Feathers of Judgment

Scene 1 — Heaven's Judgment

In the Palace of Broken Silence, silence had ended.

The celestial elders shouted, argued, accused.

Yun Ruo sat unmoved.

At the center of the debate stood a coffin — crystal, floating, bound with thirty-three celestial chains.

It pulsed faintly with golden light.

An elder bowed deeply. "We have no choice."

"If Lin Xun has passed the Sixth Gate, then we must unseal him."

Another added: "Let the heavens weigh him against one of our own."

Yun Ruo said nothing.

But with a wave of her hand, the coffin's chains shattered.

A cold wind swept the entire palace.

Inside the coffin, eyes opened.

Scene 2 — The Phoenix Descends

His name was Ji Feiyan, once known as The Featherless Phoenix.

He had not walked in the mortal realm for three hundred years — not since he devoured the soul of a saint during his final trial and was sealed by Heaven itself.

Tall, robed in burning crimson and bone-white silk, his eyes held a spiraling flame that refused to die.

He bowed before no one.

Even Yun Ruo.

"You woke me for a child?" he asked, voice hoarse like rusted blades.

"Not a child," she replied. "A convergence."

Feiyan stared into the soul mirror showing Lin Xun.

"He looks… delicious."

"He looks like me before I shed my mortality."

Yun Ruo whispered: "Then show me what you've become."

Scene 3 — Mortal World Shifts

Back in the mortal world, Lin Xun walked through the sect's outer garden.

Disciples whispered as he passed.

Some bowed. Others fled.

None could meet his gaze for long.

Su Ruyan met him by the Spiritfall Lake.

"They're afraid of you."

"Should they be?"

She shook her head.

"No. But Heaven might be."

That night, a celestial wind fell upon the sect. It turned all water silver. Froze flames in their bowls. Shattered every mirror.

And in the sky — a single falling feather of burning red spiraled down.

When it struck the central obelisk, it carved a name into stone:

Ji Feiyan — Challenger from Heaven

Scene 4 — Terms of the Duel

The next morning, the Sect Alliance gathered. A divine envoy from Heaven stood before them — veiled in white, bearing the mark of the Phoenix Gate.

"By celestial law," she declared, "any mortal who trespasses into forbidden realms may be challenged."

"Ji Feiyan will descend in seven days."

"And Lin Xun will meet him in sacred duel."

Mistwalker Xu's voice thundered: "If he refuses?"

"Then Heaven will erase him."

The envoy turned to Lin Xun.

"Will you kneel or burn?"

Lin Xun stepped forward.

Eyes calm. Voice firm.

"Neither."

"I'll meet your Phoenix."

"And I'll remind Heaven… why it sealed him away in the first place."

Scene 5 — A Dangerous Preparation

The next days were not rest.

Lin Xun dove deeper into the Heaven-Sundered Sutra, unlocking a secret stanza: the Inverse Cycle Flame, a technique that reversed spiritual energy flow to overwhelm phoenix-based cultivators.

But the cost was high.

Every time he practiced, blood leaked from his pores. Bones shifted. The Qi in his meridians fought back.

Su Ruyan begged him to stop.

"You'll die before he even arrives."

But Lin Xun knew.

"He was sealed for devouring a saint's soul. If I don't go beyond death…"

"I'll be consumed."

Scene 6 — Night Before the Duel

On the eve of the battle, Lin Xun stood alone beneath the ash tree.

Mistwalker Xu approached. This time, no riddles. Just truth.

"I once watched your past self, Xu Tianheng, fall with defiance. And I swore no student of mine would follow."

"But you're not him."

"You're better."

He handed Lin Xun a small stone pendant — a fragment of the shattered Skybreak Temple.

"Remember who you are."

"Not just what's buried inside you."

Scene 7 — The Duel Commences

At dawn, clouds ignited.

The sky opened in flames.

Ji Feiyan descended in a blaze of red wings and ash. Every step he took burned the earth. His aura crushed the sect's formations just by existing.

He faced Lin Xun with a smile like a dagger.

"Let's see if Heaven made a mistake."

"Or if I did."

Lin Xun replied simply:

"You're three hundred years late."

"The world already changed."

The air cracked.

And the first strike — a sonic burst of phoenix flame — ended the chapter.