Yuan Wuji led the group deeper into the tomb's inner regions. His hands moved in precise seals, dissolving the remnant restrictions with practiced ease. The Old Matriarch and Lady Yuan flanked him, assisting where they could. Their cultivation wasn't on his level, but their knowledge of Yuan family techniques proved useful against the ancient traps.
Yuan Qi dozed on Su Yan's shoulder, his massive serpent body occasionally twitching in his sleep. The battle with the golden man had exhausted him. Too many treasures digested, too much energy spent.
Big Bell hid inside Yuan Qi's belly, quietly siphoning the serpent's qi and blood to repair its dented surface. It had taken a beating—first against the golden man's fists, then against the divine bridge, then skidding across the Jade Pool and through the Twelve Towers. The bell's ego was as bruised as its bronze.
Zhu Chanchan wandered nearby, her eyes scanning the wreckage for anything worth collecting. Her Flying Peak had landed somewhere in this area, and she desperately wanted it back. Six thousand years of treasure-forging instinct didn't fade just because she'd taken a new form.
Su Yan and Veyon sat cross-legged on Yuan Qi's head, facing each other.
They had agreed to attempt heavenly-man sensing. The technique was dangerous—especially here, in the First Emperor's tomb, where ancient powers slept and the boundary between worlds grew thin. But the potential reward was worth the risk.
If they could glimpse Weixu, the abyss that devoured enlightened minds, they might finally understand what had happened to the ancient cultivation path.
Su Yan activated the Eight Yuan Tones. The vibrations resonated through his body, illuminating each acupoint like stars appearing in a night sky. He connected them to the heavens above, forging links between his flesh and the cosmic order.
Veyon did the same, but her technique was more refined. She had trained for months, perfecting her method. Gods guarded her acupoints, divine sentinels protecting her from the abyss's pull.
Their breathing synchronized. Their heartbeats aligned.
The world around them began to fade.
* * *
Su Yan felt himself expanding. His consciousness stretched outward, passing through the tomb's ceiling, through the mountain above, through the clouds and into the void.
Stars wheeled around him—not the stars of the night sky, but something older. Something that existed before the heavens were sealed.
He saw threads. Countless threads connecting every living thing to a vast, incomprehensible tapestry. Some threads were bright and strong. Others were fraying, dissolving into nothing.
Veyon's presence floated beside him, a beacon of silver light in the darkness.
"There," she whispered, though they had no mouths here. "Can you feel it?"
Su Yan followed her gaze. In the distance, the tapestry ended. The threads didn't connect to anything—they simply dropped into an absence so complete it hurt to look at.
Weixu.
The abyss wasn't empty. Something moved in it. Something vast and hungry, stirring at the edge of perception.
Su Yan wanted to pull back. Every instinct screamed at him to retreat. But his curiosity—his stubborn, reckless curiosity—pushed him closer.
He extended a thread of his own consciousness toward the abyss.
The moment it touched the edge, everything changed.
The tomb's sky tilted.
* * *
Back in the physical world, no one noticed at first.
Yuan Wuji was focused on a particularly complex seal, his fingers tracing patterns in the air. The Old Matriarch watched his technique with sharp eyes, memorizing every movement. Lady Yuan kept watch, her spirit sense extended to warn of approaching danger.
Zhu Chanchan found a fragment of the golden man's armor half-buried in rubble. She pried it loose, her eyes lighting up at the quality of the material. "This would make excellent forging stock..."
Then Yuan Qi stirred. His serpent body tensed, scales bristling. "Something's wrong."
Big Bell emerged from his belly, spinning in place. "What? What's happening?"
Yuan Qi raised his massive head, tongue flicking. "The sky... it's moving."
Everyone looked up.
The cavern ceiling—the false sky of the tomb's inner world—was tilting. Not collapsing. Tilting. As if the entire space were a painting on canvas being pulled at one corner.
The stars painted on the ceiling shifted. The clouds drifted sideways. Even the seven ascension rainbows in the distance bent at an unnatural angle.
"The Undying Immortal!" Lady Yuan gasped.
Yuan Wuji turned, his expression unreadable. He looked at Su Yan and Veyon, still seated in meditation, their faces serene, unaware of the chaos around them.
"Heavenly-man sensing," he said softly. "They've reached too far."
Zhu Chanchan dropped the armor fragment and ran to Su Yan's side. She shook his shoulder. "A-Yan! Wake up!"
Su Yan didn't respond. His eyes were closed, his breathing steady. But his face had gone pale, and a thin line of blood trickled from his nose.
Veyon was worse. Her hands trembled in her lap. Her lips moved, forming silent words. Tears streamed down her face.
"Pull them out!" Big Bell shouted. "Before they fall in!"
Zhu Chanchan grabbed Su Yan's arm and yanked. Nothing. It was like pulling a mountain.
Yuan Wuji appeared beside her. He pressed two fingers to Su Yan's forehead, channeling a burst of pure Yellow Court spirit force.
Su Yan's eyes snapped open.
He gasped, sucking in air like a drowning man breaking the surface. His hands clutched at his chest, nails digging into flesh.
"A-Yan!" Zhu Chanchan held him steady. "What did you see?"
Su Yan's voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. "It's not empty. The abyss... something lives there. Something ancient. And it's waking up."
Veyon stirred beside him, her eyes fluttering open. She looked at Su Yan, her expression hollow. "I saw it too. It saw us back."
The sky continued to tilt.
Yuan Wuji looked up at the distortion, his face grave. "We need to leave. Now. Whatever they touched, it knows we're here. And it's coming."
From the depths of the tomb, where the golden coffin lay, a sound echoed. Not a heartbeat this time. Something else. A scratching. A dragging. The sound of something massive shifting in the dark.
The First Emperor wasn't the only thing that had slept here for four thousand years.
And now, thanks to two reckless young cultivators who reached too far, something else was stirring too.