Whispers of the Jade Saber

"Some flowers only bloom under fire."

---

The first of the Flame Tribunal touched down like a falling comet, golden fire wreathing his bare form. He had no face—only a smooth mask of polished brass etched with runes that bled smoke. In each of his four arms, he held a different flame: blue, violet, white, and black.

He did not introduce himself.

He did not threaten.

He simply pointed.

At Lin Feng.

At Liang Yue.

Then raised a hand—and the valley exploded.

Stone vaporized in a shockwave that sent Tian Mian and Jun Feilan tumbling. Lin Feng stood his ground, the Ashen Saber screaming with heat. He deflected the flame with a sweeping arc, carving a wall of memory-fire to hold the blast.

Liang Yue didn't move.

She stood perfectly still, eyes closed, hands trembling at her sides. Her skin steamed as two opposing cores surged inside her—one frost, one fire. The lotus of ice pulsed. The lotus of flame cracked.

Lin Feng shouted to her, "We have to move—!"

But she whispered instead:

> "No. I remember now."

---

Memories she had never lived flooded her senses. Standing before the Celestial Court, her sword dripping flame and regret. Watching allies fall. Choosing to be erased to protect something greater. Lianhua's final thoughts weren't of power… but of loss.

And those thoughts now lived in Liang Yue's mind, not like an invader—but like a sister returning home.

The Tribunal's second member appeared—this one cloaked in chains of light, mouth stitched shut. He moved like lightning, flashing toward Lin Feng with a blade made of clock-hands ticking backward.

Before Lin Feng could block, a ripple of frost-fire erupted between them.

Liang Yue stood in his place.

Arms outstretched.

The lotus at her back now had ten petals, five of glacial ice, five of blistering crimson. They spun like a wheel behind her, casting mirrored shadows across the battlefield.

Her voice echoed strangely, layered:

> "I am not Lianhua reborn. I am Liang Yue, awakened."

The Tribunal struck.

So did she.

They clashed in midair, a cyclone of fire and cold, time and soul. Lin Feng could only watch, awe-struck, as Liang Yue danced between flame and memory, each step erasing the Tribunal's techniques before they finished forming.

She fought like no one he had ever seen.

Like someone who had died once before and refused to die again.

---

Far below, Tian Mian activated a glyph screen and murmured, "Impossible… she's tapping into a Forbidden Lotus Path… one thought lost during the War of Records."

Jun Feilan, her breath ragged, whispered, "She's becoming something else."

The third member of the Tribunal hovered in the rift above, watching the battle.

Then it moved.

Not toward Lin Feng.

Not toward Liang Yue.

But toward the Ashen Saber, which pulsed violently, as if recognizing the intent.

> "No—" Lin Feng snarled. "You're not taking it!"

He launched himself forward, saber blazing.

But before he could reach the Tribunal's third enforcer, it raised a hand—and time fractured.

The world slowed. Sound distorted.

And in that frozen moment, Lin Feng heard a whisper from within his own blood:

> "You burned the chain once… but the anchor still holds."

His heart stopped.

And then it lit.

His veins flared golden. A glyph appeared over his left eye—an ancient brand, not from the Saber, but from his lineage. Not inherited from Lianhua.

But from before her.

A forgotten flame. A Predecessor Flame.

The Saber responded instantly. It extended, evolving in his grip, becoming translucent—its blade inscribed with floating names that only he could see.

They were names erased from the world.

And at the top:

> "Lin Feng – Rekindled Recordbearer"

---

Above, the sky cracked further. Dozens of other Tribunal scouts began converging.

But something shifted.

The Tribunal enforcers on the field froze—sensing something unfamiliar.

Unpredictable.

Liang Yue landed beside Lin Feng, her aura still ablaze.

She took his hand without hesitation.

The petals of the dual lotus expanded—now forming a shield over them both.

The Tribunal's leader spoke for the first time:

> "Together, you've become a convergence point."

