The Phoenix of the Slums

The man’s presence was unlike anything Tianming had ever felt before—thick and suffocating, like an invisible hand crushing the air from their lungs.

Even Song Rui, still slumped against the wall, straightened in alarm, his bravado momentarily erased.

The cloaked figure stepped forward, his boots making no sound on the stone floor. His face was hidden beneath a black veil, but his voice was smooth and cold.

"You children have no idea what you've stumbled into.”

Fang raised her daggers again. “I don’t care who you are. You’re not taking the Seal.”

The Shadow Envoy chuckled. “Take it? No. I came to see who dared to awaken it. The Lotus Clan serves a higher master. I am his eyes in this world.”

Dr. Jin’s face paled. “That voice… I’ve heard legends. The one who commands from the void. The man with no shadow in the sun…”

Xu Liang stepped in front of the group, his sword gleaming. “If you’re here for blood, then you’ll find ours hard-earned.”

The Shadow Envoy lifted one gloved hand. “I am not here to fight… yet. I’m here to deliver a message.” He pointed directly at Tianming.

“You were never meant to reach this point. Your blood calls to forces that should have remained buried. The Orchid Society… the Lu family… even the Lotus Clan—they are pawns.”

Tianming’s fists clenched. “Then who holds the board?”

“You’ll know when it’s too late,” the Envoy whispered. “The Seal will reveal its truth, but each truth demands a sacrifice. Are you ready to pay the price?”

Before Tianming could respond, the floor beneath the pedestal rumbled, and the obsidian slab cracked. From the broken stone, red mist began to rise, swirling violently around the Seal of Memory.

“Run!” Dr. Jin shouted. “It’s awakening!”

The chamber shook violently, the walls splitting with hairline fractures that glowed red-hot. The pedestal exploded, sending shards flying.

Tianming threw himself over Fang to shield her as burning debris flew past. The scroll rose into the air, spinning, levitating above them, before shooting straight toward Tianming’s chest like a bolt of lightning.

It struck him squarely, and time stopped.

Everything around him vanished—no tomb, no allies, no enemies. Only darkness. In the void, voices screamed and whispered in languages he didn’t recognize, but somehow understood.

“Lu Zhenhai… betrayed the pact…”

“The boy must not awaken…”

“Seal the bloodline…”

He saw flashes—images burned into his mind. A war between eight powerful clans, rivers of gold and blood, children born under eclipses, a woman crying while holding a jade pendant… and a sword made of light, shattering mountains with a single swing.

Then, silence.

Tianming collapsed to his knees, eyes wide, chest heaving. The Seal had merged with him.

The others rushed to him.

“Tianming!” Fang shook him. “Can you hear me?”

His hand trembled, reaching toward his chest. Where the scroll had hit, a faint symbol now glowed—an intricate pattern shaped like a lotus, but inverted.

Song Rui’s face was pale. “You… the Seal chose you?”

The Shadow Envoy stared silently, then gave a low nod. “So it begins. The cycle turns again.” He turned without another word, vanishing into the shadows as if he’d never been there.

Xu Liang helped Tianming to his feet. “What did you see?”

Tianming’s voice was hoarse. “A war. One that never ended.”

Dr. Jin swallowed hard. “If what I suspect is true… then we’re standing at the edge of something far beyond our world. That Seal wasn’t just knowledge. It was a key.”

Fang touched the glowing mark on Tianming’s chest. “What did it unlock?”

He looked up, eyes colder than before. “Me.”

Suddenly, an explosion ripped through the entrance tunnel. Dust and smoke flooded the corridor. “They found us!” Zhao shouted. “The Lotus Clan is here!”

Tianming’s instincts returned in an instant. “We can’t fight them here. The structure’s too unstable. We move—now!”

They raced back through the trap-laced hall, following the same silver lines that had brought them safely. But this time, the traps were active again.

Serrated blades dropped from above. Tianming rolled beneath one, grabbing Fang’s arm and pulling her through a narrow gap in time.

Behind them, Xu Liang used his sword to deflect a spinning spear, the force of it throwing sparks like fireworks.

Zhao threw down smoke pellets to blind the enemy, while Dr. Jin guided them toward a secondary tunnel. “There’s a side passage—they won’t know it exists!”

Song Rui, limping, followed in silence.

Once outside, gasping in the night air, they paused beneath the moonlight. The Seal’s symbol faded from Tianming’s skin, but its presence remained in his blood.

Fang looked up at him, concern in her eyes. “What now?”

Tianming stared into the distance. The mountains beyond were cloaked in mist, their peaks like sleeping beasts.

“Now…” he said slowly, “we find out what the world’s been hiding from me.”