Chapter 60: Echoes Beneath the Moon
Far away from Willowbrook...
Beyond the walls of Mistforge...
Beyond the bustling markets, the roaring forges, and the endless columns of smoke that painted the northern sky...
A lone man stood upon the balcony of the City Lord's residence.
Shen Xuanfeng.
Lord of Mistforge.
Guardian of the Northern Marches.
One of the strongest cultivators in the kingdom.
Yet tonight...
He looked exhausted.
The cold mountain wind brushed against his robes, but his thoughts were elsewhere.
They had been elsewhere for days.
"Tianyu..."
he murmured quietly.
His son had awakened the Shen Bloodline.
That should have been a joyous occasion.
Instead...
It had reopened wounds that Shen Xuanfeng had spent ten years trying to bury.
His son had said something simple.
Something that should have been impossible.
"Father... I heard the Heavenly Wolf."
Not imagined.
Not sensed.
Heard.
It had spoken.
Shen Xuanfeng slowly closed his eyes.
"No..."
he whispered.
"You should never have spoken to him."
He had not slept properly since Tianyu told him.
Few people in the kingdom knew the true history of the Shen Clan.
Most believed they had simply inherited an extraordinary wolf bloodline from a distant ancestor.
Some believed they had defeated a legendary beast.
Others believed the bloodline had descended from the heavens.
All of them...
Were wrong.
The truth was older.
And far more dangerous.
Five hundred years ago...
The world trembled beneath a battle between monsters.
The Heavenly Wolf, eldest son of the Heavenly Wolf King...
One of the blood heirs of the legendary Eight Beast Kings...
Had crossed paths with the daughter of the Deer King.
Both had already stepped beyond ordinary cultivation.
The Heavenly Wolf had reached the threshold of the Sage Realm.
Only a single step remained.
A Half-Step Sage.
The battle that followed became legend.
Mountains collapsed.
Glaciers shattered.
Entire rivers changed course.
Neither side truly won.
But both paid a terrible price.
The Heavenly Wolf escaped alive...
Grievously wounded.
His cultivation collapsed from Half-Step Sage Realm...
Back to Spirit Transformation.
A fall so catastrophic that most beasts would never recover.
Seeking a place where no enemy would search...
The wolf fled north.
To these mountains.
The eternal frost slowed the deterioration of his body.
Ice treasures nourished him.
The land itself slowly changed around his presence.
Winter became harsher.
Ice crystals began growing from stone.
Rare herbs appeared where none had existed before.
Spiritual beasts gradually adapted to the endless cold.
An entire ecosystem was unknowingly born around a wounded king.
It was there...
That Shen Xuanfeng's ancestor found him.
The ancestor had expected to discover a great beast.
Instead...
He found a dying legend.
The two made a covenant.
The Shen Clan would gather every Ice treasure they could obtain.
Spirit herbs.
Rare minerals.
Medicinal pills.
Anything capable of healing the Heavenly Wolf.
In return...
The Heavenly Wolf granted his bloodline to the Shen Clan.
That single agreement changed history.
Generation after generation...
The clan prospered.
Its warriors became famous throughout the north.
Eventually...
They helped the legendary Storm Lord unite the surrounding territories into a single kingdom.
The Shen Clan became one of its founding pillars.
Their duty never changed.
Protect the north.
Heal the Heavenly Wolf.
Maintain the covenant.
Whenever a Shen cultivator reached the limit of their potential...
They returned to the sacred mountain.
Not to die.
Not to become sacrifices.
But to willingly return the Heavenly Wolf's bloodline to its true owner.
Each generation repaid a small part of an ancient debt.
It was never considered cruel.
It was considered honorable.
A sacred responsibility.
For nearly five centuries...
The system worked.
Then...
Ten years ago...
Everything collapsed.
At that time...
Shen Xuanfeng had already entered the Spirit Transformation Realm.
He had been away from the clan on official matters.
His father...
Shen Hongwei...
Ruled as Clan Head.
Strict.
Demanding.
Proud.
A man who expected perfection.
He had been a hard father, not a cruel one.
No one noticed the changes.
Not immediately.
He spent more time inside the sacred mountain.
More time communicating with the Heavenly Wolf.
Less time speaking with people.
Then...
He began hearing voices.
At least...
That was what everyone believed.
Later...
