The southern wind carried the scent of ironwood and burnt incense.
Jin Mu-Won stepped onto an ancient stone bridge arched over a quiet ravine. Below, a stream trickled between moss-covered rocks. A faded banner hung limp across the far gate, its ink long smudged by rain and silence.
A black sword against a blood-red sun.
The emblem of the Black Blade Oath Sect.
Once known for producing oathbound cultivators—martial artists who tied their qi to vows, sacrificing flexibility for deadly precision—the sect had gone dark nearly a decade ago.
Rumors said they fell to inner betrayal.
Others claimed they were cursed.
But Jin felt it before he saw it:
Memory lingered here. Strong and sharp as a honed blade.
🏯 Entering the Dead Sect
Inside the ruined compound, rows of stone swords jutted from the ground like gravemarkers—each one a vow broken, oath unfulfilled.
Jin walked slowly among them. His Hollow Pulse slowed to match the weight of the place.
Then he saw it: a single living figure kneeling before the largest sword at the center of the inner courtyard.
A young woman, robes gray with dust, hair bound in a loose braid.
She didn't look up.
"If you've come to loot, turn around," she said softly.
Jin stepped forward.
"I came to remember."
She finally raised her head—eyes sharp, rimmed red with fatigue and mourning.
"Then remember this. The Oath Sect does not rise for the curious. Only the guilty."
She stood.
And drew her sword.
⚔️ Trial of the Oath Keeper
"I am Su Ren, last blade of the Black Blade Oath Sect. If you wish to learn from these ruins, then fight me beneath the fallen shrine—where all oaths were broken."
She pointed to a cracked temple behind the courtyard. Its doors hung off their hinges. Faded murals of sword-wielding monks and inked vows flaked off its walls.
Jin nodded.
They entered together.
Inside, silence settled like dust.
🥋 Duel Begins
Su Ren's first strike came without warning.
A downward slash like a falling prayer—clean, precise, inevitable.
Jin dodged, barely, and tapped her wrist with two fingers.
"You don't want to kill me."
"I don't," she said, blade reversing. "But I must. That's the oath."
Her qi surged—vow-bound sword aura flaring from her feet upward.
[Vow Detected: Until My Sect Rises, All Trespassers Shall Fall.]
[Power Increased 2x While Within Shrine Grounds]
Spiritual Suppression active.
Jin exhaled slowly.
Then stepped forward with the Crane Requiem form—off-balance, twisting, subtle.
Su Ren staggered, but did not fall.
"You move like someone who's lost too much to forget."
Jin countered.
"And you move like someone afraid to remember."
Their blades clashed again.
And again.
Until finally—he tapped her sword.
Gently.
And her qi shivered.
"You're not bound by your oath," he said. "You're burying yourself in it."
💭 Past Resurfaces
Her breath caught.
And for a moment—the shrine responded.
A mural behind her crumbled—revealing a hidden inscription beneath the paint.
Jin stepped closer.
"This was written after the sect's fall."
The words glowed faintly as his Hollow Pulse aligned with the ink.
"If any walk with sorrow, and their blades still remember… then so shall we."
Su Ren fell to her knees.
Tears rolled down her cheek.
"I've been here for six years. Waiting for someone to either kill me… or remember us."
Jin offered her the broken sword still tied to his back.
"Then let's begin with remembering."
🧠 Martial Growth
[New Form Studied: Oath-Bound Sword Style – Incomplete]
Integrating into Hollow Pulse – Form 3 Variant Potential
+1 Memory Resonance (Honor)
[Su Ren added to Faction Thread – Potential Companion / Sect Reviver]
As the sun set beyond the ruined shrine, Su Ren stood beside him.
The wind carried voices again—not words, but acknowledgment.
The Oath Sect had not fallen entirely.
And now, it would rise again.