In a high-level martial arts game, a wife is given to you at the start.

The ancestral record continues:

"However, the mark is incomplete. When the Candle Master fell, the mark split into three: one flowed through the heavens with the Candle Master's bloodline; the second was sealed in the forbidden area at the bottom of the palace to suppress the slumber of the pupil; and the third is hidden somewhere, awaiting a destined person. Only when the three marks are reunited can the Candle Master's lock be unlocked, suppressing the pupil for eternity."

It was divided into three.

Lin Qiye stared at the line of words and slowly clenched his fist.

One of them flowed through the heavens along with his bloodline—that part is the emblem on his palm.

Secondly, it was sealed in the forbidden area at the bottom of the palace—that part was what the vertical pupil was looking at.

Thirdly, it is hidden somewhere—where is it hidden?

He closed the record, shut his eyes, and went over his ancestor's words in his mind. Bloodline, forbidden land, a certain place... He suddenly remembered something—the crystal passed down in the Gu family, which Gu Ruolan had mentioned was brought out of the Canggu Mountains by the Gu family's ancestor. And the Canggu Mountains were precisely where his bloodline first took root.

"What is the relationship between the Gu family's crystal and this crystal?" he asked Gu Ruolan.

Gu Ruolan thought for a moment: "Our ancestor only said that the crystal was 'part of a key.' But he didn't specify what kind of lock it could open."

"Part of the key."

Lin Qiye looked down at the dark gold crystal he had brought from Black Wind Valley.

The void in the chest of the candle's remains fits perfectly with this crystal. And the crystal from the Gu family shares the same origin as this one.

Two keys.

He suddenly had a premonition—that the third seal, "hidden somewhere," might be on the land beneath his feet, at one of the seven sealing points, or perhaps on one of the roads he had traveled along.

He didn't go looking for it immediately.

He took the scroll back to the Holy City and did something even more important first—to find out exactly what the vertical pupil wanted.

That night, he sneaked into the forbidden area again.

This time, he didn't bring any weapons, only the crystal.

The stone chamber was still the same stone chamber, and the skeleton was still the same skeleton. The nine runic stone pillars remained dim, as if they had never been lit. But as soon as Lin Qiye stepped into the stone chamber, the emblem on his palm suddenly burned—the fluorescent blue pattern, as if activated by something, was gently pulling towards the empty space on the skeleton's chest.

He took out the crystal, held it in his hand, and slowly walked towards the stone platform.

As he approached, the fluorescent blue light in the empty space in the skeleton's chest lit up again. A vertical pupil slowly emerged, hovering above the empty space, quietly watching him.

This time, it didn't go out.

It hovered, something slowly flowing deep within its pupils, as if recognizing or confirming something.

Lin Qiye stood in front of the stone platform, meeting the gaze of that vertical pupil.

He spoke up: "You want me to put the crystal back?"

The vertical pupil did not answer—but it slowly turned, as if nodding.

What will happen after we put it back?

The vertical pupils fell silent.

Then, a faint, ancient voice, seemingly transcending countless ages, echoed in his mind. The voice spoke only two words:

"wake up."

Lin Qiye held the crystal, stood in front of the stone platform, and remained silent for a long time.

wake up.

The candle is about to wake up.

Or rather—that vertical pupil is about to awaken.

He looked down at the emblem on his palm, then at the crystal in his pocket, and remained silent for a long time.

He didn't put it back immediately.

He turned and walked out of the forbidden area.

It was late when he returned to Qing Shi Lane. Luo Sheng was still awake, waiting for him under the lamp. Seeing him return, she didn't ask about the forbidden area, but simply asked, "Any results?"

"Yes," Lin Qiye said, "but there's still one step missing."

He sat down, unfolded the scroll, and pointed to the last line: "Only when the three seals are united can the Candle Lord's Lock be reopened. I have two seals—the Bloodline Imprint and this crystal. The third seal, I don't know where it's hidden."

Luo Sheng looked at it for a while, then suddenly said, "You said that the Canggu Mountains were originally the place where Zhu's blood dripped."

"Um."

"Could what he left behind be hidden in the very place where his bloodline first took root?"

Lin Qiye's eyes flickered slightly.

Canggu Mountain Range.

He has been gone for a long time. But in that mountain range, the ruins of the Bone Tower still remain, the remains of the altar still remain—and, there is the "Eye of Godfall" that he had seen deep within the Bone Tower and countless times in the illusions of the candle.

He suddenly understood.

The third seal may be hidden in the Canggu Mountains.

He put away his notes, stood up, and said, "I'm going on a long trip."

Luo Sheng didn't ask any further questions, simply nodding: "Come back soon."

He pushed open the door and went out.

The night was deep. He glanced back at the lamp in the courtyard, then strode towards the city gate.

He has arrived at the Canggu Mountains.

The Canggu Mountains are far from the Holy City.

He traveled day and night, bypassing the outskirts of Black Wind Valley and Dry Bone Ridge, and only on the evening of the third day did he see the familiar outline of the gray-white mountain range.

The mountains remain unchanged—earth covered in ashes, weathered giant skeletons, and grayish-white fluff drifting in the sky like an endless snowfall. When he fled here with his family, this place was the source of all the calamities; now, returning, only a desolate silence remains.

He went to the ruins of the Bone Tower first.

The bone tower had mostly collapsed, leaving only a charred base standing amidst the rubble, like a burnt-out toothpick. The heart deep within the bone tower, the altars, and all the things buried underground had long since fallen silent with the tower's collapse.

He circled the base of the tower without stopping, then turned and went to the altar ruins.

The altar was located in a valley east of the Bone Tower. Everything he, Xun, and Mo Yuan had experienced here seemed to be etched on the stone walls. The base of the altar was still there, but the runes had long since faded, and rainwater had accumulated in the depressions, reflecting the grayish-white light of the sky.

He squatted in front of the altar base, closed his eyes, and let his senses spread out.

Bone towers, altars, the depths of mountains... his senses swept across every inch of land, searching for the vibrations that resonated with the emblem on his palm.

The third place received a response.

Deep within the mountains, in a place he had never been before—beneath the ash layer—lies a rock completely different from its surroundings. Its surface is smooth, gleaming with a very faint, dark golden sheen, like a sleeping amber amidst the grayish-white ash heap.

He walked over, squatted down, and peeled back the layer of ashes.

The rock was only the size of a millstone, its surface engraved with runes—runes he had seen before, on the stone pillars of the forbidden area, in the records of the Gu family ancestors, and on the emblem on his palm. In the center of the runes was a fist-sized dark gold crystal.

It is almost identical to the one in Blackwind Valley.

The moment he reached out and touched the crystal, the fluorescent blue pattern on his palm emblem suddenly lit up—like two keys finally meeting, resonating silently.

The moment he got his hands on the crystal, a message flooded into his mind.