*Cloud Vein Sect – Outer Courtyard, Night*
The world had fallen back into its routine.
The treasure trial had ended. The paths had closed. And yet, in the heart of it all — Zeravon walked back with silent, unshakable steps.
Min Rou and Chen Yuhao walked behind him, their eyes flickering now and then toward his back. They wanted to speak — but the **air around him had changed.**
It wasn't heavy.
It wasn't aggressive.
It was… **absolute**.
> "Zeravon," Chen finally said, "What happened in that lower hall? You've changed."
Zeravon paused, then looked at them.
> "Nothing happened."
But even his own voice didn't believe that.
---
**Meanwhile – Yueyin's Observation Pavilion, Upper Realm**
The sky above her tower shimmered with starlight.
Yueyin stood beside a circular divine basin, its center glowing with remnants of lower realm Dao fluctuations.
> "Replay the echo," she commanded.
The mist rippled… and Zeravon's image appeared.
He was standing before the Gate. His back toward the image… but Yueyin's eyes widened.
> *"I've seen this silhouette before… in my dreams."*
Her attendant, Elder Nu, stepped forward. "That aura... It broke through the Heavenly Alignment Compass."
Yueyin's expression tightened.
> "Then he's not a normal lower realm being."
> "He may not be a 'being' at all."
---
**Back in the Sect – Zeravon's Quarters**
The door creaked as Zeravon entered.
He sat cross-legged — but his breath was uneven. His hands trembled slightly.
He looked at his fingers… and for a moment, saw golden cracks dancing across them.
> *Illusion? Or memory?*
The room darkened.
Not because night had fallen — but because **something else entered.**
Not from outside.
But from **within**.
---
**The Dimensional Echo**
Suddenly — Zeravon wasn't in his room anymore.
He stood in a vast, blank void. Endless. Still.
A mirror appeared before him.
Inside it… was **himself.**
But his eyes weren't gray.
They were golden.
His aura pulsed like collapsing stars.
> "Who are you?" Zeravon asked.
The reflection tilted its head.
> *"I am not 'who'… I am 'what' you sealed."*
Zeravon stepped back.
> "No. I chose to forget. I buried you—"
> *"And I am leaking out."*
The reflection stepped out of the mirror.
Zeravon tried to raise his hand… but his body wouldn't move.
> *"Your realm bends because I breathe. Your enemies fear you before you strike. You don't remember… but your very name fractures the Dao."*
---
**Sudden Break**
Zeravon's body jerked — and he was back in his room.
Sweating. Shaking.
The rune on his forearm pulsed again. The same one from the sealed gate.
> "Oblivis…" he whispered.
---
**In the Sect's Forbidden Pavilion**
At that same moment, a forbidden scroll rolled open by itself.
A single line on the scroll began to glow.
> **Oblivis: The Name That Does Not Exist**
---
**Chen Yuhao – Confession to Min Rou**
Elsewhere, in the garden, Chen sat beside Min Rou, troubled.
> "He's not one of us," Chen murmured.
> "He's something else. And I… I saw it in his eyes."
Min Rou looked conflicted. "He saved us more than once. We can't abandon him."
> "I don't want to abandon him. I want to understand him… before it's too late."
---
**Yueyin – Within the Divine Hall**
Yueyin now stood before three elders of the Upper Realm.
They looked ancient — their robes inscribed with cosmic laws.
> "You searched the lower realm aura threads?"
Yueyin nodded.
> "And?"
> "The one called Zeravon… his aura does not connect with any timeline."
The elders fell silent.
One of them finally said:
> "Then he may not have entered the cycle of existence."
> "He may have *broken it.*"
---
**Back in Zeravon's Room**
He sat silently — but tears fell from his eyes.
Not from pain.
But from **fear**.
> "What if the me I sealed away… should never be unsealed?"
No one answered.
But in the distance — a **crack** echoed.
Not in the room.
But in the **foundation of the realm.**
---