Fallen Heaven: Rise of Faizi Tian
Episode 70 – The Secret Beneath the Ruins
Recap
After the battle at Blackstone Pass, Faizi Tian remained troubled by Demon Lord Varkos's mysterious words: "The chosen human." Determined to discover the truth, Faizi questioned the surviving scouts and learned that the demon army had transported several sealed black containers toward the northern ravines before the battle.
A second scout later discovered an abandoned stone structure near the same route. Fresh tracks suggested that the demons had recently used the ruins, but nobody knew what they had hidden there.
Faizi decided to investigate personally after allowing his exhausted body some time to recover. He suspected that the attack on Blackstone Pass had concealed another objective, and he intended to discover what that objective was.
End of Recap
Episode 70 – The Secret Beneath the Ruins
Dawn arrived beneath a pale grey sky.
The last traces of darkness slowly disappeared behind the mountains surrounding Blackstone Pass. Cold wind swept through the military camp, carrying the smell of smoke and scorched earth. Most of the wounded soldiers were still resting, while those who had recovered enough to stand were helping repair the damaged defences.
Faizi Tian was already awake.
He stood beside a wooden table inside his temporary quarters, studying the map that the scouts had prepared the previous night. The northern ravines were marked with several narrow passages, steep cliffs, and abandoned structures left behind by an ancient civilisation.
The ruin he intended to investigate stood between two rocky ridges.
Its position was unusual. Anyone approaching from the main road would be visible from the surrounding heights, while the narrow entrance made it difficult for a large force to enter quickly.
Faizi traced the route with his finger.
"If the demons wanted to hide something, this place would be suitable."
He rolled up the map and secured the Heaven-Breaking Sword at his side.
His body had recovered enough for a journey, although he could still feel the strain left by his confrontation with Varkos. He had no intention of wasting energy before understanding what waited ahead.
A knock came from the door.
The alliance officer entered and bowed.
"My lord, the scouts are ready. They will accompany you to the first ridge, but they have been instructed not to approach the ruin unless you order them to."
Faizi nodded.
"Good. We will observe the area first. If the enemy is waiting for us, I want to know before we step into their trap."
The officer hesitated before speaking.
"Do you believe the Demon Lord left something important there?"
"I believe he had a reason for attacking Blackstone Pass and then withdrawing so suddenly. Whether these ruins are connected to that reason remains to be proven."
Faizi walked past him.
"Until we have evidence, we will assume nothing."
Outside, two experienced scouts waited near the camp's northern gate. Both carried light weapons and wore dark travelling clothes suited to the rocky terrain.
Faizi gave them a brief signal.
"Let's go."
The three left the camp without ceremony.
The journey toward the northern ravines was quiet. They travelled along a broken road before turning onto a narrow path covered with loose stones. As the pass disappeared behind them, the sounds of the military camp gradually faded.
Only the wind and the crunch of their footsteps remained.
After several hours, the first ridge came into view.
One of the scouts pointed toward a distant formation of dark rocks.
"The ruin lies beyond that ridge. We found the tracks near the eastern entrance."
Faizi studied the surrounding terrain.
"Did you notice any signs of an ambush?"
"Nothing certain. But several stones near the path had been moved recently. Someone may have tried to hide their tracks."
Faizi crouched beside the road and examined the ground. The marks were faint, but he could distinguish the impressions of heavy objects dragged across the stones.
They were similar to the tracks described by the wounded scout.
He rose.
"Stay behind me. If you see movement, do not attack unless you must defend yourselves."
They crossed the ridge and descended into the ravine.
The abandoned structure appeared gradually through the morning mist.
It was larger than Faizi had expected. Weathered stone pillars surrounded a half-collapsed outer wall, and the entrance was framed by two enormous statues whose faces had been worn away by time. Strange patterns covered the stones, but erosion had made most of them impossible to recognise.
There was no visible demon army.
No guards stood at the entrance, and no smoke rose from the structure.
Yet the ground told a different story.
Faizi approached a patch of disturbed earth near the wall. Deep impressions ran toward the entrance, followed by several lighter tracks heading back toward the ravine.
Someone had transported heavy objects inside.
And someone had later carried them away.
Faizi examined the marks carefully.
"How long ago were these made?" he asked.
The first scout knelt beside the tracks.
"The deeper impressions may be several days old. The lighter ones are more recent, perhaps from the last day or two. I cannot be certain."
Faizi looked toward the entrance.
"Then we have no reason to believe the ruin is empty."
He extended his spiritual perception cautiously, allowing his awareness to spread through the immediate surroundings. He sensed no obvious living presence nearby, but the thick stone walls interfered with his perception.
