The early morning mist curled around the ruined shrine like a sleeping beast, hiding cracks in the stone and dried blood beneath patches of soft moss. Li Yi stood at the edge of the ancient altar, his breathing calm but shallow. The sun had not yet risen, but the sky had begun to pale, casting a ghostly silver glow over the Hollow Lands. The memories of the previous night still lingered—the abyssal shadow, the vision of the Abyssal King of Eyes, and the haunting whisper of destiny.
Lan Qing'er approached quietly, her footsteps making no sound on the cracked stone tiles. "You haven't rested."
Li Yi didn't turn. "I saw the true battlefield. Not the one we stand on… but the one our world floats above."
She studied him. His aura had shifted again—broader, deeper. Though still Foundation Establishment – Mid Stage, his presence felt heavier than most peak cultivators. There was something ancient blooming in him, as though his very existence now stirred forces long forgotten.
"We need to move," Mo Ruyan called from the perimeter. "The Hollow Lands are drawing attention. I sensed a scouting party last night—likely from the Redscale Sect."
Xue Lian, finishing her meditation, added, "Let them come. If they dare."
"No," Li Yi said. "We're not ready for open war. Not yet. But I know where we must go next."
He pointed west, toward the heart of the broken continent. Beyond the Hollow Lands stretched the Ruined Root Forest, a twisted woodland rumored to have grown over the corpse of a fallen divine beast. Beneath it, according to ancient maps, lay the Pillars of Remembrance—a subterranean nexus of ancient power.
"Abyssal remnants are active again," Li Yi said. "The Gate is cracking. We need to find a key before they do."
Mo Ruyan frowned. "A key to what?"
"To the chains that bind the seal between the realms. The Pillars hold fragments of the original formation. If we can reach them, I might be able to read the residual will of the ancient cultivators who sealed the Abyss."
Xue Lian raised a brow. "You speak as if you've done this before."
Li Yi didn't answer. Not with words.
They began the trek that morning, descending from the plateau into the lower wildlands. The Ruined Root Forest came into view by mid-afternoon—a sprawling network of trees larger than cities, each one blackened and gnarled, their branches curling like claws toward the sky. The air grew thick with spiritual fog, dense enough to obscure divine sense.
Lan Qing'er activated a protective array around their party. "It's true what they say. This forest eats spirit energy. Even my senses are dulled."
"Stay close," Li Yi said. "And mark the trees. This place shifts."
They entered the forest under the eerie hush of rustling bark and creaking roots. The deeper they walked, the stranger the world became. Time lost rhythm. They passed the same moss-covered stone four times despite walking straight. Shadows shifted without light. And then… came the whispers.
"They see… they hunger…"
"Feed us… your essence… your memories…"
Mo Ruyan gritted her teeth. "What is this place?"
Li Yi answered, "A burial ground. Not for bodies… but for souls."
He activated his newly awakened Astral Sight. The world shimmered, revealing countless spirit threads wound through the air like cobwebs—each one connected to a long-dead soul, bound in endless torment. Most were faded, but a few glowed with cold intensity.
"They're remnants," Xue Lian said softly. "Failed cultivators. Some willingly bound to this place. Others… not so willingly."
As they moved deeper, Li Yi's eyes were drawn to a great root that curved over a sinkhole like the spine of some buried serpent. Beneath it lay a tunnel of stone carved into the earth.
"This is it," he said.
The descent into the Pillars of Remembrance was suffocating. They passed countless murals etched into the stone—scenes of ancient war between the heavenly clans and monstrous beings born of shadow and flame. The lowest chamber held five obelisks arranged in a circle, each pulsing faintly with spiritual rhythm. Symbols covered their surfaces—some familiar, others older than the written word.
Li Yi knelt before the central pillar and placed his palm against it. The moment he did, the entire chamber quaked.
Then his mind was pulled into the past.
---
He stood atop a battlefield beneath twin moons. The sky burned. Divine Lords rode beasts made of starlight, hurling bolts of cosmos energy into titanic creatures of rot and void. One of the Lords—armored in platinum flame—fell beside Li Yi, clutching a bleeding wound that spanned his entire torso.
"Too late," the man gasped. "The Gate cannot hold…"
Behind them, a colossal obsidian door surged with cracks. From the fissures poured abyssal beasts, each one more twisted than the last. And then—a silhouette stepped through. Not large. Not monstrous. But… regal. Cloaked in a living tide of shadow. Its face was a void with a single golden eye at its center.
The Abyssal King.
"Run," the dying Lord whispered.
Li Yi did not run.
He stepped forward.
And just before the memory collapsed, the King turned toward him and whispered, "I know you…"
---
He awoke gasping, kneeling before the pillar.
Xue Lian steadied him. "What did you see?"
"A memory of the sealing… and the truth. The King of Eyes isn't just an enemy of the God Realm. He's older. He existed before the realms were even born. He's not trying to enter the realms. He's trying to reclaim them."
The chamber dimmed further. One of the obelisks cracked—only slightly—but enough to spill dark mist from its surface.
"We need to leave," Lan Qing'er said. "Now."
But as they turned, the way back was blocked.
Roots shifted, stone crumbled, and from the shadows emerged three figures—cloaked, masked, but undeniably strong.
Their leader stepped forward. "You've disturbed what should have remained forgotten."
Li Yi's eyes narrowed. "You're not from the Redscale Sect."
"No," the figure said, removing his mask. "We are from the Order of Black Flame. And you've touched something sacred to us."
Mo Ruyan snapped her whip. "Cultists."
The man smiled. "You call us cultists. But our ancestors were the true inheritors of the Abyssal Truth. You… are just worms writhing in borrowed light."
Li Yi stepped forward. "Let's test that, then."
The battle was instant. The chamber exploded in sound and fury. Lan Qing'er fired a barrage of spirit arrows laced with storm essence, while Xue Lian froze entire sections of the floor to hinder movement. Mo Ruyan danced between shadows, her whip slicing through defenses.
But the leader of the Order was strong—late Core Formation, with a body bathed in shadow Qi. He clashed blades with Li Yi in a furious flurry of strikes.
"You wield chaos," the man hissed. "But you do not understand it. Let me show you true descent."
He activated a forbidden technique, fusing his body with abyssal essence. Wings of darkness burst from his back, and his aura surged toward Nascent Soul.
But Li Yi stood firm.
The flame within his dantian blazed to life, merging with the Astral Sight and the celestial bloodlines within him. His sword transformed—lengthening, burning with ancient starlight.
With a single strike, he cut through the enemy's ascended form.
The cultist disintegrated into ash.
The others fled.
Silence returned.
The chamber's pillars dimmed, but one of them glowed slightly stronger, and a voice echoed through Li Yi's mind:
"You are the heir of balance… Neither light, nor shadow. The Chaos Flame will either save… or consume."
---
They emerged from the Ruined Root Forest two days later.
Each of them changed. Stronger. Quieter.
Li Yi had fully stabilized his Foundation Establishment – Mid Stage, and glimpses of the Late Stage were beginning to solidify. His body pulsed with three sources of energy now: Chaos Qi, Celestial Essence, and Void Resonance.
Mo Ruyan turned to him as they reached the plains. "Where next?"
Li Yi looked up at the sky.
"The stars are shifting. The seal is breaking faster than I thought."
He reached into his robe and drew out a faintly glowing stone—a remnant of the Abyssal Pillar.
"We find the next fragment. And then… we find a way to the Upper Realm."
—
End of Chapter 27