Deep within the lowest levels of the Ironcloud Sect, where even rats refused to nest, there lay a forgotten hall.
Once a place of spirit refinement, now it was a ruin sealed by dust, overgrown with creeping moss and fungal decay. Its spirit arrays had long since collapsed. Its runes were chipped and unreadable. But the air—the air still remembered blood.
And blood remembers everything.
---
Yun Mu discovered the place by accident.
Or perhaps, by fate.
It began with a map—half-burned, found within the dead disciple's pouch during the post-raid looting weeks ago. He had studied it in secret, piecing the remaining parts together, decoding the glyphs with stolen fragments of formation texts.
What he found was strange.
A small structure labeled only as "Soul Engraving Annex - Black Line Access".
It wasn't marked on any current sect maps.
Not even the forbidden zones.
So he searched.
And after four days of combing through tunnels beneath the alchemy labs, he found it.
A sealed stone door carved into the rock face, behind a collapsed storage hall. No spiritual signature. No protective formation.
Only a bone handprint etched into the surface.
---
Yun Mu placed his palm against it.
Nothing happened at first.
Then his Hollow Qi pulsed—and the bones of his hand shifted subtly, reacting to something.
The seal cracked.
And the door opened.
---
Inside, the hall stretched into shadow—rows of broken stone thrones lined the walls, each carved with names in a dead language. Spirit ashes lay in heaps, disturbed only by the scuttling of blind insects.
At the far end of the hall, a slab of black jade hovered silently above a pit of darkness.
Yun Mu stepped closer.
And the whisper began.
Not a voice.
A pressure. A sensation. Like an old man exhaling into his ear.
He saw visions—not with his eyes, but in the inner world of his Hollow Seed.
A battlefield made of bones.
Spirits howling.
And then a single phrase etched itself into his thoughts:
> The dead do not rest.
The spirit is a chain.
Break it, and you are free.
---
When he reached out to the black jade slab, it responded with hunger.
It pulled at him.
Not physically—but spiritually.
And his Hollow Seed pulsed with excitement.
It wanted this.
Yun Mu gritted his teeth.
And allowed the jade to take his spiritual fingerprint.
Pain lanced through his soul. Memories flashed—his mother screaming, the mine collapsing, Chen Bo's dying eyes.
Then—
Silence.
The jade glowed. And within it, words appeared.
> Forbidden Soul Technique Acquired
[Nameless Rebirth Codex: Fragment 1 - Bone Sigil Inscripture]
Description: Craft a Bone Sigil using the essence of a slain spirit. Binds the remnants of their consciousness into a token that can temporarily transfer skills, reflexes, or fragmented memories.
> Warning: Soul backlash risk 87%. Mental instability likely.
Usage not sanctioned by Ironcloud Sect.
---
Yun Mu's hands trembled as he accepted the fragment into his core.
He knew what this was.
Soul Binding.
Banned since the First Spirit War.
And yet… perfectly suited to Hollow Cultivation.
For what is a hollow spirit, if not a vessel waiting to be filled?
---
The next few weeks passed in shadows.
Yun Mu began experimenting.
He scavenged broken talismans from the disposal pits. Collected spirit remnants from freshly killed beasts. Practiced sigil carving in secret, using bone shards from his hidden stash.
Most failed.
Some exploded.
But on the seventh attempt—
Success.
> [Bone Sigil Created: Feral Snap Reflex]
Source: Wild Fang Wolf, Rank-1
Effect: Temporarily boosts bite reflexes and jaw strength beyond human limits. Duration: 6 seconds.
He wore the sigil around his neck.
And in the silence of night, he tested it—by shattering a stone slab with his bare teeth.
It worked.
Terrifyingly so.
---
But Yun Mu knew fragments weren't enough.
He needed something more. Something that could reshape him from the inside.
The jade slab had hinted at it:
> Slay a spirit with hatred. Bind it before it passes. Feed it to the seed.
Only then would the Nameless Codex evolve.
Only then would he gain his first True Hollow Form.
---
Opportunity arrived as it always did—in blood.
Three outer disciples were ambushed by rogue beast tamers near the forest border. One escaped. Two died.
One corpse was retrieved. Barely intact.
A female disciple. Spirit still lingering. Eyes wide open.
Hatred thick in the air.
The body was dumped in the inner incinerator… and Yun Mu was sent to dispose of it.
Perfect.
---
He carved the sigil into her sternum, murmuring the incantation from the Codex. Her soul screamed—but the Hollow Seed reached for it, coiling with hunger.
It drank.
> [Soul Devour Initiated]
Target: Meng Yuxin, Outer Disciple
Spirit Grade: Medium
Residual Talent: Dual-Spirit Sense / Fire Affinity
> [Bone Sigil Created: Dual Flame Memory Shard]
Effect: Temporarily gain flicker-step evasion and heightened spiritual sensitivity. Duration: 12 seconds.
> Warning: Instability risk: 22%. Prolonged use causes personality bleed.
Yun Mu tied the sigil to a thread and wrapped it around his left wrist.
He said no prayer.
---
That night, in the ruins of the Soul Annex, he sat beneath the black jade slab once more.
And for the first time, the slab bowed slightly toward him.
As if acknowledging him.
Recognizing him.
The Hollow Seed in his core bloomed like ink spilled in water.
And from its center, a third blade began to form.
This one curved like a fang.
---