The moon hung like a shard of bone above the Frost Cloud Sect, its pale light glinting off the chains that bound the Hall of Whispers. Xia Ling moved like a wraith through the shadows, her silhouette blending with the jagged architecture. Chen Mo followed, his steps muffled by the Ashwalker skill's eerie silence. The system's interface flickered at the edge of his vision, pale blue text a constant reminder of the anomaly pulsing beneath their feet.
[Heavenly Dao Anomaly Intensity: 87%]
"Sublevel entrances are warded," Xia Ling whispered, halting before the obsidian doors. She withdrew a lockpick carved from spirit beast bone, its surface etched with faint runes. "Elder Guo checks them every third night. We have two hours. Scream, and I'll leave you here."
Chen Mo studied the chains. The system overlay revealed pulsing crimson runes:
[Seal of the Frozen Heart
Effect: Detects unauthorized Qi fluctuations
Weakness: Mortal-tier tools]
"Clever," he said. The bone lockpick wouldn't trigger the wards. "How many times have you done this?"
Xia Ling's hands stilled. "Enough to know you're the first idiot who took the Phoenix Manual."
The lock clicked with a sound like cracking ice. Chains slithered to the floor, their metallic hiss swallowed by the night. The stairwell exhaled a breath older than the sect itself—dank, metallic, tinged with the cloying sweetness of decaying manuscripts. Xia Ling ignited a glowstone, its pallid light skittering across walls etched with names. Thousands of them, overlapping in frantic script.
*Disciples who vanished*, Chen Mo realized. *Or were erased.*
"Stay close," Xia Ling warned, descending the stairs. "The sublevels shift."
---
#### Sublevel 1: The Garden of Bones
The stairs deposited them in a cavernous chamber, its ceiling lost to darkness. What Chen Mo mistook for tree trunks were femurs stacked into pillars, their surfaces polished smooth by time. Between them, patches of ghostly white flowers bloomed, petals glistening with viscous fluid that refracted the glowstone's light into fractured rainbows.
Xia Ling crouched, brushing a finger over a petal. "Soulrot Blossoms. They feed on lingering resentment."
[Quest Updated: An Ally's Trust
New Objective: Collect 3 Soulrot Blossoms
Reward: Xia Ling's Suspicion -20%]
Chen Mo reached for the nearest flower.
"Don't!" Xia Ling seized his wrist. "They're *attached*."
The blossom's stem pulsed, translucent veins pumping black ichor. Beneath the bone-littered soil, something shifted—a slow, deliberate ripple.
Xia Ling tossed a pebble into the center of the chamber. The ground erupted. Skeletal hands clawed upward, their eye sockets blazing with soulrot-blue fire. Three undead sentinels lurched into the light, rusted swords gripped in fleshless fingers.
[Undead Sentinels Detected
Cultivation: Qi Condensation (Mid Stage)
Weakness: Light-based attacks]
Chen Mo backpedaled as a skeletal blade whistled past his throat. "Any bright ideas?"
Xia Ling smirked. "Literally." She smashed her glowstone against a femur pillar. Sparkling powder rained down, igniting when it touched the Soulrot Blossoms.
The chamber blazed with searing light. Skeletons crumbled to ash, their death shrieks echoing like shattered glass.
"Firestone powder," she said, brushing glitter from her hair. "Expensive, but worth it."
Chen Mo stared at the smoldering blossoms. "You planned this."
"Plans require trust." She pressed a dagger to his throat, its edge colder than the grave. "Now explain why the Heavenly Dao screams when you're near."
---
#### Three Days Earlier
Chen Mo awoke choking on phoenix fire.
The cursed manual's energy raged through his meridians, burning away the last dregs of mortality. He rolled off his cot, fingers scrabbling for the clay jug of moonwell water. The liquid hissed as it hit his lips, steam curling from his tongue.
[Realm Breakthrough: Qi Condensation (Early Stage)
Auto-Qi Generation: 3 Qi/hour]
The system's cool blue text clashed with the inferno in his veins. Chen Mo collapsed against the wall, watching dawn light bleed through cracks in his new hut—a marginally less rotten shack on the outer sect's eastern edge.
