Cursed Ravine – Entry Point: Bone Choir Basin
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
The land was a graveyard of stone and scorched memory — the cursed ravine lived up to its name. A valley of jagged black cliffs scarred with bone-colored etchings. Whispering winds carried not just air, but voices — echoes of cultivators long burned into ash.
Lin Yue's boots crunched on brittle earth.
Each step activated ghostly murmurs, like forgotten songs humming from deep below.
Jian Mu muttered, "I feel like the land's trying to chew on my qi."
"It is," Xu Lian said calmly, adjusting his glasses. "Residual flame consciousness from the First Phoenix Era. Spiritual echoes of failed resurrections. This isn't just a battlefield. It's a tomb furnace."
Lian Rou, now clad in crimson war robes, turned to Lin Yue. "This place is… alive. My flame reacts to it."
Lin Yue nodded. "That's why we're here."
He opened his palm, revealing a dimly glowing bone shard — the Phoenix Soul Remnant recovered from Outpost Alpha's relic chamber.
It pulsed.
And the ravine answered.
Side Scene – Within the Mobile Sanctum: Li Qingmei's Awakening
She woke in pain. Not screaming — just trembling.
Li Qingmei lay in a small room inside the guild's mobile sanctum, her limbs wrapped in golden thread seals, body radiating both warmth and decay. The cursed vessel inside her resisted Lin Yue's bloodline infusion… but hadn't won.
Yet.
The door opened.
Lin Yue entered with a bowl of spirit porridge and a steady gaze.
"You should eat. You're still healing."
Qingmei stared at him. "Why didn't you kill me? You know what I carry. What I could become."
"I've seen monsters," Lin Yue replied, kneeling. "You're not one of them. Not yet. Not ever… if you choose otherwise."
She bit her lip. "But what if I hurt someone? What if I—"
He held up her left hand — a guild ring newly forged onto her finger. "Then we'll burn the curse together."
A long pause.
Then, softly: "...Yue-gongzi. I want to stay."
Guild Status Screen – Li Qingmei
Realm: Golden Core (Stabilizing)
Title: Provisional Guild Member
Condition: Duality Soul Core – Phoenix-Curse Bound
Skills: [Spirit Pulse Weaving], [Ashen Regrowth – Incomplete]
Affiliation: Nirvana Phoenix
Bond Status: Awaiting Trial Flame
Visual Map – Active Mission Zones
Cursed Ravine – Bone Choir Basin – [ACTIVE]
Status: Phoenix Bone Resonance Detected
Threat: Flame Echoes, Bone Choir Wraiths
Objective: Recover Phoenix Bone Relics
Green Pearl University – Hidden Archives – [COMPLETE]
Status: Ming Yushu Extraction Succeeded
Enemy Interference: High
Ashen Fang Tunnels – Escape Route South – [Locked]
Entry Requires: Cursed Seal Decryption
Black Lantern Grove – Sighting Reports – [Available]
Rumors: Rogue cultivator lairs; spirit flame fragments
Difficulty: Medium
Combat Break – Bone Choir Ambush
In the heart of the ravine, Lin Yue's party reached a hollow surrounded by skeletal monoliths. As he placed the bone shard on an altar of charred stone, the ground rumbled.
From beneath — they came.
The Bone Choir.
Wraith-like creatures formed from centuries of flame-warped bone, humming funeral melodies through split jaws. Their song wasn't just noise — it was spiritual interference, fraying thoughts and disrupting qi flow.
Jian Mu's axes vibrated violently. "Shit. I'm hearing my mother's lullaby."
Xu Lian growled, deploying silence talismans. "Block the sound or we'll lose our minds!"
Lian Rou covered her ears but was already bleeding from her nose. "Yue-ge—!"
Lin Yue activated his Phoenix Domain: Ashfall Sky – Core Collapse. A ring of divine flame burst from his body, silencing the world momentarily.
But it wasn't enough.
The largest wraith surged forward — an amalgam of phoenix skulls and fallen cultivator armor.
"Wraithbone Sovereign!" Xu Lian shouted.
"I'll pin it!" Jian Mu leapt with reckless abandon, his twin axes embedding into the beast's torso. It screamed, throwing him into a pillar.
"Lian Rou!" Lin Yue barked. "Form Sync!"
"Ready!"
Their flames intertwined — crimson and gold spiraling into a helix. They launched Twin Spiral: Flame Severance, piercing the Wraithbone Sovereign's mask. But it only staggered.
Then…
A new flame burst across the battlefield.
Li Qingmei stood there — barely clothed, her seal threads torn, the curse still leaking smoke from her body. But her eyes burned blue and red — phoenix and darkness intertwined.
"You'll not touch them."
She raised both hands.
"Cursed Flame Blessing: Soul Silence!"
A sphere of corrupted phoenix fire erupted, enveloping the Wraithbone Sovereign in a cocoon of deathly stillness.
It howled…
And then disintegrated.
Ash rained down.
Power Progression Update – Li Qingmei
New Skill Awakened:Cursed Flame Blessing
Status: Bond Initiation Confirmed (Pending Sync)
Dual Path Confirmed: Healer / Spirit Executioner
Emotion Flag: Protective Resolve (Target: Lin Yue, Lian Rou)
Side Story Break – Ming Yushu's Return
Ming Yushu arrived at the ravine's perimeter late, blood on her lip and a cracked blade hanging at her hip.
Lin Yue helped her down from her spirit hawk. "What happened?"
"I got the full ledger," she rasped. "And more."
She handed him a scroll marked with black talons.
"Lu Bai — the Ashen Fang's true commander — he's not just a cultivator. He's part demonic construct. He's seeking ancient phoenix marrow to fuel a ritual. One that rewrites fatelines."
Xu Lian's eyes widened. "That's… forbidden."
"Exactly," Yushu said. "He wants to erase his humanity… and use you, Lin Yue, as the flame source to do it."
Silence.
Then Lin Yue spoke, his voice calm as a blade.
"Then we find him… and burn his fate instead."
Next Chapter Preview: Chapter 15 – The Demon That Wears a Man's Skin
The Guild descends into the Ashen Tunnels.
Ming Yushu and Lin Yue face a cultist from Lu Bai's inner circle.
Li Qingmei's bond fully ignites — and her curse evolves.
A new faction makes first contact: The Moonfire Tribunal.
And Lin Yue dreams… of his true origin.