Chapter 13 : Secrets of the Pavilion

Chapter 13: Secrets of the Pavilion

The passage ahead was lined with glowing glyphs, their pale silver light casting eerie shadows along the stone walls. Bai Yuan and Ling Xi moved cautiously, their steps echoing in the otherwise silent corridor. The weight of the trial they had just endured still hung heavy on them, but there was no time to rest.

At the end of the tunnel, a vast chamber awaited them, unlike anything they had seen before. Towering shelves stacked with ancient scrolls and jade slips lined the walls, and in the center of the room, a grand obsidian throne sat empty. Above it, an enormous tapestry shimmered, depicting a celestial battle between titanic figures wielding powers beyond comprehension.

A hooded figure emerged from the shadows, his aura calm yet unfathomably deep. "Welcome, outsiders. Few pass the Trial of the Shadowmoon. Fewer still leave with their lives." His voice was neither hostile nor warm—it was simply a statement of fact.

Bai Yuan met his gaze evenly. "We seek knowledge."

The figure chuckled. "Knowledge is costly, young one. But you… you are not ordinary. The way you fought those constructs—it was almost as if you could predict their movements." His eyes gleamed. "Tell me, what are you?"

Bai Yuan remained silent for a moment. Revealing too much was dangerous, but this was an opportunity he couldn't waste. "A wanderer seeking strength," he finally said.

The hooded man nodded slowly. "Strength alone is meaningless without understanding." He gestured toward the throne. "This is the Shadowmoon Pavilion's Hall of Echoes. It records fragments of the past, memories of great cultivators. If you wish to learn, step forward. But beware—knowledge carries its own trials."

Ling Xi frowned. "And what's the price?"

The man smiled, but it did not reach his eyes. "That depends on what you seek."

Bai Yuan exchanged a glance with Ling Xi before stepping forward. The moment he touched the obsidian throne, the world around him dissolved into darkness.

Visions assaulted his mind—scenes of battle, of ancient sects rising and falling, of monstrous beings that devoured entire realms. He saw a figure standing atop a collapsing heaven, his robes tattered but his eyes burning with determination.

[Analyzing memory fragment… Synchronization in progress.]

Bai Yuan gritted his teeth as his body trembled. The information pouring into him was overwhelming, but within it, a technique began to take form—a lost art, hidden within the depths of history.

When he finally opened his eyes, the chamber had returned, but something inside him had changed.

Ling Xi watched him cautiously. "Well?"

Bai Yuan exhaled slowly. "I found what I needed."

The hooded figure's smirk deepened. "Then your path truly begins now."