After Heard that child's answer his eyes widened slightly. "That doesn't make sense." he said quickly, frustrated in his face now, "Nothing here makes sense." The laughter of children in the courtyard grew faint, Xu yang's chest tightened. "Tell me your name!" he insisted again, voice trembling more firmly now. "If you're really here, if you're really with me, then just say it." The blurred figure didn't answer. Instead, his hand moved slightly, brushing against Xu yang's wrist. Xu yang froze at the contact, his breath catching."You always forget!" the voice said softly. "And I always find you again."
Xu Yang shook his head slightly, confused and shaken. "I don't understand… I don't remember you at all." A quiet exhale followed, like someone accepting something inevitable. "You will." the voice replied. "Just not here." The world around them began to fracture more clearly now. The river split into light, the flowers turned weightless, drifting upward instead of falling, and the shrine courtyard itself began to stretch like a painting being pulled apart. Xu yang's panic rose. "No...no, wait!" he said, grabbing forward again, this time more desperately. "If you're real, you can't just disappear every time I try to understand!"
The blurred figure leaned closer just enough that Xu yang could feel their presence fully, even if he couldn't see them. "Understanding comes later." they said gently. "Right now… you just need to survive it." Xu Yang's voice broke. "Survive what?" Silence answered him. And then, softer than everything else, the words came like a promise buried in pain. "What you forgot." The courtyard shattered into light. The sound of water disappeared first then the laughter. Xu Yang reached out one last time, fingers grasping nothing but air and fading sunlight. "Wait..!"
Before he could speak, before he could understand what was happening, the peaceful courtyard vanished.Lanterns hanging beneath the shrine roofs suddenly exploded one after another. Glass shattered through the air. Flames scattered into the darkness and sky above split apart with a deafening crack.The beautiful blue sky disappeared beneath endless darkness. Children were running and people were shouting and someone was crying.The peaceful laughter from moments ago transformed into screams.
Xu Yang stumbled backward, his heart beginning to race. "No..." He didn't understand what he was seeing. The shrine was the same shrine but now it was broken and burning. Fire consumed the wooden buildings and smoke filled the air. The earth beneath his feet trembled violently. A figure collapsed somewhere ahead and another person screamed. The sound was so full of grief that Xu Yang's chest physically hurt hearing it. It felt like someone was tearing his heart apart. Then another voice cut through the chaos. "Run!" Xu yang turned out but there was no one.The sky continued breaking apart overhead. Flames surged higher.Threads spread farther, swallowing everything they touched.The mountain itself seemed to be breaking. Xu Yang's breathing became uneven and his vision blurred.
Then a voice called out through the chaos, far away yet powerful enough to tear through every scream, every explosion, every sound. "Xu Yang!" His heart stopped.Xu Yang turned sharply. The burning courtyard blurred around him. The flames, the collapsing buildings, the screaming people none of it mattered anymore."No..." The word escaped before he understood why. The voice called again, closer this time. "Xu Yang!!" The ground shook violently beneath his feet. A deafening crack split through the shrine.
And then Xu Yang saw a silhouette standing amidst the destruction, surrounded by fire and falling light. He was looking at him. He wasn't running and wasn't trying to save themselves. Xu Yang's chest tightened he could barely breathe. "Move!" he shouted suddenly.The silhouette didn't move. The shrine continued collapsing and fire spread around them. The distance between them seemed impossible. Xu Yang stumbled forward. "Move!" His voice broke. Why wasn't that person moving? Why were they just standing there? Why did it feel like they were saying goodbye? Panic surged through him.
The silhouette raised an arm, reaching toward him.He was not asking for help or asking to be saved. He was just reaching.As though they wanted to see him one last time."No..." His eyes burned. The shrine continued breaking apart.Threads spread further. The world seemed to be ending. And suddenly a sentence escaped him, not consciously, not intentionally, like a memory forcing its way out. "Take me with you." The words echoed through the burning courtyard. Xu Yang froze his own voice sounded broken. "Please..." His throat tightened. Tears blurred his vision. "Don't leave me behind." The moment the words left his mouth, the silhouette disappeared."No!" Xu Yang lurched forward and his eyes open.Darkness filled the room.There was no fires and collapsing sky.Only his room.The ache there was unbearable. His fingers curled into the blanket, holding it tightly like he was still trying to keep someone from slipping away then tears fell from his eyes.Xu yang lowered his head as another tear fell onto the blanket beneath his trembling hands.
