Chen Wuya's palm still pressed down on that scrap of cloth. His fingertips could feel the edge of the fabric curling up slightly, as though some force were pushing against it from within. He did not move, but his breathing deepened.
That strange movement a moment ago had not been an illusion—the broken-chain imprint had seeped with faint red traces, then slowly drawn back in, like a living thing retracting its feelers. The blood pattern in his palm trembled in response, not as a warning, but as a pull, as if something somewhere in the north were resonating with this fragment.
He closed his eyes for a moment and guided that ripple into the meridians within his body, using Misaligned Practice Connects to Spirit to channel it in reverse. True qi flowed backward through the triple burner, bypassed the heart meridian, and formed a cycle of misalignment through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians. This method should never have worked, yet the system ran soundlessly, forcibly completing the path. At last, the chaotic aura settled.
He opened his eyes and said quietly, "This isn't a warning... it's a summons."
Everyone was still staring at the scrap of cloth on the stone table. Some frowned, while others took half a step back. The cloth was now quiet as before; only a scorch mark along its edge had deepened slightly.
Chen Wuya offered no further explanation. He took out the secret letter and bamboo-slip map from his robes and spread them across the table. Lamplight fell over the paper, revealing several routes sketched out in charcoal.
"This battle will be divided into three routes." His finger tapped the map. "The first route will consist of thirty people from the Cang Sect, the Southern Sky Escort Agency, and the others, forming a force to block