Chapter 7: Echoes of the Past
The underground corridors of the Martial Council Citadel smelled of dust and old energy.Flickering rune-lamps cast trembling shadows along the walls, and each pulse of their light revealed murals — half-erased, depicting battles between men and beasts wreathed in flame.
Lira led the way, her boots splashing through shallow puddles."I found these passages while helping my mentor with archive repairs," she said breathlessly. "They connect to the old dynasty vaults. Hardly anyone remembers they exist."
Ren Yu followed close behind, the faint golden glow beneath his skin dimming as he suppressed his qi.The alarms still echoed far above — a faint, angry wail."Why are you helping me?" he asked quietly. "You barely know me."
Lira hesitated before answering. "Because… when you unleashed that power yesterday, I felt something. A resonance. I think we share the same source."
Ren Yu stopped. "What do you mean?"
She turned to face him, eyes reflecting the rune light. "My family kept a relic — a scale, golden and warm to the touch. It reacts when near you." She drew a small crystal shard from her sleeve. Even through the wrapping, it shimmered faintly. "It's from the Golden Dragon Lineage."
Ren Yu's pulse quickened. The dragon's voice within him stirred — an ancient whisper threading through his mind.
'A fragment of my kin. The blood remembers.'
He clenched his fists. "Then the legends were true… the Martial Dynasties really had draconic cultivators."
Lira nodded. "And the Council erased them. Every record, every symbol — gone. They feared what the bloodline could become."
They reached a heavy gate of stone inscribed with complex sealing scripts.Lira pressed her palm to the lock-rune, channeling her qi. "Help me with this."
Ren Yu extended his energy, threads of golden light weaving into the sigils.The seal shuddered, then burst open with a deep boom that echoed down the halls.
Beyond the gate stretched a cavernous chamber, filled with ancient tablets, broken weapons, and the faint hum of dormant arrays.At its center stood a crystalline pillar that seemed to pierce into infinity.
Ren Yu approached it slowly. Inside the pillar shimmered faint images — warriors in flowing robes, dragons spiraling across the skies, cities built upon floating mountains.A vision of a world lost to time.
Lira whispered, "This… this is the Dynasty's Memory Core. A recording crystal that preserves spiritual echoes."
Ren Yu placed his hand on the surface. The crystal pulsed — once, twice — then flared with golden light.
The world tilted.
He stood upon a battlefield beneath a burning sky.Mountains cracked, rivers boiled, and thousands of cultivators clashed in an ocean of flame and lightning.At the center hovered a colossal dragon, its scales molten gold, its eyes vast and sorrowful.
A figure stood upon its head — a man in armor of white jade, his hair long and black, his aura radiant."Ren Tianlong," the dragon's voice thundered. "The heavens fall. The seal must be made."
The man bowed his head. "Then so be it. The Martial Veins shall sleep until the world is ready."
He drove his blade — a weapon of pure spirit — into his own chest, channeling his life into the dragon.Golden light flooded the sky, splitting reality itself.As everything dissolved, the dragon's eyes turned — locking onto Ren Yu across the void.
"Descendant… awaken our legacy."
The vision shattered.
Ren Yu staggered back, gasping.Lira caught his arm. "What did you see?"
He looked up at the fading crystal. "A war. A sacrifice. The founder of the Martial Dynasties sealed the dragon bloodline himself."
"Why would he—?"
"To keep it from destroying the world," Ren Yu finished, his voice low. "He sealed their power into the Martial Veins — the same veins we cultivate with now."
The realization settled between them like thunder.The Martial Council's entire system — every technique, every path — was built atop a suppressed divine lineage.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor behind them — heavy, armored, relentless.
Lira's eyes widened. "They're here!"
Ren Yu turned toward the far wall. "There's another way out?"
She nodded. "Through the lower caverns — but it leads outside the city."
"Good." His tone was steel. "Then that's where we'll go."
As they ran, the dragon's voice whispered again in his mind.
"The seal weakens. Each battle awakens a fragment of what was lost. Be warned — power unbalanced brings ruin."
Ren Yu clenched his jaw. "Then I'll learn balance."
They burst into the open night beyond the citadel — the mountainside washed in moonlight. Below, Qinghe City glittered like a sea of stars.Behind them, distant shouts rose; the Council's forces would not stop until he was captured.
Lira looked to him, wind whipping her hair. "What now?"
Ren Yu gazed toward the horizon where storm clouds gathered."Now," he said, "we stop running."
He lifted his hand — golden flames spiraling around his fingers. "If the Council fears what I am, then I'll show them what I can become."
The dragon's laughter rolled through his soul — deep and ancient.
"Then let the world remember the name Ren Yu."