Shen Xuanfeng would realize the truth was much more horrifying.
His father had sunk too deeply into the bloodline.
His own identity slowly disappeared.
Until...
He no longer believed himself to be Shen Hongwei.
He called himself...
The Heavenly Wolf.
By the time Shen Xuanfeng returned...
The mountain was silent.
Too silent.
Blood stained the stone pathways.
The great training courtyard stood empty.
The homes...
Empty.
The awakened members of the Shen Clan...
Were gone.
His brothers.
His sisters.
His cousins.
His uncles.
His aunts.
His mother.
Every member carrying the awakened bloodline had been slaughtered.
Only the younger children and ordinary Mortal Realm relatives remained alive.
Shen Xuanfeng would never forget the final sight.
His wife...
Pressing herself against a stone wall.
Holding a tiny Tianyu behind her.
She was shaking so violently she could barely remain standing.
Before them...
His father raised his sword.
"It is necessary," the old man had said with frightening serenity.
"The Heavenly Wolf must return to his former glory."
"Everything else is insignificant."
Little Tianyu had been too young to understand.
The terror shattered his memories.
Years later...
He remembered almost nothing.
Only nightmares.
Shen Xuanfeng fought.
Father against son.
Spirit Transformation against Spirit Transformation.
The duel tore through the sacred mountain.
Ice cliffs collapsed.
Palaces crumbled.
Finally...
The battle reached the deepest chamber beneath the mountain.
The place where the Heavenly Wolf slept.
There...
Shen Xuanfeng finally understood.
His father wasn't merely insane.
He had become convinced that sacrificing every awakened bloodline descendant would restore the wolf to Half-Step Sage.
Whether that belief had been planted...
Or grown naturally...
No one would ever know.
The battle reached its end.
Shen Xuanfeng collapsed.
His cultivation exhausted.
His sword broken.
His father raised the final strike.
"Become nourishment."
"You should feel honored."
Then...
The mountain shook.
A massive shadow moved.
The Heavenly Wolf opened his eyes.
Before Shen Hongwei could react...
The colossal jaws descended.
One bite.
Silence.
Nothing remained.
The wolf swallowed him as effortlessly as a fox swallowing a mouse.
The enormous beast lowered its head.
Its voice echoed directly inside Shen Xuanfeng's soul.
"A pity."
"He would have made an excellent vessel."
The wounded City Lord forced himself to stand.
The wolf continued.
"You possess greater will."
"Would you consider another path?"
"Become as the Nine World Guardians."
Shen Xuanfeng frowned.
He had heard the legends.
Nine beings.
Each fused with an ancient creature of terrifying power.
Not master.
Not servant.
Partners.
One soul.
One body.
Together they guarded the balance of the world.
"Join me."
"Together we shall surpass this age."
Shen Xuanfeng stared at the beast.
Then...
He laughed.
Not with joy.
With heartbreak.
"You destroyed my family."
"You destroyed my clan."
"You watched."
"And now..."
"You ask for cooperation?"
His answer came without hesitation.
"No."
He gathered the survivors.
Buried the dead.
Abandoned the ancestral mountain.
Only the Heavenly Wolf remained.
Waiting.
Healing.
Alone.
For ten years...
The wolf occasionally spoke through the bloodline.
Shen Xuanfeng never answered.
Every word reminded him of that blood-soaked chamber.
Every whisper carried memories he wished forgotten.
The tragedy changed him forever.
It became the foundation of every decision he made as Lord of Mistforge.
Strength should never belong to one family alone.
Power should never become so concentrated that no one could stop madness.
People should be capable of protecting themselves.
Communities should rely upon one another.
No clan...
Should ever again become isolated enough to destroy itself from within.
The Heavenly Wolf had never left.
Only once had he broken his silence—to demand why the creature still remained beneath the mountain.
The answer remained the same.
"My enemy still lives."
"Leaving now invites death."
The City Lord often found the excuse almost laughable.
The son of the Heavenly Wolf King.
One of the blood heirs of the Eight Beast Kings.
Reduced to hiding inside a frozen mountain for five hundred years.
There was little majesty in that.
Only survival.
Now...
Everything had changed.
The wolf had spoken...
To Tianyu.
Shen Xuanfeng had warned his son repeatedly.
"Do not answer him."
"Do not listen."
"No matter what he promises."
But life was unpredictable.
Children were curious.
