Truth Wants to Burn

1. The Signal

The skies above the Lower Realm turned blood-red.

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

Every cultivator, sect elder, cursed spirit, and wandering beast looked up and felt it—a massive ripple through the fabric of Qi itself. Like the world had inhaled for the first time in millennia.

From the highest mountain to the deepest cave, the mark of the Sleeper appeared in the sky—three rings, and the hidden fourth glowing black-gold.

"It's begun."

Haeun, Haneul, and Jin emerged from the Hollow Sanctum like reawakened relics. Their auras weren't just stronger—they were unfamiliar.

Even the heavens flinched.

2. The Murim Alliance Prepares

The remaining two Kings—King of Obsidian Glass and King of Thousand Winds—stood before the entire Murim Alliance in the grand palace.

The Alliance Leader, once composed and sharp, now looked like a man unraveling.

"The Sleeper's mark was forbidden," he barked. "Anyone who touches it must be erased."

Obsidian Glass slammed his glaive into the ground. "They killed three of us. The Rebellion's no longer a rumor."

"Then what do we do?" someone asked.

The room fell silent.

Then the Alliance Leader spoke.

"We declare all-out war. No diplomacy. No survivors. Burn every stronghold connected to their old sect. Kill anyone who speaks their names."

3. The Plan? Infiltration. Confusion. Annihilation.

But Haeun was already ten steps ahead.

He didn't need to storm the front gate.

He walked into the Murim Alliance's sacred vault… alone.

Invisible.

Untraceable.

The mark of the Sleeper let him bypass even divine barriers.

Meanwhile, Jin and Haneul orchestrated chaos outside the palace walls.

Fake rebel attacks.

Illusion talismans.

Summoned cursed beasts they had tamed during their cultivation.

By the time the Alliance mustered troops?

They had no idea where the real fight was.

4. The First to Fall: King of Thousand Winds

He was swift.

Too swift.

His entire fighting style relied on his enemies being one breath too slow, one blink too late.

But he'd never fought someone like Jin Haru.

Jin didn't blink.

Didn't breathe.

He locked onto the King using resonance arrows—each one carrying echoes of his Spirit Core. They didn't aim for flesh—they aimed for memory.

Each arrow that landed made the King forget his techniques. His footwork. His flow.

He was reduced to raw instinct.

And that?

Wasn't enough.

"You never saw me," Jin whispered as the final arrow struck.

The King's body shattered into light.

5. Meanwhile: The Vault Breaks

Haeun found what he was looking for.

Buried in the deepest chamber:

The rewritten history tablets.

The original records of the Nameless One's rebellion.

The truth of the Five Kings' betrayal.

He raised his hand—and burned them.

But not before copying every word into his Spirit Core using the Sleeper's memory-binding technique.

Now the truth lived in him.

"Try to erase us again," he muttered, walking through the flames.

6. The Last King: Obsidian Glass

He faced Haneul at the palace gates.

Everyone else was dead or scattered.

Sect leaders executed. Cultivators fled.

It was just the blade now.

Haneul had trained his whole life with restraint. With control.

Now?

He let it all go.

Every forbidden slash. Every broken technique. Every brutal, unrefined movement he'd ever denied himself.

And the King couldn't keep up.

Obsidian Glass was all elegance.

Haneul was pure will.

The final blow wasn't flashy.

Just a stab through the chest, silver Qi crackling with the fire of legacy.

"This is for Master," he said.

"This is for the lie you built your kingdom on."

7. The Alliance Crumbles

With the Kings gone, the alliance fractured in real time.

No one was left to lead.

No one strong enough to resist.

And when Haeun stood at the balcony of the Alliance's central tower, flanked by Haneul and Jin, the survivors saw the truth:

These weren't rebels anymore.

They were the future.

And Haeun declared it:

"You called us traitors. You branded us demonic. But the only thing demonic here was the lie you made us live under."

He raised his hand.

A sphere of Origin Qi formed.

Then fell.

And the palace burned.

8. A Message to the Realm

The next morning, paper talismans rained from the sky across the realm—delivered by wind, spirit birds, and whispered chants.

Each carried a single sentence:

"The Rebellion has remembered. You should too."

The Age of the Five Kings was over.

The Age of Forgotten Truth had begun.