"Why am I seeing this?" he whispered hoarsely. Xu Yang lowered his head, his breathing still uneven. "What are you trying to tell me?His throat tightened immediately afterward. "Who are you?" Another tear slipped down his face. "Why does it hurt this much when I can't even remember your face?"Xu Yang let out a weak laugh, but the sound was bitter and broken. "This doesn't make any sense.I am not Xu yang how could I feel that?! " His hand slowly pressed against his chest, against the ache that refused to leave, against the emptiness that suddenly felt far too large. "I've never met you..." he whispered.
"What is the original Xu Yang even supposed to be?" he muttered, eyes trembling slightly. "Why do I feel a connection to those children? To that village… to things I don't even remember living through?"His fingers tightened into the fabric over his chest."We are not from the same world…" His voice cracked slightly on the words, frustration mixing with something deeper. "So why does it feel like I've been there? Why does it feel like something in me already knows them?!"
A harsh breath escaped him."No…" Xu Yang shook his head faintly, as if trying to push the thoughts back down. "No, this is wrong. I shouldn't be reacting like this. I shouldn't feel anything.""…Who am I supposed to be?" he whispered, "If I'm not Xu Yang… then what am I remembering when I feel all this?"
His fingers tightened against his clothes. "No...this is not right!" Xu Yang closed his eyes briefly. The burning shrine flashed through his mind. The reaching hand. The desperate voice calling his name.His breathing became uneven again. "Who was I talking to?" he whispered. "Who was that?" Xu Yang swallowed hard. "That wasn't normal..." he murmured. His voice trembled. "That wasn't just a dream." The realization frightened him. Because if it wasn't a dream, then what was it? A memory? A fragment? Something stolen? Xu Yang stared into the darkness, his eyes still wet. "If that was really the past..." he whispered slowly, "then who was that person?" His chest tightened. "Why were they crying for me?" Another tear slid down his cheek. "Why was I so afraid to lose them?"
Xu Yang lowered his gaze to his trembling hands. "They weren't a stranger." He continued,"Whoever you are..." Xu Yang whispered into the darkness, his voice cracking slightly, "what was I to you?" His eyes burned again and more tears slipped free before he could stop them.
Back to demon clan territory Qing li question Still hanging there.Hei long simply stare at him.For a moment, even the lava below seemed quieter. Hei Long looked at Qing Li for a long time, not with hesitation but with something heavier something painful, like remembering itself hurt. Wang Xio spoke, voice low. "Qing Li…" But Qing Li cut him off instantly, eyes sharp and voice breaking slightly. "No. Don't you dare interrupt this. I've been standing in the middle of answers I don't understand for too long." Silence followed again.
Hei Long slowly lifted his head, and when he spoke, his voice was calm but carried something buried deep beneath it. "You were the one who used to pull me out of places I couldn't escape from." Qing Li blinked once, stunned. "What?" Hei Long's gaze didn't move away. "Even when I stopped believing I deserved to be pulled out." Qing Li's throat tightened. "That doesn't answer my question." Hei Long gave a faint, almost helpless exhale. "It does." he said quietly. "You're just not ready to hear it fully."
Qing Li stepped closer without realizing it, frustration mixing with something more fragile underneath. "Try me." For the first time, Wang xio spoke again but softer now, almost warning. "Qing Li… if you remember this part, you won't be able to unsee it." Qing Li's voice dropped. "I already can't unsee anything in this place." A long pause stretched between them,then Hei long spoke again. "You were the one who stayed." Qing Li froze.Hei long continued, voice quieter now. "When everyone else broke… when the Fourth Day started collapsing… you were the one who refused to leave." Qing Li's eyes narrowed slightly, confusion sharpening into something uneasy. "That's not possible. I don't remember." "You don't remember because you survived."
Wang Xio interrupted suddenly, voice tight, almost strained.Qing Li turned sharply toward him. "What does that even mean?" Wang Xio's hands clenched at his sides, composure finally cracking at the edges. "It means…" he said slowly, "you weren't supposed to be the one who came back with nothing missing." Qing Li's expression shifted, confusion deepening into something colder. "Nothing missing?" Hei Long looked at him steadily, but his eyes carried weight that felt older than pain. "You're the only one asking questions." he said softly. "That's why it's starting to come back to you first." Qing Li's breath grew uneven again. "Come back… what is coming back?" His voice lowered, almost unsteady now.