Bloodlines called to one another.
So...
For the first time in ten years...
Shen Xuanfeng returned to the sacred mountain.
The path wound deep beneath layers of ancient ice.
The air grew colder with every step.
Massive blue crystals emerged naturally from the stone walls, illuminating the caverns with an ethereal glow.
Frost covered everything.
Even breathing became difficult.
Finally...
The tunnel widened into a chamber so vast that it resembled another world.
At its center...
Lay the Heavenly Wolf.
Even resting...
It inspired instinctive awe.
Fifty meters tall.
Nearly one hundred meters from nose to tail.
Snow-white fur shimmered with pale blue beneath the crystal light.
Immense crystalline horns rose proudly from its head, branching toward the cavern ceiling like frozen trees.
Its claws looked carved from flawless sapphire.
Ancient sigils flowed from its forehead across its shoulders and down the length of its body, glowing faintly with primordial power.
Then...
Its eyes opened.
Deep blue.
So impossibly cold that merely meeting its gaze made Shen Xuanfeng feel as though his very soul might freeze.
Neither moved.
Neither spoke.
The silence stretched between them.
At last...
The Heavenly Wolf's enormous lips curved ever so slightly.
"It has been a long time, Shen Xuanfeng."
Shen Xuanfeng did not return the greeting.
He did not bow.
He did not reach for his sword.
He merely looked into the eyes of the creature that had watched his family die.
"You spoke to my son."
The Heavenly Wolf's faint smile widened.
"Yes."
---------------------
Far from Mistforge...
Far beyond the borders of the Land of Clouds...
A small convoy continued its journey toward the Heavenly Flame Sect.
It had already been a week since Shen Tianyu had bid farewell to his home.
Their pace had been swift.
Spirit beasts pulled the carriages over ancient trade roads, while experienced guards kept careful watch from dawn until long after sunset. They had crossed mountain passes, rivers, and rolling plains before eventually leaving the Kingdom of Clouds behind.
Now they had entered the Myriad Swarm Kingdom, a land famous across the continent for its insect masters.
Here, spirit butterflies carried messages between cities.
Massive beetles hauled cargo heavier than horses could ever manage.
Colorful silk moths produced fabrics sought after by nobles, while venomous insects were raised as carefully as treasured pets.
Even the forests sounded different.
Instead of birds...
The night echoed with the constant chorus of strange insects.
Travelers from other kingdoms often found it unsettling.
The guards barely paid it any attention.
Their identification documents had already been inspected at the border. Lord Shen had arranged everything before Tianyu departed, and every checkpoint had welcomed them without delay.
For tonight...
They rested beside a quiet stream beneath towering ancient trees.
Campfires burned gently.
Spirit beasts slept peacefully.
Only the insects continued singing beneath the moonlight.
Inside one of the tents...
Shen Tianyu slept.
Yet sleep brought him no peace.
Darkness.
Then...
Warmth.
A man's laughter.
A deep, gentle voice.
"You'll surpass all of us one day."
Tianyu found himself looking upward.
He was...
Small.
Very small.
Strong hands lifted him effortlessly onto broad shoulders.
The old man laughed as Tianyu pointed excitedly toward the clouds.
Nearby...
An elderly woman smiled warmly.
She carried a basket filled with freshly picked fruit.
His mother stood beside them, laughing quietly as she watched.
Everyone looked...
Happy.
Safe.
Loved.
The courtyard surrounding them felt strangely familiar.
Stone pathways.
Snow-covered roofs.
Mountain air.
Somewhere...
A wolf howled.
Tianyu tried to see their faces.
He couldn't.
It was as though mist covered them.
Every time he focused...
Their features blurred.
The memory drifted away like smoke.
The elderly woman reached into her basket and offered Tianyu a bright red fruit.
He stretched out his little hand.
The fruit slipped from her fingers.
It struck the stone pathway.
Rolled once.
Twice.
When it stopped...
Blood covered the courtyard.
The warmth vanished.
The sky darkened.
The same courtyard.
Only...
Everything had changed.
Blood stained the stone.
Screams echoed endlessly.
His mother clutched him tightly against her chest.
She was running.
"Close your eyes Tianyu."
"Don't Look."
Crying.
Someone blocked their path.
The same old man.
This time...
He carried a sword.
His eyes were empty.
His voice sounded cold.
