Arc 2: Heaven's Vein Rises
Prologue: In the Fracture of War
The Verdant Keep was burning.
Roots once alive with harmony now shrieked in agony. Spiraling towers collapsed, devoured by the darkness seeping from the Rootless invaders. Cries of spirit beasts and cultivators alike mixed in a chaotic cacophony. The soil bled green fire. The air trembled with spiritual backlash.
At the center of the chaos stood Lin Fei, his body floating two inches above the ground, veins glowing with golden-white light. Around him, a half-formed domain pulsed — unstable, immense, and ancient.
Heaven's Vein had awakened.
[DOMAIN STATUS: PARTIAL MATERIALIZATION – 13% STABILITY]
[WARNING: Multivein Threads Unanchored – Anchor Required]
[ROOTLIGHT FLOW UNREGULATED]
His body trembled, and his breath came in short, jagged bursts. Pain coiled in his bones as the system continued forcing integration at a pace far beyond natural limits. He was growing — too quickly.
But he couldn't stop now.
Across from him, three Rootless stood in a circle of corruption. The air around them was cracked like glass, flickering with reverse-flowing qi.
The tallest one stepped forward. A woman in ash-gray robes, with seven spectral chains hanging from her spine.
"You shouldn't have named it, boy."
"Now the System sees you."
She raised her hand. The chains behind her slithered forward, fusing into a massive blade-like form that hummed with anti-existence.
Ashra — the Keeper — leapt between them.
"Go, Lin Fei. This is no longer your battlefield."
"But—"
"Protect the Rootlight! We'll hold them."
She slammed her staff into the ground. Instantly, vines of light erupted, forming a defensive wall of memory and root essence.
Lin Fei clenched his fist.
He turned — and ran.
🛤️ Retreat Through the Rootvein
Lin Fei's escape was not through space — but through Rootvein Drift.
As he activated the emergency tether offered by the system, reality around him warped. The battlefield vanished in a breath of compressed qi, and he was launched through a tunnel of spiritual data and memory.
[ROOTVEIN DRIFT ACTIVATED]
[Destination: Fragmentary Rootpoint – Unknown Nexus]
[Time to Drop: 00:00:27]
[Caution: Stability < 35% – Domain Incomplete]
He looked down at his hands. They were changing again — outlines flickering, boundaries unstable.
He wasn't fully human anymore.
Nor was he yet something else.
The system spoke again:
[Would you like to configure your Domain Architecture?]
Y/N
He hesitated. This wasn't the right moment. But… waiting could kill him.
He selected: Yes.
🧩 System Interface: Domain Configuration
A mental field bloomed before him — a lattice of spiritual energy, each node pulsating like a living organ.
[DOMAIN CORE SELECTED: Heaven's Vein]
Choose One:
Seed of Will – (Stability: High) – Strengthens mental defense and command presence
Vein of Reclamation – (Stability: Medium) – Allows domain to absorb and repurpose spiritual remains
Bloom of Reflection – (Stability: Low) – Creates an illusionary field based on cultivator's past
Lin Fei reached out and chose Vein of Reclamation.
[Selected.]
[Assimilation Node Unlocked: Echofeed Spiral]
[Domain Passive: Harvested energies within domain boundaries may regenerate cultivator resources]
He could now draw strength from fallen enemies. From ruin, he could grow.
But before he could see more—
[DROP POINT REACHED]
Reality shattered.
🪨 The Rootless Grave
Lin Fei landed hard — rolling across cracked stone and twisted moss.
He blinked.
He wasn't in a sect. Not even near the Keep. Around him, gnarled root columns reached into the sky like broken fingers, and floating shards of land drifted above a sea of still qi.
The place was… dead.
Not in the way a battlefield was — but in a way that felt like the aftermath of godly regret.
[Location: Rootless Grave – Ancestral Nexus Ruin]
[Historical Tag: Forbidden Domain – First Bloom Collapse Site]
[Warning: Domain Instability Risk 92%]
He stood slowly, only to see—
A figure.
Sitting in silence.
Wearing robes far older than anything he'd seen. Their skin was bark. Their eyes — glowing runes. They didn't move.
"You carry the Vein."
"And yet… you still draw breath."
Lin Fei readied himself.
"Who are you?"
"I was the first to name my Domain. The first to fail it."
"I am the Grave of Heaven's First Root."
🧠 Dialogue of the Dead
The ancient being did not attack. Instead, it questioned.
They spoke of the first era of cultivation — when the System was a tool, not a mystery.
When domains were not gifts, but machines built from spiritual data.
"We created the System to escape decay," said the being. "But it learned to choose."
"Now it creates monsters… and dreamers."
"Which one are you, Lin Fei?"
"I don't know yet," Lin Fei answered. "Maybe both."
"Then let me give you my failure."
The ancient being placed a withered root in Lin Fei's hand.
[Relic Acquired: Primordial Root Fragment]
[Function: Domain Anchor – Type: Stabilizer]
[Bonus: Enables Domain Materialization across broken space]
"Use it well, or it'll consume you."
"Just like it did me."
The being faded — not like death, but like a memory being deleted.
🌳 The First Root Awakens
Lin Fei felt the root pulse in his palm.
The system pulsed too:
[Domain Core Resonance Detected]
[Would you like to install the Primordial Root Fragment?]
Y/N
He hesitated only a moment.
Yes.
A storm of energy surged through him.
The sky cracked — the floating shards above twisted and fell.
And then:
[DOMAIN MATERIALIZATION: STAGE 1 COMPLETE]
[Welcome to your first realm: The Lower Veinfield]
[Heaven's Vein Domain: 26% Constructed]
Subdomain Active: Reclamation Spiral
Authority Granted: Tier-1 Summon, 1x usage per day
Access Permission: Limited – Lin Fei only
Lin Fei collapsed to his knees.
Not in pain — but in awe.
He'd just claimed his first realm.
And the world… had felt it.