The Sect of Shadows stirred with new purpose. The traitor was dead. The truth had spread like wildfire, and Liu Shen now stood not just as a guest—but as a symbol. A spark in the dark.
Preparations for the journey to the Phoenix Empire were already underway.
Yet amidst the bustle and rising tension, Liu Shen felt a shadow following him—not one born of the sect's walls, but from his past life.
---
Departure Preparations
Lei Qing paced beside the black-steeled war chariots, checking formations and shadow beasts.
> "The roads to the Phoenix Empire are cursed," he warned.
"Bandits? Not a problem. But we're traveling through the Ember Waste—those lands haven't been mapped in two centuries."
Yu Meixing, dressed in traveling robes of blood-thread silk, added coolly:
> "Ember Waste is a graveyard for divine beasts. Even Heaven's Envoys don't linger there."
Liu Shen stood calmly, looking skyward.
> "That's why it's the best path. They won't expect us to go through Hell's front yard."
Lei Qing snorted.
> "Unless something already waits there."
Meixing whispered, almost to herself:
> "Something... is."
---
A Letter in Ash
Before they left, a cloaked messenger approached Liu Shen at midnight, slipping him a scroll sealed with the sigil of the Molten Ash Sect—a faction wiped out by Heaven over a hundred years ago.
> "Who sent this?" Liu Shen asked.
The messenger bowed.
> "The sender said only: A friend who still remembers the Ninth Flame."
Liu Shen opened the scroll, expecting a trap—but what he found made his blood run colder than ice.
Scrawled in flame-blood ink were two names he hadn't heard in centuries.
> Nian Zhaoyu
Flamewrought Keeper
And beneath them:
> "She lives. In the Ember Waste. Bound by ash and memory."
---
Memories Reawakened
Liu Shen sat alone in the quiet meditation hall, the scroll resting before him.
He hadn't heard Nian Zhaoyu's name since the War of Seven Suns.
She had once served as the Flamewrought Keeper, guardian of the Ninth Flame and holder of an artifact even the heavens feared—The Cinder Core, a crystal that could ignite entire realms with truth-infused fire.
> "She was the only one... who could match me in destruction."
He remembered her laughter during war, the way her flames danced like wild wolves, and the moment she stood against the Heavens alongside him—only to vanish during the Celestial Purge.
> "I thought she died," he whispered.
Or worse—betrayed him.
But if she still lived, buried in the ashlands of the Ember Waste, then perhaps…
> "She holds the other half of the Cinder Core."
---
The Journey Begins
At dawn, the war chariots rolled out.
Shadow riders in blackbone armor flanked them. Each mount was a demon beast forged from darkness and spectral fire.
The party consisted of Liu Shen, Meixing, Lei Qing, and five shadow envoys.
As they approached the Ashroad, the sky turned murky red, and the air thickened with sulfur and embers.
The Ember Waste greeted them with silence—and scorched bones.
> "We don't turn back," Liu Shen ordered.
Meixing nodded.
> "She's here. I can feel her. It's faint, but she… calls."
Lei Qing scanned the horizon.
> "Or it's a trap."
> "Both can be true," Liu Shen said.
---
Ash-Covered Ruins
By nightfall, the group reached the ruins of a once-glorious fortress—half-buried in black sand, its towers crumbled but still radiating ancient fire essence.
Meixing walked toward a shattered mural.
It showed a woman with flames for hair, standing against a golden sky.
> "That's her," she murmured.
"Nian Zhaoyu."
Liu Shen placed a hand on the cracked wall.
> "No doubt. This was once the Temple of the Ninth Flame."
Suddenly, the ground trembled.
A ring of ash rose around them—thick, burning, and rising like a storm wall.
From within the ash, a voice echoed.
> "Who walks my grave… carrying the scent of betrayal?"
---
Guardian of Cinders
Flames erupted from the center of the temple ruins. A woman emerged—her robes were tattered cinders, her eyes glowing molten orange, and her skin lined with volcanic cracks.
Her presence distorted the air itself.
Nian Zhaoyu.
But she was changed. Corrupted. Bound by centuries of isolation and celestial curse.
Her gaze locked onto Liu Shen.
> "You."
Liu Shen stepped forward.
> "It's been a long time, Zhaoyu."
She raised her hand, and a whip of fire lashed out—striking the ground in front of him.
> "I should burn you to dust. You left me."
> "I thought you died," Liu Shen replied.
> "They told me you betrayed me. That you joined them."
Her voice cracked.
> "So I stayed. Guarded the cinders. Alone. For centuries."
> "Then let me say what I never could," Liu Shen said, voice heavy.
"I didn't betray you. I was betrayed too."
---
The Ash Pact
Zhaoyu stood still, fire flickering softer.
> "You seek the Cinder Core?"
> "I seek the truth," he answered.
She narrowed her eyes.
> "Then pass my trial."
A rune ignited in the sky.
The ashstorm roared to life, and the flames grew cold and blue.
> "Enter the Ash Dream. Relive your greatest regrets. Only then will I give you the Cinder Core."
Lei Qing cursed.
> "This is madness!"
Meixing grabbed Liu Shen's sleeve.
> "You don't have to—"
> "I must."
And without hesitation, Liu Shen stepped into the flames.