The guardian's golden eyes burned brighter, its molten veins pulsing as it adjusted its stance. It was no longer treating Lian Yu as a mere intruder.
"It recognizes me. But from where?" Lian Yu thought, his body tensed for the next strike.
Then, for the first time, the guardian spoke.
"Defier of Heaven... you should not exist."
Its voice was like grinding stone, heavy with ancient weight. The words sent a shock through Lian Yu's mind.
Defier of Heaven?
The title stirred something deep within him—a fragmented memory, a battle lost to time.
But there was no time to dwell.
The guardian vanished—one moment it stood firm, the next, it was right in front of him.
Lian Yu barely twisted his body in time, feeling the crushing force of the guardian's attack scrape past his ribs. Even a glancing blow felt like a mountain crashing down.
"Too fast."
He leapt backward, but the guardian pursued relentlessly. Each strike came faster than the last, the weight behind them shaking the entire temple.
This was no mindless beast. It was a warrior.
And it was fighting as if Lian Yu was an enemy it had long awaited.
Lian Yu's mind raced. If this thing called him a 'Defier of Heaven'… then it knew something about his past.
But the fight was getting dangerous. His newly awakened Heaven's Flowing Shadow allowed him to slip past the guardian's attacks, but it wouldn't last forever. He needed to counterattack.
"Time to push back."
Lian Yu's fingers tightened. The pendant in his palm was boiling hot.
In the split second between the guardian's next attack, Lian Yu struck.
His palm landed on the guardian's molten chest, and the moment his Qi made contact
A crack formed.
The guardian froze.
Its golden eyes flickered. The moment stretched… then shattered as the guardian suddenly stepped backward.
"You... still remember the path." The voice, once full of authority, now held a strange reverence.
Lian Yu exhaled, stepping forward. "What am I to you?"
The guardian hesitated. Then, to his shock—
It knelt.
The molten veins dimmed, the stone-like body no longer hostile. When it next spoke, it was no longer as an enemy, but as a being bound by oath.
"You are the one who was never meant to return."