The wind shifted on the morning of battle.
No birds sang.
No insects buzzed.
Even the trees held their breath, as if nature itself feared what was coming.
At the edge of Hollow Wind Valley, Shen Liun stood atop the Blackridge Outpost, his robes snapping in the cold breeze. Behind him, the last of the defensive formations hummed to life — glowing lines etched across the cliffs and terraces, woven together by dozens of formation masters.
Ranyi landed beside him, blood already staining her armor.
"They're here," she said simply.
Liun nodded.
Then, to no one in particular, he whispered,
> "Let the ashes rise."
---
The first wave of the Empire's army crested the eastern ridge in perfect formation — hundreds of armored cultivators, formation beasts, and siege talismans marching in unnatural silence. At their front, a silver-robed man raised a banner stitched with the Imperial Sigil of suppression.
And floating just behind them...
Was a black palanquin, borne by eight kneeling slaves of Qi.
From within, a voice echoed:
> "Shen Liun. You have seven seconds to surrender the flame."
"On the eighth, we unleash Frostlight Judgment."
Liun stepped to the edge of the cliff, just above the army.
Then he lifted his hand, palm glowing with quiet fire.
> "Eight seconds is more than I need."
---
Boom.
A pillar of flame erupted from his hand, forming a massive sigil in the sky — the Ashen Verdict blazing in defiance.
At once, the rebel cultivators charged.
---
Ning'er stood atop a high ridge, her bow glowing like starlight.
She loosed arrows three at a time — each one tipped with spirit-severing flame.
Down below, Ranyi danced through imperial lines like a tempest — her dual blades cleaving through golden armor, her footwork marked with Wind-Step sigils that cracked the air.
But for every soldier they cut down, two more came.
And behind them, the black palanquin opened.
---
From within stepped a man cloaked in white chains.
His skin shimmered like silver glass, his eyes hollow — no iris, no soul.
A Heavenbinder.
But different.
He raised his arm… and the sun vanished.
> "Frostlight Judgment."
A freezing beam of light tore across the battlefield, turning mountains to glass and cultivators to statues.
Dozens of rebels screamed as their Qi froze inside their own meridians.
Even Liun was driven back, his Soulfire flickering as the cold gripped his very core.
---
Yan Wudi emerged from behind a rock formation, coughing blood.
"I know that technique," he hissed.
"It's from the Frozen Throne Sect. They were supposed to be extinct."
Liun looked up, his eyes narrowing. "Then someone's reviving old powers."
Ranyi joined them, limping. "We won't hold the ridge if he casts that again."
Liun looked to the horizon.
More imperial banners were rising in the distance.
This wasn't a test.
It was an eradication.
---
But just as the Frostlight wielder raised his hand again…
A pulse tore through the valley.
Ancient. Rhythmic.
Like a heartbeat.
Liun's flame surged suddenly, unbidden — and something in the mountain walls began to glow.
Old sigils.
Buried long ago.
Yan Wudi's eyes widened.
"No… it can't be."
> "The Valley isn't just a stronghold. It's a sealed remnant."
Aoshen flared inside Liun's spirit sea.
> "Something older is here. Something that remembers Sovereignty."
Liun stepped forward.
And the ground trembled beneath him.
---
As the Frostlight wielder began his final chant, Liun raised both hands — and slammed his palms into the earth.
> "Ashen Verdict — Flame Burial Seal: Second Echo."
The ground cracked, and fire erupted in wide concentric rings, not from Liun—
But from beneath the valley itself.
Golden flame burst from every cliffside, every glyph, every ancient stone, forming a blazing phoenix of ash and light.
The imperial army faltered.
The Frostlight wielder screamed as his spell was torn apart by fire older than his soul.
> And for the first time…
They ran.
---
Hours later, silence returned.
The battlefield was blackened.
The ridge still stood.
Barely.
Hundreds lay wounded. Dozens were dead.
But Shen Liun stood victorious.
Ranyi dropped beside him, exhausted. "What… what did you do?"
Liun knelt and placed his hand on the scorched ground.
"Something answered me," he whispered.
Yan Wudi approached slowly, his voice grave.
> "No," he said. "Not something."
> "Someone."
---
Far below the valley, beneath layers of sealed earth, a set of ancient eyes opened.
And a voice — older than kingdoms, colder than empires — whispered through the cracks of the world:
> "The Sovereign Flame… has returned."
---