The sky above the ruined Celestial Temple didn't look like a sky anymore. It felt like a torn cloth, hanging crookedly, little threads of silver leaking out like broken starlight. Yun stood in the middle of it all, breath slow but steady, his face calmer than it would've been weeks ago. Not emotionless—just… colder. Sharper. Like something inside him had learned to stop panicking.

The illusion formation had collapsed, for real this time. No more fake layers or weird trials showing him nightmares or twisted memories. But Yun still felt them clinging to him—like dust you can't wash off.

His new companions stood nearby, shaken but alive.

Lianru, the girl with the mirror-forged eyes, was still holding her stomach like she'd been punched by a comet.

Tao Feng, who called himself a "small-time rogue from a bigger world," looked pale but was grinning like he enjoyed being nearly killed.

And Ruo Lan, the one who arrived last and barely made it before the collapse, just watched Yun with a weird mixture of awe and wariness.

Yun didn't speak at first. He let the silence breathe. Shen Yu always said silence reveals more than questions.

Finally, Shen Yu approached, brushing dust off his sleeve. "You survived the transformation trial. That alone means the old Daiost Brush Master saw potential in you."

Yun nodded. "It wasn't easy."

"Nothing worth taking ever is."

Yun frowned. "But his illusions weren't only tests. They were teaching me… something else. Something deeper."

"Tactics," Shen Yu said. "Cold reasoning. The ability to kill hesitation before hesitation kills you. That was the Brush Master's philosophy."

Yun didn't deny it. And he didn't deny the uncomfortable truth that part of him liked this new clarity.

Ruo Lan stepped forward first.

"You changed. I saw your aura stabilizing. When the seventh layer cracked—your presence wasn't the same as before. It felt older."

"Older?" Yun asked.

"With weight," she said. "Like someone who has already buried pieces of themselves."

Yun looked away. He didn't want to hear that, but she wasn't wrong.

Tao Feng laughed a little too loudly, slapping Yun's back.

"Well, whatever you became, you saved our hides. And honestly? You look cool now. A bit scary. But cool."

Lianru just stared at him. "Your bloodline… I can't read it anymore. Before it sparkled. Now it burns."

Yun didn't fully understand it himself. His blood felt thicker, heavier. Like starlight made into liquid metal.

It made him stronger. Faster. Cunning. Calm.

But it also made him feel like someone far away was whispering his name.

Not Shen Yu.

Not the villagers.

Not any mortal.

Something above the stars.

He shook the feeling off. Not now.

Far beyond Celestial Sky, deep in the folds of space where light died slowly, the Hunters gathered again. Their leader, cloaked in shifting void-metal, pressed a claw against a map of living constellations.

"The boy's awakening accelerates," it hissed. "The Star-Spawn bloodline is no longer dormant."

Another Hunter bowed low.

"He walks the path his father feared."

"And the mother?" the leader asked.

"She pushes against the barriers again. If she breaks them"

"She won't." The leader's voice twisted, pleased. "She bleeds her strength to watch him. Good. Very good. It makes the hunt cleaner."

The cosmic ground beneath them cracked like frozen ink.

"This time," the leader continued, "we send more than shadows."

BACK IN THE CELESTIAL TEMPLE

Shen Yu inspected the cracked formation lines.

"The illusion left behind something. I'm not sure what—"

Before he finished, Yun felt a pulse behind him.

A scroll.

No—more like a ribbon of silver mist.

It floated toward him, humming like it recognized him.

Yun reached out. Hesitated. Then grasped it.

Immediately, a shock blasted through him. His eyes widened. The world blurred. A cool voice echoed in his skull:

"Brush Master's First Principle:

If fate offers no road, carve one."

A skill.

An inheritance.

A path.

Tao Feng shouted, "Yun! You okay? Your veins are glowing again!"

"Yes," Yun said calmly, though his heart hammered. "I received… something. A technique."

Shen Yu nodded. "Good. You will need it. We will not remain in Celestial Sky long."

Ruo Lan stepped closer. "Where are we going then?"

"To the Star Meridian Plateau," Shen Yu answered. "Where Yun's awakening may be stabilized… or where it may destroy him completely."

"Great," Tao Feng muttered. "Love the options."

Yun ignored the sarcasm. He closed his fist, the scroll dissolving into silver sparks inside him.

He felt different again.

Sharper.

More aware.

As if somewhere in the heavens, someone was watching him proudly.

Or hungrily.

He didn't know which.

As they prepared to leave the ruined temple, Yun paused. A forked path lay ahead—two ways through the shattered hall, one going upward, one downward.

Both looked dangerous.

Everyone watched him, waiting for him to choose. And for a moment Yun felt the weight of future versions of himself pressing on his shoulders.

The illusion had been right:

A hero hesitates.

A survivor chooses.

A ruler shapes the path.

Yun turned toward the darker stairway—the downward one—and said softly:

"We go where danger is stronger. That's where we'll find answers. And where the Hunters won't expect us."

Shen Yu actually smiled a little.

"That is your first truly cunning decision."

Lianru whispered, "He's changing faster than any of us thought."

Ruo Lan murmured, "And the cosmos feels it."

Tao Feng cracked his knuckles. "Well, I didn't sign up for safety anyway."

Yun stepped forward.

The path he chose would push them into the depth of Celestial Sky's forgotten underworld—ancient ruins, cosmic beasts, sealed wars.

And the choice he just made would be remembered by every star watching him.

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