Before anyone could answer, the chains in the prison moved not from struggle but from recognition. A deep metallic echo rippled through the cavern.Qing Li flinched slightly, his instincts screaming at him to step back again, but his feet stayed rooted in place. "This is insane!" he muttered under his breath, voice uneven now. "Every time I ask something, the entire place reacts like it's alive." Wang Xio didn't answer his eyes were fixed on the seals carved into the stone, watching them flicker faintly as if responding to Qing Li's presence specifically. Then he spoke quietly, "It is alive… in a way." Qing Li turned sharply. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Hei Long moved just slightly lifting his bound hand as far as the chains allowed. The white flowers beside him trembled gently, untouched by heat but reacting to something unseen in the air. "It means," Hei Long said softly, "this place remembers you too." Qing Li froze. "No!" he said immediately, shaking his head once. "That's not possible. I've never been here before." Wang Xio's voice came, lower than before, almost careful. "That's what you believe." Qing Li's breathing grew heavier. "Stop doing that." he snapped, but the edge in his voice was breaking now. "Stop speaking like I'm supposed to accept things I can't even see."
Hei Long looked at him quietly, something almost sorrowful in his expression. "You don't see it." he said, "because you were the one who held it together when it started falling apart." Qing Li's eyes narrowed slightly, but there was hesitation now instead of anger. "Held what together?" he asked. No one answered immediately. The lava beneath them shifted again, and for a brief moment, faint shadows flickered across the prison walls shadows of places that weren't there anymore.It tuned into shrine. Beside shirne children were laughing then gone. Qing Li staggered slightly at the sudden vision. "I saw…" he whispered, gripping his chest instinctively. "That wasn't real." Wang Xio's voice turned quieter, almost strained. "It was real." he said. "Just not now." Hei Long lowered his gaze, his chains softly clinking as he spoke, "And you were there when it happened." Qing li stood completely still now.
Before anyone could say anything else, the cavern darkened abruptly.Qing Li's breath caught. "What now…?" he whispered, instinctively stepping closer to Wang Xio. The lava glow dimmed unnaturally, and even Hei Long lifted his head slightly, his expression shifting no longer calm, but alert in a restrained way. Then the sky cracked open.
A vertical split tore through the darkness above them, not breaking stone, but space itself. Light spilled through it in unstable waves, and within that fractured opening, a massive door-shaped silhouette formed hovering in the air like it was anchored to nothing.
Qing Li's eyes widened slightly. "That's… a door in the sky?" His voice sounded disbelieving even to himself. Wang Xio's expression tightened immediately. "No…" he muttered, taking a half-step forward. "That's not a door." Qing Li snapped his head toward him. "Then what is it?" Wang Xio didn't answer right away, staring upward as if the sight itself was forcing something back inside his memory. "A boundary breach." he said finally, voice low. "Something is pulling this place upward."
The chains around Hei Long suddenly jerked. He didn't move but his voice dropped, sharper than before. "Step back." Qing Li turned toward him instantly. "What is that?! Did you do this?!" Hei Long's gaze remained fixed on the sky fracture. "No." A pause. Then quieter he said "But it noticed us."The floating sky-door widened slightly, and a cold force began pouring down from it, heavy enough to make the entire prison groan. Qing Li staggered back. "I don't like this..." he said, voice tightening. "I really don't like this at all." Wang Xio grabbed his arm firmly. "Move. Now." Qing Li resisted for half a second. "Wait...what about him?!" He looked toward Hei Long, but Hei Long only gave a faint, controlled shake of his head. "Go!" he said simply. "This isn't your opening yet."
The moment Hei Long finished speaking, the pressure from the sky-door changed abruptly. A force erupted from above, and the entire cavern shook as if something had grabbed reality and started pulling it upward.Qing Li's eyes widened. "What?!" His words broke off as his body suddenly lifted slightly off the ground. Wang Xio tightened his grip. "Don't let go!" he snapped, voice sharp for the first time. Hei Long's chains rattled as even he was pulled upward against the stone platform, his expression darkening. "It's not targeting the prison…" he said under his breath. "It's pulling all of us."The sky-door widened further.A blinding pull force hit them at once then three of them were dragged upward.
