Whispers of the Jade Saber

"The Saber does not grant power. It remembers it."

---

The sky remained cracked—though sealed—like a glass mirror hastily glued together. Light filtered through the fault lines in eerie golden rays, burning hotter than sunfire. Below, the Wuhen Valley stood silent, scarred from divine descent.

No one spoke.

Not even the wind dared stir.

Lin Feng sheathed the Ashen Saber, its flame reluctantly dimming, though the hilt still vibrated faintly in his grip, as if the blade were awake now… watching… listening.

Tian Mian finally broke the silence. "We need shelter. Fast. If that thing—if that was the Flame God—then we've just become more than enemies of the Tribunal."

"We're anomalies," Jun Feilan said grimly. "We don't belong in this version of the world anymore."

Liang Yue stood apart from them, arms crossed, her eyes fixed on the fracture above. Her hair was no longer purely white—it shimmered with a faint red tint beneath, like threads of fire laced into frost.

Lin Feng stepped beside her.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked quietly.

She nodded, but didn't look at him. "I'm fine. Just… remembering things that never happened to me. Or maybe they did. Maybe they were just buried."

He didn't push.

He recognized the look in her eyes. That same haunted light he'd seen when they first stepped into the illusion realm. Only now, it wasn't uncertainty that shone—it was determination.

> "Let's go," she finally said. "We need to find the next name."

Tian Mian blinked. "Next what?"

Lin Feng reached into his sleeve and pulled out a scroll of flame.

It hadn't been there before.

The Ashen Saber had left it behind when it pulsed after the Flame God vanished.

The scroll unrolled itself in Lin Feng's hand.

There, etched in red fire, were names—a list of Recordbearers long thought erased from history.

Each line flickered faintly, and next to several names were dates… death dates.

One name at the top was burning brighter than the rest.

> "Xue Jian," Lin Feng read aloud. "Last known survivor of the Dawnfire Uprising. Title: Whisper of the Crimson Moon. Status: Possibly alive."

Tian Mian's eyes widened. "That can't be. That name was purged centuries ago. His sect, his family, even his signature in the Celestial Mandate—completely wiped."

Liang Yue spoke up. "Which means he's like Lin Feng. A piece of the original script that refused to burn."

---

They left the Wuhen Valley under the cover of dusk.

Jun Feilan scouted ahead with her soul-sense expanded wide, tracing spiritual signatures while avoiding any that glowed too brightly with celestial influence. Tian Mian, for all his eccentricity, had a wealth of hidden maps and forbidden texts that allowed them to avoid patrols and warp zones tied to the Celestial Court.

Three days. That's what the Flame God had given them.

And already, Lin Feng could feel the pressure in the air shifting. It wasn't just the Tribunal.

The world itself was beginning to push against them.

Animals avoided them. Plants twisted away from their footsteps. At night, the stars over their campsite spun faster than they should have, as if time itself bent in wariness.

On the second night, Lin Feng stood watch alone.

The Saber rested beside him, unsheathed, glowing faintly—not as a weapon, but as a guide.

And in that stillness, it began to whisper.

Not with words.

With memory.

---

Suddenly, he wasn't in the forest.

He stood in a vast black chamber—circular, with mirrored walls. Dozens of ash-covered pillars rose into darkness, each holding an identical saber. But only one glowed.

And beneath it, crouched a man.

Old. Thin. Skin marked with brandings and scorched tattoos. His robes bore the faded insignia of a forgotten sect.

> "You're late," the man said without turning. His voice was like dry paper being torn.

"Who are you?" Lin Feng asked.

The man slowly stood and turned. His eyes were black pits with embers inside. "I am Xue Jian. Or what remains of him. This… is a memory the Saber left for you. Nothing more."

"So you're dead?"

Xue Jian's smile was crooked. "Not quite. But close. I fractured my soul across twenty-seven memory vaults before the heavens could erase me. Clever trick. Didn't stop the loneliness, though."

Lin Feng stepped closer. "Why me? Why the Saber?"

Xue Jian tilted his head. "Because you're the first to survive its burn and not lose your mind. That makes you worthy of the truth."

He pointed at the Saber's blade, now hovering between them.

> "That weapon… isn't a sword. It's a timeline. Each swing carries a history the world tried to forget. That's why the heavens fear it. Because every name it remembers... could return."

The chamber shook. Dust fell from the ceiling.

The vision began to dissolve.

"Wait!" Lin Feng reached out. "What do I do now?"

Xue Jian's eyes locked on his. "Remember this: The Saber doesn't just cut fate—it awakens it. Every enemy you kill with it may return. Every soul you save may shatter. Memory is not merciful."

The room burned to white.

Lin Feng gasped awake.

---

The next day, Liang Yue was already waiting by the river when he emerged from meditation.

