The air was thick with the scent of ozone and blood. Shadow's legs trembled beneath him as he limped forward, every inch of his body torn and frayed from the battle he had barely survived. Behind him lay the shattered remnants of four legends. Before him, the path into legend itself.
A door, formed from condensed lightning and carved with runes older than history, creaked open in answer to his resolve.
Shadow dragged himself across the threshold.
He stumbled once, then again, blood painting a trail behind him on the storm-forged stone. Beyond the door was no chamber, no battlefield.
It was a void—silent, endless, weightless.
And within it stood a solitary figure.
Cloaked in radiant arcs of thunder, armored in layered celestial steel, and with eyes that shimmered like galaxies trapped in lightning—the **Thunder Lord** stood waiting.
He wasn't a projection. Nor a remnant. This was his soul—bare, final, flickering like the last ember of a dying star.
The Thunder Lord smiled.
"I never expected," he said, voice as warm as distant thunder, "that in my final echo, I would meet a true Heaven Defier."
Shadow knelt—not from reverence, but exhaustion. The Thunder Lord waved his hand, and a bolt of lightning gently lifted him back to his feet.
"You've hidden your strength well. You carry power unlike anything I've seen in this era. Raw. Untamed. You could have stood with the other sects. But you walked alone."
Shadow met his gaze, silent.
The Thunder Lord chuckled. "Do you know why I chose Jian Mu?"
Shadow remained quiet, but his eyes held the question.
"Because your path isn't mine. You walk where even sovereigns dare not tread. Jian Mu inherited my legacy. But you... you will forge a new one."
He turned, and for a moment, his form shimmered with the weight of memory.
"I was once at the peak of the Condensation Realm. But I failed to ascend. Most believed I had only reached Bone and Skin Refinement. I allowed that. I hid my power, seeking those worthy among the Foundation Realm's rising stars. This... is my final appearance. And I wish to leave you something—something greater than technique."
He extended his hand.
From the void, **a coffin** drifted into view.
It was obsidian and jade, carved with swirling patterns that defied logic. It pulsed faintly with a power that felt older than time—deep, suffocating, and cold.
Shadow instinctively stepped back.
"What is that...?" he whispered.
The Thunder Lord's smile faded.
"Terror. Mystery. A mistake. I found it in a place that should not exist—a graveyard buried beneath the void, hidden from fate itself. I drifted into it unknowingly, drawn by a strange resonance. At its center, I found this coffin. No guards. No arrays. Just stillness."
He paced slowly around it.
"I approached. Nothing happened. But when I placed my hand upon the lid... the curse struck. My dantian withered. My meridians blackened. My path shattered. From that day forward, I could not ascend."
Shadow's eyes narrowed. "Then why didn't you destroy it?"
The Thunder Lord looked at him with a bitterness carved from centuries. "I tried. A thousand strikes. A hundred formations. Nothing even left a scratch. That was when I realized—this wasn't just a body preserved by some art. It was protected by *heaven* itself."
He gestured at the coffin. "That body is millions of years old, yet looks as though it died yesterday. No decay. No rot. No spiritual erosion. And there's no sealing array. Just... preservation."
Shadow stared at it. "One of the Ten Supreme Physiques."
The Thunder Lord nodded. "A legend even among myths. Said to be the favored children of heaven. It was always assumed to be metaphorical. Until I found *him*."
He raised a hand and forced the coffin to drift toward Shadow.
"You must promise me, Shadow. When you become strong enough—when your power reaches beyond what mortals dream—you must destroy it. This thing does not belong in our world. If anyone tries to awaken it, or harvest it, the consequences..."
He didn't finish.
Shadow's voice was quiet. "Even you couldn't destroy it. What makes you think I can?"
The Thunder Lord met his gaze. "Because you are not a fragment of my path. You are your own storm. I see it in you. A defiance that even heaven fears."
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then the Thunder Lord smiled and flicked his hand again.
Three glowing scrolls materialized in the air before Shadow—one gold, one silver, one deep azure.
"These are formation scrolls. Treasures I collected across lifetimes. They are not weapons—they are armies sealed into patterns of light and will."
He pointed at the first. "The Hundred-Man Formation. Used to amplify coordination and channel spiritual energy among small sect units. When activated, it allows one formation master to control and empower up to a hundred cultivators, synchronizing their Qi and unleashing a focused technique."
Then the second. "The Thousand-Man Formation. An elite battle array used during the wars against the Ancient Clans. It forms a battlefield on its own, turning even ordinary disciples into siege weapons when guided by a skilled anchor."
Then, finally, the third. "The Ten Thousand-Man Formation... a legendary array. It can concentrate the might of an entire sect into a single attack. Under the right command, it can unleash an attack comparable to a peak Condensation Realm cultivator—or more, if stronger bodies stand at its center."
Shadow blinked. "You used this?"
"Once. In a war long forgotten. It wiped out half a mountain range. But it took months to recover. Formations are power—but they exact a price. Energy. Unity. Discipline."
He waved again, and the scrolls drifted toward Shadow, embedding themselves in his spatial ring with a soft pulse.
Then his eyes grew distant.
"Jian Mu... he will return in time. Six months from now, he will finish refining the Thunder Crown. You will see him again, stronger. Wiser."
Shadow lowered his head. "Will I see you again?"
The Thunder Lord smiled faintly.
"No. This is my final moment. My soul will scatter after this. But I entrust you with these pieces—not to follow me. To surpass me."
He looked once more at the coffin.
"And remember—never let anyone open that. No matter how curious. No matter how desperate. It is not meant to return."
The platform began to crack. The void shook.
"It's time. The tomb will collapse. The others may forget this truth. But you will carry it."
The Thunder Lord's final words echoed into eternity.
"Forge your path, Heaven Defier. Let none chain your storm."
He vanished.
The coffin sealed itself beside Shadow. The scrolls shimmered and vanished into his storage.
The ground fell away—
—and Shadow descended.
Into light.
Into silence.
Into the next chapter of his legend.