The scroll lay open before Shen Liun, lit by the flickering orange glow of their campfire. The old leather cracked as he gently unrolled it further, revealing symbols unlike any he had ever seen—not of fire, but of balance. Of scales. Of verdicts passed by flame.
He didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until Aoshen spoke inside him, voice laced with caution.
> "This… this is ancient. Older than your sect. Older than even me."
Liun raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were a divine beast from before the era of the empires."
> "I am," Aoshen said, voice low. "But this script… is from the Ashen Origin Path. It was lost after the first great rebellion. Only three known cultivators ever awakened it. And all three…"
"Vanished."
Liun frowned. "Vanished as in died?"
> "No. As in erased. Their names were removed from the heavenly records. Even the stars that bore their destinies were… snuffed out."
The flames in the fire suddenly hissed and flickered as wind passed through the trees.
Ranyi, seated across from Liun, watched him closely. "That scroll was kept hidden in my father's vault. He never touched it. He said it was cursed."
"He was wrong," Liun murmured. "It's not cursed. It's judging."
The runes shifted on the page.
They were moving—rearranging themselves as if responding to him.
And then—they stopped.
A single symbol pulsed faintly with red-gold light.
Aoshen hissed.
> "It's testing your soul."
Liun stared at the rune. It was shaped like a burning eye, split down the center. A single word burned into his thoughts:
> "WORTH."
Without thinking, Liun reached out.
The moment his finger touched the rune, the world fell away.
---
He stood in darkness.
Not cold, not warm.
Just still.
A throne made of ash stood ahead of him. And on it sat a figure in tattered robes, face wrapped in flame, eyes hollow.
It didn't speak.
It judged.
> "You seek the third path," a voice echoed. Not from the figure, but from the air itself. "But judgment is not given freely. It must be earned."
Liun stood tall. "Then test me."
The figure raised a skeletal hand.
And the shadows around Liun came alive.
They formed into people.
His father, bleeding from the mouth.
His mother, collapsing under flames.
Ruoxi, standing in armor, back turned.
Ning'er, falling into darkness.
Even himself, kneeling, broken, empty-eyed.
"You carry blame," the voice whispered. "But judgment begins with self. Can you face it?"
The images rushed at him.
Guilt. Regret. Shame.
All weaponized.
But Shen Liun didn't back away.
He stepped forward—through the fire, through the memories, through the pain.
"I failed them," he said. "But I didn't stop. I won't stop."
The shadows howled.
But the throne flickered once… then dimmed.
The voice returned.
> "Then begin."
---
He snapped back to the forest.
Ning'er stood over him, panic in her eyes.
"You stopped breathing!" she said. "You collapsed!"
Ranyi knelt nearby. "You were glowing. For nearly five minutes."
Liun sat up, sweat pouring down his face. His hands were trembling.
"I saw something," he muttered. "A trial. A throne."
> "You passed the first gate of the Judgment Path," Aoshen said. "Barely."
"What comes next?"
Aoshen paused.
> "Now… the flame listens to you."
Liun stared at his hand.
The normal orange fire that once danced around his fingertips now shimmered with a third color—deep gold, like the heart of a forge.
It was heavier. More… deliberate.
This was not destruction.
This was authority.
Ranyi leaned closer. "You're the first person to awaken the path in centuries."
"That doesn't make me special," Liun replied. "It makes me a target."
---
In the northern provinces, news of the Judgment Flame spread like lightning.
The Sect of Twilight Chains sent their Inquisitors south. The Spirit Seer Clan summoned oracles who screamed when shown Liun's aura. The Council of Heaven passed a new decree:
> "All who shelter Shen Liun shall be deemed traitors to the Divine Empire."
War drums began to sound in quiet valleys.
And somewhere… deep beneath the world…
A sleeping force began to stir.
---
That night, Liun sat on a rock at the edge of camp, the scroll closed beside him, Dawnmourne resting across his lap.
Ning'er joined him in silence.
After a while, she said softly, "That flame… it's not just power, is it?"
Liun shook his head. "No. It's a voice."
"What's it saying now?"
He looked up at the stars.
"It's asking me if I'm ready to judge… the world that judged me."
---