At dawn, Chao Lun Hui left Azure Cloud Sect with Shen Yan Ting and a jade that had apparently decided directions were an acceptable substitute for explanations.
The Luo Clan jade floated several steps ahead, trailing a narrow thread of golden light towards the northern mountains.
Elder Mo and a senior record keeper followed at a respectful distance.
Sect Master Qing Xu had assigned them to observe and document the journey, though Chao Lun Hui suspected their presence also ensured that Luo Yanhe was not left unsupervised with another ancient object.
Considering recent events, the precaution was understandable.
Still insulting, but understandable.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Hm?”
Luo Yanhe : “If anything explodes today, this disciple is blaming the ancestors.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Which ancestors?”
Luo Yanhe glanced at the jade.
Luo Yanhe : “Whichever ones designed an inheritance without written instructions.”
Shen Yan Ting : “That may include all of them.”
Luo Yanhe : “Then this disciple will blame them collectively.”
The jade continued north without acknowledging the accusation.
They crossed the outer mountain path and entered a forest where the morning mist clung stubbornly to the trees.
The road soon narrowed until they had to travel in a single line.
Chao Lun Hui watched the branches above them.
The shadow from his window had escaped in this direction.
He had seen no sign of the watcher since, but that did not mean they were alone.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “What?”
Luo Yanhe : “Do you think the person who left the clan symbols is still following us?”
Shen Yan Ting : “Possibly.”
Luo Yanhe : “Or perhaps it is an assassin.”
Shen Yan Ting : “That would be a poor decision.”
Chao Lun Hui nearly stepped on an exposed root.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Hm?”
Luo Yanhe : “That sounded threatening.”
Shen Yan Ting : “No.”
Luo Yanhe : “Yes.”
Shen Yan Ting : “No.”
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “What?”
Luo Yanhe : “That was absolutely threatening.”
Shen Yan Ting walked several more steps before answering.
Shen Yan Ting : “Perhaps.”
Luo Yanhe immediately pointed at him.
Luo Yanhe : “Master admitted it.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Did I?”
Luo Yanhe : “Heaven witnessed everything.”
Shen Yan Ting glanced towards the pale sky visible between the branches.
Shen Yan Ting : “Heaven is busy.”
Luo Yanhe placed a hand over his chest.
Luo Yanhe : “Master has become funnier.”
Shen Yan Ting : “No.”
Luo Yanhe : “Master denied it too quickly.”
Behind them, the senior record keeper coughed.
Elder Mo looked at him.
The man immediately became fascinated by the surrounding trees.
They continued for several hours.
The marked trail disappeared after the forest, but the Luo Clan jade travelled onwards, turning through narrow ravines and over mountain paths that did not appear on Elder Mo’s map.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple misses ordinary days.”
Shen Yan Ting : “You attract extraordinary ones.”
Chao Lun Hui lowered his head.
Unfortunately, there was no convincing argument against that.
By midday, the surrounding forest had become unnaturally quiet.
They found no birds, insects or spiritual beasts.
Even the traces left by larger creatures curved away from the region.
The golden light led them towards a wall of ancient mist hanging between two cliffs.
Elder Mo checked the map again.
Elder Mo : “This mountain is not recorded.”
Senior Record Keeper : “Neither is the valley.”
Luo Yanhe : “Perhaps the librarians were involved.”
Shen Yan Ting : “They were not.”
Luo Yanhe : “Master dismisses possibilities too quickly.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Only poor ones.”
The jade entered the mist.
Luo Yanhe followed.
The air changed at once.
Ancient spiritual pressure settled over the path, heavy but not hostile.
The mist thinned behind them, revealing a mountain hidden within the mountain range itself.
Broken buildings covered its lower slopes.
Stone walls had collapsed beneath vines and moss.
Shattered pillars leaned among the trees, and faded inscriptions disappeared beneath centuries of roots.
Roof tiles lay scattered across courtyards where no one had walked for generations.
The floating jade slowed and descended into Luo Yanhe’s palm.
Its warmth vanished.
Its task, apparently, was complete.
Chao Lun Hui looked across the ruins.
His conscious mind recognised nothing.
Luo Yanhe’s body did.
His breathing grew heavier, and grief settled beneath his ribs with the uncomfortable intimacy of an old wound.
The paths looked unfamiliar, yet his feet seemed to know where the stones would lie beneath the moss.
Chao Lun Hui stopped before taking another step.
This was not his home.
These were not his memories.
Yet Luo Yanhe’s body stood among the ruins as though it had finally reached somewhere it had been missing.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Hm?”
Luo Yanhe : “Does this place feel strange?”
Shen Yan Ting surveyed the broken halls.
Shen Yan Ting : “Yes.”
Luo Yanhe turned towards him.
Luo Yanhe : “Master agrees?”
Shen Yan Ting : “Yes.”
Luo Yanhe : “You did not argue.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Must I?”
Luo Yanhe : “No.”
He considered the matter.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple was simply surprised.”
Shen Yan Ting : “You have low expectations.”
