The air shifted.
Lin Fei stood at the edge of a chasm—silent, breathing the scent of ancient earth. The battle with Wen Hailan had drained him, but the system interface flickered again:
[Optional Trial: Root-Sworn Sanctuary]
Location: "Shrine Beneath Rootlight"
Status: Hidden World-Fragment
Entry Cost: Bloom Level 2+
Reward: Vein Memory Echo / Trait Unlock Opportunity
[Enter Trial?]
[Y/N]
His thumb hovered over the invisible "Yes."
No one had told him to do this. Not his sect. Not a master. Only this system—this thing—that pulsed inside him like a second heartbeat.
"I'm not just following you," he said aloud.
[Understood. You are walking.]
He pressed "Yes".
🌿 Arrival at the Shrine
The world flickered.
Light bent in on itself like roots curling in dreamless soil. Then: silence. And then — stillness.
When the world reformed, Lin Fei stood inside a wide chamber filled with faintly glowing vines. No roof. No visible walls. Just a luminous sky of pale green, like the belly of a world-sized tree.
In the center stood a stone altar—wrapped in root-lattice and marked with sigils too old for language.
A gentle voice echoed:
"He comes walking on paths we buried."
Lin Fei turned.
A woman stood at the altar — or rather, an echo of one. Her hair was woven with roots, her eyes like bark. Her aura was neither hostile nor kind — just old. Tired. Infinite.
[Vein Memory Echo Detected – Origin Cultivator: Xue Yan, Title: Root-Sworn Matriarch]
[Message Archive – Playback Allowed]
🕯️ The Matriarch's Message
The echo flickered, then spoke again:
"You walk a system. It will offer you power. But it does not offer truth."
"That is your burden."
Lin Fei stepped forward cautiously.
"You created it?"
She laughed. It sounded like soil shifting under rain.
"No. We found it. Like you."
"We were the first to choose to follow it."
She gestured toward the altar.
"Leave a drop of blood and qi. If your roots match ours, the shrine will open."
"If not… it will bury you."
💉 The Test of Binding
Lin Fei didn't hesitate.
He reached into his palm with a thin spiritual blade and let the blood drip onto the altar. A moment later, a tendril of golden root pulsed out and wrapped around his hand.
[System Interlink Detected – Identity Match: 42%]
[Partial Compatibility – Trial Conditions Adjusted]
[Challenge Activated: Memory Trial – "Echo of the First Breach"]
⚔️ Memory Trial – The Breach
Suddenly, he was somewhere else.
Wind. Fire. Screams.
He stood in a battlefield of the past — where the Root-Sworn once fell. All around him, cultivators in tattered robes fought beasts made of crimson flame and void-black ichor.
"Hold the Veinline!" someone shouted.
A memory-body surged past Lin Fei, swinging a blade made of petrified bark. Another woman — not Xue Yan — shouted orders as she drove back a Void Beast with a wave of forest-qi.
[Objective: Survive the Breach]
[Duration: Until Collapse of Memory Realm OR Host Death]
Lin Fei breathed deep.
Qi surged.
The system activated automatically — overlaying data across the phantom battlefield.
[Enemy: Voidspawn Type III – Spiritual Corruption Core]
[Weakness: Earth/Root-Based Techniques]
[Advantage: Mental Disruption]
[Danger Level: Moderate-High]
His hands glowed.
He raised them.
And for the first time—called on the Vein as a weapon.
🌳 Skill Unlocked: Root Bind – Rank E
Roots erupted from his feet. They surged forward like serpents, wrapping around the first beast's legs mid-leap and slamming it into the memory-soaked ground.
It screeched — something between a roar and a scream in reverse.
[Technique: Root Bind – Successfully Manifested]
Cooldown: 5 seconds
Effect: Immobilize small-medium targets / +Mental Stability
Lin Fei spun, letting the momentum carry him into the next strike. His elbow cracked into a voidspawn's throat — the system flagged it mid-swing:
[Impact Point Identified – Neural Core Region]
Critical Damage: 81%
Purge Status: Complete
The battlefield blurred.
Flames rose higher. Screams faded.
And then…
Nothing.
🌫️ The Truth Beneath the Memory
When the world reformed, Lin Fei was back at the altar. Alone.
The Matriarch's echo stood, watching him.
"You survived."
"And you felt it, didn't you?"
He nodded. "The cost. Every time we gain something…"
"…we lose something," she finished.
"The system grows because it is fed — by will, by struggle, by the paths we don't take."
She reached forward and placed her palm to his forehead.
"May you choose well."
[System Update: Vein Memory Echo Integrated]
[New Passive Trait: Echo Resilience – Reduces mental backlash from corrupted spiritual attacks]
[New System Function: Path Archive – Now tracks rejected cultivation decisions]
✨ A Choice Beyond Power
The altar cracked.
From its heart, a seed floated into the air — glowing, gold and crimson.
[Choose Trait Advancement Path for Bloom Level 3:]
🌿 Warden of Rootlight – Enhance defensive and binding techniques / Boost qi discipline
🩸 Seeker of the Fractured – Unlock corrupted vein techniques / Boost aggression and speed
☯️ Echowalker – Increase insight / Gain glimpses of enemy technique history
Lin Fei stared at the options.
He remembered Wen Hailan's hatred.
The shrine's history.
And his own oath—not to be a killer, but not a victim either.
He made his choice.
[Selection Confirmed: Warden of Rootlight]
Traits Advanced:
Root Bind → Root Embrace – Can now immobilize + drain qi slowly
Iron Focus → Iron Root – Mental resistance enhanced under pressure
🧭 The Path Archive Opens
With a flicker, a new screen appeared in the system.
[Path Archive – Active]
🌿 Accepted: Root-Sworn Line
❌ Rejected: Assimilation Path (Wen Hailan)
❓ Unknown Path Available: "Silent Bloom – Requires Killing Intent Threshold"
☠️ Hidden Thread: "Origin Bloom—Locked until Bloom 5"
The system spoke for the first time in hours:
[Paths do not disappear. They grow in silence.]
[Every choice roots you.]
Lin Fei breathed out.
He wasn't just cultivating.
He was becoming something.
The system wasn't a master.
But it was a mirror.
And he needed to decide what he would become when he reached the top.
🔻 Chapter End: Roots Take Hold
Lin Fei stood at the center of the dying shrine, bathed in soft light from the altar.
His hand clenched. Not with anger.
With purpose.
Bloom Level: 3/9
System Traits:
Iron Root (Passive)
Root Embrace (Active)
Echo Resilience (Passive)
Path Chosen: Warden of Rootlight
System Status: Stabilized – Expanding
He turned toward the next tunnel, where new wind whispered of things to come.
Of enemies worse than beasts.
Of trials stranger than war.
Of roots that grew underneath even gods.