CHAPTER 133 — The Eye That Watches the Heavens
The training ground still hummed with residual gravitational force, but silence dominated every corner. Disciples huddled together in anxious whispers, their eyes flicking repeatedly toward the sky—toward the place where the golden eye had appeared.
Lin exhaled slowly, steadying the turbulence within his inner world.
Elder Rowan stood beside him, normally stern, now looking ten years older.
"That," Rowan said quietly, "should not have happened."
Lin wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "What was it?"
Rowan's jaw tightened.
"That was not some beast. Nor a spirit. Nor an astral entity." He paused. "It was this realm's Will."
Lin stiffened.
"You mean like the Will of Heaven?"
"No," Rowan replied. "Far above that. The Titan Realm's World-Spirit. It only awakens to observe threats, distortions… or anomalies."
His gaze shifted directly onto Lin.
"You are all three."
---
The Disciples React
As Rowan guided Lin off the training platform, disciples parted to make way. Their eyes held a mixture of awe, caution… and something darker.
Envy.
"Is he favored by the world?"
"Or cursed?"
"He survived the Fifth Seal! Five! Elder Rowan said only Titan-bloods attempt that!"
A few whispered more dangerous thoughts:
"Someone like him could rise too fast… become competition."
"Keep an eye on him."
"Or eliminate him early."
Lin pretended not to hear. Rowan, however, heard all—and glared at them until they shut up.
---
Rowan Takes Lin to His Private Pavilion
The elder's courtyard wasn't grand, but everything within radiated strength:
Massive anvils carved from star-iron, suspended astrolabes, floating stone slabs engraved with law formations.
He motioned Lin to sit.
"Boy, you must understand something urgently."
Lin nodded.
Rowan took a breath.
"In this realm, talent like yours is a beacon. The strong want to recruit it."
His voice dropped.
"The ambitious want to steal it."
He leaned closer.
"And the wicked want to devour it."
Lin thought of the Abyssal Ancestor.
The cosmic roar.
The entity calling.
He nodded slowly. "I understand."
Rowan frowned. "Do you? Breaking five seals on your first day is the kind of feat that gets monarchs—realm monarchs—interested. And you do not want that kind of attention."
Lin bowed his head respectfully. "Elder Rowan, how do I hide my strength here?"
Rowan snorted. "You don't. You learn to control it."
He stood.
"And today, we begin."
---
Lesson One — Suppressing One's World
Rowan pointed at Lin's chest.
"That sensation earlier—the resonance. Your inner world is not dormant. It's expanding. It's bleeding out signatures that this realm can read."
Lin closed his eyes. Within him, his twin suns spun lazily. The planets thrummed with law energy. His world had grown since devouring abyssal qi; space itself was richer, denser.
Rowan's voice continued:
"Contract your world. Pull its radiance inward. Force it to dim."
Lin attempted it.
Instantly, his heartbeat spiked.
His inner sun flared, resisting compression.
His meridians pulsed with discomfort.
Gravity around him distorted.
Rowan grabbed his shoulder.
"Easy! Not all at once. Slowly."
Lin tried again, focusing on the lesson Shengyuan had taught him:
The world is yours. It bends to your will.
Piece by piece, he tightened the orbit of his planets.
Dimmed the suns.
Slowed the flow of cosmic qi.
The air around him stabilized.
Finally, Rowan exhaled.
"Good. Better than expected, actually."
Lin opened his eyes.
Rowan crossed his arms.
"Remember this: revealing your true strength in this realm invites calamity. You tread a line between opportunity and death."
---
A Sudden Visitor
A knock echoed outside.
A voice followed—deep, thunderous, refined.
"Elder Rowan. The Sect Master requests the presence of your new disciple."
Rowan blanched slightly.
"…That was fast."
Lin rose. "Am I in trouble?"
Rowan shook his head.
"No. But the Sect Master does not summon novices lightly. Be cautious. Be respectful. And above all—do not reveal the true extent of your world."
Lin nodded.
---
Meeting the Sect Master of the Astral Forge Sect
The Sect Master's hall was vast enough to house a small mountain. Pillars of sky-iron reached into the heavens. Celestial anvils floated above the ground, orbiting slowly.
The Sect Master sat upon a dais carved from condensed star core—a giant of a man, eight feet tall, skin marked with glowing forge lines.
His presence was overwhelming without being oppressive—like a volcano sleeping beneath a thin crust.
Lin bowed deeply. "Disciple Lin greets the Sect Master."
The Sect Master's eyes opened.
They were like twin white dwarfs—brilliant, ancient, weighing his existence in a heartbeat.
"So," the Sect Master said, voice rumbling like forging hammers,
"you are the new arrival who made the world look your way."
Rowan stiffened beside Lin.
But the Sect Master smiled faintly.
"Do not fear. The world's Will is curious, nothing more. Should it mark you as a danger, you would already be dead."
Lin swallowed.
"However…"
The Sect Master leaned forward slightly.
"I felt something during the awakening of the world's eye."
Rowan's brows rose. "You sensed it as well?"
"Yes. A… ripple. As though this realm brushed against another." The Sect Master's gaze sharpened. "Newcomer… did something follow you here?"
Lin's heart skipped.
Saint Shengyuan whispered within Lin's consciousness:
Careful. Speak only what is necessary.
Lin bowed again. "A great threat chased me from my world. But the void separated us."
The Sect Master studied him for several long seconds.
Then he nodded.
"Good. I will probe no deeper—yet."
Rowan exhaled in relief.
---
"You carry a forge spirit."
The Sect Master waved his hand, and Lin felt something tug inside him.
Aurora appeared beside him in shimmering forge-light, arms crossed, looking annoyed at being summoned.
A dozen elders gasped.
"A divine forge spirit?!"
"Alive? Conscious?"
"Is he a god-forger's heir?!"
The Sect Master's eyes widened faintly—not with shock, but appraisal.
"So… this is what drew the world's Will."
Aurora scoffed. "Hmph. About time someone here recognized quality."
Rowan pinched the bridge of his nose.
Lin bowed quickly. "Sect Master, she is… unruly."
The Sect Master laughed loudly—a booming, metallic sound.
"Hahaha! Good! A forge spirit with pride is worth a thousand blades!"
He stood abruptly, the hall trembling.
"Disciple Lin."
Lin straightened.
"I hereby assign you an official duty within our sect."
"Name it, Sect Master."
The Sect Master grinned.
"You will forge a single weapon for the Astral Forge Sect within one year."
Lin blinked. "…A weapon?"
"A divine weapon."
His smile broadened.
"And if you succeed… you will be granted access to the Astral Scripture Vault—the place where the weapons of true gods were once forged."
Even Aurora inhaled sharply.
"That place shouldn't even exist outside myth…"
Rowan muttered, "Lin… you're getting yourself killed with opportunity."
But the Sect Master stepped closer, his aura like starlight compressed into mortal shape.
"There is another reason for this task."
Lin waited.
"Because I sensed the abyss inside you."
The hall froze.
Lin's heart clenched.
But the Sect Master's voice remained calm.
"You fear something. Something old. Something that wants your world."
He placed a hand on Lin's shoulder.
"So forge something powerful enough to kill it."
The words fell like meteors.
Lin bowed deeply.
"…I will."
The Sect Master nodded.
"Good. Then your path in our realm truly begins now."
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