There had never been silence in the Soul Archives.
Not in the Celestial Sky Court.
Not in the Hall of Wheels.
Not in the place where fate was recorded.
Every breath. Every life. Every name.
All etched in memory.
Until now.
The page meant to record Xu Shen's final erasure…
Refused to empty.
The Law scribe looked down at the divine parchment.
His hands trembled.
The ink bled backward—rewriting itself.
"Memory error," it read.
"Emotional signature stabilized."
"Meaning lock engaged."
"Target cannot be erased. Name: Xu Shen persists."
"Status: Immutable Flame."
In the upper heavens, the architects of law gathered again.
But this time—
They argued.
"He's beyond the Ash Law. That's not supposed to be possible."
"He didn't resist it with strength. He resisted it with legacy."
"Then do we descend?"
That sentence caused every flame in the hall to flicker.
Even gods feared walking below.
But now…
They had no choice.
🌒 Meanwhile — Thousand Veil Sect
Xu Shen stood in his garden, bare feet on stone, eyes to the sky.
Yue Qian approached slowly.
"You were nearly erased."
"I know."
"But you weren't."
He nodded.
She looked up. "They're afraid."
"I know that too."
She paused.
"Then what's your next move?"
Xu Shen didn't hesitate.
"Ascend."
She blinked. "You want to enter the Celestial Realms?"
"Not want. Need."
He turned toward the Sect's Soulspire—its highest point, built around an ancient, sealed gate left from the era of the First Flame.
"I've defended long enough."
"Now I go to them."
Lian Ming met him at the stairway.
"So we're storming heaven?"
Xu smirked. "One gate at a time."
Lian tossed him a scroll.
"What's this?"
"A map of forbidden paths into the Thirteenth Heaven."
"Where did you get it?"
Lian smiled. "You gave it to me. Seven lives ago."
Xu Shen unrolled the scroll.
Inside it: paths sealed by fate, marked with celestial wards.
One of them pulsed in gold.
The Celestial Flame Gate.
The same gate that once burned Aether Xu to the brink of nothingness.
Now it called again.
Xu placed his hand to the gate.
His voice rang like thunder wrapped in truth.
"Let them watch."
"Let them fear."
"Let them remember why they tried to erase me."
And then—
The Celestial Gate opened.