Days later, the Hall of Spirit received word of a rival sect's rising prodigy — a girl called Lian Yue, whose awakening had shaken mountains in the Obsidian Range.
Her spirit: Star-Eater Serpent.
Her power: control over the gravity between souls.
To most, she was a legend-in-the-making.
To Liu Feng, she was the answer to Renshu's warning.
He found BiBi Dong in her private chamber, reading from a scroll of the Heavenly Arrays.
"The prophecy says 'born of both light and shadow,'" he began. "It never said there would be only one."
BiBi Dong looked up. Her eyes softened but her tone stayed sharp. "Prophecies are mirrors, not maps. Sometimes, they reflect more than they intend."
"She's the reflection," Liu Feng murmured. "The other half."
BiBi Dong closed the scroll and stood. "If that's true, then the gods are playing their games again."
Outside, the system stirred.
> [New Directive: Observation mission — Subject: Lian Yue.]
[Potential interference: Divine-tier anomalies detected in Obsidian Range.]
[Warning: Early confrontation may trigger higher awakening sequence.]
"I have to see her," Liu Feng said quietly.
BiBi Dong shook her head. "You're not ready."
"I'll never be ready if I wait for permission," he replied. His tone wasn't defiant; it was calm, inevitable.
She sighed — knowing the rhythm of fate better than anyone alive. "Then go. But take this."
From her sleeve, she produced a talisman carved with the symbol of Life and Balance. It shimmered faintly between green and silver.
"It will steady your spirit if the gods interfere."
He accepted it with a bow. "Thank you, Teacher."
Before dawn the next day, he crossed the outer gates of the Hall, cloaked in traveling robes.
The Genesis System flickered alive.
> [Mission initialized: Obsidian Range — Encounter with Subject Lian Yue.]
[Objective: Observe. Do not engage.]
[Subnote: External node 'Chian Renshu' has synchronized with mission channel.]
The path wound through forests silvered by moonlight, over mountains that still bore the scorch marks of forgotten wars.
At the summit of the seventh ridge, the air thickened — gravity tugged harder, and the system pulsed a warning.
> [Anomaly confirmed. Subject proximity: 50 meters.]
He stopped at the edge of a cliff.
Below, in a crater of glassy stone, stood a girl with hair the color of starlight dipped in ink. Her eyes shimmered with twin pupils, and her spirit ring — black as midnight — rotated slowly around her.
When she looked up, their eyes met, and for a heartbeat, the world stilled.
A soundless pulse swept through the air — his fire and her gravity crossing paths like colliding comets.
The system flared in alarm.
> [Synchronization resonance detected.]
[Warning: Dual prophecy thread confirmed.]
[Outcome branch probability: Creation or Cataclysm — undetermined.]
Then the girl smiled — faint, unreadable. "So you're the Phoenix."
"And you're the Serpent," he said softly.
"Maybe," she replied. "Or maybe we're the same dream, split in two."
The mountain quiv
ered.
The gods, far above, turned their faces toward the world once more.