Silence.
Not the peaceful kind.
This silence carried weight—like voices that once screamed had been buried beneath stillness. The trees here shimmered silver, leaves unmoving even in wind. Rivers of pale light ran between floating stone islands. Each ripple seemed to whisper, though no mouth spoke.
Lin Xuan staggered to his feet, blood drying on his robes.
His vision blurred.
That battle… it had taken everything.
Even with his Chaos Core at 99.9% evolution, he felt the strain. Too many techniques. Too much exposure to dimensional instability.
Still—he was alive.
And this realm… it wasn't like the others.
---
[System Notification]
Welcome to: The Realm of Forgotten Echoes
Status: Soul-Tethered Pocket Realm
Origin: Birthplace of the Echoing Souls
Warning: Memory Disruption Possible – Strong emotional events may trigger visions or illusions
Objective Unlocked: Reforge the Third Nexus Key using fragments of lost identity
---
The Whispering Waters
He moved slowly to the riverbank and dipped his fingers into the glowing current.
Instantly, a vision struck him—
> A girl's laugh.
A mountain under moonlight.
His old name—the one he had before betrayal.
And her…
Yun'er.
He gasped and pulled back, stumbling.
The memory faded.
That… wasn't mine. Was it?
Then the voice of the System echoed again:
> "To awaken the next pillar, the bearer must confront not only power… but truth."
---
The Echoing Souls
Deeper into the realm, Lin Xuan encountered strange figures—ghostly silhouettes that flickered like candlelight.
They had no faces. No words.
But they watched him.
Hundreds of them, lining the paths through the silver woods. Some knelt as he passed. Others turned away, as if ashamed.
He realized the truth: they were fragments of the dead, echoes of cultivators who once pursued the Nexus Path—and failed.
One of them, cloaked in shattered jade armor, stepped forward and whispered:
> "You walk the path we died for."
"Don't forget your reason."
"Don't become like the First."
"The First?" Lin Xuan asked aloud.
But they had vanished.
---
An Unexpected Ally – The Watcher of the Grove
At the heart of the realm stood a tree unlike any other.
Twisted, yet beautiful. Roots woven from memory, branches sprouting shards of glass that reflected scenes from countless lives.
Beneath it sat a woman—eyes blindfolded, skin pale as bone, hair like woven starlight.
"You bear the Chaos Mark," she said.
Lin Xuan nodded. "And you are?"
"A Watcher," she whispered. "I guard what remains of the Nexus Souls. I tend to the Echoes."
"You know how to reforge the Key?"
"I do. But memory is the price."
She held out her hand—and in it, a fractured crystal glowing with shadow and silver.
"This is your third Key. Broken when your past self died. You must reforge it by accepting the truth of three things."
---
The Three Truths
1. The Life You Left Behind
– A visit to a memory of the life before betrayal—who Lin Xuan once was as a mortal cultivator, and what he gave up.
2. The Pain You Buried
– A confrontation with the moment of execution. To relive it, fully. To embrace the agony, betrayal, and loss without flinching.
3. The Chaos You Became
– To accept that Chaos isn't only power—it is destruction, and loneliness, and the burden of being different.
Only after facing each truth could the Third Key be restored.
---
[Quest Updated: Reforge the Third Nexus Key – Progress: 0/3 Memories Confronted]
Optional Bonus: Unlock Passive Skill – Chaos Soul Rebirth (Delays fatal spiritual damage once per battle)
Time Remaining Before Tribunal Interference: 35 Days
---
Decision
Lin Xuan stared at the crystal shard in her hand.
If he accepted… he would relive the worst of himself.
But if he hesitated—he would never be ready when the Tribunal descended in full force.
He took the shard.
And as he did, the forest vanished.
---
Memory Dive: Chapter End
He stood on a cliff now, under moonlight.
There was a girl laughing beside him.
Her name was Yun'er.
And in that moment… Lin Xuan remembered love.