---
The Sect Master never summoned anyone lightly.
Only three reasons existed to stand before him:
To be rewarded.
To be tested.
Or to be erased.
And Yun Mu didn't think he was about to be rewarded.
---
The Path of Silence led to the Dragon Hall. Long steps carved from bloodstone wound up the inner cliffs of Ironcloud Peak, crossing spirit barriers that only opened for direct summons.
The sky was quiet today, but the clouds above the mountain moved unnaturally—forming patterns that spoke of divine formations watching from the heavens.
Yun Mu walked alone.
His shadow didn't follow.
He'd killed it days ago.
---
Dragon Hall was no ordinary place.
Built into the open jaws of a colossal dragon fossil, it loomed across the highest platform of the Ironcloud Sect. The bones of the dragon still pulsed with remnant qi—strong enough to drive low-stage disciples mad with a glance.
The Sect Master waited at the very back.
His name was Gao Tianren, but the world called him Heaven-Splitting Dragon.
They said he had fought a True Immortal during the Collapse War and survived with half his soul intact.
They said his breath could bend fate.
But Yun Mu saw only an old man with dragon tattoos that moved on their own—slithering beneath his skin like they still had will.
"You're early," Gao Tianren said, his voice like thunder behind iron doors.
Yun Mu bowed with one fist across his chest.
"I don't sleep much."
The Sect Master studied him.
"You fought a Soul Flayer in my Sect. You did not die. That is concerning."
Yun Mu didn't speak.
The Sect Master smiled—just a hint.
"You are not like the others. You don't beg for favor. You don't curse your fate. You simply… devour."
He stood, and the weight of the hall changed.
Every breath Yun Mu took felt heavier.
As if the world itself were watching.
Then Gao Tianren asked:
> "Do you want to become a dragon, Yun Mu?"
Yun Mu's eyes narrowed.
"I want to become free."
"Freedom," the Sect Master said, as if tasting the word. "Dangerous dream. It is not Heaven that binds us, boy. It is power. And power answers only to the strong. Are you strong enough to walk without leash?"
Yun Mu didn't answer.
He simply looked him in the eyes.
Something passed between them. Not respect. Not fear.
Recognition.
Two wolves smelling the same blood in each other.
"You have until Core Formation," the Sect Master said finally. "After that, either the Sect claims you… or Heaven will. And we cannot save you from both."
He turned away.
"Leave."
Yun Mu did.
But something followed him as he walked down the silent halls.
Eyes.
Not spiritual sense. Not talismans.
Real, living eyes.
He turned—
And saw her.
---
She stood in the shadow of the bone-pillars. Young—maybe his age. Silver hair braided with gold wire. Robes of white and black, lined with glyphs that shifted between formations with each breath.
But her most striking feature…
Was her eyes.
Amber, with rings that spun like clockwork.
Fate Eyes.
One of the rarest bloodline gifts in the known world.
She looked at him like he was a puzzle already half-solved.
"You are Yun Mu," she said softly.
He said nothing.
She didn't wait for a reply.
"My name is Su Xiren. I was sent by the Lotus Mirror Sect to observe you. And to warn you."
Yun Mu raised an eyebrow.
"Everyone seems eager to warn me lately."
She stepped closer. He didn't flinch.
"You are walking the Hollow Path. But it is not truly Hollow. It is inverted Fate. You are not walking without destiny. You are devouring others to build your own."
Yun Mu's breath stilled.
"You've seen it?"
She nodded.
"Only fragments. Your thread is… broken. Burned. But something else is coiling around it. Something that doesn't belong in this era."
He stared at her.
"You mean I'm cursed."
She shook her head.
"You're becoming one."
---
Meanwhile, far beneath the sect, in a place even the Elders feared to speak of, the Dragon Tomb Wardens knelt around a newly awakened seal.
It pulsed black and gold.
An ancient name surfaced in blood mist:
> "Hollow Dragon… of the End Star Path."
The Warden trembled.
He turned to his captain.
"We must inform the Sect Master."
The captain shook his head.
"No. Not yet. He's not complete."
A pause.
Then the captain whispered:
"When the Hollow Dragon rises again… we either ride him… or we burn with the sky."
---
That night, Yun Mu dreamed of a mountain made of teeth.
Not bone.
Teeth.
Each one had a name carved on it.
He recognized none.
Until he saw one.
> "Su Xiren"
He woke up gasping.
The dream wasn't a warning.
It was a prophecy.
And he didn't know if it was hers… or his.
---