The skies above the Celestial Capital had changed.
Where once the stars shimmered in tidy constellations, now they pulsed with unrest. Even the most seasoned astrologers of the Imperial Observatory could not decipher their shifting patterns. They muttered of a coming imbalance. Of an ancient prophecy waking from slumber. Of a sky that would fracture before it could heal.
Tianming stood on the highest terrace of the Azure Pavilion, robes billowing in the predawn wind. His eyes, no longer those of a mere cultivator, glinted with the residual starlight of his Second Awakening. The world felt different now. The system had evolved, and so had he.
> System Notification: "Main Quest Chain: Trial of the Seven Lights Initiated." "First Trial Location: Broken Sky Temple (Western Province)" "Estimated Time Remaining Until Abyssal Emergence: 89 Days"
Eighty-nine days.
Less than three months to quell seven rising anomalies scattered across the vast expanse of the Celestial Empire. Each infused with an aspect of the abyss. Each guarded by the unknown.
A soft knock pulled Tianming from his thoughts.
Zhao Yueyin entered, dressed in traveling armor, her long black hair bound behind her like a silk banner of war. She nodded, wordlessly handing him a jade scroll—an imperial decree bearing the Emperor's mark.
"You've been formally granted command of the Vanguard Legion," she said. "Ten thousand elite cultivators. Ten spirit engineers. Three skyships. And…" she hesitated, "the Emperor's personal blessing."
Tianming took the scroll with a solemn bow. "Then we begin. Westward first. To the Broken Sky Temple."
---
Western Province – Three Days Later
The wind howled across the red canyons of the Western Province, carrying dust and the echoes of ruined prayers. Once a holy site for cloud diviners and spirit singers, the Broken Sky Temple now lay silent, its great statues cracked and weeping soot.
Tianming arrived with his core unit: Zhao Yueyin, Lan Mei, Bai Rui, and a newly assigned tactician named General Han Tuo, a stoic former war monk of the Crimson Peaks.
But the temple was not empty.
As their party passed beneath the shattered gate, symbols on the walls flared to life, glowing with cursed blue fire. The air thickened.
Then came the laughter.
Soft, mocking. Inhuman.
From the central altar emerged a man—or what once was a man. Cloaked in feathers black as pitch, his face bore no eyes, only a single vertical slit across his forehead that blinked slowly.
"The first light dares the darkness," he crooned.
Tianming stepped forward, summoning Starpiercer.
"I am Heaven's Vanguard. I seek the Shard of the Sky."
"The shard?" the creature said, smile stretching unnaturally. "The shard is not for mortals. It has already chosen a host."
With that, a tremor shook the earth. From behind the altar rose a massive stone golem, its body inlaid with blue veins of void energy. Within its chest hovered a crystal fragment—shaped like a star, pulsing with chaotic light.
> System Notification: "Trial Challenge Initiated: Golem of the Fractured Heavens."
---
The Trial Begins
"Formations!" Tianming shouted.
The Vanguard elite fanned out. Spirit engineers deployed disruptor rods, attempting to create a suppression field. Zhao Yueyin launched a wave of phoenix fire at the golem's legs, slowing it.
But the creature was ancient. Every time it moved, reality seemed to shudder. It absorbed fire, repelled lightning, and retaliated with gravity pulses that bent space itself.
Tianming used the Celestial Pulse again, weaving starlight into chains to restrict its movements. Lan Mei danced through the battlefield, slicing at its joints with her resonance blades.
Bai Rui, standing at the rear, invoked a sacred incantation. A lotus of white energy bloomed at his feet, growing larger, chanting a harmony that clashed with the void's screech.
The golem roared, slamming its fist into the earth. The ground exploded. Several soldiers were thrown into the air.
Tianming saw the shard pulsing brighter, almost… responding.
"Strike its core!" he ordered.
He invoked Heaven's Descent, launching a condensed spear of stellar energy into the crystal.
The golem staggered. A crack appeared across its chest.
Zhao Yueyin followed up with her Crimson Spiral, punching a spiraling flame lance into the gap. Lan Mei added a double slash of shadow light.
The golem collapsed.
> System Notification: "Trial One Completed. Shard of the Sky Acquired." "Passive Unlock: Celestial Veil (Star-Infused Defense Barrier)"
---
Aftermath
As the crystal floated to Tianming's hand, it melted into his skin like liquid light. His soul roared in response.
He fell to one knee, clutching his chest. Visions filled his mind—flashes of ancient wars, skies splitting open, gods falling into shadow.
Zhao Yueyin held him steady. "What did you see?"
"The Shattered Sky isn't just a metaphor," he whispered. "The Celestial Realm above us... it broke once. Long ago. And something fell through."
Bai Rui nodded grimly. "And the Abyss was its cradle."
---
Elsewhere – Deep Within the Abyss
Master Corvus had died. But his death had not ended the cult.
In the abyssal palace of the Deep Choir, seven thrones glowed. One—Corvus's—now empty.
A figure stepped into the void-lit court. She was robed in silver stitched with ash, her face hidden beneath a mask shaped like a crying moon.
"I claim the Seventh Throne," she said.
The other six figures regarded her in silence.
"Do you bring tribute?" one asked.
She held up a jar sealed with divine bone.
"It is the blood of Tianming's ancestors," she said. "Taken from the Well of Echoes. With it, we summon what the stars fear most."
The six bowed their heads.
"Then let the Second Gate be prepared."
---
Back at the Capital
Tianming returned with the first shard. One trial complete.
Six remained.
And each, he knew, would test more than his strength. They would test his spirit, his bonds, and the light he dared wield against the night.
> To Be Continued in Chapter 41: The Howling Forest of Glass