Luo Yanhe sighed.
Luo Yanhe : “Master created those expectations.”
Elder Mo entered the ruins behind them.
The senior record keeper paused at the boundary and placed a recording talisman against one of the collapsed stones.
The talisman failed to activate.
Senior Record Keeper : “The mountain is rejecting external spiritual records.”
Elder Mo’s expression sharpened.
Elder Mo : “But it allowed Luo Yanhe to enter.”
The observation carried wonder.
The record keeper’s response carried caution.
Senior Record Keeper : “That may not be reassuring.”
Chao Lun Hui could not fault him.
An extinct clan accepting a disciple involved in forbidden cultivation could be interpreted as restoration or the return of a very old danger.
They proceeded deeper into the ruins.
Each step sent faint ripples through the ground.
Buried spiritual veins responded beneath the stone, following Luo Yanhe’s movement.
Chao Lun Hui looked towards an empty courtyard.
Luo Yanhe : “Why does this place feel lonely?”
No one answered.
The jade warmed in his palm.
Golden light burst from beneath the cracked ground.
Ancient symbols spread across the courtyard and climbed the broken pillars.
The mountain trembled as formations awakened throughout the ruins.
Chao Lun Hui reacted with admirable speed.
He jumped backwards.
Shen Yan Ting did not move.
Luo Yanhe straightened immediately.
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple was testing the formation.”
Shen Yan Ting : “You were startled.”
Luo Yanhe : “No.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Yes.”
Luo Yanhe : “No.”
Shen Yan Ting : “You almost fell.”
Luo Yanhe placed a hand over his chest.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “What?”
Luo Yanhe : “Must Master expose every detail?”
Shen Yan Ting : “Accuracy is important.”
Luo Yanhe : “Not when dignity is involved.”
Shen Yan Ting’s eyebrow moved.
Chao Lun Hui pointed at it at once.
Luo Yanhe : “There.”
Shen Yan Ting : “What?”
Luo Yanhe : “Master’s eyebrow moved.”
Shen Yan Ting : “That is not evidence.”
Luo Yanhe : “It has been accepted as evidence before.”
The formation flared brighter, interrupting the argument.
Ancient pillars lit across the mountainside.
Spiritual veins long buried beneath the ruins surged awake, filling shattered halls with golden radiance.
A deep voice rolled through the mountain.
『BLOODLINE CONFIRMED』
The jade pulsed in Luo Yanhe’s hand.
『SPIRITUAL RESONANCE CONFIRMED』
Every dormant formation turned towards him.
『SURVIVING HEIR IDENTIFIED』
The words settled across the ruins.
Elder Mo drew a quiet breath.
Elder Mo : “The Luo bloodline survived.”
The senior record keeper’s hand remained near his sword.
Senior Record Keeper : “Through someone the sect has not cleared of the forbidden-technique incident.”
Neither response was unreasonable.
The mountain accepted Luo Yanhe’s existence.
Human beings still had to decide what that existence meant.
Chao Lun Hui stared at the glowing formations.
The ruins had waited for Luo Yanhe.
Accepting their recognition felt dangerously close to taking another man’s family, history and place.
Rejecting it felt like abandoning the dead a second time.
Chao Lun Hui did not claim the inheritance.
He only decided that, while he carried Luo Yanhe’s name, he would not exploit what remained of the clan or allow others to erase it again.
Beside him, Shen Yan Ting’s spiritual energy faltered.
His hand pressed briefly against his chest.
No image appeared in his eyes.
No memory returned.
Yet grief crossed his face before he regained control.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “I am fine.”
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple did not ask.”
Shen Yan Ting : “You intended to.”
Luo Yanhe : “Master is becoming inconveniently efficient.”
High above the ruins, the broken-circle emblem of the Luo Clan appeared in golden light.
A sealed gate beneath the central hall began to open.
Luo Yanhe : “Master.”
Shen Yan Ting : “Hm?”
Luo Yanhe : “This disciple may have accidentally inherited something important.”
Shen Yan Ting : “You have been granted access.”
Luo Yanhe : “That sounds expensive.”
Shen Yan Ting : “It probably is.”
Luo Yanhe : “Can we return it?”
Shen Yan Ting : “No.”
Luo Yanhe sighed.
Luo Yanhe : “Master never supports this disciple’s best ideas.”
Shen Yan Ting : “They are terrible ideas.”
Luo Yanhe : “That is subjective.”
Shen Yan Ting : “No.”
Golden characters appeared above the opening gate.
『ACCESS GRANTED 』
『THE HEIR HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED 』
A second line formed beneath them.
『ACCEPTANCE INCOMPLETE.』
The mountain had recognised its surviving heir.
The inheritance had not yet decided whether he was worthy to receive what remained.
The chapter has now been updated to the latest revised version.
I truly appreciate everyone who waited and continued supporting this story while I worked on improving it.
I hope this updated version gives you a smoother and more enjoyable reading experience.
Thank you for staying with me.
Happy reading!