Qing Li struggled, panic flashing through his expression. "Wang xio hold on!" he shouted, grabbing onto his wrist as the ground beneath them began cracking apart. Wang Xio gritted his teeth. "I'm here!" he said firmly, refusing to let go.But even his stance started breaking under the pressure.Hei Long lifted his head slowly, eyes narrowing slightly as he watched the sky-door. "So it opened fully…" he murmured, almost to himself. Qing Li looked at him mid-air, struggling. "What is that thing?!" he demanded. Hei Long said quietly, "A place that shouldn't be reachable."
Qing Li's voice broke slightly. "Then why is it taking us?!" Wang xio's expression darkened as he looked up."Because it already decided." He tightened his grip even more. "And we're already inside its range."The cavern below them began to disappear in fragments, breaking apart into drifting darkness and light.Qing Li's last desperate words echoed as they were lifted higher. "I don't want to go there without knowing what it is!" Hei Long's voice followed, quieter,"Too late."
Elsewhere in Heaven, far beyond the lower realms and even beyond the awareness of most celestial officials, a hidden archive chamber stretched into impossible depth. Floating shelves of sealed scrolls hovered in silent order, each one bound with layers of ancient restriction seals.Yan Luo and Zhao Ming stepped inside without announcement, without permission, without even the knowledge that they were already crossing a line that could never be uncrossed. Zhao Ming's eyes moved slowly across the endless shelves, unease tightening in his expression. "This place… is beyond imagination." he murmured. Yan Luo did not look at him. His gaze was fixed forward, cold and precise. "Heaven doesn't archive history!" he said quietly. "It buries it."
They walked deeper into the chamber, their footsteps soundless against the suspended stone path. As they passed, the scrolls around them reacted faintly, subtle flickers of light running through their seals as if the records themselves recognized something in their presence. Zhao Ming noticed it and slowed. "Did you see that?" he asked under his breath. Yan Luo glanced sideways. "They're responding!" he said. "Not to us but to what we're approaching."
The deeper they went, the denser the seals became, until entire sections of the archive felt almost erased rather than stored. Layers upon layers of correction marks covered entire clusters, some so heavily overwritten that the original contents were no longer visible. Zhao Ming swallowed once. "Who would go this far to hide records?" he whispered. Yan Luo didn't answer immediately. Then, "Someone who feared remembering more than forgetting." They stopped at a restricted section, separated from the rest by a faint barrier of old divine script. Inside were shattered records, fragmented scrolls, and heavily damaged archive plates everything centered around one recurring reference: a shrine painting record.
Zhao Ming stepped closer, his expression darkening instantly. "This…" he said slowly, "was never meant to exist." Yan Luo reached forward and carefully pulled one damaged scroll free.His eyes scanned the fragmented text. Then, very slightly, they widened. "This level of erasure…" Yan Luo murmured. Zhao Ming leaned in, voice tightening. "Even Heaven erased the existence of this file." Yan Luo's grip on the scroll tightened. "No…" A pause stretched between them."Heaven didn't just erase the file," Yan Luo said, "It tried to erase the reason the shrine exists itself." Zhao ming stiffened. "That's impossible!" he said. Yan Luo didn't look away from the scroll. "Then explain this," he said quietly. "Why does it still exist here?" Silence fell over the chamber.
Zhao Ming took a careful step back, his unease sharpening into something closer to alarm. "Yan Luo…" he said cautiously, "if Heavenly Father finds out we're searching this deeply, we won't just be punished. We'll be erased." Yan Luo looked at him directly. His expression was calm."You think we're not already involved?" he asked softly. Zhao ming's breath caught.
Yan Luo turned slightly, glancing at the sealed layers surrounding them. "If this was only forbidden, it would have been locked." he said. "But it wasn't." His voice lowered. "It was buried." Zhao Ming swallowed hard. "That doesn't make it safer." "No!" Yan luo agreed."It makes it intentional." He added,"Someone didn't want this forgotten by accident." Zhao Ming's voice dropped to a near whisper. "Then what are we digging toward?"Yan Luo looked at the damaged scroll again,"A truth Heaven itself couldn't afford to keep intact."