The first thing Li Tian heard was the sound of breaking glass.
The second was Chen Wei screaming from somewhere outside.
“WHY IS THE SKY GLOWING?”
Li Tian opened one eye.
Silver light filled his room. The walls trembled, the wooden floor creaked, and a terrible pressure pressed against his chest. In front of him stood Bao Bao, no longer looking like a lazy little fox who stole spiritual fruit.
Ancient symbols revolved around the creature's body. His white fur shimmered like moonlight on snow, and behind him, nine enormous silver tails flickered in and out of existence.
Li Tian stared.
Then he rubbed his eyes.
He stared again.
“Bao Bao?”
“Not now.”
“Your tails—”
“Not now!”
“You told me you were possibly poisonous.”
Bao Bao's ears twitched angrily.
“Why are you discussing poison at a time like this?”
“I'm trying to understand what sort of animal I've been feeding.”
The fox nearly lost control of his spiritual pressure.
Outside the window, the hooded stranger laughed softly.
“So this is the legendary Bai Ze? Reduced to guarding a mortal child and arguing over fruit?”
Bao Bao turned toward the stranger.
“Keep talking. It will make your death more entertaining.”
The stranger raised one hand.
A black talisman appeared between its fingers. Unlike ordinary talismans, it had no written characters. Its surface was covered in tiny holes, each one absorbing the surrounding light.
The moment the talisman appeared, the silver symbols around Bao Bao flickered.
Li Tian's system immediately responded.
[Danger Detection Activated.]
[Unknown artifact detected.]
[Classification: Void-Erosion Talisman.]
[Threat level: Severe.]
[Warning: Artifact may weaken spiritual formations and suppress primordial bloodlines.]
The hooded stranger flicked its wrist.
The talisman shot forward.
Bao Bao opened his mouth and released a stream of silver light. The two forces collided above the floor, creating a violent burst of energy.
The room shook.
A crack ran through the ceiling.
Li Tian immediately ducked behind his bed.
Excellent. Another peaceful evening ruined by people with mysterious identities.
The silver light pushed the black talisman backward, but only for a moment. Dark threads spread across the talisman's surface and began eating through Bao Bao's energy.
The fox gritted his teeth.
“You brought a Void-Erosion Talisman into the mortal world?”
“Your kind should have remained extinct.”
“Your kind should have learned to count before declaring victory.”
Bao Bao snapped his jaws shut.
The silver light vanished.
For a fraction of a second, the black talisman hung motionless.
Then it shattered.
The hooded stranger took a step back.
But before Bao Bao could attack, the broken pieces transformed into dozens of black needles. They scattered in every direction, striking the walls, ceiling, floor, and doorframe.
Black symbols appeared wherever the needles landed.
Li Tian's eyes widened.
The needles were not attacking them.
They were forming a formation.
A formation inside his room.
The stranger had used the fight as a distraction.
“Clever,” Bao Bao muttered.
Li Tian peered around the bed.
“What is it doing?”
“Locking the space.”
“Can you break it?”
“Yes.”
“Then break it.”
“I am working on it!”
A needle shot toward Li Tian's shoulder.
He shifted aside just before it struck the bedpost. The wood instantly turned black and crumbled.
Li Tian stared at the remains.
“That was my bed.”
Bao Bao looked at him in disbelief.
“Your bed is what concerns you?”
“It was a good bed.”
The hooded stranger raised both hands.
The black symbols connected.
A dark dome formed over the room, separating it from the outside world.
The distant sounds of the sect disappeared.
Li Tian could no longer sense the spiritual fluctuations of the surrounding buildings.
They were trapped.
The stranger stepped through the formation as if passing through an open doorway.
“Now,” it said, “we can speak without interruption.”
Bao Bao lowered his body.
“Take one more step and I'll remove your legs.”
The stranger ignored him.
Its hidden gaze settled on Li Tian.
“Do you know why the Void Court has searched for you for so long?”
Li Tian stood up slowly.
“No.”
“Because you are the key to the Ninth Seal.”
Li Tian frowned.
“I thought the Ninth Seal was beneath the western mountain.”
“It is. And so are you.”
“That doesn't make any sense.”
“Not yet.”
The stranger extended a hand.
“Come with me. I can show you the truth about your memories, your system, and the being whose identity you have inherited.”
