Beyond the chaos-forged gate, a storm of sound and silence awaited.
Voices from countless lives, lives never lived, or lives long forgotten, spiraled through the air like invisible chains.
Lin Xuan stepped into the realm—and the door closed behind him.
Instantly, he felt the shift.
---
A Realm Outside Time
The Echoing Throne wasn't built on ground or in sky.
It floated in a plane of drifting memories—fragmented ruins, shattered palaces, and upside-down mountains orbited an unseen core.
Each floating island pulsed with echoes—repeating moments of history like broken records.
Lin Xuan landed on the nearest platform. The stone beneath his boots whispered:
> "I was king once…"
> "I died for glory… and was forgotten…"
> "Power fades. Names fade. What remains?"
The weight of forgotten legacies pressed down on him.
---
[System Notification]
Location: The Echoing Throne
Condition: Memory Resonance Active
Objective: Reach the Throne of the Nameless Monarch
Warning: Spectral Kingsguard Activated – Will test identity, purpose, and right to awaken the Pillar
Estimated Path Completion Time: Unknown
---
Lin Xuan's Chaos Core pulsed harder with every step.
The Third Pillar was near. He could feel it like a heartbeat in the distance—slow, ancient, wounded.
---
Trial One – The Nameless Kingsguard
From the shadows of the sky, armor-clad spirits emerged. Not cultivators. Not beasts.
These were echoes of kings—warriors who once ruled empires but were now nothing more than obsessions and regrets given form.
Their eyes glowed hollow gold.
Their weapons radiated judgment.
Their voices echoed as one:
> "Name yourself, bearer of chaos. What gives you the right to inherit forgotten power?"
Lin Xuan stood tall.
> "I carry no title. No divine lineage. I walk no holy path."
> "I am the blade they tried to bury, risen from ruin."
> "I am Lin Xuan—he who remembers what others erase."
Silence followed.
Then came the test.
---
Battle in the Halls of Forgotten Kings
The Kingsguard attacked as one.
Spears forged from memory.
Shields carved from denial.
Each clash struck not just Lin Xuan's body—but his sense of self. Their weapons pulled at his regrets, his doubts, his losses.
But Lin Xuan had faced worse.
He had accepted his pain. His truth. His chaos.
And now it was his strength.
> Chaos-Step.
Star-Forged Palm.
Soulfire Rebirth (triggered once mid-battle).
He dodged time-locked strikes.
Countered illusions of himself.
And when the final Kingsguard shattered, he stood breathless—eyes like twin galaxies bleeding starlight.
---
The Throne Revealed
The battlefield faded.
Ahead, on a floating island wrapped in silver chains and blue fire, stood a throne of cracked obsidian—half-sunk in nothingness.
Floating above it was the Third Nexus Pillar.
But it was bound.
Seven chains—each forged from broken vows—wrapped around it, humming with resistance.
A voice boomed behind Lin Xuan:
> "So you reach the Throne. But can you bear it?"
---
The Voice of the Monarch
A new figure emerged—this one different.
Taller. Ethereal. A crown that bled shadow. Eyes closed.
The Nameless Monarch—an echo that still ruled this realm.
> "This Pillar holds the weight of every soul forgotten by heaven. Those who gave everything and were erased."
> "You seek to awaken it. But what will you do with its power?"
> "Will you burn the heavens?"
> "Will you rewrite fate?"
> "Will you become what you hate?"
Lin Xuan's reply came like thunder:
> "I'll break the system that devours its own."
> "I'll remember the forgotten. And I'll make sure no one silences truth again."
The Monarch opened his eyes.
> "Then prove it."
---
The Trial of Memory Flame
The Monarch raised a hand—summoning a flame of pure memory, and hurled it into Lin Xuan's chest.
It didn't burn flesh.
It burned everything else.
The flame forced him to relive every life he had never lived—every choice he didn't make, every path he turned away from.
A life where he became a healer.
A life where he died as a boy.
A life where he ruled but lost his soul.
And in every one—he felt the weight of possibility.
But he held on.
> "I am Lin Xuan," he roared. "And this is my path."
The flame shattered.
The chains broke.
And the Pillar awakened.
---
System Surge
[Third Nexus Pillar Resonated – 3/7 Complete]
Chaos Domain Unlocked: Domain of Void Flame
Core Overload – Secondary Breakthrough Triggered: Mid Foundation Stage Achieved
New Ability: Soul Echo Guard – Project protective memories to intercept one soul or mind attack per day
Nexus Key Merged into Pillar – Harmony Increased
---
Above the Realms… The Tribunal Stirrs
In the Heavenly Realms, the celestial barrier shivered.
The Tribunal's eye—once half-lidded—opened wider.
A voice cold as eternity echoed through divine halls:
> "The third light awakens. The bearer must be stopped."
> "Unseal the next blade."
And deep in a vault of law and light, a sword of white judgment trembled.