The morning fog hadn't lifted when Jian Wu and Yue Shan reached the ridge.
Below them, a valley stretched wide, silent, gray, and cold. In the middle stood an ancient structure built from black stone, half-buried under moss and vines.
"The Temple of Silence…" Yue Shan muttered. "Creepy name for a creepy place."
Jian Wu stared down the slope. "Looks abandoned."
"Yeah? Then why do I feel like we're being watched?"
Jian Wu didn't answer. He tightened his grip on the strap of his torn bag and began walking downhill. Yue Shan followed, muttering curses with every step.
---
They crossed a broken stone bridge and entered the outer courtyard.
The temple's walls were carved with strange symbols, circles, eyes, and spirals, but most were faded. The air smelled of dust and old metal.
Inside, the silence was so thick it felt alive.
No birds. No wind. Not even the sound of their footsteps echoed.
Yue Shan rubbed his arms. "This place… it's like sound itself died."
Jian Wu glanced around. "Maybe that's the point."
He pushed open the main gate, it creaked loudly, almost too loud in the silence, and they stepped into the temple's heart.
---
Rows of stone pillars lined the hall.
At the end stood a large altar, cracked and covered with soot. On it, a single lantern burned with pale blue light.
Jian Wu approached slowly.
As he got closer, the light flickered, then shapes began to move across the walls.
Shadows of people. Dozens of them.
"What the hell.." Yue Shan drew his sword. "Are those.."
"Memories," Jian Wu said quietly. "They're not alive."
The shadows repeated the same motion, bowing, praying, standing, then fading away.
Their faces were empty, like hollow shells.
Yue Shan stepped back. "I don't like this."
Before Jian Wu could reply, a voice echoed softly behind them.
"Few dare to enter this place."
---
They spun around.
A man stood near the entrance.
He wore a long robe the color of ash, his hair silver, his eyes completely white. He looked neither young nor old, like someone who had outlived the idea of age.
"Who are you?" Yue Shan asked, sword raised.
The man didn't seem threatened. "A caretaker. I keep what remains of the forgotten."
Jian Wu's expression hardened. "You know who I am?"
The man nodded once. "The Vessel. The boy without a core. The one who carries the Void."
Yue Shan muttered, "Everyone knows him lately…"
The caretaker ignored him. He walked closer, slow but steady.
"When the world erased its own truth, the Temple of Silence became the only place left to remember it."
"Remember what?" Jian Wu asked.
The caretaker stopped a few feet away. "The origin of the Vessels."
---
Jian Wu's pulse quickened. "Then tell me."
The old man studied him for a long moment, then gestured toward the altar. "Touch the flame."
Yue Shan frowned. "Hold on, what if it kills him?"
The caretaker didn't even look at him. "It will not kill what already belongs to it."
Jian Wu hesitated for a heartbeat, then stepped forward. The flame danced quietly, blue and calm. He reached out his hand.
The moment his fingers brushed the light,
it sank into his skin.
A shock went through his body. His vision went white.
---
He was no longer in the temple.
He stood in an empty world, no sky, no ground, only floating shards of light. In front of him, a woman in white hovered, her face veiled. Her voice was distant but gentle.
"The world was once whole. But greed tore it apart.
The heavens created cores to limit men,
and the Void was born to free them."
Jian Wu's heart pounded. "Who are you?"
"I am the echo of the first Vessel. The beginning of what you are."
Images flashed, thousands of bodies, each marked with blue symbols, each screaming as light consumed them.
"Many tried to hold the Void. All failed. Until you."
Jian Wu stepped back. "I didn't ask for this."
"No one does. But the world needs what it rejects."
Her voice grew faint, fading with the light.
"You are not meant to destroy the heavens… only to remind them they can bleed."
Then everything went dark again.
---
When Jian Wu opened his eyes, he was on his knees. Yue Shan was shaking his shoulder.
"Hey! You alive?"
Jian Wu gasped for air. Sweat ran down his face, but the mark on his chest was glowing brighter than ever.
The caretaker stood beside the altar, watching quietly. "You saw it."
Jian Wu nodded slowly. "The first Vessel… she said I wasn't supposed to destroy the heavens."
The old man's lips curved into something like a smile. "Then you finally understand. The power you carry isn't for war. It's for balance."
Yue Shan frowned. "Balance? Tell that to the people trying to kill us."
The caretaker looked at him. "The Sky Sect fears what they don't control. They will keep hunting until you make them remember why they should stop."
"Remember?" Jian Wu repeated. "How?"
The caretaker raised a hand and touched Jian Wu's forehead. A spark of light transferred between them.
"By surviving long enough to become their truth."
---
The temple began to tremble. Dust fell from the ceiling.
Yue Shan grabbed Jian Wu's arm. "What did you do!?"
The caretaker backed away. "The Void rejects stagnation. You've awakened its memory. The temple can no longer hold it."
Cracks spread along the floor, blue light spilling through them.
Jian Wu clenched his fists. "Then we leave."
But before they could move, a sharp sound echoed from the entrance, steel clashing against stone.
Dozens of footsteps followed.
Yue Shan cursed. "They found us!"
Figures in gray armor flooded the doorway, Sky Sect enforcers, led by a tall man with cold eyes. His armor bore the mark of the Divine Council.
"By decree of the Sky Sect," he shouted, "the Vessel is to be contained. Anyone aiding him will be executed!"
Yue Shan raised his sword. "Guess negotiations are off."
Jian Wu stepped forward, his expression calm. "Get ready."
The man laughed. "You think you can win?"
"No," Jian Wu said. "I think I can make you regret trying."
---
The fight exploded.
Arrows rained down, energy blasts tore through pillars. Jian Wu dashed forward, fists glowing blue. Every strike sent shockwaves that shattered stone and threw men off their feet.
Yue Shan fought beside him, blade flashing in arcs of silver. "Don't die on me, Jian!"
"Wasn't planning to!"
The caretaker stood by the altar, chanting under his breath. The flame from before flared, spreading across the walls, forming glowing runes.
The ground split open.
Blue light swallowed the lower hall, pulling enemies into a vortex of energy.
Yue Shan shielded his eyes. "What the hell is happening!?"
Jian Wu grabbed his arm. "We're leaving!"
He leaped toward the collapsing doorway, dragging Yue Shan out as the temple began to crumble behind them.
---
Outside, the valley shook violently. The temple walls caved in, swallowed by light.
And in the middle of it all, the caretaker's voice echoed, distant, fading.
"Remember, Vessel… the Void does not choose sides. It only reveals them."
Then everything went silent again.
The temple vanished, nothing but a crater of blue ash remained.
Jian Wu stood there, breathing hard, staring at the spot where the temple had been. Yue Shan limped beside him, blood on his lip.
"Well," Yue Shan said between breaths, "so much for peace."
Jian Wu wiped the sweat from his face. "Peace was never the goal."
He looked up at the sky, gray clouds rolling slowly overhead.
"The Sky Sect wants a war," he said quietly. "Then I'll show them what they're fighting."
Yue Shan smirked weakly. "You sound like a man with a death wish."
Jian Wu turned toward him. "No. Just someone who's done running."
---
The wind picked up.
Ash and dust swirled around
them, carrying a faint whisper, the same voice from inside the temple.
"The world remembers…"
Jian Wu looked at the horizon. "Then let it remember everything."
They began walking again, leaving the ruins behind, two figures against the storm.