> "You are no longer targets of correction…"

> "You are now classified as a Memory Virus."

The Tribunal raised their arms in unison.

> "Initiate World-Level Erasure Protocol."

The rift widened.

And through it, the upper heavens opened—revealing a golden city hanging above a broken sea, surrounded by screaming spirits caught in stasis.

And from that city… something stirred.

Something older than law.

A being with a crown of flames and a body made of scrolls and cinders stepped into view.

It didn't speak.

It didn't need to.

Tian Mian dropped to his knees and whispered:

> "The Flame God of Judgment… the final arbiter."

The Saber began to scream in Lin Feng's hand—not in fear, but in recognition.

---

---

The scream of the Ashen Saber wasn't audible in the traditional sense.

It echoed in the bones.

In the blood.

In the soul.

The blade pulsed like a living flame, ancient inscriptions igniting across its length—each rune a forgotten name, burning back into reality.

The crowned being descended slowly, as if time itself parted for its presence. Its form was cloaked in divine law: dozens of floating scrolls circling its shoulders, their parchment trailing fire. Eyes like twin suns stared into Lin Feng's existence and saw everything.

Not just his name.

Not just his crimes.

But his potential.

> "You carry the Saber," the Flame God said, voice like an entire temple collapsing.

"Then you carry her sin… and the rebellion she began."

Behind Lin Feng, Liang Yue's aura flared brighter, as if protecting him instinctively.

> "What sin?" Lin Feng growled. "To remember? To choose?"

The Flame God extended a single finger, and the sky bent.

A pillar of golden fire shot down—divine judgment, unerring, impossible to block.

Liang Yue stepped in front of it.

> "No—!"

The beam struck.

---

But the lotus shield—spinning faster than thought—absorbed the fire.

Ice melted. Flame flared. And something new bloomed.

A Crimson Frost Lotus, half frozen, half aflame, now hovered above Liang Yue's head—its center forming the shape of a spiral flame.

She didn't move.

She was becoming.

Not Lianhua reborn. Not a host.

But a fusion.

Her core stabilized for the first time since birth. Two paths—opposed in nature—finally found resonance.

Tian Mian gasped. "It's a hybrid core ascension… a Lotus Bloom of the Eclipsed Phoenix!"

Lin Feng touched her shoulder, eyes filled with both awe and worry. "You okay?"

Liang Yue's voice was quiet, but steady. "I've never been more myself."

The Flame God watched without moving.

Then it turned… and pointed to the Saber.

> "That weapon was never meant to survive. It was forged in rebellion, quenched in memory, and wielded to sever the heavenly script."

> "Your existence with it—your choices—have already changed three outcomes."

Jun Feilan stepped beside them, staff held low but ready. "So what happens now?"

The Flame God raised both hands. The sky behind him became a scroll.

Words appeared—written in fire and light.

"Memory War: Initiated."

"Flamebearer Lin Feng: Class A Aberration."

"Companion Liang Yue: Soul Anchor – Reclassified."

"Judgment shall fall within three celestial rotations."

> "You have three days," the Flame God said. "To surrender the Saber and yourselves."

> "Or face the Second Culling."

And with that, the Flame God turned and vanished back into the rift, taking the Tribunal with him.

The sky stitched itself closed, but the pressure didn't fade.

It remained—burning behind the clouds.

Watching.

---

Lin Feng exhaled, heart still hammering. "We have three days."

Tian Mian straightened his robe. "Three days to what exactly? Run? Hide? Rewrite the stars?"

"No," Liang Yue said, stepping forward. Her hair floated slightly, touched now by flame. "We don't run anymore."

She turned to Lin Feng, her gaze calm, powerful, and terrifyingly resolved.

> "We rewrite the world."

And from behind her, the Crimson Frost Lotus bloomed again—casting a reflection across the valley.

One that showed a world not yet broken.

---

End of Chapter 30