The climb after the Fourth Veil felt endless.
Each step upward dragged time itself heavier across their shoulders. The mountain no longer felt like stone; it felt like memory made solid—every ridge a regret, every crack a moment they should have done differently.
Lin Feng walked in front again, throat still raw, voice reduced to painful whispers even through the Refrain of Unbroken Voice. The silver vein under his eye pulsed unevenly—sometimes bright with clarity, sometimes dim with doubt.
Yue Li stayed close—her hand brushing his back every few steps, as though afraid he might vanish if she looked away too long.
Xiao Qing clung to Yue Li's sleeve—small steps determined, but her humming had grown quieter, more fragile, like a candle flame in strong wind.
They reached a wide plateau—flat, unnaturally smooth, ringed by jagged obsidian teeth that leaned inward like a closing jaw.
In the center stood a single, massive hourglass.
Black sand ran upward instead of down.
The grains moved in perfect reverse—falling from bottom to top, defying gravity, defying sense.
The Fifth Veil: Reversed Time.
Lin Feng felt it the instant his boot touched the smooth stone.
A pull backward—not physical, but existential.
His heartbeat stuttered—then reversed for one terrifying instant.
Blood in his veins flowed the wrong way.
Memories flickered in reverse:
Scholar Wei smiling as the letter finished itself.
Little Plum tying the ribbon around a completed sword.
His mother breathing again—poison retreating into the vial Zhu held.
The blade rising from his neck instead of falling.
The truck reversing away from his broken body on Earth.
Rain falling upward into clouds.
Then snapped forward again.
Pain exploded behind his eyes.
He dropped to one knee—hand pressed to his chest—feeling his heart struggle to remember which direction to beat.
Yue Li staggered beside him—sword clattering.
Xiao Qing cried out—small body curling as though years were being unwound from her bones.
The system panel appeared—cold, clinical, merciless.
[Sovereign's Resentment – Mandatory Progression Quest Issued]
[Quest: "Walk Against the Current"]
[Objective: Cross the Fifth Veil to the far side. Time flows backward within the field. Wounds reopen, memories reverse, qi cycles invert. You must manually force your qi meridians to cycle **forward** against the reversal while protecting your allies from full memory collapse. Reach the exit before the veil rewinds your body to a pre-regression state (permanent loss of system access and Sovereign's Remnant Blood).]
[Reward: Permanent +50% resistance to temporal / causality manipulation | Unlock "Refrain of Forward Anchor" (Level 1) – You can now anchor a single moment in time for yourself or an ally, preventing reversal of wounds, memories, or qi state for up to 60 seconds (cooldown 1 hour).]
[Failure Condition: Any member reaches pre-regression state → full loss of current progress & regression reset (death of present self)]
[Time Limit: Veil peak saturation in 9 minutes]
[Special Condition: You cannot heal or protect allies with external qi. Any attempt reverses the healing ×10 into damage.]
Lin Feng read it—vision blurring as his own memories flickered backward and forward.
He saw himself as the powerless Earth programmer again—rain falling upward—then snapped back to the bleeding boy on the execution platform.
He looked at Yue Li.
She was staring at her own hands—watching a fresh sword cut from the Second Veil slowly close, then reopen, then close again in agonizing loop.
Xiao Qing's small face was pale—eyes wide with terror as she relived her father's death backward: the Rift Hound retreating, her father standing again, then dying once more.
Lin Feng forced himself upright.
He reached for them both—pulling Yue Li's hand to his chest, lifting Xiao Qing against his shoulder.
He couldn't speak clearly.
But he projected through qi—voice raw, trembling, but clear inside their minds:
*One step.
Then another.
We walk forward.
Even if time wants us back.*
He took the first step.
Pain detonated—meridians inverting, qi flowing the wrong way.
He forced it—brutal cycle—pushing forward against the reversal.
Yue Li matched him—her own qi fighting to stay in the present.
Xiao Qing clung tighter—small body shaking as years tried to unwind from her.
They walked.
One agonizing step at a time.
Wounds reopened—closed—reopened.
Memories flickered—his mother alive, then dead, then alive.
Yue Li dying in his arms, then standing beside him, then dying again.
Xiao Qing's father turning away from the gate—then walking into it—then turning away.
Lin Feng sang.
Silent.
Through qi alone.
The lullaby—forward, stubborn, refusing to reverse.
*Little phoenix… fly beyond the storm…*
Each note anchored the present—just enough.
The hourglass in the center shuddered.
Sand slowed—hesitated—then resumed its impossible upward fall.
They reached the far edge.
Lin Feng fell first—dragging Yue Li and Xiao Qing with him over the lip.
Time snapped forward again—normal, cruel, real.
They lay in a heap—gasping, bleeding, alive.
The system chimed—quiet, almost reluctant.
[Ding! Quest "Walk Against the Current" – Completed at extreme cost]
[Reward Granted:]
[Permanent +50% resistance to temporal/causality manipulation]
[Refrain of Forward Anchor – Level 1 Unlocked]
[Dominion Points +1200 | Current total: 4338]
[Status Update: Severe meridian inversion trauma. Full qi recovery estimated 10 days. Temporary 30% reduction in all physical stats.]
Lin Feng rolled onto his back—staring at the narrowing sky.
Blood trickled from his mouth.
He reached out—found Yue Li's hand—found Xiao Qing's.
His voice—barely a whisper:
"We're… still… moving forward."
Yue Li squeezed his hand—tears cutting tracks through dust and blood on her face.
"Always."
Xiao Qing's small fingers curled around his.
"Even when time wants us back."
Two veils remained.
The Singing Terrace waited—closer now, louder now, calling with every note they had refused to surrender.
And the serpent's voice—faint, furious, almost afraid—whispered once more from the cliffs above:
**"You cannot outrun time forever, singer."**
Lin Feng closed his eyes.
A single, cracked note slipped from his throat—forward, defiant, unbroken.
*Watch me.*
**To be continued...**