The sect master of Heaven Defying Sect returned to the sect.

  The seal burned within him like a brand of fate.

  The sect was silent.

  Disciples whispered is low voices, fear threaded through every word. Elders moved with grim efficiency, repairing formations, sealing vaults—all the rituals of a sect that understood one truth:

  Death was approaching.

  The sect master entered the main hall, his steps slow, heavy.

  Elders stood in rows beneath the starry ceiling. His two Dao companions stood at his side, eyes steady despite the dread in the air.

  He looked at each of them.

  Then he smiled.

  Not in denial.

  Not in False bravado.

  But in reassurance.

  “Death is knocking at our door” He said calmly “...Once again.”

  The hall remained silent.

  “What path do we walk.” He asked.

  Pill King Yao laughed softly, a smile tugging at his lips.

  “Since when have we ever cowered from calamity?

  We Fight. Even if it is to our last breath.”

  Cai Shuang stepped forward. The star charts above the hall shimmered faintly in response to her presence.

  “We do not betray our own,” she said evenly.

  “Even if the one we protect is a pawn of Heaven itself.”

  A broad-shouldered elder snorted, summoning a massive crystal hammer into his grip.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “We dared defy the heavens themselves,” he growled.

  “What is a mere Immortal Ascendant compared to that?”

  The Sect Master nodded slowly.

  “Then prepare,” he said.

  “If we are doomed… we will ensure that our destruction is not without cost.”

  He turned away.

  “You are dismissed.”

  As the elders departed, resolve etched into their steps, the Sect Master walked toward his private residence, his wives at his side.

  Jiu Xian watched in silence.

  ‘How cruel…’ he thought.

  'They dared defy Heaven.

  So Heaven ensured they would die—

  Protecting the very symbol of everything they stood against.'

  Inside the Sect Master’s residence, silence settled like a final breath.

  The sect master lay upon the bed, his Dao companions nestled against him, warmth lingering from a moment stolen from fate itself.

  Cai Shuang traced slow circles against his bare chest, her movements absentminded, reluctant to let the moment end.

  “…Are you really going to do it?” she asked softly.

  He closed his eyes.

  For a long moment, he said nothing.

  Then he inhaled — slow, measured — as though committing the world to memory.

  “Yes,” he replied at last.

  “There is no other path.”

  His other Dao companion tightened her grip on his hand.

  “Then we must give Cai Xi everything,” she said quietly.

  “All the knowledge. All the inheritances. Leave nothing behind.”

  The sect master nodded faintly.

  “…Activate the time-dilation array,” he said, his voice roughening.

  “You two… take care of that.”

  He paused.

  The silence stretched.

  “Tell her—”

  His throat tightened.

  “…tell her that I’m sorry.”

  The words broke as they left him.

  Before either woman could respond, spiritual light surged.

  Xi Li’s body faded — dissolving into motes of radiance — leaving only the lingering warmth where he had been.

  The room fell still once more.

  ...

  Jiu Xian stood in nothingness.

  No ground beneath his feet.

  No sky above.

  No sound. No scent. No sensation.

  Not darkness—

  Absence.

  As though the world itself had been erased, leaving him stranded in a void where even thought felt muted.

  “…Enjoying yourself?”

  The voice was rough. Amused.

  Reality snapped back into place.

  Color flooded his vision all at once.

  Jiu Xian found himself standing inside a sealed white chamber, its walls smooth and seamless, stretching endlessly in every direction.

  A man stood before him.

  Tall. Handsome. White-haired.

  His narrow eyes held an unshakable calm, and his smile carried the quiet confidence of someone who had already lost everything—and survived.

  “I don’t know why my wife insisted on showing you our private life,” the man said lightly.

  “But I have a few guesses.”

  His gaze pierced through Jiu Xian, as though stripping away layers of reality itself.

  “Ironic, isn’t it?”

  “To defy the Heavens. To deny fate.”

  “Only to be dragged back into its schemes all the same.”

  Jiu Xian said nothing.

  Every word sank deep.

  “To the Heavens,” the man continued, “we were never people.”

  “Just stepping stones in the saga of its chosen one.”

  He let out a quiet laugh.

  “To Lu Jin… we were nothing more than a Sect Master and a handful of elders.”

  “Background noise in a play.”

  “Spare parts.”

  “Extras.”

  The word lingered.

  “When I first realized the truth of fate,” he said softly,

  “I challenged it.”

  “I even won.”

  His smile faded.

  “But the cycle never ends.”

  Silence fell.

  Then—

  “You can leave this realm, if you wish.”

  Jiu Xian’s heart tightened.

  “No struggle. No resistance. No price.”

  “Walk away, and the Heavens will forget you ever existed.”

  The man extended his hand.

  “But—” his eyes sharpened,

  “—if you believe you have what it takes to defy them…”

  “…take my hand.”

  Jiu Xian’s breath slowed.

  Confusion flickered in his eyes.

  Then—resolve.

  Elsewhere—

  Yao Qing stood before the serene, beautiful Cai Shuang, her gaze filled with quiet expectation.

  Cai Xi sobbed openly in the arms of her second mother, clinging as though afraid the world would tear her away again.

  Threads tightened.

  Paths converged.

  The wheels of fate began to turn once more.

  And the trio stood before a question that would shape not just their lives—

  —but fate of the world itself.