The Qingxuan Sect stirred with quiet tension.
Rumors of Li Yi's confrontation with the Western War Hall had already spread. Whispers flew from elder to disciple, from servant to guardian beast. Some revered him as a divine youth descended from the heavens. Others feared he would bring catastrophe upon the sect.
And above them all, a new presence loomed—one that not even the most powerful cultivators of the sect could sense clearly.
The divine will from the God Realm had not fully left.
It watched. Waited.
Li Yi stood before a sealed cavern deep beneath the sect grounds. A place few had even heard of. The entrance was marked with ancient sigils so old they had faded into near-oblivion. Dust clung to every corner, and time seemed to bend unnaturally within its presence.
Behind him stood Sect Master Wen Yaozi and Elder Mo, the Keeper of Forbidden Paths.
"You are certain?" Elder Mo asked quietly, fingers brushing the air before the gate.
Li Yi nodded once.
"My mother left her soul fragment here," he said.
Wen Yaozi sighed. "Even if she did, it has likely merged with the echoes of the realm. Retrieving it will not be simple. The Realm of Forgotten Voices... it is not a place of the living."
Li Yi stepped forward. "Then I'll walk through death."
With a solemn chant, the elders activated the formation. The runes lit up, one by one, humming in frequencies not meant for mortal ears. The cave mouth twisted like a ripple in a pond, and then… opened into blackness.
No sound came from within.
No light escaped.
Li Yi stepped in.
And vanished.
---
Inside the Realm of Forgotten Voices
He fell.
For what felt like years.
No light. No wind. No gravity. Only falling.
Then, abruptly, he landed.
He stood atop an endless field of still water. Above him, the sky was a swirling canvas of stars, constellations shifting with every heartbeat. The air smelled of memory—faint perfume, blood, burnt paper, snow.
And whispers. Constant, endless whispers.
Voices of the forgotten. Souls without names. Regrets without end.
> "I shouldn't have taken the pill…" "Tell her I loved her…" "Why didn't I wait another day…?"
Li Yi closed his eyes and summoned his Chaos energy.
The Primal Chaos Seed pulsed in his core, sending threads of silver and black energy outward.
He began walking. Every step sent ripples across the water that sang with memory.
He wasn't searching with his body. He was searching with soul resonance.
Then, far in the distance, a presence emerged.
Soft. Warm. Fierce.
> Mother…
He ran.
The landscape twisted. Sometimes he was a child in his father's arms. Sometimes he stood at the peak of the Xuan Mountains, alone. Sometimes he bled beneath a crimson moon. Yet always, he ran forward.
Finally, he reached a quiet glade—a space of light in a sea of nothingness.
She stood there.
A woman with long silver hair, dressed in celestial robes that shimmered like the stars themselves. Her eyes held the weight of worlds.
Li Yi stopped.
"...Mother?"
She turned slowly. Her smile held centuries of sorrow and love.
"My child," she whispered.
He rushed to her, only for his hand to pass through her form.
"Don't," she said gently. "This is only a fragment. I am long gone. But... I hoped one day, you would come."
Tears welled in Li Yi's eyes. "Why did you leave me?"
Her expression twisted. "Because I was weak. Because our world is cruel. Because your father and I loved you too much to let you be destroyed with us."
She walked in a circle, tracing glowing runes with her fingers.
"I don't have long. This fragment will fade once I've given you what I came to give."
Li Yi bowed deeply. "Tell me everything."
She looked at him with pride.
"You are not just of the Li family," she said. "You are of the Tianyin Lineage. My bloodline originates from the Divine Phoenix Temple of the God Realm."
He froze.
"The Phoenix Blood," she continued, "has slumbered inside you since birth. But it can only awaken alongside Chaos."
She placed her hand over his heart—this time, he felt warmth.
From her palm emerged a glowing flame. Ethereal, golden-red, burning without heat.
"This is the Phoenix Flame Heart. You inherited it from me. It will awaken when your soul reaches true synchronization with your body. Until then, protect it. Hide it."
Li Yi gasped as the flame entered him, merging with the Primal Chaos Seed.
Pain exploded across every nerve in his body.
It was as though fire and void were merging, battling for dominance.
His body convulsed. His meridians stretched, broke, and reformed.
---
Outside the Realm of Forgotten Voices
Sect Master Wen Yaozi and Elder Mo stood tense.
The entrance to the cavern cracked violently.
A vortex erupted, spiraling into the sky.
From the black portal, Li Yi emerged—hovering.
Not walking. Hovering.
His robes were shredded. His hair floated behind him like celestial silk. His eyes… were blazing with gold and silver flames.
"Is he…"
Elder Mo's words failed.
Li Yi floated down and landed softly on the earth. The moment his feet touched the ground, the entire mountain trembled.
He bowed to the elders. "I have returned."
Wen Yaozi inspected him with divine sense, but was forced back instantly. Li Yi's qi… had become unknowable.
Even he, a peak Soul Ascension cultivator, could not see through it.
> "This boy… is no longer bound by Xuan Realm laws."
---
Across the Realm
At the same moment, dozens of ancient seers in isolated peaks and sealed tombs awoke in shock.
One whispered, "The Chaos Line has merged with Phoenix Flame. The world will burn."
Another sobbed, "The Heavens will descend. The Abyss will rise again."
In the Eastern Searing Temple, an ancient bell rang on its own. It had not rung in 30,000 years.
---
Meanwhile — In the Abyss
Deep beneath the sealed barrier between realms, in the cursed battlefield where the demons of the Abyss had been banished…
A black spire pulsed with blood-colored light.
A voice echoed from the spire, dark and ancient.
> "He is awake. Find him. Kill him... before the blood calls the Gate open."
---
End of Chapter 43