He withdrew his awareness.
"Do not mistake silence for safety."
The three entered the structure.
Inside, the air was cold and stale. Dust covered the broken floor, while narrow shafts of daylight entered through cracks in the ceiling. The corridor divided into two passages, one leading toward a collapsed chamber and the other descending beneath the main building.
Faizi stopped at the junction.
The floor near the descending passage had been disturbed.
He approached and found a thin line carved into the stone. At first, it appeared to be an ordinary crack. Then he brushed away the dust and uncovered a series of shallow symbols.
The markings were unfamiliar.
They did not resemble the ordinary writing used by the Southern Alliance, and Faizi could not identify their origin.
One scout leaned closer.
"Could these be demon symbols?"
"Perhaps," Faizi replied. "But resemblance is not proof."
He memorised their arrangement before moving onward.
The descending passage opened into a broad underground chamber.
Several broken stone platforms stood against the walls. Rusted metal rings had been fixed to the floor, and long scratches marked the ground between them. Near the centre lay a shattered black container.
Faizi approached it carefully.
The container was made from a dark material that resembled iron, although its surface was unusually smooth. Its edges had been broken outward, suggesting that whatever had been inside might have forced its way out—or that someone had opened it violently.
Faizi did not touch it immediately.
He inspected the fragments scattered around the chamber. Faint residue clung to the inner surface, and a few dark crystals remained embedded in the broken frame.
One of the scouts whispered, "Someone was keeping something inside."
Faizi nodded.
"That is the most likely explanation. But we still do not know what it was."
He studied the crystals without attempting to absorb their energy.
Their appearance reminded him of materials sometimes found in places corrupted by demonic power, but he had not examined enough evidence to draw a firm conclusion.
He turned toward the far wall.
A second container had been left there. Unlike the first, it remained sealed. Several deep grooves surrounded its lid, and a narrow metal band crossed its centre.
Faizi raised one hand, stopping the scouts from approaching.
"Stand back."
He moved around the container, searching for wires, traps, or signs of concealed mechanisms. After a careful examination, he noticed a small symbol carved near its base.
The symbol resembled one of the markings in the entrance corridor.
That discovery made him pause.
The containers had not simply been abandoned in an ordinary storage room. Someone had placed them in a chamber covered with related symbols.
There was a connection, although its meaning remained unclear.
Faizi crouched beside the sealed container and examined the metal band. He could have tried to break it open, but doing so without understanding what it contained would have been reckless.
Instead, he searched the surrounding platforms.
Near a fallen pillar, he found several thin stone tablets. Most had been crushed beneath the debris, but one remained almost intact.
He lifted it carefully.
Lines of unfamiliar writing covered its surface. Some symbols had been scratched away, while others remained clear enough to distinguish.
Faizi could not read the entire inscription.
However, one section contained a drawing of the ruins themselves. Beneath it was an image of a circular formation surrounded by several smaller symbols.
The formation was connected to a narrow passage extending beyond the edge of the drawing.
Faizi studied the image for several moments.
"This place may have served a purpose before the demons arrived," he said. "They might be using an older structure rather than building their own facility."
One scout examined the tablet from a distance.
"Can we determine what the formation was used for?"
"Not from this alone."
Faizi carefully placed the tablet inside a cloth pouch.
"We need someone who can interpret these inscriptions. Until then, we will preserve everything we find."
He returned to the sealed container.
As he approached, a faint vibration passed through the stone floor.
The scouts immediately drew their weapons.
Faizi remained still.
The vibration came again.
This time, it was accompanied by a low sound from beneath the chamber, like a distant mechanism turning after centuries of silence.
The sealed container did not move.
Instead, a thin line of light appeared between two stones on the far wall.
Faizi's expression changed.
"Back away from the wall."
The scouts obeyed.
Faizi stepped forward alone, keeping his sword within reach. The line of light widened, revealing the outline of a hidden doorway. Dust fell from the stone frame as something shifted behind it.
Then the movement stopped.
For several moments, nothing happened.
Faizi waited, prepared for an attack.
No demon emerged.
No weapon flew from the darkness.
The doorway simply remained open by a narrow distance, revealing a staircase descending farther underground.
The scouts exchanged uncertain looks.
"My lord," one said quietly, "that passage was not visible when we entered."
"I know."
Faizi examined the doorway. The mechanism had reacted after they entered the chamber, but he could not determine whether it had been triggered by their presence, by their movement, or by some other condition.
He refused to assume that it was safe.
He took a small fragment of stone and tossed it through the opening.
It struck the first step, bounced twice, and disappeared into the darkness below.
Nothing attacked.
Faizi turned toward the scouts.
