The morning rose quietly over the mortal kingdoms, yet beneath that gentle dawn, Heaven stirred.
The wind did not move.
The mountains did not breathe.
The clouds froze like unmoving strokes of ancient ink.
Only one thing changed —
the light.
Not brighter.
Not darker.
But emptier — as though something sacred had stepped into the world and all radiance bent toward it, abandoning its natural flow.
Every beast fell silent.
Every cultivator awoke shivering.
Even the rivers seemed to hesitate in their course.
Far beneath that stillness stood Li Feng, alone on the terrace of the withered cliff, the Eternal Vein pulsing faintly beneath his skin.
He felt the shift first.
A faint tremor, not in the ground, but in the pattern of existence itself.
The Dao lines twisted, converging, forming a single descending thread.
He whispered:
"Heaven… has sent someone."
The words dissolved into the wind.
Behind him, Yu Qianling stepped onto the terrace, her breath misting despite the warm season.
"Li Feng," she said softly. "The sky feels… wrong."
He did not answer.
It wasn't wrong.
It was judging.
The horizon shimmered.
A single ray of light appeared — not sunlight, but a spear of celestial brilliance falling from beyond the Ninefold Sky.
No thunder.
No roar.
Just silent descent, like a drop of pure law.
When it touched the earth, reality cracked in a perfect circle.
From within that radiance stepped a figure.
Tall. Pale. Eyes like burning gold.
Robes of white silk, patterns shifting across them like flowing scripture.
A pressure that did not weigh — yet made the soul kneel.
A being touched by the pure intention of Heaven.
The Radiant Inquisitor.
Yu Qianling staggered, clutching her chest. Her cultivation—at its peak—meant nothing. The being was not suppressing her. It simply existed, and existence itself bowed.
But Li Feng stood still.
The Inquisitor's gaze turned toward him, and the world held its breath.
No malice.
No anger.
No hatred.
Only judgment.
A voice emerged—not spoken, not heard—yet present in every grain of sand.
"Bearer of the Unwritten Vein.
The Heaven wishes to inquire."
Yu Qianling trembled.
Li Feng did not.
"That is why you descend?" he asked quietly.
"To question me?"
The Inquisitor's expression did not shift. Its presence was like a blade forged from pure intention.
"Heaven does not question.
It confirms."
The light around it expanded, forming rings of radiance that hovered like halos—not decorative, but absolute seals of law.
"Your vein has altered the balance of thirty-seven mortal threads.
Your actions have bent the resonance of six sects.
Your enlightenment has awakened echoes long sealed."
Li Feng's heartbeat slowed.
This was not accusation.
This was assessment.
Yu Qianling whispered, voice tight with fear:
"Li Feng… don't provoke it."
But he stepped forward.
The Eternal Vein within him pulsed, threads of quiet silver and deep, ancient stillness flowing beneath his skin.
"Tell me," Li Feng said softly.
"What does Heaven seek to confirm?"
The Inquisitor raised one hand.
At once, the world grew weightless.
The mountains lost form.
The rivers turned to mist.
The sky dissolved into a vast expanse of light.
Heaven remade the surroundings into a perfect sphere of existence — one where only Dao-pressure could speak.
The Radiant Inquisitor said:
"We will measure your intention."
Then the test began.
The First Measure: Pressure
Without warning, the Inquisitor's aura expanded.
It did not feel like power.
It felt like truth.
A profound pressure descended. Not crushing the body — but revealing the soul.
Yu Qianling collapsed to her knees, eyes wide with tears. Even the ground beneath her trembled.
Li Feng stood unmoving.
The Eternal Vein pulsed.
Soft. Silent.
Like a low hum beneath the universe.
The Inquisitor observed.
"You withstand the First Measure.
Your foundation exceeds mortal predictions."
The light dimmed, but only slightly.
A second wave rippled outward — not pressure now, but clarity.
Everything about Li Feng was drawn out:
His intentions.
His fears.
His desires.
His hidden doubts.
All stretched before Heaven's eye.
Yu Qianling gasped.
A chill ran through her.
She could see reflections of Li Feng—memory shadows—ripple in the air like drifting petals.
Li Feng felt his heart slow.
He allowed it.
He let Heaven see everything—
His quiet longing for peace.
His dream of understanding the Eternal Dao.
His sorrow.
His restrained wrath.
His growing bond to the girl who never abandoned him.
His desire to protect the fragile world he barely understood.
The light flickered.
The Inquisitor's gaze sharpened.
"Your purity is… unaligned.
Neither benevolent nor malevolent.
Neither obedient nor rebellious."
Li Feng's voice was calm.
"I am simply walking the path the Dao shows me."
The Inquisitor tilted its head.
"…This makes you unpredictable."
The light trembled.
Yu Qianling's heartbeat stuttered.
The Inquisitor raised a second hand.
Between its palms formed a sphere of blinding gold.
A fragment of Heaven's Will.
A pure resonance of celestial Dao.
Even seeing it made Yu Qianling cry out, covering her eyes as the light cut through her vision like a blade.
The Inquisitor spoke:
"If your path is harmonious with Heaven…
Touch it.
If not—your body and soul will unravel."
Li Feng stepped forward without hesitation.
Yu Qianling screamed:
"Li Feng, stop—!"
But he did not.
He reached out.
His fingers entered the sphere.
The world cracked.
The Inquisitor's eyes widened—for the first time, a break in its emotionless composure.
The sphere pulsed.
Chaos tore through it.
A storm of gold and silver light erupted.
Because—
Heaven's resonance was not destroying Li Feng.
It was responding to him.
The sphere dimmed.
The light folded inward.
The golden brilliance trembled like a flame meeting wind.
Then—
It bowed.
Not deeply.
Not dramatically.
But it bowed—the light bending before the Eternal Vein.
The Radiant Inquisitor's voice tremored:
"…Impossible."
Li Feng withdrew his hand.
Calm.
Unchanged.
Eternal.
"Does this answer Heaven's inquiry?" he asked gently.
The Inquisitor stepped back.
The halos behind it flickered.
The whole world grew unstable—all of creation trembling under the revelation.
Yu Qianling whispered through shaking lips:
"Li Feng… Heaven is… reacting to you."
The Radiant Inquisitor's voice carried a strange mixture of awe and fear:
"Your existence… is not aligned with Heaven…
Yet Heaven does not reject you."
Its eyes narrowed.
"You tread a path that Heaven itself cannot predict."
The light dimmed.
And then, almost reluctantly:
"Heaven cannot sentence you."
A pause.
"…Not yet."
The rings of light collapsed inward, folding the world back into the ordinary cliffside.
The Inquisitor took one slow step back toward the heavens.
But before ascending, it turned its gaze once more toward Li Feng.
In its golden eyes shone a rare emotion—
Uncertainty.
"Bearer of the Eternal Vein…
Walk carefully.
Where you tread… laws may fade."
The light surged.
And the Radiant Inquisitor vanished into the sky.
Silence returned.
Yu Qianling ran to Li Feng, gripping his arms, breath trembling.
"Li Feng—what did you do? How did you endure that?"
He looked toward the sky.
The Eternal Vein within him pulsed quietly.
Like a heartbeat beneath the stars.
"I didn't endure," he murmured.
"I just breathed."
Yu Qianling stared at him in disbelief.
Then—softly—fearfully:
"What… are you becoming?"
Li Feng did not answer.
But far above, in the unseen heights of Heaven—
A ripple traveled across the celestial laws.
For the first time in countless ages…
Heaven hesitated.
As if uncertain what the Eternal Vein was awakening into.