The door creaked open.
Old air rushed out, thick with dust, sealed spiritual pressure, and something else—something more delicate.
A faint fragrance of burning paper and lotus blossoms.
Luo Feng stepped inside first.
The room was small, barely wide enough for five people to stand shoulder to shoulder. Its walls were smooth black stone, etched with ancient runes that glowed faintly now, awakened by proximity.
In the center of the room, surrounded by a silent formation of spiraling inscriptions, knelt a girl.
She looked no older than fourteen.
But the air around her felt ancient.
Her long, snow-white hair draped around her like a shroud. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing shallow, as if caught between meditation and sleep. Her hands rested neatly on her lap.
And hovering just above her chest was a flickering sigil—pulsing between gold and violet—half-sealed.
Luo Feng took a slow breath.
"Qin Yiran," he whispered.
Her eyes fluttered open.
And for a moment—just one brief instant—time didn't move.
She looked directly at him.
Not around the room. Not at the others.
Just at him.
And whispered:
"Master… is it really you?"
Ding! Sealed Disciple Identified: Qin YiranStatus: Legacy Echo Host – Anchor-Class Bond FragmentedCultivation Realm: ??? (Unstable)Time Sealed: 4,192 yearsSystem Affinity: Celestial Mentor System v0.3 – Experimental VariantWarning: Soul integrity incomplete. Personality divergence detected.Host reaction will affect stabilization.
Luo Feng stepped closer, cautiously.
Her qi fluctuated—wild and raw beneath the surface, like a lake frozen over with boiling water underneath.
He knelt.
"It's me," he said gently. "You waited."
Her eyes widened. "I thought… they said you abandoned us. That the system failed. That the Sunder Collapse erased the anchor—"
She blinked rapidly, confused.
"Where am I? This isn't the Nether Archive. Where are the others?"
Luo Feng's hand hovered above hers. "Gone," he said softly. "Long ago."
Her breath caught.
She didn't cry.
But something in her eyes cracked.
Then she exhaled slowly.
"I see," she whispered. "Then… it's just me."
"No," Luo Feng said. "You're not alone anymore."
Behind him, the others watched silently.
A-Yan whispered, "She's… strange."
Bai Xueyin nodded. "Her cultivation feels off. Like it's fractured."
Tianya narrowed her eyes. "No. Not fractured. Stacked. Like she's layered different cultivation paths inside herself."
Kaelen stepped forward, gaze sharp. "That's unstable. It shouldn't be possible."
"It shouldn't," Luo Feng agreed. "But she's not just a disciple anymore. She's a living legacy fragment."
Yiran rose slowly.
She wobbled once, then stood straight.
Her robes were dusty, torn in places, but they carried the faded embroidery of an ancient symbol—one even the Sect had forgotten.
The original Celestial Mentor Insignia, untouched by modern edits.
"You've changed," she said, tilting her head at Luo Feng. "But the bond still sings. That means… you're still my teacher."
He nodded once.
"Then let me offer the proper greeting."
She stepped forward.
Knelt.
And pressed her forehead to the floor.
"Disciple Qin Yiran greets Master. I… I've waited."
System Notice: Legacy Bond Resynchronized.Status: Qin Yiran re-accepted as Disciple.Warning: System Overlap Detected. Two systems present: v1.9 (Host), v0.3 (Disciple).Potential Instability: Moderate.Trait Gained: "Temporal Link – Resonance of Memory"Effect: Luo Feng may access fragments of the v0.3 Mentor System during training events with Yiran present.Unlock: "Cross-Time Insight" – minor precognitive flashes during teaching.
Later that evening, the group returned to Dawnmist Peak.
Yiran rode in silence on Bai's spirit beast, gazing at the stars like she was seeing them for the first time.
And in a way… she was.
The Sect had changed.
The sky had changed.
Even time itself had moved on without her.
But the man who taught her had returned.
That was enough—for now.
That night, Luo Feng sat with her beside the old courtyard firepit.
She sipped tea slowly, holding the cup like something sacred.
"I'm not the same girl you left behind," she said.
"I know," Luo Feng replied. "Neither am I."
She looked at him.
"I think I have… pieces. Of other timelines. Other me's. I don't know if they're real. I remember techniques no one taught me. I wake up from dreams where I'm old, and the sky is wrong."
"You weren't just sealed," he said. "You were part of a fractured system. It used your mind to store knowledge it couldn't preserve elsewhere."
She nodded slowly.
"I see."
Then, more quietly: "Do I still count as your disciple?"
He smiled.
"You never stopped."
Ding! Bond Strengthened: Qin Yiran – Spiritual Sync 48%Next Reward Threshold: 60% – Unlock "Resonance Echo: Mentor's Past"Disciples Present: Bai Xueyin, A-Yan, TianyaCombined Morale: HighMentor Authority Level: Tier III achieved.
The peace didn't last.
It never did.
In the Sect's inner sanctum, a scribe reported to Elder Mo in a hushed tone.
"We detected the fluctuation, my lord. Sub-basement seals were broken."
Mo looked up from his tea.
"And?"
"We believe… someone has reactivated the original legacy chamber."
Mo stood slowly.
"A lost disciple?"
"Worse," the scribe whispered. "A forgotten one. She's bonded to Mentor System v0.3."
Mo's hand clenched around the teacup, cracking it.
"Then we move. Quietly. Before she remembers too much."
Back on Dawnmist Peak, Luo Feng walked the perimeter with Kaelen beside him.
"She's fragile," Kaelen said. "But not weak. You feel it too, don't you?"
"I do," he said. "She's not just a disciple. She's a doorway."
Kaelen raised an eyebrow. "To what?"
He looked up at the stars.
"To the part of this world that was erased."