The Unseen Pulse

The wind howled across the ravine, carrying with it the scent of scorched earth and damp moss. Wei Feng stood silently on the jagged cliff edge, eyes fixed on the faint shimmer in the sky above. The Seal of the Nine Heavens was weakening—he could feel it. A ripple in the air, subtle but constant, pulsed like a heartbeat. Something ancient was stirring.

Behind him, Lin Yue adjusted the clasp of her cloak, her voice calm but sharp. "The elders said this place was cursed. That no root can grow here, and no soul should linger."

Wei Feng didn't turn. "Curses don't scare me. Lies do."

She stepped closer, her aura pressing gently against his—soft as snowfall but firm in purpose. "Then it's truth you seek? What if the truth is worse?"

He gave a small, humorless smile. "Then I'll break it like I've broken everything else."

Suddenly, the ground trembled. Cracks spiraled outward from the cliff's base, and a roar—not of beast or storm, but of shifting realms—echoed from the abyss.

From the depths of the canyon, a creature rose. Not fully spirit, not fully beast—its form shimmered between phases of reality. It had no face, only a thousand glowing eyes that blinked in unison. The Watcher.

Wei Feng's body tensed. "This… isn't a guardian. It's a key."

"To what?" Lin Yue asked.

He didn't answer. He simply leapt.

Blade drawn, heart steady, Wei Feng soared toward the impossible. The creature surged to meet him, and the clash of force against force lit the sky like a second sun.

But beneath the violence, there was rhythm. A hidden beat. The unseen pulse.

And in that moment, Wei Feng realized—this was no battle.

It was a test.