A low hum vibrated through the ancient stone beneath Li Yi's boots as he led the group down the spiral staircase of the ziggurat. Each step they took seemed to echo into the bones of the city, as if awakening memories that had long slumbered. The light from above dimmed with every turn, replaced by a strange silvery glow that emanated from veins of crystal running through the black stone walls.
"This doesn't feel like a mortal construction," Zhao Feiyu muttered, his glaive resting warily on his shoulder. "Not even a legacy from the Upper Realm… This place is older than memory."
Li Yi didn't respond. His breath was steady, but his heart pounded. With each step, his Chaos Qi grew more turbulent. It wasn't just reacting to the oppressive spiritual pressure—it was resonating with something deep below.
Mo Ruyan slowed her pace, eyes scanning the walls. "These runes… they're not from the Xuan Realm. They're of the God Script. But not the modern dialect."
"Then how do you understand them?" Qing'er asked.
"I don't," Ruyan said softly, "but… my spiritual sense recognizes their meaning. As if they carry intent."
They reached the base.
A vast chamber opened before them—an underground coliseum stretching farther than the eye could see. Towering pillars supported the ceiling, but none connected to the ground. They floated, rotating slowly in the air, covered in runes that shed shifting light.
In the center of the space stood a stone platform, and upon it, a sealed sarcophagus forged from celestial bronze.
As they approached, the air grew thick. Every breath was heavy, as if time itself pushed against their lungs.
"There's a time compression array here," Mo Ruyan said, sweat beading her brow. "Extremely ancient. My Qi flow is slowing."
Lan Qing'er clutched her saber. "Do you feel that… presence?"
Zhao Feiyu crouched. "We're not alone."
From the shadows beyond the floating pillars, they emerged.
Seven figures—shrouded in translucent cloaks of mirrored light. Their faces were blurred, their auras distorted. Each moved with ghostly steps, neither fast nor slow, but inevitable. Their presence was oppressive, and one thing was clear—they were guardians.
"They're not alive," Li Yi murmured. "They're manifestations."
"Guardians of the seal," Ruyan confirmed. "The scroll warned of them."
One of the figures stepped forward. Though faceless, its gaze seemed to pierce directly into Li Yi.
"You bear the Starlight Blood," it said, voice echoing with countless overlapping tones. "And yet… you are incomplete."
"I seek the truth," Li Yi said calmly. "I seek my mother."
"The price is steep," the figure said. "Awaken what sleeps here, and you awaken all that was sealed with it."
Zhao Feiyu snarled. "We don't care for riddles. If you intend to stop us—then fight."
The guardian didn't move, but the space around them twisted. In an instant, all seven figures vanished—and reappeared in a circle around the group.
Then the chamber exploded into motion.
Li Yi drew Heavenbreaker. The second seal on the blade shattered as it left the sheath, flooding the area with chaotic starlight. He met the charge of two guardians at once, his body flickering through space using the Heaven-Dashing Steps. His strikes didn't cut flesh—they tore through time distortions and illusions, forcing the manifestations to unravel momentarily before reforming.
Meanwhile, Qing'er and Zhao Feiyu fought back-to-back, her saber dancing like wind and fire, while his glaive sent shockwaves through the compressed air. Mo Ruyan chanted constantly, maintaining defensive barriers while embedding disrupting seals into the ground.
Yet for each guardian defeated, another formed. The cycle was unending.
"This is a test," Li Yi growled, parrying a blow that threatened to shatter his shoulder. "They're not trying to kill us. They're testing resolve."
"And what happens if we pass?" Ruyan shouted, tossing a talisman that exploded with radiant blue light.
Li Yi didn't answer. Instead, he slammed Heavenbreaker into the center of the platform.
For a moment, everything stopped.
The guardians froze in place. The light from the runes dimmed.
Then the sarcophagus creaked.
The bronze lid slid open with agonizing slowness. A black mist spilled from within, smelling of ancient metal and ashes. Inside lay a woman—or what remained of her. Her body was suspended in stasis, perfectly preserved. Her robes were unfamiliar, but her features…
Li Yi stepped closer.
His heart skipped a beat.
She looked like him.
He heard his mother's voice—not from the chamber, but from the memory that burned in his soul.
> "If you find the Prison of Time, you may find her—my twin sister. She vanished during the war. She was the only one who understood the seal."
Lan Qing'er moved beside him. "She's alive?"
Mo Ruyan examined the formation. "No… but not dead either. Her soul is trapped in stasis. She's in between."
The air behind them shifted again.
The guardians returned—not in hostility, but with reverence.
One of them knelt.
"You have passed," it said. "The bloodline has awakened the key."
Li Yi frowned. "Key to what?"
The guardian pointed to the woman.
"She holds the coordinates to the Abyss Gate buried beneath the Xuan Realm. The last gate not destroyed in the War of Starlight."
Li Yi felt the weight of that statement settle into his bones. If the demons ever breached that gate…
"How do I awaken her?" he asked.
The guardian extended a single finger toward his chest.
"You already have. But she must choose to return."
With that, the guardians began to fade, their forms dissolving into threads of light that coiled around the sarcophagus. The runes on the pillars flared, and the entire chamber began to shift, folding upon itself.
The ziggurat was sealing once more.
"We have to go," Ruyan warned.
Li Yi hesitated.
Then he reached into the sarcophagus and gently laid his palm on the woman's forehead.
"I will return for you," he whispered. "And I will tear down every gate between the realms if that's what it takes."
As they retreated, the platform receded into the ground, and the staircase sealed behind them with a roar like a collapsing mountain.
—
They exited the Thousand Pillars into silence.
But the sky had changed.
Where once it had been a dull grey above the Sandveil Wastes, now it burned red-orange with streaks of violet lightning. The clouds churned unnaturally.
Lan Qing'er was the first to speak. "We were down there for less than a day…"
Mo Ruyan checked her jade compass.
"Outside," she said slowly, "three weeks have passed."
Zhao Feiyu's eyes narrowed. "And something happened in those three weeks."
In the distance, a black plume of smoke rose from the direction of the Skycloud Pavilion.
They shared no words—only a look.
Li Yi clenched his fists.
The war was moving faster than they had thought.
And somewhere, beyond the veil of the sky, the abyss stirred once more.
---
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