---
Wind howled over the Cracked Moon Plateau.
Clouds churned like boiling ink, covering the sky with a sense of dread. Beneath the dark horizon, a caravan moved—silent, swift, and protected by dozens of cloaked cultivators.
They bore no sect banners.
Only one symbol:
A rusted chain coiled around an open eye.
The Binding Sect had returned.
Once the greatest curse masters of the Central Realms, they had been exiled centuries ago after attempting to chain the soul of a Sky Immortal. Their leader was torn apart by heavenly retribution. Their mountains burned. Their name was struck from the Divine Record.
But now?
Heaven had called them back.
---
At the head of the procession was a figure clad in white bone-armor, his face hidden behind a mask stitched from spirit-skin. Six chains floated behind him, each pulsing with their own sinister aura. Not weapons—sentient bindings, each containing a will.
He was Ji Shen, the Chain-Heir.
He had been born in silence.
Raised in pain.
And taught that the universe only respected two things: force, and fear.
He raised his hand.
The caravan stopped.
He turned slightly, his voice flat:
> "The Hollow Vessel stirs."
One of the cloaked figures behind him spoke hesitantly.
"Do we… seal him, Lord Heir?"
"No," Ji Shen whispered.
"Not yet."
"He must awaken first. Only then can he be chained."
---
Back at Ironcloud Sect, Yun Mu sat on a high cliff, overlooking the jade forests below. The wind here didn't bite—it coiled, brushed, whispered. It felt almost… alive.
Su Xiren sat nearby, lotus petals drifting around her like a subtle shield. She was meditating, but her brows furrowed, as if sensing something far away.
Yun Mu's gaze was distant.
Something inside him was shifting. His Hollow Core pulsed with a rhythm not his own. The Devouring Root writhed like a dragon in its sleep, hungry for something more than qi—hungry for truth.
> "Why do you resist?"
The voice came again.
Not aloud. But from within.
> "Why pretend to be human still?"
He clutched his chest.
Memories flashed. Visions not his own.
—A battlefield of fallen gods.
—Chains dragging a sun into the sea.
—A girl crying beside a hollowed mountain.
—The First Maw laughing from within a mirror.
---
Later that night, Yun Mu dreamed.
But it was no ordinary dream.
Su Xiren had entered it—willingly.
Using a rare lotus technique, she projected her soul into his dreamscape, hoping to glimpse the core of his power… and help him resist it.
She appeared in a mirror forest—where every tree reflected something different: versions of Yun Mu from possible timelines.
In one, he was emperor.
In another, a butcher.
In another, a chained god… begging to be unmade.
> "Yun Mu," she called.
He appeared from the shadows.
But his eyes… were wrong.
Empty. Ancient. Filled with stars.
> "You shouldn't be here," he said.
"This place doesn't belong to you."
She stepped closer.
"I came to save you."
He tilted his head.
> "From what?"
She answered without hesitation.
> "From becoming what they fear you are."
The shadows twisted.
Dozens of maws opened in the forest, screaming curses in forgotten tongues.
The sky cracked.
A chain descended from above, glowing with the seal of Heaven itself.
And then—
> Ji Shen stepped into the dream.
---
Impossible.
Su Xiren staggered back.
"How are you here?!"
Ji Shen smiled behind his bone mask.
> "Dreams belong to the Bound as easily as flesh does."
He raised one hand.
The Sky-Binding Chain lashed out.
Yun Mu reacted instinctively, his form warping—turning black and smoky, Hollow Qi shielding him.
But Ji Shen wasn't attacking him directly.
He struck Su Xiren.
She screamed as her spiritual body was bound midair—lotus petals shattering around her.
"You're interfering," Ji Shen said.
"You change his path. That is not permitted."
Yun Mu moved.
Fast.
One moment he was shadow.
The next, he was behind Ji Shen—his hand clawed like a beast's, covered in Devouring Runes.
He struck.
Ji Shen was hurled through four trees.
Su Xiren fell, coughing spirit blood.
Yun Mu caught her.
His eyes glowed dark.
"You entered my dream," he said to Ji Shen, voice like gravel and flame.
"Now let me show you what dreaming means to the Hollow."
---
The dreamworld twisted.
Mountains turned upside down.
The sky bled rivers of gold.
And in the center, Yun Mu floated—his spiritual body now wrapped in six halos of inverse light. His voice echoed with a second layer—the First Maw's tone beneath his own.
Ji Shen rose slowly, wiping blood from his mask.
"I see," he said.
"You are the vessel."
He tapped his chest.
All six of his cursed chains flew out.
They circled him.
Then flew toward Yun Mu—aiming for his mind, his spirit, his heart, his root, his will, and his memory.
Su Xiren shouted, "Don't let them bind your identity!"
But Yun Mu did something unexpected.
He didn't dodge.
He let the chains wrap around him.
And then…
He ate them.
Each chain shuddered.
Struggled.
Screamed.
And was devoured into his Hollow Core.
Ji Shen fell to one knee.
"No… That's impossible…"
Yun Mu stepped forward, his voice hollow and infinite.
> "You came to chain the Hollow.
But chains are made of fate.
And fate… belongs to me."
---
Outside the dream, Su Xiren awoke coughing blood. Her soul flickered. Her eyes trembled.
Yun Mu stood silently beside her.
She whispered, "He's not… just a man anymore."
And above, far in the sky, a crack opened in the clouds.
A golden eye blinked.
Heaven had noticed.