did not rise.
"I am the first echo. The voice that guarded the silence. I come only to serve."
---
Elder Wen arrived next, furious and flanked by three disciples.
"Who allowed this man through our barrier?" he barked.
"He walked through it," one of the disciples said weakly. "The gate… obeyed."
Wen glared at Jiang Xuan. "Did you summon him?"
"No."
The masked man finally stood, pulling back his hood.
Underneath the silver mask, his face was gaunt, sun-darkened, eyes sharp with the stillness of an old blade.
"I am not a threat to the sect," he said. "But the sect may soon be a threat to him."
Wen's fingers twitched.
"Is that a warning?"
The man looked to Jiang Xuan.
"I serve the will that once ruled flame and void. That will has begun to stir. Whether the sect bows or breaks… is not mine to decide."
---
Yao Xi moved slightly in front of Jiang Xuan.
"Why now?" she asked. "Why appear at all?"
"Because the seal cracked," he said. "Because the ring has awakened. Because the name has been spoken."
Jiang Xuan's voice was low.
"You said you were an echo."
"I was the voice that kept your legacy alive, even when it was buried beneath centuries."
"And what do you want from me now?"
The man smiled faintly.
"To remind you of who you once were. So you may choose again whether to destroy… or rebuild."
---
Wen stepped forward, eyes narrowed.
"You have no authority here. Leave before I remove you myself."
The air darkened.
Not visibly. Not physically.
But the pressure shifted.
The masked man tilted his head slightly.
"You may try."
Jiang Xuan raised a hand.
"Stop."
Everyone froze.
He looked at the stranger.
"I'm not him yet."
The man bowed again.
"As you wish."
Then turned to leave.
But before stepping through the gates, he paused.
"More will come, Lord Shenlian. Some will kneel. Some will curse. But all will remember."
Then he was gone.
Like fog melting into the night.
---
Yao Xi stayed quiet for a long time after.
Then she said softly, "It's beginning, isn't it?"
Jiang Xuan nodded.
"Yeah."
----
End of Chapter 16