"Remain here. Watch the chamber and the entrance. If anything changes, leave the ruin and return to the alliance camp. Do not attempt to follow me."
One scout immediately objected.
"You should not descend alone. We do not know what is waiting below."
Faizi looked at him calmly.
"And that is precisely why I will not send you into a danger you are not prepared to face."
He drew the Heaven-Breaking Sword and stepped through the hidden doorway.
The staircase descended steeply. The air grew colder with every step, and the light from the chamber behind him gradually disappeared. Faizi moved slowly, examining each section of the passage before proceeding.
After several minutes, the staircase ended at a circular room.
Unlike the upper chamber, this place was almost untouched by time.
Six stone pillars surrounded a raised platform. Thin grooves extended from each pillar toward a circular mark carved into the floor. At the centre of the platform stood an empty stone pedestal.
Faizi approached it.
The pedestal had a shallow hollow at its top, shaped to hold an object of considerable size. Dust covered its surface, except for a clean outline suggesting that something had been removed recently.
He examined the surrounding grooves.
Dark residue remained inside them.
Whatever had once occupied this chamber, it had left traces behind.
Faizi's gaze moved across the six pillars. Each bore a different symbol, but one caught his attention immediately.
It was the same symbol he had seen on the sealed container.
He studied it in silence.
The discovery did not explain why the demons had come here, but it established that the container and the underground chamber were connected.
Then he noticed something else.
Near the base of the nearest pillar, a small piece of black metal lay half-buried beneath the dust. He picked it up and turned it over.
A fragment of a broken seal had been attached to it.
The seal carried a mark that looked like a stylised claw surrounded by a circle.
Faizi's expression hardened.
He had seen enough signs of demonic activity to recognise that this place deserved serious attention. Yet he still could not prove whether the markings belonged to Varkos's forces, another demon faction, or an older power that the current army had discovered.
He placed the fragment beside the stone tablet inside his pouch.
He would not turn suspicion into certainty.
A faint sound came from the staircase behind him.
Faizi immediately turned.
For a brief moment, he sensed a disturbance in the air above. Then it vanished.
Someone—or something—might have entered the upper chamber.
He tightened his grip on the Heaven-Breaking Sword and moved back toward the stairs.
When he returned to the main chamber, both scouts were standing near the entrance. Their weapons were drawn, but neither had been injured.
One of them pointed toward the broken container.
"My lord, we heard a sound from inside it."
Faizi examined the container.
The broken fragments remained where he had left them.
But the dark residue inside had changed.
A thin line had appeared across the floor, stretching from the shattered container toward the hidden doorway. It looked as though something had been dragged through the dust after Faizi descended.
He followed the line with his eyes.
It ended at the first step of the underground staircase.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Faizi could not determine what had made the mark. He could not even be certain that it had appeared after he entered the lower chamber.
But he now had enough reason to leave the ruin before making another move.
"Take the tablet's location and the container's markings down in your reports," he ordered. "Do not touch anything else. We are returning to Blackstone Pass."
The scouts obeyed immediately.
Before leaving, Faizi took one final look at the underground entrance.
The ruins had provided him with evidence of a hidden operation, but no explanation for Varkos's strange words. He had discovered a sealed container, an ancient chamber, and symbols that connected the two.
He had not discovered what the demons were transporting.
He had not learned what the underground formation was designed to do.
And he still did not know why Varkos had called him the chosen human.
Those questions remained unanswered.
Yet Faizi was no longer following an empty trail. He had physical evidence that could be examined, compared, and investigated.
As the three left the ruins, Faizi looked toward the distant mountains.
"Varkos," he thought, "your army came here for a reason. I will find out what that reason was."
Far away, beyond the Southern Continent, the Celestial Xue Clan remained silent beneath its eternal ice.
Afiya Xue stood in a secluded courtyard, practising a delicate technique that caused tiny crystals to form in the air around her fingertips. Her expression was composed, but the faint disturbance in her bloodline had not entirely disappeared since the image of Faizi Tian had appeared before the clan elders.
She did not know what he had found in the northern ravines.
She did not know that ancient symbols and sealed containers had entered his investigation.
For now, their paths remained separate, connected only by a mystery neither of them fully understood.
Back at Blackstone Pass, Faizi prepared to deliver the recovered evidence to the alliance's most knowledgeable scholars.
The next step would not be to rush into another battle.
It would be to discover what the symbols meant, who had used the ruins, and whether the hidden operation had anything to do with Varkos's appearance.
Faizi had survived the Demon Lord's attack.
Now he would pursue the truth behind it.
To Be Continued...
Next Episode: Episode 71 – The Mark of the Ancient Seal