The sky was too quiet.
The wind held its breath.
And deep within the sanctuary atop Mount Qianlan, a storm had just begun to stir.
Xin Ren stood by the temple steps, sweat dampening his brow despite the cool breeze.
The great bronze doors were sealed shut.
He wasn't allowed inside.
He could hear voices…muffled, tense…floating from the sacred chamber beyond. Master Liang Wu, Mistress Huo Mei, and two strangers whose energies felt like mountains shifting beneath silk.
One was a woman…voice graceful, fluid like water sliding over stone.
The other… a man.
His voice was firm. Quiet. But it echoed somewhere inside Xin Ren's soul, like a memory from another life clawing its way to the surface.
His heart pounded.
Why did that voice sound so familiar?
He stepped closer.
Inside the temple, Zhenlong, in his mortal form…tall, sharp-eyed, with long raven hair tied back and a robe that shimmered like scaled armor…stood beside Baixue, radiant in her pale robes and detached expression.
Liang Wu's fists were clenched at his sides.
"You two shouldn't be here yet," he said flatly.
Baixue ignored him. "He's already begun awakening. The dragon's tail is loose. You know what that means."
"We're managing it," Huo Mei cut in. "The boy is stabilizing. Interfering now could destroy the balance of his vessel."
Zhenlong turned toward the sealed doors. "Then why do I feel him trembling right now?"
Outside…
Xin Ren's knees gave out.
He gasped and fell forward, bracing himself on shaking palms as white-hot pain lanced through his head. His vision blurred. The air around him pulsed like it was cracking open.
His skin lit up with golden veins.
His sealed tails began to flicker…one, then two, then four. Light burst from his back like fire breathing through silk.
He screamed.
The doors of the temple exploded open.
Liang Wu and Huo Mei were the first to rush out.
"Ren!"
He was on his hands and knees, groaning in agony as steam hissed off his skin. Cracks were forming in the stone beneath him. His horns had begun to sharpen again.
Then…
Zhenlong stepped forward.
With a flick of his wrist, a dragon-forged talisman materialized from thin air, humming with old magic. He launched it toward Xin Ren without hesitation.
The paper seal ignited mid-air, striking the boy's back and exploding in a wave of spiritual pressure.
Xin Ren arched violently, then collapsed.
Baixue knelt beside him instantly, placing both hands on the glowing mark now forming on his spine.
"We can't let him manifest yet!" she hissed. "If he completes even one more tail…"
"He'll become a beacon," Zhenlong growled. "Every cursed beast from hell to the shadow lands will scent his power."
Baixue's voice turned sharp. "Pour more Yin into the seal!"
She pressed her fingers into the talisman now grafted to his skin, her palms glowing with frostlight. Zhenlong's eyes narrowed as he moved beside her, reinforcing the spell with a sigil of flame and breath.
Xin Ren's groaning turned to gasping.
Then…
A shriek pierced the mountain.
Not human.
The skies darkened.
The wind dropped dead.
And in the next instant, the sanctuary shook.
A ripple of corrupted qi tore through the forest, and figures emerged…black-cloaked, crawling, grotesque, with twisted limbs and hollow eyes. Dozens of them. Some floated. Others dragged weapons of bone and rot.
Demon Wretches.
They had come.
Already.
Liang Wu didn't hesitate.
He spun forward, drawing the twin silver axes from his back in a single breath. His body moved like thunder…clean, brutal, unrelenting…as he cleaved the first wretch in two.
Huo Mei stepped beside him, hands glowing with crimson light. With a single snap of her fingers, seven fire serpents burst from her sleeve, weaving through the air and devouring demons in coils of flame.
Baixue rose slowly, her hands bloodied from holding the talisman on Xin Ren's back.
"I'll hold the line," she said coldly.
"You'll do more than that," Zhenlong growled, stepping beside her.
He snapped his fingers.
The air behind him shimmered…and a massive ethereal dragon's head formed from smoke and light, roaring silently.
Zhenlong's arms glowed with flame as he launched forward, barehanded, striking through a charging demon with a palm strike that shattered its chest into ash.
Baixue moved like wind..precise, dancing, silver blades appearing from her sleeves as she moved in spirals, cutting through flesh and bone with elegance. Every step she took froze the air.
Blood soaked the temple courtyard.
Xin Ren blinked weakly.
He couldn't move.
His body felt like it had cracked open and poured out something wild, something massive.
But he saw them.
His masters. The strangers.
The gods.
Fighting for him.
His heart ached.
He wanted to stand.
To help.
To understand what he was.
But all he could do was watch the battle rage around him, unable to speak as demons tore through the gates, and divine warriors became storms before his eyes.
Liang Wu roared as he took a blade to the shoulder…but didn't stop.
Huo Mei burned the skies.
Baixue weaved frost through bone.
Zhenlong unleashed the dragon fully…its body spiraling around the sanctuary like a spectral guardian, torching everything unholy in its wake.
But more kept coming.
Baixue's breathing quickened.
"Too many," she hissed. "They sensed the second tail flaring…he's drawing every cursed thing within a hundred leagues!"
"We need to seal him properly," Zhenlong shouted, cutting down another demon with a swipe of flame. "Or this will never stop!"
"No." Liang Wu stepped into the center of the circle. Blood dripped from his brow. "We need to move him."
Baixue turned. "He's unstable."
Huo Mei was already moving toward the boy. "If we stay here, we'll destroy the mountain."
They made a choice.
A retreat…but a powerful one.
Huo Mei whispered an incantation and raised her hands, carving a mirror of wind and moonlight into the air.
Zhenlong carried Xin Ren over his back as Baixue carved protective seals mid-air, one after another, forming a barrier around their exit.
Liang Wu covered the rear, cutting down the last wave with a brutal spin, blood fountaining in every direction.
And as the portal closed behind them—
The sanctuary exploded in light.
Mount Qianlan groaned.
And the demon wretches howled after them, their cries echoing down the mountainside.
They landed miles away, in a hidden grove wrapped in celestial silk.
The boy was unconscious.
But alive.
Barely.
Zhenlong laid him gently beneath the ancient tree.
Baixue sat beside him.
Her voice was low. Calm. Cold.
"He's accelerating. We won't be able to stop the awakenings much longer."
Huo Mei looked away.
Liang Wu clenched his jaw.
And Zhenlong watched the boy…his horns faintly glowing, his tails flickering even in sleep…and said the words none of them wanted to hear.
"If he can't control this… we'll have to kill him ourselves."