The journey back to Dawnmist Peak was quiet.
Lin Wushen slept most of the way, curled up in the corner of the spirit beast-drawn cart, his reed flute cradled in both hands like a dying ember. Even unconscious, his qi pulsed in rhythmic waves—soft, like breath. But unstable.
Each time the wind passed over the cart, it whispered strange sounds—half-harmonies, memory fragments caught in the breeze.
Tianya stayed closest to him, not out of compassion, but readiness. If the boy's spirit-sick condition turned dangerous, she would end it.
A-Yan, curious as ever, kept asking questions only Bai had the patience to answer.
"Why do songs wake memories?"
"Because memory is vibration," Bai replied. "Emotion hums. Words echo. If you know how to pluck the right chord…"
"You can make someone remember things they forgot?"
"Or things they were never supposed to know."
Luo Feng didn't speak much.
He was listening.
Because something in Wushen's song hadn't just awakened him—it had pulled at Yiran.
Back on Dawnmist Peak, Yiran stood barefoot at the edge of the training courtyard, her eyes closed, her hair fluttering in a wind no one else could feel.
The runes around her glowed faintly.
Kaelen watched from a distance, hand resting on the hilt of her saber.
"You sensed him," she said.
Yiran nodded.
"It wasn't just a note. His melody… sang through the old system code. It touched the v0.3 root structure."
Kaelen frowned. "That's the version bound to your mind."
Yiran didn't answer. She didn't have to.
Because in the distance, as the cart crested the ridge, the mountain shivered.
Ding! System Alert: Cross-Bond Harmonic Link DetectedSubjects: Qin Yiran / Lin WushenCondition: Resonance Overlap – Tier 2 (Unstable)Warning: Shared memory field may trigger dormant system fragments.Host Action Required: Mediate or Sever Bonding Echo.
Luo Feng jumped down from the cart before it even stopped.
Yiran was already walking toward him.
She didn't speak.
She simply looked past him—at Wushen, still unconscious.
And murmured, "He's humming in his sleep."
Luo Feng turned to his other disciples. "Inside. Prepare the sealed formation."
They moved without question.
Kaelen led them to the meditation hall, where the curse blade was once restrained. The same chamber had been reinforced recently—for Yiran. Now, it would be shared.
Wushen stirred as they placed him on the central cushion.
His fingers twitched. His eyes opened slowly.
Yiran sat across from him, palms open in her lap.
"You called me," she said.
He blinked. "I what?"
"Your music echoed through the void path. Through me."
Luo Feng stepped between them.
"No playing. Not until we understand the resonance."
But it was already too late.
Wushen's body arched.
A note escaped his mouth—not from the flute, but from his breath.
Not a song.
Not even a cry.
A chord.
Low, dissonant, cracked like broken glass.
Yiran jerked forward.
The air snapped.
Ding! Forced Echo Connection Initiated.Cross-System Fragment Detected – Root Sequence ID: "Mentor Seed 03-G."Accessing Shared Memory Stream…Alert: Temporal feedback may cause unstable recollections.
Luo Feng's vision blurred.
And in the span of a heartbeat, he was elsewhere.
The world was gold.
Golden mist, golden halls, a sky that glowed with the light of ten thousand dawns. Great statues lined the sides of a vast courtyard where five children knelt before a single robed figure.
Him.
But not as he was now.
Younger. Sharper. Dressed in regal mentor's robes that shimmered like living light.
And among the children knelt a girl with white hair.
And a boy with a flute.
Not Yiran.
Not Wushen.
But… echoes of them.
Fragments.
Luo Feng's breath caught.
"These two hold the same rhythm," his voice said, deep and calm. "One carries time in silence. The other carries sorrow in sound."
Then the memory collapsed.
Luo Feng gasped as he snapped back to the present.
Yiran and Wushen had collapsed to the floor, unconscious, glowing with conflicting qi.
A-Yan rushed to Wushen's side.
Tianya reached for her blade.
But Luo Feng held up a hand.
"No. Don't touch them."
"They're unstable," Bai warned. "Their cores are overlapping. If one breaks—"
"They'll fracture each other," Kaelen finished grimly.
"Then I'll hold them both," Luo Feng said.
He stepped forward.
Placed one hand on Wushen's shoulder, the other on Yiran's chest.
And closed his eyes.
Ding! Legacy Sync Initiated – Dual Channel Engagement.Mentor Bond Stabilization Required.Engaging skill: "Names That Stay."Cross-Bond Memory Field Opening...
In the void of their minds, Luo Feng didn't speak.
He listened.
Listened to a boy's sorrow carried on a note.
Listened to a girl's loneliness buried beneath silence.
And when he exhaled…
He named them.
"Wushen," he whispered. "You are not the flute. You are the hands that hold it."
"Yiran," he whispered. "You are not the system. You are the soul that survived it."
The resonance broke.
Gently.
Like a string pulled taut, then slowly released.
Wushen stirred.
Yiran sat upright, breathing heavy but steady.
And both of them turned to him with eyes wide.
"Master."
Together.
System Notice: Dual Bond Sync Complete.Lin Wushen and Qin Yiran now share a passive "Soul Thread Link."Effect: When training within 10 meters of each other, gain +25% spiritual clarity and music-technique synchronization.New Trait Gained: "Harmony of Echoes."Host Reward: +2 Spiritual Resilience, +1 Teaching Insight.
That night, the courtyard was silent again.
Wushen sat beneath the hawthorn tree, tuning a new flute forged by Kaelen. Yiran meditated near the old training post, her eyes brighter than they'd been since awakening.
And Luo Feng?
He stood on the peak, eyes on the stars.
He had begun with orphans.
Now he trained time echoes, curse-bearers, exile souls.
He had no Hall.
No banners.
No Sect authority.
And yet—
Ding! System Message:Dawnmist Peak now qualifies as an independent cultivation domain.Provisional Title Granted: "Sanctuary of the Unheard."
Luo Feng smiled faintly.
They were only getting started.