Almost mechanical.
"Your pure blood..."
"...will aid my healing."
Tianyu trembled.
He couldn't move.
Couldn't speak.
His mother's grip tightened painfully.
The old man slowly raised his weapon.
"No..."
Someone shouted.
Steel clashed.
The mountain shook.
More blood.
More screams.
The world broke apart.
Tianyu jolted upright.
His entire body was soaked in sweat.
His breathing came in ragged gasps.
His heart hammered against his ribs so violently it almost hurt.
For several moments he simply stared into the darkness of the tent, trying to convince himself that he was awake.
A flask suddenly appeared beside him.
"Drink."
Tianyu looked up.
Bingya was kneeling nearby.
The young Heavenly Wolf had apparently woken the instant Tianyu sat upright.
Tianyu accepted the water gratefully.
Tianyu tried to drink, but his fingers would not obey him.
Water spilled down his wrist.
He stared at his own hand.
It was shaking.
Still, the cold liquid steadied his breathing.
Bingya studied him quietly.
"What happened?"
"...Did you have another nightmare?"
Tianyu frowned.
"Another?"
Bingya blinked.
"You don't remember?"
"Remember what?"
"When we were little..."
"You used to wake up like this."
"Sometimes you'd cry."
"Sometimes you'd stop sleeping altogether."
"You always said you couldn't remember the dreams."
Bingya's ears flattened slightly.
"I hated those nights," he said quietly.
"You would look at everyone like you didn't know who was safe."
Tianyu stared at him.
"...I did?"
Bingya nodded.
"You eventually stopped having them."
"I thought they were gone."
Tianyu lowered his gaze to the cup in his hands.
"...Maybe I just forgot."
Silence lingered between them.
Then Bingya asked softly,
"Was it the same dream?"
Tianyu hesitated.
"...There was an old man."
Bingya's expression changed slightly.
"The same one?"
"I think so."
"He was..."
Tianyu frowned, trying desperately to remember.
"At first..."
"...he was carrying me."
"He looked happy."
"There was also an old woman."
"My mother was there."
"It felt..."
"...peaceful."
His voice gradually became quieter.
"Then everything changed."
"There was blood."
"He tried to kill us."
Tianyu slowly closed his eyes.
"He said..."
"'Your pure blood will aid my healing.'"
The words left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.
Neither of them spoke afterward.
Outside...
The insects continued singing beneath the moon.
Eventually Tianyu stepped out of the tent.
The night air was cool.
A brilliant silver moon hung above the trees, reflecting softly upon the nearby stream.
He looked at it for a long time.
Those memories...
They didn't feel like ordinary dreams.
They felt...
Real.
He had always known that his memories before early childhood were strangely incomplete.
Whenever someone mentioned those years...
His mind simply became blank.
He had never questioned it.
Children forgot things.
That was normal.
But...
Why now?
Why were those missing pieces returning?
What had changed?
His father's warning suddenly echoed inside his mind.
"If you ever hear the Heavenly Wolf..."
"Do not answer him."
Tianyu's fingers slowly tightened.
"...Is this connected?"
No answer came.
Only the wind.
He looked back toward his tent.
Then quietly shook his head.
"I'm not sleeping again tonight."
Instead, he walked to a nearby clearing.
He sat cross-legged upon the cool grass.
Closed his eyes.
And expanded his senses.
The rustling leaves.
The flowing stream.
The countless insects hidden throughout the forest.
The breathing of every guard nearby.
Everything gradually became clearer.
A few moments later, soft footsteps approached.
Bingya sat down beside him without saying a word.
"You don't have to stay."
"I know."
"But I wasn't going to sleep anyway."
Tianyu smiled faintly.
The two had grown up together.
They had trained together.
Eaten together.
Argued together.
Even when they were children, they had often fallen asleep beneath the same blanket after exhausting days of cultivation.
Some habits never changed.
Neither spoke again.
They simply cultivated beneath the moonlight.
Tianyu listened to the stream, the guards' breathing and the countless insects hidden beneath the forest canopy. Bingya remained beside him, a steady presence against memories neither of them fully understood.
One human.
One young Heavenly Frost Wolf.
Bound not by an ancient covenant...
But by a choice they had made every day since childhood.
Far away, beneath a frozen mountain, something ancient opened the doors Tianyu's mind had kept closed for ten years.