Li Tian felt a faint pressure behind his forehead.
The white-robed man appeared in his mind again.
The shattered stars.
The armies of immortal cultivators.
The words that had followed him from dream to dream.
Do not trust the heavens.
Li Tian looked at the stranger.
“You expect me to trust someone who broke into my room and tried to stab me?”
“I expected you to be wiser.”
“I expected you to knock.”
Bao Bao made a small sound that might have been a laugh.
The stranger's fingers tightened.
“Then you leave me no choice.”
It raised its hand.
The black needles embedded in the walls began to glow.
And the floor beneath Li Tian's feet split open.
A vast black symbol appeared beneath the room, stretching beyond the walls and deep into the ground. The formation's lines connected to something far below the sect.
For one brief moment, Li Tian saw the outline of nine enormous rings.
Eight shone silver.
The ninth was black.
The image vanished.
The system flashed.
[Ancient formation resonance detected.]
[Warning: Local space is being connected to an unknown structure.]
[Secondary formation identified.]
[Purpose: Extraction.]
[Target: Host.]
Li Tian's expression hardened.
So that's the plan.
The stranger wasn't trying to kill him.
It was trying to extract him from the sect by connecting the room directly to the ancient chamber.
And if the formation completed, no one outside would be able to stop it.
Li Tian looked at Bao Bao.
“Can you hold it?”
“For a little while.”
“How long?”
“Long enough for you to do something clever.”
Li Tian stared at him.
“You have an unreasonable amount of faith in me.”
“I have an unreasonable amount of experience with you.”
The fox's tails spread wide.
Silver light struck the dark dome, forcing the formation's outer layer to tremble.
He did not release his stored cultivation. The system had warned him repeatedly that exposing too much power near the western seal might make the situation worse.
Instead, he studied the formation.
The black needles were arranged in a pattern that looked almost symmetrical. Almost.
One needle near the western wall sat slightly lower than the others.
It was not a mistake.
It was a redirecting point.
Li Tian remembered the formation diagrams he had examined in the archive. The old boundary markers had used a similar arrangement, diverting spiritual energy rather than containing it.
The stranger had copied an ancient formation but misunderstood one crucial detail.
The original formation did not draw energy inward.
It sent energy away from its center.
Li Tian's gaze sharpened.
If I reverse the flow at the redirecting point, the extraction formation may collapse.
He took one step toward the wall.
The stranger noticed.
“Don't move!”
A black needle shot toward him.
Li Tian tilted his head.
The needle passed beside his ear and struck the wall behind him.
He kept walking.
The stranger released three more needles.
Li Tian moved between them with small, seemingly clumsy steps. To an ordinary observer, he appeared to be stumbling in panic.
But every step brought him closer to the misplaced needle.
The stranger's voice rose.
“Stop!”
Li Tian reached the wall.
He placed two fingers against the black needle and gently pushed it upward.
Nothing happened.
For one moment, he wondered whether he had misunderstood the formation.
Then the entire room went silent.
The black symbols stopped glowing.
The dark dome flickered.
A thin crack appeared across its surface.
The hooded stranger froze.
“What did you do?”
Li Tian withdrew his hand.
“Fixed your formation.”
The dome shattered.
A shock wave swept across the room, blowing the remaining black needles out through the windows. The stranger staggered backward as the extraction formation collapsed.
Silver light surged from Bao Bao's body, forcing the intruder toward the broken doorway.
The hooded figure caught itself against the wall.
Then it turned its head toward Li Tian.
“You understand formations?”
“Not particularly.”
“You reversed a spatial extraction array with two fingers!”
Li Tian glanced at the broken needle.
“Perhaps it was poorly constructed.”
The stranger stood motionless.
Then it began to laugh.
Not with amusement.
With recognition.
“So the rumors were true. Even without your memories, you still instinctively understand the laws that bind this world.”
Li Tian's expression did not change.
But inside, his thoughts raced.
Instinctively?
He had never studied advanced formations. His understanding had come from observing the diagrams and noticing a flaw.
Was that ordinary reasoning?
Or had something inside him guided his hand?
Before he could investigate further, the stranger's body began dissolving into black smoke.
Bao Bao lunged.
