There was no floor beneath him. No sky above. Just a void of shifting light, as if he were standing inside a pulse—inside memory itself.
Lin Xian looked around, blade still in hand, but the Guardian Constructs had vanished. All noise fell away. All sensation faded.
Then—
[You have entered: Architect Memory Layer Alpha-0]
[Subject: NODE ZERO – Creator Protocol Stream]
[Warning: Exposure may affect mental stability]
A figure emerged from the light.
Not a spirit. Not a machine.
A man.
Tall, draped in flowing robes of silver thread and fractal patterns. His face was sharp, emotionless. But in his eyes—deep, ancient pain.
"Lin Xian," he said. "You carry what should not exist."
"Who are you?" Lin Xian asked, voice steady.
"I am Echo," the man said. "Last of the Architects. Or what remains of me."
The lights around them rippled, turning into floating windows—memories made manifest. In one, a great city stood beneath stars. In another, machines knelt to cultivators. In the last, a dragon's corpse was disassembled into code.
"We built the System," Echo said. "Not as a tool… but as a prison."
Lin Xian frowned.
"A prison for what?"
Echo's eyes darkened.
"For divine potential. For freedom. For everything that once made cultivation wild, limitless, and terrifying. We caged it with numbers, ranks, XP… turned gods into algorithms."
He touched a memory window, and it flashed with images—systems being installed into newborns, bloodlines rewritten, old heavens falling under digital seals.
"It was order," he said. "Until… the First Systembreaker appeared."
Lin Xian's breath caught.
"Who was it?"
Echo turned to face him fully.
"Your ancestor."
The void pulsed. A figure appeared—a warrior clad in burning black armor, wielding a blade shaped like a dragon's fang. Behind him, chaos burned. Systems collapsed. Architect Cores exploded.
"He shattered two Nodes before the System trapped him in an endless time loop. But the blood… never forgets."
[Gene Confirmation: Lineage Match – 99.87%]
[Ancestry Confirmed – Code: Null-Origin / Title: Disruptor's Heir]
[Warning: Subject now classified as "Existential Threat"]
Echo stepped closer, his voice lower now, almost desperate.
"This world is a lie, Lin Xian. One written by people like me. But it doesn't have to remain that way."
"You want me to destroy the rest," Lin Xian said.
"No," Echo replied. "I want you to survive long enough to choose."
The light began to fade. The Node rejected them. Cracks spread through the memory field.
[Architect Link Failing – Emergency Disconnect Imminent]
[Exporting Memory Fragment… 17%… 35%… 71%… Complete]
Before the world shattered, Echo spoke one last time:
"Find the Vault beneath Skyreach. Inside it… is the truth we died to hide."
Then—
Shatter.
Lin Xian collapsed onto cold stone. The light was gone. The chamber was collapsing.
[System Core Unstable – Countdown to Collapse: 02:59]
[New Quest Added: Find the Skyreach Vault]
[Side Quest Added: Memory of Echo – Unlock Architect Lore (1/5)]
He rose to his feet, breathing hard.
There was no more doubt.
The war had already begun.