The darkness faded like smoke drawn into lungs.

Light seeped through unseen cracks above, pale and slow, until it revealed an endless stone hall. The air was dry, heavy with the scent of age — dust, iron, and faint traces of ancient incense. The floor beneath their feet gleamed like polished onyx, reflecting each figure in distorted shimmer.

Shaurya opened his eyes first.

Then Lin Shu.

Then Elder Wan, Elder Feng Yu, Elder Liya.

Disciples followed, blinking, disoriented, their breathing shallow against the oppressive stillness.

The Sanatan Flame Sect had arrived.

"Where… are we?" Yan Chen muttered, scanning the vast space.

No echo answered him. The air swallowed sound.

Xiao Rui raised his hand, snapping his fingers once. The sharp click vanished, devoured by silence before it could bounce off the walls.

Lee Bie's eyes darted around. "An empty hall… but feels alive."

Shaurya exhaled slowly, straightening his robe. His voice was calm, steady.

"The Shadow Castle. We're inside."

The disciples exchanged quick looks, their confusion softening into focused alertness. They had learned to read that tone — no panic, only readiness.

The light above brightened, revealing carved pillars that stretched beyond sight. Each was etched with strange symbols, half-glowing, half-bleeding shadow. The floor curved slightly, as if the whole hall bent toward a single invisible center.

Elder Hua spoke first, her voice hushed.

"This place… it changes itself. The structure isn't fixed."

Shaurya nodded. "Stay close. Don't act rashly."

They moved as one, footsteps soft, echo-less. The hall's scale made them seem smaller than insects beneath a god's gaze. Their reflections trailed behind them on the mirror-like ground — distorted shadows that didn't move quite the same way they did.

Cheng Fang rubbed his arms. "Master, I swear the reflections are… smiling."

"Don't look at them," Elder Feng Yu said curtly. "Keep your eyes forward."

They walked for minutes, maybe hours — it was impossible to tell. The air neither cooled nor warmed; the light neither brightened nor dimmed. Every breath carried the same dry weight.

Then — a sound.

Low. Trembling.

The ground began to hum.

"Formation," Shaurya said sharply.

Lines of golden script flared beneath their feet, circling outward from where they stood. The hall itself shuddered as if waking from a long slumber. Pillars trembled. The floor cracked open with glowing seams.

"Everyone! Defensive stance!" Elder Wan commanded.

But the light turned red.

From beneath the floor, walls began to rise.

At first small slabs of stone — then thick monoliths, shooting upward in rapid succession, cutting through the air with thunderous force. The ground shook violently; sand and dust rained from above.

"What—?!"

"Everyone alert!" Elder Liya shouted.

The rising walls formed patterns, intersecting lines that twisted, bent, folded — a labyrinth building itself in real time. The once-open hall became a shifting puzzle of corridors, each passage twisting into another.

Lin Shu's eyes widened. "A maze… it's separating us!"

"Stay together!" Shaurya yelled.

But the walls kept climbing.

One surged from the floor between them. Shaurya turned immediately, lunging toward Lin Shu — but another wall erupted, slamming into place like a barrier forged from night itself.

"Lin Shu!" he shouted, striking the wall. It rang like metal — deeper, heavier than stone.

"Shaurya!" Her voice muffled behind it.

The last crack sealed. Silence returned.

The maze was complete.

Shaurya's breathing slowed. His gaze sharpened.

The wall before him pulsed faintly with crimson veins, and strange runes crawled across its surface like moving insects. He extended his hand, fingers brushing the surface — cold, too cold, like touching death itself.

When he drew back, faint mist curled from his fingertips.

He took one step back, then slammed his palm forward, qi surging. Golden light burst outward.

But before the blow could land, spikes erupted from the wall — long, black, gleaming, moving faster than sound.

Shaurya stopped mid-strike, eyes narrowing. The spike tips hovered inches from his knuckles, he quickly jumps backward.

The spikes were warning.

He lowered his arm. "Interesting," he muttered.

The maze wasn't just architecture.

It responded.

Inside the Maze

The disciples scattered across different passages.

Yan Chen stood with Xiao Rui and Lee Bie, surrounded by twisting walls etched with runes that pulsed like veins.

"This place's qi flow is distorted," Yan Chen said, sensing the air.

"No kidding," Xiao Rui muttered. "Even the air's whispering my name. Creepy."

Lee Bie grinned despite himself. "It probably just likes your face."

Their small exchange broke tension for a moment, but silence crept back quickly. They moved carefully, weapons ready.

Farther away, Cheng Fang and Xu Ran found themselves inside a narrow corridor with ceiling too low for full swings.

"Guess this maze doesn't like tall people," Cheng Fang muttered.

Xu Ran gave him a faint look. "You can joke even here?"

