The storm broke with no warning.
Dark clouds rolled overhead like war drums, swirling directly above the Silent Veil ruins. A sickly red light bled through the clouds, and the air crackled — not with lightning, but with something far older, far worse.
Lian Hua backed away from the scroll. "That presence—it's them. The Reclaimers."
Jin Tao had already unslung his blade. His cocky demeanor was gone, replaced by a hunter's cold clarity. "We don't have time. They must have marked the scroll. Or the statue earlier…"
Wang Lin held the scroll close. The Ninth Seal throbbed with raw, boundless energy. He hadn't yet read it, but he could feel it resonating with the Abduction Path — like a key calling to its lock.
Then came the sound of tearing fabric — space itself rending.
A jagged portal opened in the air, screaming as it split reality. From it emerged figures in black ceremonial armor, etched with silver runes that flickered like dying stars. Their faces were hidden behind bone-white masks shaped like serene Buddhas… but the aura they exuded was anything but peaceful.
The Reclaimers.
Seven of them. Each one pulsed with killing intent so dense it bent the light around them.
The central figure stepped forward. His mask bore three vertical slashes — and from his back, four bone-like extensions unfurled like wings.
His voice was calm and deep. "Child of the Abduction Path. You were never meant to wake."
Wang Lin's eyes narrowed. "Then why does it feel like I was always waiting for this moment?"
The ground quaked.
The lead Reclaimer raised one pale hand, and chains of black light exploded outward — aimed directly at Wang Lin.
Lian Hua moved without hesitation, slicing through two chains mid-flight. Jin Tao flanked from the side, his movement blurring into smoke as he drove his blade toward another Reclaimer's neck.
But these were no common foes.
One Reclaimer raised a palm, and time fractured around Jin Tao — slowing his charge mid-motion. Another Reclaimer chanted in an ancient tongue, and talismans of ash flew from her robe, sealing the air around them into a suffocating prison.
Wang Lin clenched his fists. The Abduction Path surged, and the very techniques cast against them shuddered. He didn't block them — he absorbed them.
In his eyes, the chains became threads.
He grasped them.
Twisted them.
And redirected them — slamming two Reclaimers into the far wall, where their masks shattered on impact.
"Impossible…" one of the remaining figures hissed. "He's not a vessel. He's… evolving."
Lian Hua bled from a wound on her arm but stood unshaken. "We hold this ground!"
Jin Tao finally broke free, landing beside Wang Lin. "Remind me never to fight those monks sober."
Wang Lin didn't smile.
He stepped forward.
With one hand, he unrolled the Ninth Seal scroll.
Its ink shimmered like starlight, and the characters rose from the page, wrapping around Wang Lin like a spiral of galaxies. The chamber shook. Pillars collapsed. The air itself bent inward.
Then came a voice — not his, not the Matron's, but something older, something buried deep in the roots of creation:
> "He who takes from heaven must one day return its price… or shatter the throne."
Wang Lin's body flared with light.
The Ninth Seal etched itself across his skin like glowing chains — not binding him, but anchoring him to something greater: a forgotten truth.
He raised his hand.
The light of stolen divinity surged forth, and the chamber was bathed in brilliance.
Three Reclaimers turned to ash.
The leader knelt, his mask cracked.
"You… you're not just the heir. You're the anomaly. The deviation in heaven's plan."
Wang Lin's voice was calm — cold.
"I never asked to be part of your plan."
The Reclaimer fled through the rift, dragging the last of his men behind him. The portal shrieked shut.
Silence fell.
Only their ragged breaths remained.
Jin Tao finally sank to the ground. "Remind me again why I'm still following you?"
Lian Hua knelt beside Wang Lin, her expression unreadable. "That seal… it didn't just awaken you. It called to something."
Wang Lin stared into the sky.
And far above, the red clouds pulsed once more — as if something beyond the stars had opened a single eye.
Watching.
Waiting.