The Hollow Lands had fallen silent, save for the faint echo of wind brushing over scorched soil and shattered stone. Where once a fierce battle had raged, now only the scars remained—craters, broken trees, and scattered fragments of enchanted armor. Li Yi stood at the edge of the cliff, his robes fluttering in the breeze, gazing toward the west where a black moon had begun to rise over the horizon.
Unlike the twin suns of the Xuan Realm, the black moon did not cast light. It absorbed it. The land beneath it dimmed further with every passing moment. He could feel the chill of something ancient crawling over the land, something stirring far below the crust of the world.
Mo Ruyan's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "That was a projection, wasn't it? The figure you summoned."
Li Yi gave a slow nod. "A glimpse. A fragment from my future path."
Xue Lian, pale from exertion, leaned against a tree trunk and murmured, "That shouldn't be possible at Foundation Establishment. Not unless... your Dao foundation was laid at the moment of birth."
"Or before," Lan Qing'er added, her eyes narrowing. "Just what bloodline do you really possess, Li Yi?"
He looked at them, the soft violet glow of his Chaos Qi still shimmering faintly beneath his skin. "The answer lies not just in my blood, but in the stars themselves."
They made camp in the ancient ruins below the ridge, activating protective formations and taking turns on watch. As the others meditated or rested, Li Yi remained awake, seated beside the cracked pedestal of a weathered statue—half-buried and overgrown with abyssal moss. It depicted a faceless figure reaching toward the sky, its arm frozen in yearning.
His mind wandered to the God Realm—what little he remembered from the flickers of inherited memory. His mother's face remained indistinct, veiled by divine mist, but her voice lingered. "You are born not from fate… but to defy it."
Then the ground beneath him pulsed.
Li Yi shot to his feet, drawing his sword. From the base of the ruins, a thin, serpentine crack snaked along the stone, glowing faintly with violet and black hues. The earth groaned.
Suddenly, a whisper echoed through the clearing.
"…you… finally… awaken…"
Everyone snapped to alert. Xue Lian conjured frost into her palms, Mo Ruyan brandished her spirit whip, and Lan Qing'er notched an arrow infused with emerald runes.
Li Yi approached the crack cautiously. "Who are you?"
The voice answered not with words, but with pressure—an overwhelming sensation of being watched from all sides. The air thickened, the sky above clouded, and the black moon surged brighter in its malevolent hunger.
From the shadows, a form emerged—not from the surface, but as though peeled from the world itself.
It was a humanoid shape cloaked in ink-like tendrils, its face featureless save for a vertical eye on its chest. The eye opened.
"Herald of Chaos," it intoned in a tongue older than any mortal language. "Bearer of the Unshackled Flame… the Abyss remembers."
The creature's cultivation fluctuated wildly—one moment at Nascent Core, the next at Divine Foundation, then vanishing altogether, as if its presence couldn't be anchored to this world.
Lan Qing'er trembled. "This… this isn't just a spirit or beast. It's a remnant. A will."
Li Yi advanced slowly. "You speak of the Abyss. What is your purpose here?"
"To test. To remind. To awaken." The eye flared with sinister light. "Before the barrier fell, we touched your realm… and marked it. You carry that mark in your soul. You must choose—return to the light… or descend into the Abyss."
Mo Ruyan growled. "We've had enough riddles and cults. If you're a threat, say it clearly—or die."
The tendrils writhed and the being's aura flared, but Li Yi raised a hand. "Wait."
He stepped closer, Chaos energy swirling around his feet. "This mark… I've seen it in my dreams. A star shrouded in black flame."
The being gave a slow nod. "The Star of Reversal. The path none dare walk. The one that burns the heavens… to protect them."
And then it lunged.
Faster than thought, it struck Li Yi square in the chest. But instead of a blow, it passed through him like smoke—and his body convulsed. His mind was flung into a sea of stars, dragged toward a colossal gate hanging in the void.
Behind it: war.
He saw it all—the God Realm burning, Divine Lords clashing with Abyssal Kings. Mountains of corpses. Black rivers of corrupted Qi. And in the center, a being not of flesh, but of endless hunger.
The Abyssal King of Eyes.
"He will return. The barrier is weakening. And you…" The voice from earlier now whispered inside him. "…are one of few who can stop it. Or unleash it."
With a gasp, Li Yi returned to his body. The shadowy figure had vanished. Only the crack in the earth remained, now closed.
Everyone stared at him, waiting for answers.
He finally spoke. "The Abyss is waking again. And we're running out of time."
Later that night, as stars pierced through the darkness and the black moon waned, Li Yi secluded himself.
Within his dantian, three vortexes of power spun:
Chaos Flame Qi
Celestial Inheritance
The Whisper of the Abyss
His cultivation surged once again—his foundation stabilized and broke through to Foundation Establishment – Mid Stage. With it came a new innate ability: Astral Sight, allowing him to perceive spiritual threads in time and space—hidden portals, ancient formations, and even weak points in dimensional barriers.
His strength was growing, yes.
But so were the things lurking just beyond the veil of reality.
Far above, in the sealed battlefield between realms, the Abyss stirred.
Its generals sensed their lost mark reawakening.
Its eyes turned once more toward the lower realms.
And in a chamber of starlight, far in the God Realm, a woman in divine robes wept softly before a glowing mirror that showed only Li Yi's silhouette, cloaked in flame and shadow.
"My son… please survive long enough for me to come back."
—
End of Chapter 26