On Sword Star, the wind was calm.
Huai and Wuhe were sitting together with Yan under the old sword tree, enjoying a rare moment of peace. Yan was pouring tea. Wuhe was half asleep with his head on Huai's shoulder.
Then Huai got a notification.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, host!]
[One of your karmic connections has appeared in the world again. Lin Feng has awakened his bloodline of the Phoenix Ancestor.]
Huai blinked. He became confused. He already knew about Lin Feng's hidden bloodline, but he had never heard about any karmic relation. He frowned.
"System," he asked quietly, "what do you mean by karmic relations?"
[Ding!]
[Host, each and every person around you is related to you through karma.]
[At some point they will all get their memories back, or their bloodlines will awaken, just like Lin Feng did.]
[The time of calamity is near. Be prepared...]
Huai's eyes opened wide. What the hell? Everyone around me is related to me in some way? And what is this calamity? He became even more confused, and his frown deepened.
Wuhe noticed his face first.
"Something happened, Huai?" he asked.
Huai looked at Wuhe, then shook his head and forced a small smile. "I don't know. Something weird happened. Lin Feng just awakened his bloodline and I got a notification from my system. It says he is related to me through karma. But if he is related to me, why can't I remember anything?"
Wuhe sighed to himself. He couldn't tell Huai anything. Not yet. He already knew that the people around Huai were all connected to him in some way. When he had seen that vision before, he had felt countless threads of karma tied around Huai, and he had seen the connections clearly.
He sighed again and said softly, "Maybe you'll find out later. Maybe it's just not the right time yet."
Huai nodded. He chose to completely ignore the part about the calamity. He didn't want to make Wuhe or Yan worry about anything.
He picked up his tea and drank it, pretending the system message had never appeared.
After preparing the tea, Yan quietly left.
He set the cups down, bowed, and slipped away without a word, giving his master and the Grand Elder some time alone. He knew they liked these quiet, lovey-dovey moments together.
What neither Huai nor Wuhe knew was that Yan was no longer just Yan.
He had already recovered all of his ancient memories. His soul had fully merged with the ancient soul that had been sleeping inside him.
He walked to the edge of the cliff on Sword Star and looked out into the distant void, his eyes fixing on the faint blue light of Binglan Star.
He murmured to himself with a small smirk, "So that fiery chicken has awakened too, huh? Heh. What can you do about it? This time I'm still Master's first disciple... cry, you fools. Cry about your terrible luck."
He laughed quietly to himself, an evil little chuckle, and quickly covered his mouth with his hand to suppress it.
Then he turned his gaze back toward the sword tree. In the distance, he could see his master sitting with Grand Elder Wuhe, smiling in a way that was soft and relaxed.
Yan's expression softened. He remembered ten thousand years ago, the first time he met his master. Back then, Huai had never smiled like this. Even when his master disappeared from the world, he had spent all that time searching for someone important to him, his face always cold and distant.
Yan sighed. He slowly clenched his fist.
In his heart, he made a decision. No matter what he needed to do, he would do it for his master. This time, he would not let his master suffer like before.
On the Nether Plane, the sky never sees a sun.
The territory of the Nether Wraiths hangs in the middle of that dead void, a continent of black glass and floating bone mountains. Rivers of cold wraithfire flow between the peaks, and the air itself whispers with the souls the wraiths have devoured. Their palace, the Hall of Silent Screams, is carved from a single piece of obsidian the size of a planet. Its pillars are the spines of dead star beasts, and its throne sits on a dais made of layered skulls.
The Nether Wraiths are the strongest of all the nether races. Below them are the Nether Shadow Clan, the Nether Bat Clan, and the lowest, the Nether Rats. All of them bow to the wraiths.
Once, the wraiths had more than twenty galaxy sovereigns. Now only sixteen remain.
At the highest throne sat their leader. His skin was pure black, like polished void stone, and three curved horns rose from his forehead. His eyes were deep red pits. He was the oldest of them all, High Lord Voryn Noctheron, and he stood half a step from the realm of Immortals.
Below him, on fifteen smaller thrones, sat the remaining sovereigns. They ranged from early stage galaxy sovereigns to peak. Their appearances were almost human, but each had horns on their heads and skin that ranged from ash grey to deep violet to corpse white.
The atmosphere inside the hall was grim and heavy.
Just a few days ago, one of their peak powerhouses, Gorgon the Render, had died inside human territory, and with him, millions of the nether army had been wiped out in the Red Lotus Galaxy.
A few months before that, three other peak sovereigns, Morgoth, Xarax, and Kael'thul, had died on the ancient planet Earth. From that moment, the coordinates for Earth had vanished from every star chart for an unknown reason.
Lord Voryn slammed his clawed hand on the armrest. The entire palace shook.
"Can someone tell me what is happening to my nether race?" his voice boomed with power. "Why has a peak galaxy sovereign suddenly died inside human territory? And why can none of you find the location of that ancient planet again?"
No one answered at first. Every face was grim. They did not have many peak-level powerhouses left. Including Voryn himself, there were only five.
