The cave yawned before Lin Xuan, its mouth a jagged shadow in the stone. The air inside was unnaturally still—no sound, no wind, no life. Only a faint, lingering energy brushed against his skin as he stepped through the narrow opening.
His footsteps echoed faintly behind him, swallowed quickly by the dense silence.
The deeper he went, the more the atmosphere changed. The walls were smooth, almost polished, yet streaked with faint silver markings—veins of old celestial qi, long faded, but still potent enough to stir the spiritual senses.
He paused, narrowed his eyes.
> "This place…" he whispered, "hasn't been touched for centuries."
Finally, the passage opened into a hollowed chamber, vast and eerily quiet. In the center lay two things—an egg, just smaller than a grown man's torso, its shell dark as the void with pulses of crimson lightning flickering beneath, and beside it, a severed beast arm, massive and clawed, radiating divine aura like the dying heartbeat of a god.
The moment his gaze fell upon the arm, his mind was struck by a blinding surge of memory—
---
A coiled titan in the sky, cloaked in red lightning and moonless shadow. A roar that shattered stars. Time halting. Light vanishing.
---
> "The… Eclipse Sky Dragon..." Lin Xuan muttered, his voice barely a breath.
He stepped closer, each movement cautious. The divine pressure in the chamber wasn't oppressive—it was watchful, as if the cave itself was aware of him.
The egg pulsed once more. He reached out, and the moment his fingers grazed the surface, his heart trembled. A vision flashed through his mind:
A black-scaled dragon spiraling through clouds split by storm. Below it, armies collapsed into chaos, eyes blinded by a sudden eclipse, while time itself twisted—some frozen, others moving like phantoms.
> "Heaven's Eclipse..." Lin Xuan recalled, his eyes sharpening.
"Temporal Pulse. Control over light, time… and storm."
His breath was shaky, not out of fear, but awe.
The arm—though detached—still pulsed faintly, the celestial bones inside glowing like faded stars. As he stepped toward it, a wave of energy passed through him. His meridians reacted. The mark on his back burned, resonating with the divine presence.
> "So… this is the remnant of a being that coiled around a star, swallowing its light for a thousand years..." he whispered.
And deep within his soul, something awoke.
---