"I heard it too," she said softly, not looking at him. "The Saber… it doesn't serve us. It chooses us."

He nodded. "It wants something."

"No," she replied. "It needs something."

They turned to the scroll.

Xue Jian's name still pulsed.

But now, so did a second.

> "Luo Shenshui – Title: The Archivist Who Remembers Too Much. Location: The Mirage Temple beneath the Forgotten Lake."

Tian Mian appeared behind them, eyes already narrowed. "That place was buried in the Collapse of Ages. No map can reach it."

Lin Feng met his gaze. "Then we don't need a map."

"We need a memory."

"Memory is not merciful."

---

The journey to the Forgotten Lake was nothing like the maps described.

That's because, as Tian Mian quickly discovered, the lake no longer existed—at least, not in the current version of the world.

Centuries ago, it had been drained during the Collapse of Ages, when a sect known as the Circle of Whispers attempted to fold a realm into itself and erase their enemies from reality. The attempt had failed spectacularly. Time broke. Space unraveled. And the region was declared cursed by the Celestial Court, its memory forbidden and its existence sealed.

But the Saber… remembered.

It guided them north, through windswept valleys and forests where trees grew upside down, their roots pointing at the sky. They walked across rivers frozen in time, with fish still mid-leap inside the ice. Strange birds circled above, blinking in and out of reality.

On the seventh night, the stars vanished.

Not behind clouds—behind memory.

And when they looked ahead, the Forgotten Lake had returned.

A vast sheet of glassy black water, unmoving, perfect, untouched by breeze or moonlight. In the center, a tower rose—impossibly tall and crooked, built from books, bones, and glowing runes. It tilted as though half-dreamed into place, whispering secrets into the void.

"That's it," Tian Mian whispered, awe thick in his voice. "The Mirage Temple."

Lin Feng narrowed his eyes. "Doesn't look like a temple."

"It's become what it remembers," Liang Yue said softly, her voice distant. "We're walking into a structure made of memory… not stone."

Jun Feilan unslung her spear. "Which means it'll fight back."

---

The moment they set foot on the lake's surface, it responded.

Not with an attack—but a question.

A voice rang out—not external, but internal, in all their minds.

> "To enter memory, offer one of your own."

Lin Feng stepped forward.

He knew what it wanted.

He placed a hand on the Saber.

The blade flared—and a single memory detached from his mind:

A quiet night, years ago, under a mountain sky. His grandfather laughing beside a campfire, telling tales of stars and destiny. The scent of pine, the warmth of soup, the gentleness of peace.

The memory vanished.

He staggered, breath catching in his throat.

The surface of the lake rippled… then solidified beneath his feet.

"Go," the voice said.

Liang Yue followed.

Jun Feilan and Tian Mian hesitated—but soon offered memories as well.

And then the walk began.

---

The tower's interior defied reason.

Books floated through the air. Hallways bent in circles, looping through time. Every step forward sometimes took them back. They passed rooms filled with versions of themselves—each locked in a loop of failure or despair.

One chamber showed Lin Feng killing Liang Yue.

Another showed Liang Yue leaving him behind to burn alone.

Each illusion faded as they moved forward, the Saber burning brighter each time, cutting through lies and regrets.

At last, they reached the central archive—a vast room with no floor, no walls, just floating platforms suspended in endless sky. And at the center, sitting cross-legged atop a throne of ink, bones, and broken scrolls, was a woman.

She wore no armor. Her robe was paper-thin, inscribed with names in thousands of languages.

Her hair floated like smoke.

Her eyes were closed—but they turned toward Lin Feng before she even moved.

> "You carry it," she said. Her voice was ancient, exhausted, and laced with unbearable knowing. "The Ashen Timeline."

He stepped forward cautiously. "Luo Shenshui?"

She nodded. "What's left of her."

Liang Yue tightened her grip on her sword. "We need your help. We're trying to stop the Tribunal. The Flame God gave us three days—"

"—and your presence here has already burned through one," Luo interrupted.

She stood slowly. Her movements left ghost-versions of herself behind, like echoing memories.

"I know why you're here. But be warned: knowledge burns."

She extended a hand—and the room around them shattered.

---

Suddenly, Lin Feng stood alone.

Not in the tower.

Not with the others.

But in a small village. Familiar.

Too familiar.

He blinked.

He was young—no more than eleven.

And he stood over a grave.

The grave of his real parents.

The night sky was wrong. Too many stars. A silver moon. A bloody comet overhead.

And beside the grave stood a man in black—his face hidden, his aura unfamiliar.

> "You weren't meant to survive," the man said quietly.

> "But the Saber chose you."

The man stepped forward—and Lin Feng's perspective shifted.

He was the man.

He was the one who had killed Lin Feng's parents.

