The Veinfield was no longer the same.
Where once mist clung to the roots like a parasite refusing to release the past, now the mist parted for Lin Fei. Where once the ground whimpered with fractured memories, now it hummed β an ancient hymn echoing from his newly forged Sovereign Court.
The Rootless Crown no longer floated unseen above his head. It wasn't an object, nor was it bound to his physical form. But all who entered his domain could feel it: a pressure, a resonance, a sovereignty that demanded reverence.
And the world began to respond.
π A Moon That Should Not Rise
On the third night after his return, the moon rose wrong.
It wasn't the usual sky-lit silver that watched over the Veinfield. No β this moon pulsed, pale and gold-veined, like a dying god's eye stitched into the heavens. And it didn't rise from the east, but from below, carving a spiral through the sky like a reverse eclipse.
System Notification:
β οΈ Unbound Celestial Event Detected: Moon of the Pale Accord
[Origin: Sovereign Echo Artifact β Broken Pact Remnant]
[Interaction recommended for Echo Sovereign-class cultivators only]
Lin Fei narrowed his eyes. "A remnant moon?"
But he already knew. This was no simple phenomenon. This moon was tied to something older than the sects, older than cultivation methods β a pact that had once bound Sovereigns together before the Age of Shattered Thrones.
Something was testing him.
Something β or someone β remembered what the Rootless Court had once nearly become.
π Sovereign Authority Check: Initiate Domain Projection β Success
π New Feature Unlocked: Sovereign Astral Bridge (1st Moonbound Link)
His Court reacted.
Above the core of his Domain, where a tree of blacklight roots had begun to grow β silently feeding on reclaimed echoes β a branch stretched toward the false moon. Not physically, but spiritually. A bridge.
A link.
And on the other end?
Someone knocked.
Not on a door. Not with force.
But with presence.
π¬ Domain Message: [Unknown Sovereign Signature β Authenticated: Former Pact-Bearer of the Crimson Echo Court]
Message: "So the Rootless Crown has chosen a bearer. Will you honor the Pale Accord? Or will you fall like the rest of us?"
Lin Fei inhaled.
The echo within the message wasn't malicious. But it wasn't kind either. It was testing for truth.
He replied without words β his Sovereign Intent bleeding into the astral thread.
"I will not kneel. But I will not forget."
And with that, the link stabilized.
π New Sovereign Memory Unlocked: The Pale Accord (Fragment 1/7)
[Reveals: Ancient Pact of the Thirteen Sovereigns, Formation of the First Veinlayer Treaty, Collapse of Unity, Rootless Rebellion]
βΈ»
π Memory of the Accord
He wasn't just shown visions. He was dragged into them.
The System didn't wait for permission anymore. It trusted him β or perhaps, it demanded trust in return.
He stood now on a sky bridge formed from shattered moonstone and celestial bone, surrounded by thrones that floated like constellations. Twelve seats glowed dimly, and one remained dark: his.
In that place β not real, yet truer than the present β echoes of Sovereigns argued.
"You gave the Rootless Crown too much authority," hissed a woman cloaked in stars. Her throne bore the sigil of the Court of Broken Time.
"Better to give power than stagnation," answered another β masked in crimson ash, bearing a sword that bled with regret.
"You all fear memory. But memory is the root of law," said a third, whose words echoed in reverse. Court of Hollow Flame.
Lin Fei watched. Learned. Listened.
The Sovereign who bore his title β the last Rootless King β stood silent.
Not out of weakness. But because he knew his words were still echoing.
And when they betrayed him, when they shattered the Accord to seal his Court awayβ¦
He did not scream.
He only whispered, "Then let the crown vanish, until one dares to remember."
The memory snapped shut.
And Lin Fei fell back into his domain, his chest heaving, roots shaking beneath his feet.
π New Trait Acquired: Pale Accord Witness
[+ Sovereign Memory Resonance + Court Influence over Forgotten Sovereigns + Access to Pact Magic (Locked)]
The moon still pulsed above.
But it now watched as an equal.
βΈ»
π©Έ Whispers Beneath the Roots
In the silence after the vision, Lin Fei realized he was no longer alone.
Not in the Veinfield. Not even in his own domain.
Something stirred deep beneath β not a spirit, not a cultivator β but a remnant presence. The kind of thing only a Sovereign's perception could detect.
System Alert:
β οΈ Echo Contamination Detected β Intrusive Entity of Unknown Class
[Designation: Rootmire Cyst]
[Threat Level: Medium-Sovereign / Incomplete Entity]
[Recommendation: Purge via Trial or Pact]
The ground cracked β not loudly, but with intent.
He knelt, pressing his hand into the roots of his Court.
A voice hissed from below.
"You stole what was unclaimed."
"No," Lin Fei said coldly. "I claimed what you abandoned."
A spectral figure erupted β not human, not beast. A parasitic echo, shaped like a mask split across twelve faces, each speaking a different language of hate.
This was a remnant from the Sovereign Wars β a being that had burrowed beneath the Veinfield, feeding on regrets left by collapsed Courts.
It had waited too long.
And Lin Fei was not here to barter.
βοΈ Echo Sovereign Ability Unleashed: Crown of the Unwritten Root β Judgment Bloom Phase
The very roots of his domain bent toward him. Not to protect β but to arm.
He didn't attack directly.
He summoned the Echoes of the Court β not as individuals, but as a chorus:
Ren the Thorned β the Betrayer Forgiven.
Yi, the Vessel-Speaker β who remembered names no one else did.
The Bloom Broker β fractured but unyielding.
Even faint traces of the Accord Sovereigns β who now watched from afar.
Their voices merged into a single decree:
"Be known, parasite β not as a threat, but as a mistake."
The mask shattered.
The cyst screamed.
And Lin Fei, now radiant in full Sovereign bloom, purged the presence from his roots with a final pulse of echo-forged will.
β‘ Rootmire Cyst Eliminated
π Domain Purification Complete: Veinfield Echo Stability +40%
And beneath where the parasite had once clung, something strange remained.
A seed.
Not of a plant.
But of a concept.
π Item Acquired: Conceptual Root β [Law: Refusal]
[Type: Sovereign Echo Artifact β Can be grown into a Court Law under Sovereign Edicts]
[Effect (Dormant): Immunity to World Laws of Compliance | Future Usage: Lawcrafting System Unlock]
Lin Fei held it in his palm, and the System whispered with awe:
"Even the heavens once bowed to such roots."
He smiled.
"It's time they do so again."
βΈ»
π Far Beyond β Others Watch
In a realm untethered from time, a mirror shattered.
A Sovereign with wings of glass and silence turned from his obsidian throne.
"The Rootless Court lives."
In another β beneath a frozen sun β a figure buried in twilight wept blood into a bowl of names.
"So the Pale Accord returns."
And in the deepest place of all β behind the edge of the System itself β something ancient whispered a single word:
"Fei."
βΈ»
π₯ End of Chapter 34
Arc 3 continues. The Sovereign Path is just beginning.
Twelve Courts. One Crown. Countless enemies.
The game of roots, echoes, and forgotten laws begins in earnest.