The ruins of Qiling Hollow didn't whisper. They watched.
Ren Kairo moved through the dead town like a trespasser in a graveyard. Each step crunched through dried ash and broken tiles, like the town was still protesting its own death.
Yi Meilan followed in silence. Her eyes never stopped scanning. Her hands were near her pouch of talismans.
[Codex Thread Active: Dream Throne Fragment – Dormant]
[Requirement: Dreamwalk Key to unlock sealed throne domain]
[Known Holders of Dreamwalk Talismans – Count: 1]
[Name: Lian Yue – Status: Alive. Location: Cloudpiercer Sect.]
Kairo didn't blink.
Of course it had to be her.
"She's still alive," he muttered.
Yi Meilan looked up. "Who?"
"Lian Yue."
She frowned slightly. "The one from your clan?"
Kairo didn't answer right away. Instead, he stepped around a collapsed shrine and stared eastward—toward the distant haze of mountains that marked the Cloudpiercer Sect.
"We grew up together," he finally said. "She was the only one who didn't bow when I became the Heavenly Child. The only one who dared to tell me when I was being an arrogant ass."
Yi Meilan raised a brow. "So... a childhood crush?"
Kairo gave her a flat look. "I wasn't that sentimental. But she was smart. Too smart to stay in the Kairo Clan once things went sour. I thought she was dead."
"Guess she dodged the backstabbers better than you."
He snorted. "Yeah. Lucky her."
They moved fast. The Cloudpiercer Sect was three days' journey by foot, but Kairo wasn't in the mood to walk.
He used a [Wind Pulse Step], merging spiritual force into his feet, and the two of them shot over rivers and hills like weightless shadows.
Even so, something gnawed at him. A feeling like déjà vu—except worse. As if the world had rewritten a memory he hadn't lived yet.
[Voidheart Codex Alert – Mental Resistance Check Passed]
[Status: You are near a sealed Throne Domain. Time-thread interference possible.]
Kairo's eyes narrowed.
So it wasn't just a throne fragment hidden in Qiling Hollow. It was leaking. Bending local time and memory.
That was the risk of Dream-class Thrones.
They didn't wait to be awakened.
They invited you in.
Cloudpiercer Sect sat atop twin mountains that cleaved through the sky like swords. It was elegant, disciplined, and extremely proud of its "neutrality." Too bad neutrality didn't mean innocence.
Kairo and Yi Meilan arrived near dawn, disguised in outer disciple robes. Kairo hated the feeling—itchy, faded blue, and smelled like cheap sandalwood. But blending in beat open war.
They walked through the entrance with thirty others who had come for the Spring Recruitment Trials.
"You really want to do this the polite way?" Yi Meilan whispered.
"No. I want to burn their library and kick their elder into a well. But we need Lian Yue alive, and preferably not screaming."
They waited through the standard ritual: show your cultivation base, answer some basic philosophy questions, and stand there while some smug inner sect senior judged your hairline and posture like it meant anything.
Kairo passed by doing what he did best—lying smoothly and hiding his cultivation realm just a sliver above outer disciple level.
That gave them a two-day window before their identities became suspicious.
Plenty of time.
Finding Lian Yue was easier than expected because she found him. It happened during the moon-watching ceremony—one of those utterly useless sect traditions where disciples sit and meditate under moonlight to "cleanse impurities."
Kairo wasn't meditating. He was scanning the crowd for signs of dream-thread entanglement then a familiar voice cut into the silence like a blade through silk.
"…Ren?"
He froze.
Turned and there she was.
Lian Yue.
Shorter than he remembered. Her hair longer. Dressed in white spirit-weave robes marked with the Dream Pavilion sigil. She carried herself like someone who'd seen a hundred deaths and buried ninety-nine.
And her expression?
Not warmth.
Not relief.
Just tired, cold recognition.
"You're alive," she said flatly.
Kairo's throat dried a little. "Yeah. I came back."
"Why?"
"To break the dream."
Silence fell between them. Even the wind stopped to listen.
Yi Meilan stepped aside quietly, pretending to be invisible.
Lian Yue crossed her arms. "You remember, don't you?"
Kairo met her gaze. "Enough to know you escaped. And that the Dreamwalk Key is with you."
Her hand flinched just slightly. So he was right.
"Then you know what using it will cost," she said quietly. "It's not a key. It's a wound."
"I've bled before."
"Not like this."
Kairo stepped closer. "I'm not asking you to walk back into the dream. I'll do it. Just give me the key."
She hesitated.
Then, with a bitter smile, she pulled a black silk ribbon from her sleeve and held it out.
"Take it, then. But know this—what you'll see in that dream... it's not all lies."
He accepted the ribbon.
[Dreamwalk Key Acquired.]
[Access to Qiling Hollow Dream Domain Enabled.]
[Codex Warning: Entering this domain may cause unrecoverable identity fracture. Proceed with caution.]
"I've already lost myself once," Kairo said. "This time, I'll come back with the truth."
Lian Yue stepped back. "Then hurry. Because once you enter... the dream doesn't let go."
That night, he sat under the stars with the black ribbon tied around his wrist like a curse. Yi Meilan watched from nearby, arms crossed. "You're going alone?"
"I have to."
"It could break you."
Kairo didn't argue.
Instead, he placed his hand on the earth, activated the ribbon, and whispered three words.
"Let me in."
Reality trembled. The sky cracked like porcelain and his vision turned blue.
When he opened his eyes, he was back in Qiling Hollow but not the ruins.
No.
The town was whole.
The buildings stood proud.
The streets bustled with life and at the center of it all.…was him.
A version of Ren Kairo dressed in clan robes, smiling, laughing—young, naive, whole.
[Dream Throne Domain: Active.]
[Target: Ego Convergence Trial – Survive your past self.]
[Begin.]