His silver claws tore through the shadow, but the intruder had already begun escaping.
“Coward!” the fox snarled.
The stranger's fading voice drifted through the room.
“Enjoy your borrowed peace, Silent One. The Void Court will return.”
Its gaze settled on Li Tian one final time.
“And next time, we will not come alone.”
The shadow vanished.
The room became quiet.
A piece of the ceiling fell onto Li Tian's bed.
He looked at it.
Then at the shattered window.
Then at the ruined bed.
“I'm going to need compensation.”
Bao Bao's nine tails disappeared in a flash of silver light. His body shrank back into its familiar, fluffy form.
He landed on the floor and immediately began licking his paw.
“You should be grateful. I saved your life.”
“You destroyed my room.”
“I saved your life in your room.”
“You also destroyed my bed.”
“Your priorities are deeply concerning.”
Li Tian picked up a surviving pillow.
It had a black needle sticking out of it.
He sighed.
“I'm asking Elder Zhao for a new room.”
The commotion had attracted half the sect.
When Sect Master Yun Dao arrived with Elder Zhao and several instructors, they found Li Tian standing beside a broken bed, holding a pillow, while a white fox sat on the windowsill with an expression of profound innocence.
Yun Dao surveyed the room.
The shattered windows.
The cracked floor.
The black marks on the walls.
The faint traces of silver spiritual energy hanging in the air.
Then he looked at Li Tian.
“Explain.”
Li Tian put down the pillow.
“A stranger broke in.”
Elder Zhao's brow twitched.
“And?”
“He attacked us.”
“And?”
“Bao Bao fought him.”
“And?”
“The stranger used a formation.”
“And?”
“It collapsed.”
Yun Dao stared at him.
“Is that all?”
Li Tian considered the question.
“He also damaged my bed.”
Chen Wei, who had just squeezed through the doorway, clutched the wall.
“Brother Li, please stop speaking.”
The sect master slowly turned toward Bao Bao.
“You released the silver aura?”
Bao Bao yawned.
“Perhaps.”
Elder Zhao's eyes narrowed.
“That was not an ordinary spirit beast aura.”
“Perhaps I am not an ordinary spirit beast.”
“You can speak.”
“I have been speaking for days. Your hearing is the real mystery.”
Chen Wei looked at the fox.
Then at the elders.
Then at Li Tian.
“I would like to formally request a transfer to a different friendship group.”
Nobody paid him any attention.
Yun Dao crouched beside the broken formation needle. He examined its surface carefully before looking toward the western mountain.
“This array was connected to the ancient seal.”
Elder Zhao nodded grimly.
“Someone has been modifying the defensive network. The boundary markers, the underground formation, and now this attack. These are not separate incidents.”
“The Void Court,” Yun Dao said.
The name seemed to darken the room.
Li Tian watched their expressions.
The elders knew more than they had admitted during the emergency assembly.
Much more. The source of this chapter is g.com.
Yun Dao stood.
“Elder Zhao, increase the night patrols. Nobody enters the western forest without my permission. Search the sect for any remaining formation needles, and do not activate any unknown artifacts.”
He turned to Li Tian.
“You will come with us tomorrow morning.”
Li Tian blinked.
“For what purpose, Sect Master?”
“To examine the formation records.”
“Wouldn't a formation specialist be better suited?”
“You noticed a flaw that trained instructors missed.”
“I was lucky.”
“Perhaps.”
Yun Dao's expression remained unreadable.
“But luck has become a very persistent companion of yours.”
Li Tian could think of nothing safe to say.
The sect master continued, “Until we understand why the Void Court is targeting you, you will remain within the protected grounds. You are not to approach the western mountain, investigate the old shrine, or attempt to repair any formations by yourself.”
Li Tian nodded obediently.
“Understood.”
Bao Bao quietly covered his face with one paw.
He knew that expression.
It was the expression Li Tian used whenever he intended to follow the rules in a way that technically did not violate them.
After the elders departed, Chen Wei dragged a stool beside Li Tian.
He sat down heavily.
For a long time, he said nothing.
Then he leaned forward.
“Brother Li.”
“Yes?”
“I have decided something important.”
“What?”
“If another mysterious person attacks you, I will help.”
Li Tian looked at him in surprise.
Chen Wei raised one hand quickly.