Finally, a thin sovereign with bat-like wings lowered his head. He is from one of the mix races, from bat wraiths clan. "Your Highness. Gorgon died in the Red Lotus Galaxy. Our scouts confirm his soul lamp went out instantly. We do not know how this is possible."
Another one, a hulking brute from the shadow wraiths clan with grey skin, spoke up. "Could the ancient human powerhouses have acted together to kill him?"
A beautiful female wraith with silver skin and two small white horns shook her head. Her voice was cold and clear. "I do not think so. Gorgon told me this plan was foolproof. He said even Nexus would not know he had invaded human territory."
At the mention of Nexus, several sovereigns flinched.
Then a younger sovereign with dark blue skin gritted his teeth and stood up. "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! I just received a notification from our informant in the Aetheria Plane. The ancestor of the phoenixes has woken up in human territory. And... and a few days ago, the ancestor of the dragons also awakened in human territory."
The whole hall went cold. The wraithfire in the pillars dimmed.
They all remembered the history. Ten thousand years ago, when they invaded the humans, there was a rumor of someone powerful protecting them. They did not see him, but they saw the beast ancestors. The dragons and phoenixes had stood in front of humanity. Last time, their own masters had been forced to descend personally to kill those beast ancestors.
Lord Voryn leaned forward on his throne and sneered, his three horns catching the dim light.
"So they have come back now. The old lizards and the fiery birds. It is tricky, but it does not matter."
He stood up, his aura pressing down on all fifteen sovereigns until they bent their heads.
"Our masters are also going to awaken soon," he said, and then he laughed, a deep and terrible sound. "Hahaha! Contact the other nether races. The Shadows, the Bats, even the Rats. We need a grand meeting."
He looked out over his grim hall.
"We need to kill those ancestors quickly, before they regain their full strength. Otherwise, our great plan will be interrupted."
The fifteen sovereigns knelt as one, and the Hall of Silent Screams filled with the sound of their agreement.
At Binglan Star,
After they left the plaza, Lin Feng and Bai Wei returned to their small inn in Frostlight City.
Lin Feng sat down on the bed and closed his eyes. He needed to concentrate. His realm was now at Star Venerable. His cultivation level had not gone up much, but his power was completely different. With the bloodline of the Phoenix Ancestor awake, he could now fight against even a Galaxy Master. That was three big realms higher than him.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Bai Wei watching him. Lin Feng sighed quietly.
Bai Wei did not remember anything. His past life memories had not awakened yet.
Lin Feng looked at him and said softly, "Wei, I know you. Not just from this life. I know you from our past life too."
Bai Wei's eyes widened. "Past life?"
Lin Feng nodded. "When I touched the statue, I got my memories back. I was the Phoenix Ancestor."
Bai Wei became excited at once. He sat closer and asked, "Really? Then what was I? Were we friends? Did we fight together? Tell me!"
Lin Feng smiled a little. He answered his questions one by one, but he left out all the sad parts.
He did not tell him the whole truth.
In ancient times, their master, Shen Huai, had taken a liking to an ancient pine tree. That tree had protected humanity for countless years. Shen Huai took the tree as his disciple. At its peak, the pine tree could turn into a true body that was millions of light years tall.
That ancient pine was Bai Wei.
Lin Feng, as the young phoenix, loved to rest in its huge branches. He would sleep there for hundreds of years. That was how the two of them slowly fell in love.
Ten thousand years ago, during the great war, something terrible happened. They both died, one after the other.
Lin Feng did not say any of this. He just looked at Bai Wei's curious face and sighed in his heart.
This time, I will protect you with all my power, he thought.
And there was one more important thing. This time was different. This time, he had already met his master again. Shen Huai was here, as his senior brother in the sect. Even though they were not master and disciple in this life, the karmic connection was still there.
With his master on their side, Lin Feng felt sure. This time they would win.
Just then, there was a loud noise outside the inn.
Bai Wei stood up and opened the window. His mouth fell open.
Outside, in the snow, the entire Glacial Veil Sect was kneeling.
At the very front was an old man in a white and blue robe. It was the Sect Master himself. His head was bowed low to the ground.
Lin Feng walked to the window and looked down.
The Sect Master shouted up, his voice shaking, "Ancestor! Please forgive our Glacial Veil Sect! Our disciples were blind! We did not recognize the Phoenix Progenitor!"
Behind him, the disciples who had mocked them earlier were crying. Their foreheads were bleeding from hitting the ground.
Everyone in the human territory knows the old tales. They are not secret history. They are taught to every child, carved into every temple wall.
Ten thousand years ago, the human plane was not as strong as it is now. The nether races invaded from the void, and the sky cracked open. Human powerhouses fought at the front, but they were not enough alone.
That was when the Beast Ancestors stood up with them.
"Ancestor, please spare us!" one of them cried. "We were stupid!"
"Please, Ancestor, do not destroy our sect!" another shouted.
The people of Frostlight City were watching from far away, too scared to come close.
Bai Wei looked at Lin Feng, worried. "What should we do?"
Lin Feng was quiet for a moment. Then he spoke, his voice calm but carrying across the whole street.
"Get up."
The Sect Master flinched but did not dare to rise.