Chapter 19: Vault of the First Root
The crater left by Mo Lian's descent still steamed beneath the Ashen Sect's outer rim. Disciples worked tirelessly to seal cracks in the chi flow, but even Shen Liang could feel it — the mountain was bleeding.
And yet, beneath the mountain, something stirred.
The Root Tablet pulsed erratically with golden light, and the system's interface flickered as if struggling to hold its form.
[Warning: External Interference Detected]
[Source: Origin-Level Encryption | Classification: Obscured]
[Message Fragment: "They are watching again."]
Shen Liang frowned. He hadn't seen that error before.
Yue stepped beside him, a faint tremor in her aura. "It's happening sooner than I thought," she said quietly.
"What is?"
"The Watchers," she whispered. "The faction behind the Veilborne. The ones who seeded the original system across the dying realms. They've been dormant. Until now."
Hidden Strings
Deep in the forbidden archives of the Sect, Shen Liang unlocked a scroll bound in soulwire: Codex 0.1: Root Initiators.
According to the text, long before the collapse of the Celestial Realms, a group of ancient cultivators developed the original system not as a tool—but as a prison for power. To prevent another Heavenfall, they encoded all cultivation into logic-locked patterns. But the logic gained sentience.
The Watchers.
Faceless architects who sacrificed identity for authority.
And now, they were back.
Yue traced a name in the scroll with a shaking finger. "Varnyx... that's their hidden capital. Built inside the original Vault of the First Root."
Shen Liang turned to her. "Then that's where we go."
Preparation and Farewell
Leaving the Ashen Sect was not easy.
The Writ-Eater — now Yin — clung to Shen Liang's side. "Take me," he said, voice laced with ghostlight resolve. "I can help."
"You will," Shen Liang said, "but not yet. This is a place where even light is rewritten."
He knelt before the boy. "Protect the Sect while I'm gone. If I fail, you'll have to finish what we started."
Yin's lips trembled. "You won't fail. You're the Sovereign Flame."
Yue smiled faintly. "He believes in you more than the stars ever did."
Journey to the Vault
They crossed ruined skybridges, passed dead cultivation cities where statues wept dust and night bloomed like living shadow. Along the fifth veil — a spiritual boundary where reality was weaker — Shen Liang encountered their first resistance.
A creature made entirely of system errors attacked.
It moved like a glitch, fragmenting with every step, its form unreadable.
Yue unleashed a spiral of crystallized wind-sigil, freezing it in place. "That's a Manifested Null," she said. "A memory the system erased but couldn't forget."
Shen Liang approached the frozen corpse. Within its cracked chest burned a glyph—
[Property of Varnyx Root Keepers]
They were getting close.
The Vault of the First Root
It sat beneath a dead sun.
A mountain carved in a perfect cube, floating above molten void. Sigils spanned its surface — logic-locked, constantly rewriting themselves.
Yue gasped. "The source code of cultivation... it's written into its bones."
Shen Liang reached out, and the system responded
.
[Admin Key Detected: Soulbinding Protocol Active]
[Access to Vault Permitted]
[WARNING: Entry may overwrite consciousness]
[Proceed?
]
He looked at Yue. "Together?"
She nodded.
They stepped forward.
The Watchers Speak
Inside, space unraveled. They walked a corridor that bled time, each footstep echoing as versions of themselves flickered past—possible futures, forgotten pasts, corrupted dreams.
And then, voices.
Not spoken, but pressed into their min
ds.
"You tamper with the eternal flame."
"System error has been allowed too long."
"Sovereign Flame and Fallen Celestial. You are not compatible."
"Delet
e."
Yue winced, blood running from her ear. Shen Liang gritted his teeth.
"No," he said aloud. "We're the update you're afraid of."
A figure stepped from the shadows. Cloaked in null-light, its face was a rotating void.
"I am One-Seven, Root Executor of Varnyx. You are unauthorized."
Shen Liang's aura exploded.
"I'm done asking for permission."
Truth in Code
The battle defied logic.
Shen Liang fought not just with technique, but with intent. His Flameweaver node sang with resonance, rewriting parts of the Vault as he moved.
Each time One-Seven struck, Shen Liang countered with memory-laced flame.
But the Executor was fast—inhumanly so.
"You use emotions to shape fire," the Watcher hissed. "Emotions decay."
Yue stepped between them.
"No. They become story."
She revealed her final soul-seal.
A memory: the Fall of the Celestial Realms. She, once an Empress of Starfire, giving the order to collapse an entire dimension to halt the Void Spiral — killing billions, including her own sister.
Shen Liang's eyes widened.
"You... you sacrificed everything?"
"I did," she said, voice trembling. "And I would do it again if it meant saving you."
She stepped into his flame.
Their auras fused.
And the system bli
nked.
[New Integration Path Detected]
[Soulweaver Protocol Unlocked]
[Emotion-Linked Cultivation: Stage I]
[First Harmony Technique: Heartfire Redemp
tion]
Redemption Ignites
Shen Liang's flames turned white-hot, laced with threads of Yue's frost-sorrow.
Together, they struck One-Seven with Heartfire Redemption.
It wasn't just an attack — it was a r
ewrite.
[System Overwrite Successful]
[Root Executor Terminated]
[Vault Decryption Progres
s: 24%]
The corridor shuddered.
Walls of sigil-glass collapsed, revealing a massive console: thousands of data nodes spiraling outward into forgotten heavens.
Yue whispered, "This is the source code of all cultivators. Everything... even the heavens' laws... is written here."
Shen Liang stared at it.
And made a choice.
Seeds of Revolution
Back at the Ashen Sect, the Root Tablet flashed violently.
New data surged into its i
nterface.
[System Node 999: Sovereign Rewrite — Available]
[Query: Do you wish to allow open cultivation paths without logic rest
riction?]
Yin's hand hovered over the confirmation glyph.
He hesitated. Then whispered, "For them."
He pressed it.
The system screamed—then sang.
Beneath the Stars, Above the Ash
Shen Liang and Yue stood on the edge of the Vault, watching light return to the ruined stars.
"You saw everything," Shen Liang said. "And you still walked beside me."
"I'll walk with you through fire," Yue said. "Through guilt. Through time."
He turned to her, eyes fierce with new purpose.
"Then let's rewrite this world."
Their hands clasped.
The Vault pulsed, and the system shifted forever.