The Sect Without Heaven lay behind them, silent and scarred but standing. The shattered altar had been buried, its memory sealed beneath words no longer spoken. Xuanzang and his companions walked west beneath skies cleared of divine clouds—though the scent of scorched spirit stone still lingered.
They had barely gone ten li before the world shifted again.
[System Warning: External Presence Detected – High-Order Spiritual Signature (Unclassified)]Qi Field: Celestial-grade | Karma Index: Locked]
Wukong stopped mid-step. "Something's watching."
Bajie sniffed the wind. "Not a beast. Not a ghost. Something... cleaner."
Wujing, for the first time, reached for the iron beads on his back and pulled them into a chain around both arms. "Divine residual. Not Heaven, but close."
Xuanzang stood still. The system said nothing more. Just a soft pulse — like a heartbeat felt through the ground.
Then a man stepped out of the forest.
No fanfare. No spiritual wind. No dramatic flare of Qi.
He was lean, robed in silver-white threads that shimmered like moonlight over ice. His eyes were covered by a silk veil, and a broken halo floated behind his back — cracked into four pieces, still glowing faint gold.
[Entity Detected: Tian Bian – Executor of the Final Doctrine]Status: Unaligned Celestial Remnant | Class: Half-Immortal]Mission: Unknown. Karma Signature: Null.]
Xuanzang's system whispered once.
[Warning: This entity is not bound by mortal rules.]
Tian Bian stopped ten paces away and tilted his head slightly.
"You carry the Sutra," he said, voice calm, ageless. "Even shattered, it bleeds."
Xuanzang stepped forward slowly. "You're not from Heaven."
"No. I was cut from it."
Wukong shifted beside him, staff tapping the ground. "And now?"
"I enforce doctrine. What remains of it."
Tian Bian raised one pale hand. In it was a scroll, sealed with golden wax that pulsed faintly with Qi from a higher realm.
"A record of the original Westward Trial," he said. "Signed in divine law. Stamped in Heaven's name. It names four disciples... and a bearer."
He looked at each of them.
Sun Wukong. Zhu Bajie. Sha Wujing.
And finally, Xuanzang.
"You've filled the names again," he said quietly. "But you are not as you were."
"No," Xuanzang replied. "This time, we walk without Heaven's path."
Tian Bian considered that. "Then I must test your right to walk it at all."
[System Alert: Trial Invocation – Legacy Combat (Restricted Duel)]Combatant: Executor Tian Bian vs. Sun Wukong]Rules: 30 seconds. No killing blows. Judgment by Qi Resonance Clash.]
Wukong cracked his neck. "Finally."
⚔️ Trial of the Executor – Begins
The forest exploded in golden light as the duel field formed. Wukong blurred forward—his staff extending into a streak of dark steel.
Tian Bian raised only a finger. A single ring of light deflected the blow with the gentlest hum.
They clashed.
Qi spiraled out like ink on water.
Wujing stepped forward. "We shouldn't interfere."
"We can't," Xuanzang said. "It's locked."
Bajie snorted. "He better not die. I still owe him wine."
In the field, Wukong twisted mid-air, striking from six angles.
Tian Bian didn't block them all.
One cut his shoulder.
The golden halo behind him flared—and cracked again.
[Time Remaining: 3... 2... 1...]
Wukong's final blow struck the executor's veil—ripping it.
Beneath it, Tian Bian's eyes were empty.
Not blind.
Just absent.
The duel field faded.
Tian Bian stepped back, robe singed, expression unreadable.
"You are not Heaven's soldiers," he said. "But you are not its enemies either."
He turned to Xuanzang.
"When you reach the old Celestial Border, you will find the remnants of law waiting. If you carry more fragments, they will test you too."
He turned and walked back into the forest. The golden seal in his hand burned to ash.
[Trial Passed – No Rewards Claimed | Combat Integrity 92%]
Wukong exhaled. "That guy... fought like a memory."
Xuanzang looked at the path ahead.
"No," he said. "He fought like a warning."