[Chapter 8]
The journey northeast toward the Shrine of Whispering Glass was long, but it offered Castiel and Mu Qinglan a rare moment of calm. The terrain shifted from volcanic ruins into rolling hills wrapped in fog, where jade-green grass glistened with dew and whispers of spiritual beasts could be heard in the distance.
Castiel didn't speak much. He walked with one hand on the hilt of his sword and his senses flared like antennae. Ever since receiving the Riftbound title, he felt watched—not by the living, but by echoes of something ancient... like eyes staring through cracks in reality.
"You're quieter than usual," Mu Qinglan said as she adjusted the leather strap on her curved blade.
"Just… listening."
"To what?"
He tilted his head. "The wind."
She rolled her eyes but didn't press further.
The fog deepened as they entered the outskirts of the shrine. Old statues of forgotten deities lined the trail, cracked and moss-covered, their features worn away by centuries. Some had strange marks—swirling patterns like eyes or stars carved into their surfaces.
Then, the system chimed softly.
Zone Detected: Whispering Valley – Semi-Sealed Spiritual Zone
Local Effects:
Sound travels unevenly
Mental Fortitude Check Required every 3 hours
Cultivation Output decreased by 15%
Spiritual Sense distorted
Warning: Entities of Forgotten Will may linger.
"What kind of shrine is this?" Castiel muttered.
Mu Qinglan hesitated. "There's an old legend. They say this place was once a gatekeeper to the Void Realms. People came here to listen to the voices of the ancestors... but some never returned."
They moved carefully past broken relics and rotting talismans.
Suddenly, they stopped. A massive stone gate stood ahead, circular like a moon, carved with ancient runes and six slits resembling eyes.
Castiel stepped closer, and the fragment in his inventory began to glow.
Quest Objective: Shrine Access Verification in Progress…
Matching Rift Beacon Fragment Signature…
Access Granted.
The gate trembled. Dust fell from its edges. Then, without a sound, it opened.
Inside was a stairway leading down, lined with glowing glass orbs. The walls reflected not their physical appearance—but echoes of their past.
One orb showed Castiel as a child, sitting alone under a tree, playing a handheld game device. Another showed him on Earth, standing at the grave of his mother.
His hand clenched.
"These… memories?" he whispered.
Mu Qinglan was silent. The orb next to her shimmered with an image of her younger self, chained in a cage of frost, eyes wide with terror. She quickly turned her head.
They descended.
The deeper they went, the colder it became—yet no wind stirred. The shrine had no flame, no heat. Only the chill of memory and the hum of forgotten spirits.
At the bottom, a massive hall awaited. A crystal monolith stood at its center, floating above a platform covered in runes. Around it were six braziers, each lit with blue fire.
And before it knelt a man. Or what was left of one.
He wore ancient robes turned to dust, and his hair floated like wisps of smoke. His eyes were closed, and a long blade rested on his knees. But what struck Castiel most was the mark glowing on his forehead—it was the same sigil that flashed on his system when the Rift title was unlocked.
"…He's one of them," Castiel said. "A Riftwalker."
Then, the man opened his eyes.
"You have come," he said, voice layered with echo, as if spoken by multiple versions of himself. "The Rift trembles. The flame you carry is unstable. But it is not yet too late."
Castiel raised his guard. "What are you?"
"A memory," the man said. "A remnant. One of many. I am Zhan Xiu—the last Watcher of this shrine."
New Quest Triggered: Memory Trial of Zhan Xiu
Objective: Complete the Watcher's Trial to unlock further access to the Shrine
Reward: Unknown
Warning: Death within memory may affect the soul directly.
Castiel hesitated. "What do you mean, death within memory?"
The shrine rumbled. The braziers flared.
Zhan Xiu raised a hand, and Castiel's vision blurred. The world twisted.
He was falling—falling into light.
Then darkness.
He opened his eyes.
He was no longer in the shrine.
He stood on a battlefield, young, armor torn, blade in hand. Around him were other warriors—none familiar—fighting against rift monsters that surged like shadows from a split sky.
