---
**Nightfall – Cloud Vein Sect**
Zeravon still sat beneath the tree. Moonlight painted soft shadows across his robe. His fingers slowly traced the faint rune still pulsing on his palm.
Above him, the stars refused to shine directly. It was subtle — but the sky seemed to avoid him.
---
**Elsewhere – Sky Rift Opens**
In the skies far beyond the visible realm, a slit opened.
Not a portal.
Not a crack.
A **pause in existence**.
From it descended a single figure — robed in flowing dark jade, eyes veiled by silk, and in her hand…
A dagger, thin as thread — and **alive**.
Its blade shimmered like starlight, but each shimmer screamed a name, and each name **vanished** after being heard.
She walked on wind, her steps unfelt, her presence **unregistered**.
Her name?
**Xianhua, the Star-Binder.**
---
**Cloud Vein Sect – Above the Tree**
She hovered above Zeravon. No one saw her. Not even the formation masters.
She raised the dagger.
It hissed — not in sound, but in memory.
> "He does not yet know what he is," she whispered.
> "But one more memory… and the seals will bleed."
The dagger curved midair, as if aware of its target. It wanted blood. It wanted silence. It wanted Zeravon **erased** before he *became real again*.
She dropped.
---
**Suddenly – Stillness**
Everything paused.
Time. Wind. Qi.
Even the moon froze.
But Zeravon **moved**.
His head tilted — only slightly. His eyes opened — calmly.
And he whispered,
> *"You're not the first to come."*
Lady Xianhua froze midair.
> "…You see me?" she gasped.
> "No," he replied softly. "But something inside me does."
---
**She Thrusts the Dagger**
The blade turned into a coil of light, compressing names, ready to end identity itself.
It neared Zeravon's neck —
And then…
**The blade melted.**
Not burned.
Not blocked.
It **melted**, like a lie faced with truth.
Lady Xianhua stared in horror.
> "No…! No! This dagger was forged from the forgotten name of Aetherion — even gods feared its tip!"
> *"Your dagger remembers me,"* Zeravon said quietly. *"Even if I don't remember myself."*
---
**Backlash – Lady Xianhua Screams**
The broken weapon backlashed, and blood sprayed from her mouth as her robes were torn apart by invisible force. She was thrown backward through dimensions — smashing into her own seal-realm.
She coughed blood — not from injury — but from **denial**.
> "He's not sealed," she whispered. "He **is** the seal..."
---
**Cloud Vein Sect – Aftermath**
Zeravon blinked.
He looked at his hand — calm again. The rune faded.
He did not understand what had happened.
He had simply… reacted.
No anger.
No defense.
Just a quiet rejection of something that shouldn't have existed.
> "What am I remembering…?" he murmured.
He didn't know.
But the tree above him shed a single leaf — and it burned before it touched the ground.
---
**Meanwhile – Elder Lin's Chamber**
Suddenly, the flame in his jade lantern vanished.
Lin stood up.
> "A god-tier signature entered the sect."
Wei burst into the room, sweat on his forehead.
> "Did you feel that? Someone tried to kill the boy. A presence that shouldn't exist in the Lower Realm."
Lin didn't answer.
He opened a scroll — one so old that even dust was scared to land on it.
And in it — **a name had changed.**
Not appeared.
Not revealed.
Just **changed**.
Like history had quietly rewritten itself.
---
**Far Beyond – Echoed Thrones, Forbidden Corner**
An ancient voice spoke — the one that hadn't spoken in *Aeons*.
> "He has begun reacting subconsciously. Soon… he will no longer be asleep."
And then came silence.
The kind that makes stars **tremble**.
---
**Next Chapter: Chapter 50 – "The Mirror Without Reflection"**
Zeravon will encounter a place that shows people their deepest selves.
But his reflection will show… **nothing**.
Because how do you reflect something… that's **not from existence**?
---