“From a safe distance.”
“There it is.”
“I will also shout encouragement.”
“Very helpful.”
“And if you defeat the enemy, I will tell everyone I helped.”
Li Tian smiled.
“Now that sounds like you.”
Chen Wei relaxed.
Then he noticed the fox sitting beside the broken pillow.
“By the way, what happened to Bao Bao earlier? For a moment, I thought he had grown nine tails.”
Bao Bao looked away.
“Your eyes were deceiving you.”
“My eyes were not deceiving me! The entire sect saw the silver light!”
“Then the entire sect has poor eyesight.”
Chen Wei opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Then whispered to Li Tian, “Your fox is a terrible influence.”
“I know.”
“I can hear you,” Bao Bao said.
“That was the point!”
For a moment, the room returned to something resembling normal life.
But Li Tian could not forget the stranger's words.
Even without your memories, you still instinctively understand the laws that bind this world.
He looked at his hand.
The same hand that had touched the formation needle.
A hand that, according to the system, belonged to a cultivator whose identity remained restricted.
He wondered what would happen if his memories returned completely.
Would he become the person from the battlefield?
Would he lose the ordinary life he had built?
And if the Silent One had once fought the heavens, what had made him disappear?
The system answered none of his questions.
Instead, a new notification appeared.
[Survival Reward Granted.]
[Stored Cultivation: +20 years.]
[Total Stored Cultivation: 1,155 years.]
[New passive effect unlocked: Formation Affinity.]
[Effect: Host may recognize structural irregularities in certain ancient formations.]
Li Tian studied the message.
Formation Affinity.
That explained why the flaw had seemed so obvious.
It did not explain why the formation had gone silent when he approached it.
Nor why the ancient coffin had reacted to his movement.
He dismissed the notification.
There would be time to investigate later.
First, he needed a new bed.
Far beneath Heavenly Cloud Sect, the ancient chamber remained silent.
The nine rings around the black coffin had stopped trembling.
For a while, nothing moved.
Then a thin silver line appeared across the surface of the lowest ring.
A voice emerged from the darkness.
“The boy has begun to remember.”
Another voice answered.
“No. He has begun to notice.”
A long silence followed.
“Is there a difference?”
“A great one.”
The silver line widened.
Beyond the coffin, ancient symbols appeared across the chamber walls. They depicted a white-robed cultivator standing beneath a shattered sky, facing a vast shadow that swallowed the stars.
At the bottom of the inscription, a warning had been carved in a language older than the current cultivation world.
WHEN THE NINTH RING BREAKS, THE PRISONER AND THE PRISON WILL CHANGE PLACES.
The chamber trembled once.
Then the symbols vanished.
That night, Li Tian lay on the floor of his repaired room because his bed was still unusable.
Bao Bao curled up beside his pillow.
Outside, the moon shone over the silent sect.
Li Tian was almost asleep when a final notification appeared.
[Unknown memory fragment detected.]
[Source: Ancient formation.]
[Message recovered: One line.]
The words appeared slowly, one character at a time.
“The Ninth Seal was not created to protect the world from you.”
Li Tian sat upright.
A second line emerged.
“It was created to protect you from what you became.”
The notification disappeared.
For a long time, Li Tian remained motionless.
Then he slowly turned toward Bao Bao.
The fox was asleep, snoring softly, with one paw resting on Li Tian's remaining pillow.
Li Tian looked toward the dark window.
“Bai Ze,” he whispered.
The fox opened one eye.
“What?”
“Tomorrow, you're explaining everything you know.”
Bao Bao closed his eye again.
“Tomorrow, I will be mysteriously unavailable.”
Li Tian picked him up.
The fox immediately woke.
“Unhand me, mortal!”
“Tell me the truth.”
“I am an ancient spirit beast!”
“Then you can stay awake like one.”
Outside the room, a shadow moved across the roof.
It paused above Li Tian's window.
A faint black symbol appeared on the tiles.
Then a second.
Then a third.
Far beyond the sect, a cold voice whispered into the night.
“The first attempt has failed.”
Another voice replied.
“Then send someone who remembers the old war.”
The shadow disappeared.
And beneath Heavenly Cloud Sect, the ninth ring of the ancient coffin gave a single, unmistakable crack.
To be continued…