The veil of twilight blanketed the Divine Realms as Chen stood at the edge of the ethereal rift, his gaze fixed on the fortress suspended between fractured planes of existence. The stronghold belonged to the Verdant Jade Court—a minor divine faction, but one suspected of harboring relics from the Time Before Severance. Now, it was their target.
Lanmei adjusted the celestial sash around her waist, blades humming with subtle divine resonance. "Still time to change the plan, Chen," she murmured, though her voice was steady. "We could storm the gates."
Chen smirked. "And lose the advantage of surprise? No. We go in quiet. We test the Soulflame Unison."
Behind them, Ye Yue emerged from the mist, cloaked in threads of moonlight. Her eyes shimmered with cautious concern. "If this works… we'll be more than bonded. We'll be synchronized."
Chen reached for their hands, linking fingers with each of them. The warmth of their bond pulsed in unison—three hearts, one flame. Their breath synchronized. A subtle glow wrapped around them, hiding them from divine senses.
"Let's begin."
They slipped into the Verdant Court's outer perimeter like whispers carried on starlight. Shadows bent around them. Divine sentries remained unaware. Chen took point, senses enhanced by the Unison. Every flicker of power, every pulse of divine qi across the structure, painted a map in his mind.
They moved through the sanctum—vaulted halls of jade light and memory crystal. Ye Yue's divine insight traced hidden wards, unraveling them with a soft murmur. Lanmei moved with lethal grace, her blades never drawn but always ready.
But then—
A ripple.
Something moved.
Not divine… not entirely.
Chen's breath caught. A fragment of the Old Will—sealed deep beneath the temple—shuddered. It sensed him.
He glanced at Ye Yue, who was already reaching toward her lunar mark. "It's tied to you," she whispered, voice tight. "It's reacting to the Soulflame."
"Seal it," Lanmei urged. "Before it alerts the others."
But Chen stepped forward instead. The strange essence pulled at him. Not malicious, but curious—recognizing something within him. He knelt, palm brushing the seal. The sigils flared, not in rejection, but welcome.
"Bearer of the Unison Flame… the path diverges."
The seal opened.
Inside: a seed. Glowing with ancient divine energy—older than the Courts themselves.
Ye Yue and Lanmei gasped, both instinctively drawing closer.
"This… this was part of the original pact of unity," Ye Yue whispered. "Before the Courts fractured. Before even the Trials."
Lanmei touched it and staggered. "It's reacting to our bond… It wants us to remember. To become more."
Chen closed his fingers around it.
A surge of power flooded through all three—synchronized. For a moment, they could hear one another's thoughts. Feel one another's pain. Joy. Desire. Past and future, woven like silk into a single moment.
They had completed the Soulflame Unison.
But they had also awakened something more.
Outside the sanctum, divine alarms triggered far too late.
When Chen, Ye Yue, and Lanmei emerged into the night air, their enemies were already scrambling. The sky cracked open with divine fire—lightning spears and judgment chants echoing across the firmament.
Chen didn't retreat.
He turned toward the army forming in the distance and reached for his bonded.
"Together."
Their forms shimmered.
Soulflame Unison activated.
He became flame. Lanmei, blade. Ye Yue, moonlight. And together, they carved a path through divine resistance—surgical, unstoppable.
Far away, in the highest chambers of the Celestial Assembly, the divine rulers watched in stunned silence.
"The boy isn't just powerful," the Frost Court's Arbiter whispered. "He's rewriting the laws of cultivation itself."
"He awakened something ancient," the Azure Sea's Matriarch murmured, fingers trembling.
"And now," growled the Matriarch of the Crimson Flame Court, "he's coming for all of us."