Then he realized—this was Zhan Xiu's memory.
And now... he had to survive it.
-----------------------------------------
The roar of monsters swallowed the sky.
Dark riftbeasts charged from the abyss, their bodies formed from fragmented void energy. Each moved like smoke, yet struck like iron. Screams of dying cultivators filled the air—young, old, elite—none spared.
Castiel stumbled, his borrowed armor still unfamiliar. The body he now inhabited was younger, lighter, a memory-form of Zhan Xiu's youth.
"Brace left!" a voice screamed.
A saber-wielding girl with white hair slammed her shoulder into Castiel's side, pushing him aside just as a spear-like tendril crashed where he had stood. Her eyes were fierce—wild.
"You new? You don't look like one of ours!" she yelled.
"I… I'm passing through," he shouted back, gripping his blade.
She didn't question further. "Then swing like hell!"
Castiel growled and dashed forward. His game sense kicked in. This isn't about realism. It's about mechanics. Reaction time. Momentum. Pattern reading. Even in a memory… there's a system beneath it all.
He ducked under a beast's claw, rolled over the gravel, then leaped onto its back. A single strike to the nape. Nothing. Two more. Still nothing.
Then the system chimed—faint, distant.
Weak Point Located: Soul Core behind left eye.
He adjusted instantly. The next strike pierced deep—and the beast howled before turning to smoke.
One down.
Then another.
He was moving now, adapting faster than even the memory-born warriors. To him, this wasn't a nightmare. This was a raid boss.
Above them, the sky cracked.
From the breach descended a creature three times larger than the others. Its body was wreathed in corrupted spiritual flames, its face a mask of thousands of screaming souls.
Elite Rift Entity Detected: Class – Wraith Sovereign
Warning: Survival chance – 13%
The battlefield froze.
Even the memory-form of Zhan Xiu, beside Castiel, looked up in grim silence.
"We fall here," the older Zhan Xiu whispered. "This was the end of my first command. The place I learned the truth—that power… alone… is never enough."
The Wraith Sovereign lifted its skeletal arm, gathering dark qi into a spiral of death.
But Castiel stepped forward, blade glowing.
"No," he said. "We don't fall here."
System Override Detected
Soul Resonance Achieved.
Unique Skill Triggered: [Phantom Rift Cut] – Temporary Unlock.
His sword burst into light. Not golden, but bluish-white—pure Rift energy. He launched forward, faster than any warrior in the memory.
Mu Qinglan's voice echoed faintly in his head, "Don't forget, Castiel. Your strength comes not from the world, but how you break its rules."
One strike.
The Wraith Sovereign roared.
Two more.
Then with a final leap—he slashed upward in an arc.
The blade cut through the beast like a rift tearing open space.
Silence.
Then the battlefield shattered like glass.
Light enveloped him.
When he opened his eyes, he was back in the shrine. Kneeling. Gasping for air.
Zhan Xiu stood before him, now whole, his ghostly form more stable.
"You… defied the memory," the ancient warrior said. "You rewrote its end. You are not merely a successor. You are a variable."
Trial Completed: Memory of Zhan Xiu
System Sync Progress +14%
Reward Obtained: Rift Blade Fragment – Core Type
Title Gained: [Memorywalker]
Soul Fortitude +20
New Skill Unlocked: [Echo Step] – Instantly phase into past location within 2 seconds.
Castiel staggered to his feet.
"I want answers," he said. "What is the Rift? What's chasing me?"
Zhan Xiu's smile was faint. "Not yet. But soon."
He raised a hand—and a silver path of light extended toward the inner chamber.
"You have opened the first door, Castiel. But the shrine holds many more. And not all will grant you mercy."
Mu Qinglan caught him before he collapsed.
"You okay?"
"I survived."
"That's new."
He grinned. "Thanks."
But deep inside, he could feel it.
Something was watching him from beyond the Rift.
And it was no longer asleep.
That wraps up Chapter 8, Minik. We're now entering the deeper mechanics of Castiel's system and the hidden war between Riftwalkers and... something older than time itself.