They passed through the stone corridor as evening approached.
The narrow pass forced them into a single line for nearly two hundred steps before the terrain opened again into dense forest.
But something had changed.
Everyone could feel it.
The spiritual flow here was no longer faint.
It was structured.
Instructor Han stopped again and placed another sensing plate on the ground.
The plate activated instantly.
Lines of light spread across the soil.
Then the pattern appeared.
Senior Qiao frowned.
"Formation channels."
Not damaged.
Not buried.
Active.
Thin threads of spiritual energy moved beneath the ground like veins.
Slow.
Controlled.
Instructor Han watched the pattern carefully.
"This section of the network is functioning."
Xu Liang looked toward the deeper forest.
"Which means the convergence point is already circulating energy."
Yan Rui nodded slightly.
"Told you."
The masked Hollow Vein cultivator crouched near one of the glowing lines.
He didn't touch it.
But his gaze sharpened.
"This is not a defensive formation."
Instructor Han agreed.
"No."
"Then what is it?" Xu Liang asked.
Instructor Han hesitated.
Then answered carefully.
"A distribution system."
Lin Xuan understood immediately.
Energy gathered somewhere deeper underground.
Then flowed outward through the network.
Just like the junction they had repaired earlier.
But on a much larger scale.
Senior Qiao straightened.
"If the system is already active, the convergence point may be fully operational."
Yan Rui shook his head.
"Not yet."
"How do you know?"
"Because the pressure here is still low."
Yan Rui tapped his foot lightly against the stone.
"If the core was fully active, the surrounding channels would be overloaded."
Instructor Han slowly nodded.
"That matches the current readings."
So the system had started.
But not finished.
Something was still in progress.
Lin Xuan's fragment pulsed again.
Stronger now.
Not just a vibration.
A direction.
Clear.
East.
Xu Liang noticed the shift in his stance.
"You feel the pull again."
"Yes."
"Stronger?"
Lin Xuan answered honestly.
"Yes."
Instructor Han looked at him.
"You believe the fragment is reacting to the core?"
"Probably."
Yan Rui watched the exchange quietly.
Then he said something unexpected.
"That fragment of yours."
Everyone looked at him.
"You should be careful with it."
Senior Qiao's eyes narrowed.
"You seem very interested in our junior disciple."
Yan Rui shrugged slightly.
"Not him."
He pointed at Lin Xuan's chest.
"That thing inside him."
Silence fell for a moment.
Because the statement was too accurate.
Xu Liang's gaze sharpened.
"You can sense it."
Yan Rui nodded.
"Faintly."
Then he looked east again.
"And whatever is at the center can sense it too."
The words settled heavily over the group.
Instructor Han spoke quietly.
"If the convergence point reacts to the fragment…"
Lin Xuan finished the thought in his mind.
Then the network might not just be activating randomly.
It might be responding.
To something like the shard he carried.
Or something much larger connected to it.
Senior Qiao finally ended the discussion.
"We camp here tonight."
No one argued.
They had already traveled far enough.
Instructor Han placed several detection talismans around the clearing.
Xu Liang took the first watch.
Yan Rui sat against a tree, looking completely unconcerned.
The masked Hollow Vein cultivator remained silent as always.
Lin Xuan sat down and began a shallow cultivation cycle.
The fragment pulsed quietly within him.
Slow.
Rhythmic.
And far beneath the forest floor—
Something inside the ancient network answered.
Not loudly.
Not violently.
But unmistakably.
The convergence point was closer now.
And whatever was awakening there…
Had already noticed them.