They returned to Qinghe at dusk, dragging silence behind them like heavy chains.
No one spoke of the monolith.
No one needed to.
The boy who had touched it remained unconscious, breath shallow, skin pallid as moonlight. Wei had carried him all the way back, jaw clenched and eyes dark.
Lin Yue walked beside Chen Yu, glancing at him now and then but saying nothing. She felt it too—the weight of something ancient pressing down on them.
Chen Yu, meanwhile, could feel the artifact pulsing in his satchel. The fragment of the Dragon's Scale, smooth and cold, seemed to resonate with the beat of his heart.
> [Artifact Acquired: Dragon's Scale – Dormant]
Item Type: Legacy Relic
Effect: Sealed. Unlock requires 25% Legacy Integration.
Warning: Presence detectable to external cultivators.
That last line lingered in his mind.
Detectable.
Which meant… someone, somewhere, might already know.
Back at the village, the elders gathered with grim faces. Wei gave a heavily redacted report—mentioning the wolf, downplaying the monolith, omitting the scale. Chen Yu noticed. But no one interrupted.
Later, in the darkness of his borrowed room, Chen Yu finally sat alone.
He placed the scale fragment on the wooden floor before him. Despite its dull surface, it felt alive—like a heartbeat carved into stone. He reached out with his internal energy, channeling the meager strength he'd cultivated.
A faint glow emerged.
A symbol flickered across the scale: a coiling dragon wrapped around a nine-pointed star. And then—whispers.
Not voices, not words.
Just memories.
Flashes of war. Screams. Power so vast it cracked mountains. And at the center—him. Clad in dark robes, standing atop a fortress of flame, commanding dragons like an emperor of gods.
Then… betrayal.
He gasped, breaking the link.
> [Legacy Integration: 22%]
Warning: External Detection Spike Detected.
Chen Yu's eyes widened. "What?"
From miles away—beyond the ridge, beyond the forest—a flicker of spiritual awareness brushed against the village like a passing shadow.
Then it was gone.
But not forgotten.
> A cultivator has sensed the Dragon's Scale.
Unknown faction. Unknown intent.
Outside, thunder cracked in the distance. A storm gathered on the horizon.
Chen Yu clenched his fists.
He was no longer just a wanderer.