Stormwind Sect was restless.
News traveled fast—by sunset, every disciple in the outer and inner ranks had heard the tale. The so-called trash, Tianzhan, had defeated Bai Wei in a single move. Drained his spiritual energy. Launched him across the ring like a ragdoll.
Some laughed. Others called it a fluke. A trick.
But the elders… the elders were silent.
Within a bamboo-walled meditation pavilion at the edge of the sect, Elder Xu opened his eyes.
He was one of the few core elders in Stormwind who truly understood spiritual roots. And what he felt ripple through the sect earlier that day unsettled him.
A forbidden energy—one he hadn't sensed in decades.
He stood, brushing dust from his crimson robes.
"So… the seal broke."
His voice was soft but heavy.
"And he awakened…"
Meanwhile, Tianzhan sat alone beneath a tree on the outskirts of the sect, legs crossed in silent cultivation. Moonlight bathed his figure, the silver glow wrapping around him like a second skin.
Inside his dantian, the cracked spiritual seal pulsed. He could feel more of his power seeping through. The Void-Eater Meridian Art was responding well—but it was hungry. The technique demanded energy from others to grow.
He'd need more targets. Stronger ones.
But something else tugged at the edges of his mind—a memory, barely reawakened.
A voice.
A woman's voice, from his past life.
Soft. Powerful. Drenched in blood and sorrow.
"When you fall, I will wait for your return… beneath the Pavilion of Echoing Night."
Tianzhan's eyes snapped open.
He stood.
That name—Pavilion of Echoing Night—was a forbidden ruin hidden deep beneath the sect's sacred grounds. It had been sealed for centuries, declared cursed by the founders.
No one was allowed near it.
"So you knew, even back then…" he murmured. "You knew I would fall. You knew I would return."
His heart pounded. He couldn't ignore the pull. Not tonight.
Under moonlight, Tianzhan moved through shadows, avoiding patrols and elder wards. His memory guided him with terrifying precision—he knew these paths, even though the boy he now was had never walked them.
At the edge of the cliff behind the main sect hall, hidden behind a crumbling shrine, lay a forgotten stone staircase—overgrown with vines.
He stepped onto it.
As he descended, the air grew colder. The stone walls bled spiritual pressure. The lower he went, the more ancient it felt… like the bones of a god buried in the earth.
Then he saw it.
A black pavilion carved into the heart of the mountain. Moonlight touched it from a crack above, illuminating a single word etched into the stone door:
"Return."
He raised his hand—and the door opened on its own.
Inside, a throne of black jade waited.
And on it sat…
Nothing.
But behind the throne, a massive mural glowed faintly—depicting a man in golden robes standing atop a tower of corpses, striking down the heavens with a single finger.
Tianzhan felt his blood boil.
"That… is me."
Before he could take another step—
"So. You found your way back, old friend."
A voice echoed through the pavilion.
Tianzhan turned—eyes narrowing.
A figure emerged from the darkness, face veiled, spiritual pressure restrained but sharp like a blade.
"You should not be alive."