The dust inside the Celestial Under-Hall still hadn't settled from Yun's last clash. Bits of ancient stone floated in the air like tired ghosts, and the walls had cracks glowing faintly with forgotten runes. Yun stood there panting, one sleeve torn, his knuckles bleeding and shaking—not from fear anymore, but from some strange heat rising inside him. A heat that wasn't his before.

Lan'ruo stood a few steps away, her hair fluttering even though there was no wind. She kept staring at Yun like she was trying to decide whether to bow or run.

Yun wiped his mouth. "Lan'ruo… you said you had something to tell me. About… what you actually are."

The girl lowered her eyes first—and for the first time since he met her, she looked nervous. "Yun… I'm not a normal illusion echo. I'm not even a real spirit."

"What?" Yun blinked, honestly confused. "Then what are you?"

Lan'ruo inhaled shakily, and the moment she did, her shadow stretched behind her… and split into three faint after-shadows, all shaped like ancient women wearing brush-robes.

"I am… one-third of the Daiost Brush Master's memory core," she whispered. "Not a person. Not a ghost. A sealed fragment created to follow whoever inherited the Brush Master's Will."

Yun's mind blanked for a second. Then Shen Yu, who had been leaning against a broken pillar, muttered, "That explains the way she talks… and why she knows techniques she shouldn't."

Lan'ruo bowed deeply toward Yun—so deeply her forehead nearly hit the ground.

"You freed me when you shattered the Bound Brush Echo. I now belong to your path… whether that path leads to heaven or destruction."

Yun panicked slightly and waved his hands. "Wait—belong? That's too much—! I don't even know if I'm walking straight half the time!"

She lifted her head, smiling faintly. "You walk straighter than you think."

Shen Yu coughed and cut in before Yun's ears caught fire. "Enough. Yun, there's something else you need to know. You… you've been hearing it lately, right? The Calling."

Yun's body stiffened instantly. "That… humming? That voice in my head? The feeling someone's watching me?"

Shen Yu nodded grimly. "It's not watching you. It's summoning you. Something ancient… older than the Brush Master, older than the Celestial Sky. It's calling your bloodline directly."

Lan'ruo flinched at the word. "Calling? Shen Yu… you didn't say it was that Calling."

Yun groaned. "Please someone explain it before I explode."

Shen Yu rubbed his temples. "The Calling is what awakens your true race. It's not just your parents you're connected to your bloodline has a source far, far beyond them. And something at that origin wants you awake earlier than anyone expected."

Yun's heart slammed inside his chest. "Why me?"

Shen Yu didn't answer.

Because he didn't know.

Or because he did know and couldn't say.

Far above, past constellations and broken star-bridges, Yun's parents stood in the ruins of what used to be a stable region of their cosmic empire. Now it was a swirling vortex of spatial turbulence.

A massive shadow moved behind the collapsing stars—something with wings longer than continents and a voice like cracking galaxies.

Emperor Lianxing dragged Empress Yueran away just before the shockwave hit. It slammed into them like a tidal wave of broken suns.

Yueran coughed blood—actual blood—even though she was a being who could rewrite nebulae. "Lian… that thing… it shouldn't be awake yet…"

"It wasn't," Lianxing hissed, eyes burning violently. "But something stirred its instinct—something in the lower worlds. Something that shouldn't exist anymore."

Yun.

They both knew it.

But they didn't dare say it aloud.

The Calling throbbed in Yun's veins now, stronger, louder, like it wanted to burst out of his bones. Yun clutched his chest, trying not to scream as another pulse tore through him.

Shen Yu moved forward. "Hold on, Yun! Don't resist—guide it!"

"I am guiding it!" Yun yelled. "It's just not listening—!"

Then—

BOOM!

A ring of light exploded outward from Yun's body. Ancient runes on the walls lit up. The Under-Hall trembled. A pressure descended that made even Shen Yu flinch.

Lan'ruo gasped. "That's—! That's a celestial marrow awakening! At his age!?"

Yun's bloodline surged open like a flower made of lightning.

His eyes shifted—first silver, then streaked with violet, then both colors blended into a swirling pattern that looked like tiny galaxies spinning.

Yun collapsed to one knee but didn't fall completely.

He was stronger.

Much stronger.

But the fear on Shen Yu's face wasn't about Yun's power

It was about what this awakening meant for the cosmos.

"That's the third stage of your bloodline," Shen Yu whispered. "Yun… someone powerful is coming for you. And someone even more dangerous is waking because of you."

Yun swallowed hard. "I… don't want to run this time."

"You won't," Shen Yu said softly. "You'll fight."

Lan'ruo stepped forward. "And you won't fight alone."

Yun looked at the two of them—Shen Yu, who was more than he seemed… and Lan'ruo, who wasn't even meant to be alive.

A strange warmth filled his chest.

For the first time, he felt like he wasn't walking this impossible path alone.

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