Yu Shui, her silver hair shimmering with a faint, violet luminescence, stood before Yu Chen, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling. Her presence was like a mountain—not just the physical Starfall Peaks, but a conceptual weight that made the very atmosphere feel thick.
"The Great Seclusion has begun," Yu Shui's voice was like grinding stone. "You three have tasted power, but it is the power of a child playing with a master's blade. For three years, you will not see the sun. You will not hear the wind. You will only hear the pulsing of your own spirits and the hungry whispers of the Void."
She gestured toward a swirling vortex of darkness at the center of the hall: the entrance to the Void Abyss.
"Chen-er," she looked at Yu Chen, her gaze softening for only a fraction of a second. "Your Void-Heart Star is the source, but it is also a predator. If you do not master it, it will consume your companions during the trial. Yan-er, Lingling—you are his anchors. If you drift, he is lost to the emptiness."
Without another word, she surged with power, her Rank 98 aura flaring. A massive spectral hand formed of starlight pushed the trio into the vortex.
Yu Chen felt the sensation of falling through ice. His spiritual senses, enhanced by the "Silver Command" and the "Void Dragon's Maw," screamed in warning. Beside him, he felt the familiar spiritual signatures of his companions. Through the "Primordial Void Harmony Manual," their souls were tethered by shimmering strands of silver and violet.
They landed on a platform that seemed to be made of solidified night. Around them, the "Void Abyss" lived up to its name—there was no horizon, only floating fragments of ancient architecture and distant, flickering nebulas that looked like unblinking eyes.
[System Alert: New Objective - Survive the First Layer of the Void Abyss (Duration: 365 Days)]
[Warning: Reality stability is at 14%. Void corruption is rising.]
Yu Chen ignored the system for a moment, focusing on his friends. Ye Lingling's Void-Life Begonia was already blooming, its translucent petals emitting a soft, rhythmic light that pushed back the encroaching shadows. Dugu Yan's Void-Venom Serpent coiled around them, its scales clacking like ceramic as it tasted the chaotic energy of the abyss.
"Chen, what is this place?" Dugu Yan whispered, her hand tightening on his arm. At Rank 37, she was powerful, but the sheer vastness of the Abyss was suffocating.
"It's the clan's memory," Yu Chen replied, his voice calm despite his racing heart. "The First Ancestor didn't just seal his power; he discarded the parts of his soul that were too close to the 'Absolute.' We are standing in his leftovers."
Suddenly, the darkness around them shifted. Three figures emerged from the gloom—shadowy reflections of themselves, but twisted. The reflections mirrored their martial spirits but radiated a cold, murderous intent.
"The Mirror of Souls," Ye Lingling realized, her voice trembling. "To 'unlearn' the seal, we have to defeat the versions of us that still believe in the Old Ways."
Yu Chen stepped forward, his Void-Heart Star manifesting in his chest like a miniature black hole. "No," he corrected, his eyes glowing with a silver light. "We aren't just defeating them. We're reclaiming the energy they stole when the clan decided to hide. Yan-er, Lingling—initiate the Trinity Core!"
The three formed a triangle. Ye Lingling's "Life Anchor" boosted their spiritual efficiency to the limit, while Dugu Yan's "Guardian's Shield" expanded to create a zone where the local laws of physics were under their control.
As the shadow-reflections lunged, Yu Chen didn't use a flashy spirit skill. Instead, he channeled the "Absolute Reclamation" he had first practiced as a child. He reached out and touched the void, not as a weapon, but as a part of himself.
"Your existence is an error," he whispered to the shadows.
With a silent *pop*, the area around the reflections collapsed inwards. The shadows didn't just die; they were unmade, their energy flowing back into Yu Chen and his companions.
Yu Chen felt his Rank 34 bottleneck shuddering. This was only the first day. They had a thousand days left to go, and the shadows were getting larger. Above them, in the higher reaches of the Abyss, he could feel a gaze—not the "Divine Gaze" of Spirit Hall, but something far older, watching to see if the Gatekeepers were finally ready to open the door.
Deep in the Starfall Peaks, Yu Shui watched the ripples in the void-well. "Grow quickly, little monsters," she murmured. "The God-Observation Tool has already turned toward our peaks. We are running out of shadows to hide in."