At dawn, Rael sat alone by the cold firepit, watching as the fog clung to the blackened roots like ancient smoke. He had not slept. Not because of threat, but because of choice.
Meditation had yielded more.
The corrupted Yin Qi in this region had forced his inner meridians to grind like rusted gears, but he resisted — breathing in Void Pattern Cycle, channeling it along his fractured core. Every breath scraped against the broken edge of his soul. But through that agony, there was growth.
"Pain is progress," he reminded himself. "So long as it teaches."
---
Behind him, Wei Lin stirred in her corner of the shrine, blinking sleep from swollen eyes. The beast core he'd given her had left pale glow-lines across her arms — traces of energy stabilizing her weak body.
She saw him standing in the gray light, his cloak stained with soot and dried blood.
"Where… are we going today?"
Rael didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he pulled a piece of cloth from his pouch — the fragment of an old scroll with the Moonlight Court's crest: a silver lotus upon a crescent blade.
He had been thinking about it since the girl mentioned her sister.
"We head east," he said. "Toward the Moonlit Steppes."
"It's… real?"
"Real enough."
He didn't add that the path to it was blood-soaked and uncertain.
---
As they walked, Rael moved with purpose. Every step was deliberate, measured, his senses wide. He avoided spirit beast dens, navigated twisted bramble paths by memory, and taught Wei Lin how to move without being noticed.
"Step where I step. Breathe when I breathe."
"What if I can't?"
"Then you'll die."
He didn't soften his tone.
But when she tripped over a half-hidden root, he caught her wrist without looking, steadied her, then walked on without a word.
---
By midday, the corrupted forest gave way to ash-covered plains. The horizon opened up, revealing the first distant ridges of the Moonlit Steppes. Strange white flowers grew here — thin stalks that pulsed faintly with moonlight even beneath the sun.
"What are those?" Wei Lin whispered.
"Memory Blooms," Rael said. "They grow where souls once died with purpose."
"Are they dangerous?"
"Only if you lie to them."
She quickly stepped away.
Rael smirked faintly, the expression gone a breath later.
---
They crossed a shallow valley marked with broken wagons and burnt flags — a battlefield long abandoned.
Rael paused beside a ruined cart.
He crouched, brushing aside the dirt.
There, buried beneath scorched soil, lay the half-shattered skull of a cultivator. Its jaw still clenched a cracked token.
Rael pried it free.
---
Item Acquired: Moonlight Court Token (Faded)
Status: Expired
Material: Spirit-Infused Bone
Energy Resonance: Traced to Moonlight Court Border Arrays
[Note: Can be used to pass low-level formations at outer gates.]
---
Rael pocketed it.
"This'll help."
"You knew where to look?" Wei Lin asked.
"I knew someone died here holding on to purpose. These things don't vanish without leaving behind memory."
She stared at the battlefield with new eyes.
"What happened here?"
Rael walked on.
"Once, this was a gate to something better. Then greed came. And now it's dust."
---
As evening approached, the skies darkened unnaturally. Not from weather — from the Qi compression fields that protected the border zones of major sects.
They had arrived at the edges of Moonlight territory.
Rael led them toward a canyon pass where a fractured boundary formation still flickered — half-active, half-dead.
He stopped before a stone arch half-buried in collapsed vines.
A barrier shimmered faintly there, pulsing with rejecting force.
---
System Notification: Minor Sect Array Detected – Moonlight Warding Field
Status: Damaged
Security Protocols: Moderate
Recognition Type: Blood Resonance or Token
User Possession: Expired Token — Compatibility: 33%
[Forceful entry may trigger backlash.]
---
Rael turned to Wei Lin.
"This path will burn a bit. Stay behind me. Don't scream."
"W-What—?"
He pressed the bone token against the array.
A dull hum answered.
Rael didn't wait.
He pushed forward, letting the residual resonance clash with his Void Qi.
The air burned.
His skin tore — thin lines of white-hot pain lashing across his arms. The array rejected him like a foreign memory.
But he forced his Qi into a spiral, rotating it with jagged precision.
Then—
A snap. A scream. Not his.
Wei Lin had been caught by a backlash strand.
Rael yanked her free, wrapping her in his cloak as the array's barrier cracked… then let them through.
---
They collapsed beyond it, both gasping.
Wei Lin clutched his cloak tightly.
"I thought I was going to—"
"You didn't."
He stood again, slow and sharp-eyed.
"That was just the first gate. The real ones begin ahead."
She looked around.
Now, beyond the veil, the steppes shimmered with silver-blue grass. Pillars of light marked cultivation towers in the far distance. Distant bells echoed like ripples through the air.
They had entered the Outer Moonlight Domain.
Rael scanned the horizon.
"We're not heading for the main road. We enter through the old scholar's path."
"Why not use the real road?"
"Because real roads come with real eyes. And I don't want mine recognized yet."
---
As they walked along the cliffside, night finally fell.
And with it, the full silver moon rose — hanging low and enormous over the steppes like a god's eye.
Wei Lin paused, breath catching.
Rael said nothing. But he stood still for a long moment, too.
In that silver light, something inside his fractured soul pulsed — faintly resonant.
The Lunar Bloom mark within his spirit flared.
"So this is where it begins…"
His voice was quiet, unreadable.
---
Suddenly—
A presence moved ahead.
A flicker of shadow. A shape in moonlight robes — standing on the broken stone bridge ahead, holding a long staff.
She was tall. Graceful. Her presence subtle, but sharp.
Rael's hand moved to his blade.
But the figure raised her hand calmly.
"Stop. State your affiliation and reason for trespassing within Moonlight Court jurisdiction."
Her voice was soft, clear — and familiar.
Wei Lin gasped.
"Sister…?"
The figure stepped closer.
Rael's eyes narrowed.
He recognized her now.
Silver eyes. Cold grace.
Yue Qingshi.
The same woman who had handed him the scroll back in the dreamlike forest city.
"You again," she said, tilting her head. "You look like a walking corpse, boy."
"You look like a wandering ghost," he replied flatly.
Her lips curved.
"Good. You haven't lost your tongue."
"And you haven't explained why you're here."
"This territory belongs to my clan. You're the one breaking in."
Rael slowly drew out the invitation scroll.
"You gave me this. So here I am."
Yue Qingshi studied him.
Then, suddenly, she smiled.
"Let's see if your blood matches your arrogance."