On the seventh day after the river of lamp shadows dissipated, a strange tremor suddenly rippled through the earth veins beneath the Nanming Lamp-Guarding Shop.
Xiaoman was explaining passages from the True Lamp-Language Scripture to a new group of apprentices when the Heart Flame Source Core in his chest abruptly grew hot. A gentle, ancient consciousness flooded his mind like a tide—not language, nor memories, but a whisper of existence itself, as though the earth were breathing and time were softly singing.
He closed his eyes and focused, activating Spirit Vision. A silver light vein appeared in the earth veins beneath his feet, extending northwest like a root system toward the distant meeting point of the Ruin Abyss Riftplain and the Eternal Night Abyss. Wherever the light vein passed, ancient lamps lit themselves and stone steles glimmered, as though the entire land were answering some slumbering summons.
"Is this... the root of light language?" Xiaoman murmured.
Yue Yi hurried over and lightly tapped the ground with her Light Staff. Flowing patterns of light revealed an ancient map. "According to legend, the Light Language Civilization did not begin with the source of starfire, but with a Divine Tree—the 'root of light language.' It was born when the world first opened, with light for leaves and memories for roots. It wove the Lamp Guarders' convictions into the earth veins, becoming the wellspring of the Nine Provinces Lamp Array. But a thousand years ago, it withered during the final battle against Eternal Night. Only remnants of its roots remained buried deep underground, and no one ever saw it again."
"But it isn't dead." Xiaoman opened his eyes, silver flames swirling in his pupils. "It's only sleeping. It's waiting for someone willing to listen to its heartbeat."
He turned to the seven apprentices. "I'm