the sect that hunts rebirth
The silence of the Bell Court clung to Li Tian like a second skin.
Even after leaving the tower, even after the sky turned blue again, it lingered—weightless, but heavy with meaning.
He had walked into a tomb of secrets…
And walked out a different man.C
[System Status Update:]
Core Reconstruction: 60% ✅
Trait Evolved: Devour Fate
Passive Unlocked: Fatebreaker
[New Ability Slot Available – Echo Ability Slot (Locked)]
[Warning: Echo Abilities may attract outside attention.]
That last line repeated in his mind.
Attract attention.
From what?
From who?
He returned to his quarters at dusk. The other disciples gave him even more space now—not just out of fear, but reverence.
His name was no longer whispered. It was spoken with weight.
Zhao, the top outer disciple, was still recovering.
Li Tian had become a force.
But power meant nothing if he couldn't control it. The Bell Trial had shown him that his system wasn't just evolving—it was mutating. Learning.
And he wasn't the only one it was learning from.
Feng Lian had awakened.
The Third Flame had appeared.
And somewhere out there… five more rebirths were coming.
Li Tian knew he needed answers. And there was only one person in the Crimson Sky Sect who might have them.
Elder Mo Jian.
The oldest surviving member of the sect's founding generation.
Rumors said he'd once faced a divine tribulation and survived with a shattered soul.
Others said he never aged because his time had been frozen by a curse.
What Li Tian knew was this: Mo Jian once served the war front… the borderlands, where the empire waged endless war against the Demon-Forged Cultivators of the western wilds.
That was where forbidden knowledge lived.
And that was where many rebirths had begun.
He found Mo Jian beneath the Hanging Caves, beside a narrow river of blue fire that hissed like whispering ghosts.
The elder sat cross-legged, eyes closed, robe sleeves folded in perfect symmetry.
"You've stirred the sleeping stars," the old man murmured without opening his eyes. "Why have you come?"
Li Tian bowed. "To ask a question only you can answer."
Silence.
Then: "Ask."
Li Tian stepped forward. "What do you know about Rebirth Entities?"
The flames around the river flared—briefly. Then dimmed.
Mo Jian's fingers twitched.
"I served the Red Iron Watchtower for fifteen years," the elder said slowly. "On the edge of the empire. Where war never sleeps."
"There," he continued, "we found bodies—young cultivators, barely past Foundation, whose Qi was… wrong. Stretched, tangled, incomplete. And in their heads…"
He tapped his temple.
"Fragments. Of other lives."
Li Tian held his breath.
Mo Jian opened his eyes—and they were clouded like smoke.
"I saw one boy slit open his own chest," the elder said. "Searching for the system he said was inside him."
"He kept screaming, 'I was promised a return. I was promised a god-seed.'"
[System Alert: Reference Match Detected – Unknown Rebirth Model: God-Seed Variant.]
[Probability of Host Interference: Low.]
[Caution Advised.]
Mo Jian rose to his feet, his gaze piercing through the gloom.
"You carry the same smell," he said.
Li Tian tensed.
"What smell?"
"Fate. Broken. Unstable. Hungry."
The old man turned away.
"I won't stop you, boy. But if you go down this path, know this—"
He turned his head slightly, eyes sharp as knives.
"You're not just hunted by systems."
"You're hunted by sects."
That night, Li Tian stood on the cliffs above the outer disciple courtyard.
Wind howled past him.
His thoughts churned.
[System Alert: Incoming Message – Intercepted Transmission]
[Source: Unknown | Coded Signature – Eastern Sky Intelligence Division]
Target Confirmed. Codename: Rebirth Subject 04.
Status: Active.
Orders: Observe. Isolate. If contact with other subjects occurs, engage protocol "Ash Spiral."
A foreign sect was tracking him.
Someone in the empire's intelligence structure had tagged him as Subject 04.
Not Li Tian.
Not disciple.
Not even human.
Just a file.
Just a threat.
He needed allies.
And he needed to move faster.
[System Recommendation: Unlock Weapon Slot – Fate-Touched Artifact]
[Available Option: Embersteel Core – Requires Forging Materials.]
[New Side Quest Available – "Fire in the Mountains"]
Objective: Collect Emberfang Ore from Flame Spine Ridge
Reward: Unlock Fate-Touched Weapon Core | Echo Resonance: +1
Difficulty: High
Flame Spine Ridge was an old battlefield.
A place where a sect had once died in a single night—burned to ash in what history called a "natural firestorm."
But Li Tian knew better.
Places didn't hold spiritual echoes unless something worse had happened.
He left before dawn.
Alone.
The ridge was jagged and red—torn from the earth like claws. Blackened stone littered the path, and scorch marks marred even the bones buried in the cliffs.
Emberfang Ore only formed in places touched by spirit wildfires—when Qi exploded uncontrollably.
It was rare.
And cursed.
He found the first shard embedded in a boulder.
Its surface shimmered with orange veins that pulsed like fire beneath skin.
The moment he touched it—
The air screamed.
And the world shifted.
He stood in fire.
Not metaphorical fire.
Actual flames curled around him—but they didn't burn.
He was inside a memory.
A spiritual echo.
Screams echoed in the distance.
Cultivators ran across the battlefield, chased by things with wings made of ash and eyes like empty lanterns.
At the center of it all stood a figure.
A girl.
Wreathed in flame. Laughing like a god.
She raised her hands—
And the ridge exploded.
[System Alert: Resonance Achieved – Echo Weapon Candidate Located.]
[Name: "Ashdrinker."]
[Status: Dormant.]
[Compatibility: 72%]
When the memory ended, Li Tian stood alone—holding a hilt made of half-melted steel.
It was cool now.
But he could feel something inside it.
Waiting.
[System Update: Ashdrinker (Echo Weapon) Acquired]
[Ashdrinker – Blade of the Cursed Flame]
Origin: Unknown Sect Destruction Event
Passive: Ember Memory – Each kill adds residual Qi to the blade, unlocking fragments of its past wielder's flame.
Active Skill (Locked): "Flame of the Last Oath" – Requires 10 Ember Echoes.
When Li Tian returned to the sect, bloodied and soot-covered, a familiar face waited at the gates.
Yun Mei.
She wore a grim expression.
"They found someone," she said without preamble.
Li Tian tensed. "Who?"
She handed him a scroll.
He unrolled it.
Inside was a sketch of a boy with violet eyes and long black hair.
The Third Flame.
[System Alert: Target Tagged – Subject 05: Echo Entity | Status: Engaged by Outer Force.]
[Convergence Detected.]
[Next Chapter: The First Rebirth War Begins.]