The blade was quiet, but the system screamed.
It wasn't forged from metal but condensed negative spirit essence — qi that had been reversed, twisted, devoured of balance. Lin Fei felt it before he saw it: a void in the world, a blade that consumed spiritual pressure rather than releasing it.
The scribe lunged.
Lin Fei moved purely on instinct, stepping backward into a defensive stance he barely remembered training. He hadn't yet fully mastered the Veinstep movement technique, but his body had started responding faster since he returned from the shrine.
[Veinstep activated: 20% proficiency]
[Dodge: Partial success]
The blade grazed his sleeve — and the fabric dissolved, not cut. It vanished as if eaten by the wind.
Elder Yun's expression darkened instantly.
"Rootless."
She stood in a motionless burst, her palm glowing with jade light. Two of the other elders summoned their own power, forming sigils of suppression in the air.
The scribe didn't hesitate. With inhuman grace, they darted to the side — avoiding the suppression spells by inches — and vanished into a wall of black smoke that burst from the folds of their robe.
But not before whispering a phrase in a hoarse, corrupted tone:
"The Seed has bloomed. The Root must be burned."
⚡ Aftermath and Realization
Lin Fei coughed as the smoke cleared. He felt his veins buzz with unsettled energy.
Elder Yun was already beside him, one hand on his shoulder, the other pressing two fingers to his forehead.
He tensed — but she wasn't attacking.
Instead, she was scanning.
"You've bonded with something older than this sect's history," she said. "And now the Rootless know."
"You're not safe here anymore."
Lin Fei's voice came out hoarse.
"What do they want?"
"To undo you. You're a crack in their dogma — proof that the System still chooses."
One of the other elders scoffed.
"Or uses."
Yun ignored him.
"You have two options, Lin Fei. One: Stay, and we'll protect you with the full force of the Sect. You'll be watched, examined, and eventually… harvested."
Lin Fei froze.
"Harvested?"
"We'll extract the System and study it. If we can. We've done it before."
The brazier beside them hissed.
"Second option: Leave. Go beyond the southern forests and into the Broken Verge. Find the Verdant Keep. There, the Verdant Silence waits."
"They'll either destroy you — or teach you to survive."
"We won't stop you. But we won't shield you either."
🧭 Decision at Dusk
That night, Lin Fei stood alone at the southern gate of the sect.
The moon was pale and distant. His spirit felt fractured — not just from the day's events, but from the truth behind the sect's polished exterior.
They would protect him… until he became a specimen. And then? Dissected. Not for malice — but for curiosity.
He clenched his fist.
"I'd rather be hunted than harvested."
He stepped beyond the boundary stones.
As he did, the system pulsed again:
[New Path Selected: Wanderer of the Rootlight]
Quest Activated: Trial of the Verge
Objective: Reach Verdant Keep. Survive the Broken Verge.
Reward: Unknown
Time Limit: 10 days
He didn't look back.
🏞️ Into the Broken Verge
The Broken Verge was once the heart of a flourishing cultivation empire — now shattered by spiritual instability. The qi here was wild, the land misshapen.
Mountains floated sideways. Rivers reversed midstream. Spirit beasts had mutated.
Lin Fei moved carefully, invoking the Rootlight guidance ability when needed.
[Trait Activated: Rootlight Sense – Level 2]
Duration: 3 minutes
Cooldown: 6 hours
Glowing veins in the earth appeared — not visible to the normal eye. Root veins. Lines of memory, remnant flows of ancient spiritual paths.
He followed them. They didn't just show a route — they resonated with his heartbeat.
"This land still remembers something… someone."
He camped near a shattered pillar that once marked a cultivator's domain. As he meditated, he noticed something new:
A small root sprouting beside him, glowing faintly.
[Bloom Echo Detected – Minor Bloom Type: Memory Root]
Integrate? Y/N
He accepted.
And suddenly — he was someone else.
🧠 Bloom Echo: Forgotten Warden
He saw visions not his own.
A man — older, fierce — once known as a Warden of Rootlight. He wielded a blade formed from his own cultivation roots, severing false veins in corrupt sects.
"We were the gardeners of balance," the voice whispered. "Until the System fed on our fields."
Lin Fei returned to himself, gasping.
[Minor Echo Integrated – Passive Gained: Root Severance Instinct]
Effect: Increases resistance to false qi by 30%. Immune to mind corruption for 10 seconds during combat.
His eyes narrowed.
He was changing — not just gaining power, but absorbing legacies.
And something told him — he hadn't even scratched the surface.
🐲 The Rootless Awaken
At the edges of the Broken Verge, three figures stirred.
One wore robes of faded red, stitched from human hair. Another walked barefoot, yet left no prints in the soil. The last was cloaked in something that looked like flowing bark.
They faced east.
Toward Lin Fei.
"The Seed runs."
"Let him bloom. We'll pluck him after."
"No," said the third, voice low and bitter. "We must burn the garden before it grows."
Behind them, a shrieking spirit beast twisted mid-air and exploded — consumed by a black symbol that hovered in silence.
The Rootless had begun to move.