He shrugged, forcing a grin. "That's how I stop shaking."

Lu Fang and Jun Hua's passage was darker, lined with strange silver dust that shimmered when touched.

Jun Hua whispered, "This dust… it's alive."

Lu Fang's eyes hardened. "Don't touch anything unless I say."

Elsewhere, Elder Wan and Elder Liya examined the runes. He pressed his fingers to them, feeling their faint rhythm. "Blood seals," he murmured. "They feed on fear."

Liya glanced sideways. "Then they'll starve quickly."

Even Elder Feng Yu's calm cracked slightly as he realized he is unable to sense or hear anyone. "It's blocking more than energy… it's eating it."

Shaurya's Pursuit.

Shaurya closed his eyes, centering himself. His voice dropped to a whisper.

"Calm… find the pulse."

He gathered his qi inward, letting it circulate through every meridian, refining until golden light glowed faintly beneath his skin. The mark on his forehead shimmered, and from within — a faint ring spread outward, unseen by normal sight.

His divine sense unfurled.

The moment it touched the walls, resistance slammed against it like cold steel. He pushed harder, teeth gritting, forcing his will through.

One by one, his senses pierced the barriers — the maze flickered before his inner sight: endless corridors, twisting, shifting, but connected.

He saw flickers — his people scattered, alive, fighting panic.

He searched again.

Then — her.

Lin Shu.

Her aura, familiar, bright and fierce, flickered just beyond three walls north-east. He exhaled, a small smile forming.

"Found you."

He leapt, using Aerial Steps, moving faster than sight. The corridors blurred past; each wall he met redirected him, forcing sharper turns. The maze reacted to his motion — new paths forming, old ones closing.

He kept moving.

Finally, he reached the barrier separating them.

He could feel her aura, faint through the wall — a heartbeat apart.

Shaurya drew in a deep breath, golden light swirling around his right arm. The mark on his forehead ignited.

He struck.

The first blow cracked the surface — spider-web lines glowing white.

Spikes erupted instantly.

He dodged sideways, narrowly avoiding impalement.

"Persistent, aren't you," he muttered, stepping back.

Then he stepped forward again.

He roared — a short, low sound, more force of spirit than throat.

Golden qi burst outward, spiraling down his arm into his fist.

He struck again.

And again.

Each impact echoed like thunder through the maze.

Cracks spread wider.

The spikes broke.

The runes screamed.

Then, with one final punch —

the wall shattered.

Stone exploded outward in a rain of glowing fragments. Dust filled the air. Through the settling debris, a slender silhouette appeared.

Lin Shu.

She stood frozen, eyes wide, hand half-raised in shock as shards of wall fell around her like snow.

Shaurya lowered his bleeding fist, breathing slow. The blood dripped onto the floor, crimson against gold light.

When the dust cleared, he lifted his gaze to her.

Their eyes met.

A faint, familiar smile curved his lips.

"Found you."

Lin Shu's composure broke. She ran forward, throwing herself into his arms. The impact was firm, desperate — the kind that carried all the words neither had time to say.

She pulled back slightly, grabbing his wrist. Her eyes flicked to the blood staining his knuckles.

"You—! Why do you always break things with your hands?"

Shaurya chuckled softly. "Because it works."

Her glare softened; a small laugh escaped her despite the fear still trembling in her chest.

"You're impossible."

"Perhaps," he said, smile faint but warm. "But now we find the others."

The Maze Shifts

Unseen by them, the labyrinth continued to move.

Walls slid silently, shifting positions like pieces of an enormous board. Pathways changed, sealing some, opening others.

In one corridor, Xiao Lian placed her palm against a wall and froze.

"It's breathing," she whispered.

Muo Qian and Su Quan stood behind her, both tense.

Elder Hua's voice echoed faintly from somewhere distant:

"Everyone—be cautious. The maze isn't just stone. It's testing our will."

The words faded as walls moved again, separating even the elders from each other.

The air grew colder. The runes dimmed. From somewhere deep within the maze came a low, resonant growl — not of metal, not of wind.

Something else was alive in there.

Shaurya felt it too. His gaze lifted toward the unseen ceiling.

"Whatever built this place," he murmured, "is watching."

Lin Shu's grip on his arm tightened.

"Then we move faster."

They stepped forward into the shifting dark, their figures swallowed by the moving shadows.

---

Cliffhanger

Far below the maze, deep within the castle's core, ancient gears turned.

Chains shifted.

Eyes opened inside the stone — countless eyes.

A whisper echoed through the corridors like wind crawling under skin.

> "Those who enter… feed the Shadow."

The maze trembled once more.

And somewhere ahead of Shaurya and Lin Shu — the floor began to split open, revealing a hollow pit of faint, blue fire.

To Be Continued…

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