Chapter 28: The Residual Resonance
Han Feng carefully stored the Celestial Fragment inside his spatial pouch.
The moment it disappeared from sight, he activated the Art of the Celestial Veil, suppressing his aura until even the faintest trace of his presence became difficult to distinguish from the surrounding spiritual fluctuations.
He did not remain beside the altar.
The moment the inheritance had recognized him, the cave had become too dangerous.
Footsteps echoed from the distant passage.
Someone was coming.
Han Feng immediately moved toward the edge of the chamber.
There was no time to investigate the other passages properly. He only needed to find a place where he could observe without being seen.
He slipped behind a natural stone formation near the chamber wall.
A few breaths later, the hooded figure entered.
The man stopped before the altar.
His eyes immediately narrowed.
The altar was still covered in faint residual energy.
The guardian was gone.
The symbols that had illuminated the chamber during the trial had dimmed, leaving only weak traces of spiritual power.
The hooded man stared at the empty space where the Celestial Fragment had once floated.
"So..."
His voice was quiet.
"Someone passed the trial."
Two masked figures entered behind him.
Neither spoke.
The hooded man raised one hand.
The ancient altar suddenly trembled.
A translucent image appeared above it.
It was not a perfect projection.
The scene was fragmented and distorted, like a memory being reflected through broken glass.
A huge dark guardian appeared.
Then—
A figure moved through the chamber.
The image showed the battle.
It showed the guardian's attacks.
It showed someone manipulating the ancient symbols.
But the figure's face remained blurred.
Even his cultivation could not be clearly seen.
The image shifted again.
The Celestial Fragment floated above the altar.
Then the projection collapsed.
The hooded man's expression became serious.
"Someone awakened the inheritance."
One of the masked figures asked quietly,
"Can you identify him?"
"No."
The hooded man shook his head.
"The altar preserves the event, not the identity."
He approached the altar and removed a small black metal object from his sleeve.
He pressed it against one of the ancient symbols.
A faint vibration spread through the chamber.
The altar responded.
Then a thin spiritual thread emerged from the black object and disappeared into the darkness beyond the cave.
The hooded man smiled faintly.
"The inheritance has recognized him."
One of the masked figures looked toward the passage.
"Can we track him?"
"Not directly."
The hooded man stared at the fading spiritual thread.
"But the fragment left a residual resonance."
His voice became colder.
"Wherever he goes, that resonance will remain for a time."
Behind the stone formation, Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
So that was their method.
They were not tracking him directly.
They were tracking the residual resonance of the Celestial Fragment.
That distinction was important.
Han Feng slowly reached into his spatial pouch.
He took out an ordinary low-grade spirit stone.
The Celestial Transmutation Gu stirred inside his body.
He did not attempt to reproduce the Celestial Fragment itself.
That was impossible.
The fragment contained an ancient inheritance far beyond what he could imitate.
Instead, Han Feng carefully infused the spirit stone with a controlled mixture of Qi and Gu energy.
Then he used the Celestial Transmutation Gu to alter the way that energy interacted with the surrounding spiritual environment.
He was not creating the inheritance.
He was only imitating its external resonance.
A false signature.
It had severe limitations.
The stone contained none of the fragment's inheritance power.
It could not awaken the altar.
It could not communicate with the Celestial Diagram.
It could not reproduce the deeper resonance of the ancient inheritance.
And the effect would not last long.
At most, Han Feng estimated that the imitation would remain convincing for less than an hour.
Even that depended on how closely the pursuers examined it.
If a powerful expert directly inspected the stone, the difference would eventually become obvious.
But Han Feng did not need the deception to last forever.
He only needed it to last long enough.
He placed the altered spirit stone on the ground near a narrow side passage.
Then he carefully added a few faint traces of his own Qi around it.
Not enough to reveal his cultivation.
Just enough to make the false resonance appear to have passed through the area.
The spiritual thread connected to the black metal object suddenly shifted.
The hooded man's eyes narrowed.
"There."
The three figures immediately turned toward the side passage.
Han Feng waited until they moved.
Then he slipped in the opposite direction.
He had noticed the narrow passage earlier, when the guardian's attack had shattered part of the chamber wall.
At first, he had assumed it was only a natural crack.
Now he realized it was something more.
The passage descended gradually beneath the mountain.
Han Feng moved through it silently.
Behind him, the hooded man and the masked figures reached the altered spirit stone.
Han Feng could no longer hear their voices.
But he could feel the spiritual fluctuations changing.
The deception had worked.
For now.
He continued deeper into the passage.
After several dozen steps, he found a narrow opening leading upward.
Cold night air touched his face.
Han Feng paused.
He carefully extended his spiritual sense.
No one was waiting outside.
He climbed through the opening and emerged among dense trees several hundred meters from the cave entrance.
The forest was dark and silent.
Han Feng immediately activated the Art of the Celestial Veil.
Then he moved.
He did not run directly away from the cave.
Instead, he moved between trees, crossed a shallow stream, and deliberately changed direction several times.
Only after he had put enough distance between himself and the cave did he stop.
Behind him, the ancient cave remained hidden beneath the mountainside.
For now, the pursuers believed the residual resonance was leading them elsewhere.
But Han Feng knew the deception would eventually be discovered.
The false resonance was temporary.
The spirit stone would eventually become nothing more than an ordinary stone.
When that happened, the people inside the cave would know they had been deceived.
Han Feng looked toward the deeper regions of the Misty Shadow Mountains.
He needed a new hiding place.
And more importantly—
He needed to understand what the Celestial Fragment had shown him.
The game had changed.
He was no longer simply trying to uncover the secrets of the Celestial Diagram.
Someone else was searching for the same secret.
And now, they knew that its heir was alive.