Welcome to Heaven’s Maw. Please Try Not to Die.
Three days later, I stood alone on the edge of a cliff overlooking a sea of clouds. Beneath me, carved into the mountain's heart, stood the Heaven's Maw Sect.
It didn't look like a sect.
It looked like a fortress built by people who didn't trust the sky.
Everything was stone, shadow, and silence. Black spires stabbed the clouds. Floating platforms drifted like lazy ghosts. The air itself buzzed with old, ancient Qi—like the world was holding its breath.
A stone gate waited before me. No guards. No welcomes. No bells.
Just an inscription glowing faintly:
> Abandon your name. Embrace the memory.
I knocked anyway.
Because, obviously.
---
Nothing happened.
Then, a voice like velvet dragging over blades echoed from the stone.
"Li Xian. You have arrived."
The gate split open with a heavy groan. Inside, a single figure stood waiting.
A woman in black robes. Pale skin. Veil covering her mouth. Silver eyes glowing faintly.
The Silent Saintess.
She bowed once, shallowly.
"You will follow. Speak only when spoken to. Touch nothing unless you wish to lose fingers."
"…Do I at least get tea?"
She stared.
I followed.
---
The inside of the sect was… wrong.
The corridors twisted like mazes drawn by madmen. The walls whispered sometimes—actual whispers. I caught phrases like "he returns" and "the second flame awakens."
At one point, a hallway led nowhere and retracted behind me like a trap closing.
"I hate this place," I muttered.
The Silent Saintess said nothing. She simply stopped at a round platform and gestured. "Stand here."
The floor lit up in runes. A ring of crimson fire surrounded me.
"Spiritual identity scan," she said.
"You could've warned me!"
"If your soul was false, it would've burned you alive."
"Right. Great. Totally normal entrance exam."
---
[SYSTEM SCAN IN PROGRESS]
> Identity: Confirmed – Dragonborn Lineage Detected
Status: Awakened (Partial)
Purge Lock: Active
Memory Fragments Unsealed: 2 / 9
Bloodline Response: 87%
Authority Level: 1 – Flameborne Initiate
---
The circle faded.
The Saintess studied me, then turned to leave. "You may speak now."
"Nice place. You guys host birthday parties?"
No response.
I sighed. "Look, I came because someone tried to kill me and whispered about a purge. I want answers."
She stopped. "Then earn them."
---
She led me deeper—to a chamber filled with floating glass fragments. Each one shimmered with swirling firelight.
"Memories of the fallen," she said. "Voices of the erased. You will choose one."
I stepped forward. The fragments spun, flickering with scenes—battles, lovers, beasts, firestorms, death.
I touched one at random.
Pain stabbed my head.
---
Suddenly—
I stood on a battlefield. Black skies. Shattered moons. Dragonfire raining from the heavens.
Myself—my past self—stood atop a burning tower, roaring in rage.
"You betrayed me!" he screamed.
Someone replied—a man in silver robes with serpent eyes.
"We saved you from yourself, Flameborn!"
The past-me screamed and exploded in fire.
Everything burned white.
---
I collapsed.
The Saintess caught me. Surprising strength for someone who looked like a ghost.
"You saw the beginning," she said.
"Of what?"
"The war they wiped from the records."
---
As I caught my breath, I heard a voice echo from the chamber behind us.
"Wow. He didn't explode. I owe you ten spirit stones."
Zhao Feng strolled in, chewing on a peach.
"Did you really think I'd let him walk into a cult alone?"
The Saintess stared at him. "Who are you?"
He bowed. "Zhao Feng. Cold-blooded spear bastard. Resident annoyance."
She blinked. "You are not welcome here."
"I know," he said, sitting cross-legged on a relic cushion. "Still here, though."
---
A second figure entered—an older man with six spirit rings around his wrists and a curved blade at his hip. His aura felt like a sleeping beast that wanted to be poked.
He looked at me. Then Zhao. Then the Saintess.
"Grandmaster Veil will see him. And the mouthy one stays in the shadow cage."
Zhao Feng looked offended. "Is that a real place?"
"Very."
"Cool. Lead the way."
---
[SYSTEM UPDATE]
> Heaven's Maw Inner Chamber Access: GRANTED
Questline Branch Activated: Whispers of the Purge
Next Trial: Grandmaster's Judgement
Bonus Objective: Survive without sarcasm (Difficulty: Impossible)
---
As I was led into the heart of the sect, toward the Grandmaster who apparently knew my entire erased history, I looked over my shoulder one last time.
The Saintess was watching me.
Not with suspicion.
With recognition.
Like she knew me.
Like she'd remembered me before I could remember myself.
---
To be continued…
---
Author's Note
🔥 Chapter 13 kicks off the Heaven's Maw Arc with:
The Silent Saintess (who clearly has history with MC)
Memory fragments starting to come back
Zhao Feng being Zhao Feng
And our first step into the real reason Li Xian was purged