Dreams of Dust and Chains
Li Shen dreamed of vast, coiling roots digging through stone and bone.
In the dream, he stood before a door buried under centuries of ash.
"You must remember."
"You must choose."
When he woke, Jinhai sat beside him, eyes haunted.
"You saw it too," she whispered.
He nodded.
It was time to dig.
The Hidden Entrance
The visions led them to the base of the northern cliff, where a broken waterfall once flowed. Now, the stone was cracked, and beneath the overgrowth, they found the remnants of a spiral staircase leading down.
Only Elder Hui knew of it.
And even he feared it.
"That place," he said, "was sealed by your ancestors. Not to protect it—but to protect us."
Li Shen tightened the straps on his cloak.
"Then it's time to unseal it."
Descent into Memory
The air grew colder the deeper they went. Stale. Heavy.
The torches burned with blue fire, reacting to Li Shen's root thread qi.
Symbols lined the walls—twisted runes older than the current cultivation era.
And in the darkness… something watched.
[Area Discovered: Forsaken Root Inner Sanctum – Suppressed Ruin State]
[Warning: Passive Mental Corruption Active – Resist or Retreat]
[New Root Surge Detected: Memory Integration Phase Initiated]
[Root Unseal: 78% → 84%]
[Trait Gained: Ancestral Recall (Passive) – Echoes of the Forsaken Lineage may surface under extreme stress. Warning: Identity Drift Possible.]
At the base of the stairs, a door waited.
Not stone.
Not metal.
But wood—alive, pulsing with inner threads.
A voice echoed from within.
"He returns. The child of ash and thread."
Inside the Temple
The door opened for Li Shen.
The inner chamber was vast and circular, filled with giant root systems twisted into thrones, cages, and altars. Dozens of shattered cultivation cores lay scattered on the ground.
At the centre sat a corpse, impaled by root spikes.
No decay.
No rot.
Just… waiting.
As Li Shen stepped forward, the corpse breathed.
[Sentient Fragment Detected: Forsaken Prime – Echo Consciousness at 3% Stability]
[Interface Engaged – Dialogue Mandatory]
It spoke in a voice layered with thousands of echoes.
"Li Shen. Last of the bound line. Do you come to reclaim… or to forget?"
Li Shen's voice trembled, but he stood firm.
"I came to understand."
The corpse smiled.
And everything changed.
Truth of the Forsaken Root
Visions filled the room.
Li Shen saw children bred in soul-furnaces. Cultivators are bound to parasitic roots to force explosive growth. The Root was never a blessing—it was a cage for gifted outcasts, manipulated into weapons for long-dead sects.
He saw himself.
Not as a boy, but as many boys.
A cycle.
A vessel reincarnated, re-adapted.
A lab-grown soul, thrown into the wild each time the world grew too calm.
[Root Origin: Adaptive Cultivation Experiment – Abandoned by the Eight Sky Sects after catastrophic failures. Li Shen is the 7th iteration to survive past initial awakening.]
[Soul Stability: 87% – Danger of Fragmentation Rising]
[Decision Point Approaching: Assimilate, Reject, or Reforge the Root]
Jinhai's Choice
As Li Shen reeled from the visions, Jinhai stepped into the circle.
She looked at the corpse, and it looked back.
"You see her?" Li Shen asked.
"Yes," said the corpse. "She was to be your counterbalance. The Oracle Chain. Bound to predict, then betray."
Li Shen turned to her. "Is that why you were sent?"
Jinhai didn't flinch.
"I don't know. But I chose to be here. I chose you."
The Root pulsed between them.
And something new bloomed.
[Bond Evolution: Ashbond → Root-Fused Pact]
[New Ability Unlocked: Soul Garden (Stage 1) – Allows cultivation of minor qi-entities and root-based techniques inside the shared soul plane.]
[Root Unseal: 84% → 91%]
[Warning: System Instability Approaching Critical – Final Evolution Choice Soon Required]
A Warning from the Dead
As the temple began to quake, the corpse leaned forward.
"You've seen the past. Now know this: The Root is not dead. Its final fragment—the Seed of Sovereignty—remains hidden in the Sky Shattered Peaks."
"And others seek it."
"Cultivators who would bind the world once more."
"Li Shen… what will you become?"
Then the corpse collapsed into dust.
And the entire chamber began to fall.
Escape and Resolve
They barely made it out as the temple caved in behind them, collapsing into stone and ash.
Li Shen looked to the sky.
The stars seemed… closer.
Brighter.
"Sky Shattered Peaks," Jinhai said softly.
He nodded. "That's where the next root grows."
She smiled, fierce and sad. "Then let's burn it clean."
[Quest Line Progression: Act I Complete – The Bound Roots]
[New Main Quest: Act II – Climb the Shattered Peaks]
[Objective: Reach the Sky Shattered Peaks before the Crimson Moon Sect claims the Sovereign Seed.]
[Root Unseal: 91%]
[Next Evolution Threshold: 100% – Choose the Fate of the Forsaken Root]