Chapter 10: Echoes of the Forgotten Grounds

The pocket realm trembled slightly as Markandeya stepped out of the soul forge chamber, his senses sharpened, energy coalesced with greater harmony, and something deeper stirred within his bones—a strange, buzzing anticipation.

The Karmic Flame had altered him, not just spiritually, but fundamentally. His inner galaxy spun faster, stars pulsing with golden karma threads. The once flickering void now gleamed with radiant constellations born of cause and effect. Every step he took echoed faint ripples of fate.

"You've taken your first real step into Karma Cultivation," the system whispered, its voice imbued with reverence.

Outside the forge, the terrain had shifted. The misty forest was now replaced with a crumbled, silent stone city.

> [Zone Shift: Forgotten Grounds - Outer Perimeter of a Broken Sect]

It was ancient, buried in the folds of space and dimension, and newly unlocked due to his Karma resonance.

Jagged spires of broken towers jutted from cracked roads, runes flickering faintly beneath layers of dust. There was no wind, no birdsong, only silence. Heavy. Watching.

As Markandeya descended the steps into the ruined courtyard, faint memories not his own shimmered behind his eyes—disciples laughing, masters teaching, the clang of training blades, all swallowed by time.

> [World Fragment: Lost Karma Memory - Acquired]

> You have glimpsed the residue of a sect destroyed by karmic backlash. Investigation may reveal fate-locked treasures.

He paused at a fractured statue of a three-eyed deity, its third eye chiseled out.

"Someone wanted the past buried deep," he murmured.

Instinct drove him toward the central pagoda. A thread of resonance tugged at his soul, drawn by something old, watching, waiting. Half the building lay in ruins, the other still untouched by decay.

He stepped over cracked thresholds and entered the main hall.

It was there he saw her.

A young woman sat cross-legged before an ancient scroll, her robes aged but pristine, her presence ghostly yet grounded. She opened her eyes—violet orbs filled with stars.

> [Echo of the Keeper - Soul Projection Preserved]

> Interaction Possible.

"You bear karma not yet tainted by weight," she said, her voice layered like many speaking in one.

"I was drawn here," Markandeya replied, bowing slightly.

"Then you are part of its unraveling. This was once the Sect of the Golden Root. We sought balance through karmic refinement. But in arrogance, we tried to control fate instead of harmonizing with it."

She lifted the scroll. Runes glowed briefly.

"This is a fragment of our Karmic Law Scripture. Complete it, and you shall inherit our legacy. Fail, and the burden will consume you."

> [Special Karma Trial: Rewrite the Echo - Initiated] Requirement: Restore karmic equilibrium to the memory fragment. Reward: Law Seed (Karmic Root) + Karma Node Awakening Time Limit: None

The hall shimmered. Markandeya found himself standing in the past—a spectral replica of the day the sect fell.

Storms raged outside. Elders bickered, young disciples panicked. At the core stood a man—the Grandmaster—clutching a black orb wreathed in gold flames.

"We shall transcend fate itself!" the man roared.

Markandeya saw it all: the defiance, the fear, the karmic threads snapping violently as the Grandmaster unleashed forbidden fate-severing arts.

He moved instinctively. He couldn't change the past, but he could adjust the energy flow of this echo. He circulated his karma threads into the fabric of the illusion, weaving balance where chaos surged.

He weaved threads from hope. From the disciples who feared but stayed. From the elder who tried to shield them. From the very land which had accepted them for centuries.

Threads shimmered, intersected, pulsed.

> [Stabilization: 67%... 82%... 100%]

The black orb crumbled in the Grandmaster's hands.

The vision collapsed.

Markandeya dropped to one knee, breath heavy, sweat clinging to his brow.

> [Karma Trial Completed] Reward: Law Seed (Karmic Root) Acquired

> [Karma Node Awakening - Initiated]

A lotus bloomed within his soul, golden and veined with starlight.

His internal cosmos shifted. His karma now had a vessel.

The soul projection of the woman smiled faintly. "You have done what none could. You wove harmony into ruin."

She began to fade, but not before handing him a glowing scale-shaped token.

> [Echo Token: Karma Seal - Unlocks access to deeper fragments within the Realm of Forgotten Grounds.]

Markandeya exited the pagoda. The city remained silent, but less oppressive now. Something had changed. Not just the city. But him.

His spirit was lighter. His steps firmer.

And deep in the world's core, where energies sang and chaos churned, the system stirred anew.

> [System Update: World Integration Level - Advanced] New Features Unlocked:

Karma Trial Chain

Echo Archive

Karma Path Affinity Increase: +30%

Markandeya smiled faintly. He looked at the token in his palm.

"The past is never truly gone. It waits for someone to remember."

And he would remember. He would rise.

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