The ceremony ended in silence.
Li Yi stood on the Eastern Sky Peak, overlooking thousands of cultivators who now dared not meet his gaze. The three elite youths lay unconscious, each of them defeated without a single wound on his body. It wasn't just power he had displayed—it was dominion.
The elders couldn't refute it. His aura matched the Li bloodline, and more than that, his presence stirred the ancestral stone—a monument forged by the main house to recognize true descendants.
He had passed the trial without speaking a word of his lineage's depth.
Later that night, he was invited to a private hall high in the peak's inner sanctum. Gold lanterns burned with spirit flame, and elders of the branch family lined the marble floor.
At the center sat the acting patriarch of the Xuan Realm's Li Family branch, Li Qingxian.
His hair was silver, his eyes deep and clear, though weighed by caution.
"You possess strength beyond what a youth of your age should have. The blood of Tianran flows true in your veins," Qingxian said, eyes studying Li Yi. "Tell me… who taught you the Azure Root Scripture?"
Li Yi gave a small bow. "I found it in a ruin. It resonated with me."
That was all he offered.
The room tensed.
Li Qingxian tapped his fingers. "Many would try to take such a technique by force. Especially those aligned with certain elders of the Upper Realm. You must be cautious."
"I am."
A silence passed between them before the patriarch spoke again.
"We offer you the position of Core Heir Candidate. You'll have access to our resources and cultivation lands, but you will be watched. Earn our respect fully, and we will support your ascent."
Li Yi nodded. "Agreed."
---
The next week passed in relative quiet.
Li Yi secluded himself in the Starroot Pavilion, a cultivation ground blessed by an ancient formation. With the Azure Scripture's guidance, his dual cores began merging slowly—a process that could take years for others. For him, it was happening in days.
> Twin Core Fusion Stage – Initiated
The process released waves of qi through the peak. Elders whispered that a new genius had truly arrived.
But far from the Li estate, a different meeting was underway.
Deep beneath the Bloodshade Mountains, abyssal mist coiled. Within a dark cave lit by cursed lanterns, several cloaked figures knelt around a pool of black liquid. A single figure stood above them—horned, with ash-grey skin and an aura that twisted the very laws of nature.
"He defeated the scout," one said. "And his roots grow stronger."
The horned figure nodded. "Then send the Soul-Hollow Envoy. If the Azure Scripture has returned… the seal may soon weaken."
He raised a clawed hand, dipping it into the pool. A distorted image of Li Yi appeared—eyes closed in meditation, surrounded by starlit roots.
> "He will either awaken the gate… or die at our hands."
---
Back in the Starroot Pavilion, Li Yi's body trembled.
Something stirred in his blood.
A memory not his own. A battlefield. A blade forged of divine roots. A man in white robes—his father—standing atop a ruined world, shouting into the void:
> "We cannot let them descend!"
Li Yi jolted awake, gasping.
"What was that?"
A voice echoed faintly in his mind.
> "The gate is weakening. Your time is short. Find the Starlink Altar before the abyss reaches it."
He stood, fists clenched, golden and azure light pulsing from his skin.
There would be no more waiting. The war of the past was returning.
And he would be ready.