A scroll materialized on his cot, sealed with wax shaped like a snarling wolf. Lu Tao's sigil.
Inside, a single phrase: *The Hall remembers.*
Chen Mo burned the scroll. The ashes formed a perfect circle—a warning and an invitation.
---
#### Present
Xia Ling's blade drew a thin line of blood. "Well?"
Chen Mo activated his Phoenix's Sigh, channeling Qi into his fingertips. The dagger glowed red-hot. Xia Ling hissed, dropping it.
"The manual isn't cursed," he said, straightening. "It's *hungry*."
He pressed his palm to a nearby Soulrot Blossom. The flower withered, its energy flooding his meridians in a torrent of icy fire.
[Heavenly Dao Anomaly Intensity: 94%
Absorbed: 50 Resentment Qi]
The chamber trembled. Names on the walls bled fresh ink, crimson droplets pooling at their feet.
Xia Ling stared at him, her lotus scars pale against suddenly ashen skin. "You're devouring souls."
"Resentment. There's a difference." Chen Mo plucked another blossom, its death cry a whisper against his senses. "The Phoenix Manual feeds on what others leave behind."
A low groan echoed through the chamber, vibrating in Chen Mo's molars. The bone pillars shifted, grinding against one another like ancient gears. They formed an archway veiled in shadow, beyond which stairs spiraled downward into impenetrable darkness.
[Sublevel 2 Unlocked
Recommended Party Size: 4 (Current: 2)
Warning: Hostile Entities Detected]
Xia Ling gripped her dagger, knuckles white. "Whatever's down there killed hundreds."
Chen Mo stepped through the arch. "Then it's had practice."
---
#### Sublevel 2: The Altar of Forgotten Names
The air here clung like wet silk, heavy with the scent of incense and decay. A stone altar dominated the chamber, its surface carved with names Chen Mo recognized—Lu Tao's predecessors, disciples who'd tormented weaker sect members before vanishing without trace.
Atop the altar lay a jade slip identical to his manual, pristine and glowing with inner light.
Xia Ling froze. "That's impossible. The Phoenix Manual was destroyed centuries ago."
Chen Mo's system flickered wildly, text strobing crimson:
[WARNING: Temporal Anomaly Detected]
The altar split open with a sound like cracking glaciers. A figure rose from the fissure—a mirror image of Chen Mo, eyes burning with phoenix fire.
"Congratulations," the double said, voice layered with echoes of countless disciples. "You've reached the checkpoint."
Chen Mo's breath caught. The doppelgänger's presence pressed against his mind, cold and inexorable.
"Checkpoint?"
The double smiled, revealing teeth filed to points. "This world resets every thousand years. A game for bored gods. You're iteration…" It paused, counting on fingers that dripped molten gold. "Nine hundred and ninety-nine."
Xia Ling's dagger clattered to the floor. "What in the ten hells—"
"Hush, little thief." The double flicked its hand. Xia Ling's scream died in her throat as an invisible force pinned her to the wall. "This is between me and my… successor."
Chen Mo's meridians burned. The system's warnings blared:
[Heavenly Dao Anomaly Intensity: 99%
Recommended Action: Immediate Retreat]
The double leaned closer, its breath reeking of charred parchment. "The manual isn't a cultivation guide. It's a *tombstone*. Every user's resentment, their stolen moments—all fuel to keep the game running." It tapped Chen Mo's chest. "You're just the latest battery."
Chen Mo's vision swam. Memories not his own flooded his mind—a thousand lives cut short, a thousand disciples devoured by the Phoenix Manual's hunger.
"Why show me this?" he gritted out.
The double's smile widened. "Because you're different. You *remember* the before. The *real* before." It seized his wrist, phoenix fire melting flesh to bone. "Break the cycle. Burn it all down."
[SYSTEM OVERRIDE
New Quest: Ashes to Ashes
Objective: Destroy the Altar of Forgotten Names
Reward: Phoenix Manual's True Form
Penalty for Failure: Eternal Recurrence]
The chamber shook. Xia Ling's muffled screams crescendoed as the walls began to bleed.