> "This is your buried truth," came Luo's voice from nowhere. "Your bloodline was purged not by accident—but by decree."

The Saber flared on Lin Feng's back.

He tried to swing it—but it vanished.

He was powerless.

The man who was him knelt at the grave and whispered:

> "Forgive me, Lin Feng. I had to erase you… to protect the Saber."

---

With a gasp, Lin Feng snapped back to the central archive.

He staggered, face pale.

Liang Yue caught him. "What did you see?"

He shook his head. "A lie. Or maybe… a memory of someone else. I don't know anymore."

Luo Shenshui approached, sadness written across every fold of her body.

> "Truth is poison when swallowed alone."

> "But together, it can burn the cage."

She raised her hand—and from her palm emerged a single ember.

"Take this," she said. "The name of the first Saberbearer."

> "He was called Yan Shouming. The First Flame."

> "Find him—and you may learn how to resist the Second Culling."

"But he's dead," Tian Mian said.

"Is he?" Luo whispered.

Then she smiled—and burned into dust, leaving behind only the ember.

---

Lin Feng caught it.

The scroll in his sleeve unfurled again.

And a new name was added—burning red.

> Yan Shouming – Status: Sleeping in the Sea of Sealed Tomes.

"Truth is poison when swallowed alone."

---

The world outside the Mirage Temple had changed.

When Lin Feng and the others stepped back onto the lake's surface, they no longer stood beneath stars. The sky was a dull, gray dome—featureless, without sun or moon. No wind. No sound.

Just silence.

Liang Yue stepped forward, ice lotus petals circling her slowly. Her aura was sharper than before—more distinct. She had not emerged unchanged.

Behind them, the Mirage Temple rippled, then sank—vanishing beneath the surface like it had never existed.

Jun Feilan was the first to speak. "That… didn't feel like a win."

Tian Mian unrolled the map again, though it had begun to degrade, certain rivers and mountains now scribbled out, others rewritten. "It wasn't. It was a message."

"To who?" Lin Feng asked.

Tian tapped the glowing ember now hovering above the Saber's hilt. "To the Flame Tribunal. The Saber just remembered a name they tried to erase. That echo will spread."

Sure enough, moments later—a pulse radiated from the Saber. Invisible to the eye, but not to cultivators.

Everyone stiffened.

Jun Feilan's soul-sense snapped open. "We just triggered every bounty board across the realm."

Tian Mian groaned. "Congratulations, Lin Feng. You're now officially Heaven's Most Wanted."

---

Elsewhere…

Across the Clouding Provinces, a thousand jade tablets cracked. In the Royal Sect of Concordia, the Great Bell rang thirteen times, its tolls trembling across the continent. In the halls of the Celestial Court, the Scroll of Anomalies burned itself blank.

And far, far below—

In the Sea of Sealed Tomes—

A giant pair of eyes opened in the deep.

---

Back in the forest, the group made camp, wary but calm.

Liang Yue sat apart, eyes closed.

Her meditation wasn't ordinary. Since the Mirage Temple, her inner world had become unstable—two lotuses orbiting a shared core. One of frost and clarity. The other of crimson flame.

Tonight, they touched.

And she dreamed—

---

—of another life.

A white courtyard under snow. Cultivators kneeling in a perfect circle. And at the center, a woman stood atop a frozen lotus.

Her face was Liang Yue's.

But her eyes glowed golden. Her voice shook the heavens.

> "I am Lianhua, the Blood Lotus Ascendant. And I refuse this world's decree."

Above her, a flaming brand—the symbol of the Tribunal—descended.

She caught it.

Burned it into herself.

And laughed as the world shattered.

---

Liang Yue awoke in a cold sweat.

The lotus above her pulsed once—then quieted.

She said nothing.

---

That morning, as they broke camp, a stranger was waiting on the path ahead.

A woman in gray traveling robes, face covered in a thin silk veil. Her aura was weak. Her hands empty. She bowed respectfully.

"I mean no harm," she said. "I only wish to travel the next ridge with you."

Lin Feng eyed her. "Why?"

"Because where you go," she answered, "the veil between forgotten and forbidden grows thin. I seek the truth too."

Jun Feilan glanced at Tian Mian.

He shrugged. "Lots of people seek the truth. Few survive it."

Liang Yue studied the woman.

There was something off. Not dangerous. But… clouded.

Lin Feng made the call. "You can walk with us."

The woman bowed again. "My name is Shi Qian."

---

As they walked toward the distant Sea of Sealed Tomes—where the first Saberbearer's echo called—Shi Qian fell in step behind them.

And when no one looked—

Her shadow changed shape.

Not a woman's.

Not human.

Just a curling line of forgotten script.

Watching.

Waiting.

---

End of Chapter 31

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