The room was thick with the heady scent of incense, its aromatic smoke curling and dancing in the dimly lit chamber. Master Chen Yunlong sat in the center, legs crossed, his body perfectly still, his breathing deep and rhythmic. His eyes were closed, his brow furrowed in intense concentration, as if he were attempting to connect with something beyond the physical world. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

The stillness of the room was deceptive, however. Within Master Chen’s mind, there was a storm brewing. His chest heaved with each breath, the weight of something dark and unseen pressing down on him. Sweat dripped steadily down his temples, soaking into his robes. He had been meditating for hours, trying to pierce through the fog of uncertainty that had enveloped him since that fateful battle in Yunxie Village.

And then, suddenly, like a flash of lightning in the darkness, it hit him—a vision so powerful and so terrifying that it almost knocked him out of his trance. His eyes shot open, wide with alarm, and a hoarse whisper escaped his lips.

"Oh my gods," he muttered, his voice trembling with a mixture of awe and dread.

Without wasting a moment, Master Chen leaped to his feet, the urgency of what he had just seen propelling him into action. His body, despite its age, moved with the fluidity of a man far younger, his decades of martial discipline allowing him to push past the fatigue. He threw open the door to his chamber, finding his old butler already waiting outside, as if sensing the gravity of the moment.

The butler, a man of few words, simply inclined his head and asked, "Master Chen, where do we go?"

"To Li Chen’s home... now," Master Chen Yunlong barked, his voice uncharacteristically sharp, laced with urgency. His hands trembled slightly as he thought of what he had just glimpsed—a darkness spreading, death looming on the horizon, and Li Chen at the center of it all.

The butler nodded swiftly and hurried away to prepare the car. Master Chen stood in the open doorway for a moment, his hand clenched into a fist at his side. He could still feel the weight of the vision pressing on his mind, the suffocating sense that time was running out. He closed his eyes, whispered a quick prayer, and then strode purposefully toward the exit.

"Hold on a bit longer, Li Chen," he whispered to himself as he marched down the hall. "I am coming."

---

Meanwhile, in a place consumed by absolute darkness, a figure stood alone. He felt weightless, suspended in the abyss, with no sense of time or space. There was no sound, no movement—just the endless void. His brow was furrowed, his eyes darting in all directions as he tried to make sense of where he was.

Li Chen.

His limbs felt heavy, like lead. It was as if the very air around him was thick, pressing down on him, forcing him to remain still. Every muscle in his body resisted movement, yet there was no pain—only an overwhelming sense of being trapped in a nightmare from which he could not wake. His breaths came in shallow gasps as he tried to push against the invisible force holding him in place.

"Where... am I?" His voice echoed through the void, but there was no answer. The silence was oppressive, bearing down on him with a weight that suffocated his thoughts.

The darkness around him shifted slightly, but still, there was nothing to see. It was as if he had been swallowed by the night itself, with no escape in sight. Panic surged in his chest. He had fought enemies far more terrifying than most could imagine, faced death countless times, but this... this was different. He felt powerless, as if something was keeping him from moving, from acting. It was as if his very existence was being held in suspension, waiting for something to happen.

His heart pounded in his chest, and for a long moment, all he could hear was the frantic beating of his own heart. Then, as if on cue, something shifted. A sense of relief slowly washed over him. The weight on his limbs began to ease, and his body, stiff and rigid moments before, started to move again. His breathing steadied, and with a cautious step, he began to walk forward.

The sensation was surreal, as though the darkness beneath his feet was solidifying just enough to support his weight. As he moved, the silence broke—a faint sound, distant and haunting, began to reach his ears. It was a scream, echoing through the void.

Li Chen froze.

The scream—desperate and filled with agony—cut through the emptiness like a knife. He turned toward it, his eyes narrowing as he tried to locate its source. But there was nothing. No one was there.

"Hello?" Li Chen called out, his voice shaky. "Who’s there?"

The only response was the sound of his own voice bouncing back at him, hollow and empty. But the scream came again, louder this time, more insistent. He couldn’t ignore it. His legs moved before his mind could catch up, carrying him deeper into the darkness, toward the sound. He walked faster, his heart pounding as the urgency of the scream intensified. But no matter how fast he moved, the scream always seemed just out of reach.

The darkness shifted again, and suddenly, a blinding light erupted in front of him. Li Chen raised his arm to shield his eyes from the brilliance, his heart racing as the light cut through the darkness like a blade. The light expanded, filling the space before him, and as his eyes adjusted, he realized it wasn’t just light.

It was a scene, like something out of a nightmare.

Before him, as though projected on a screen at a cinema, he saw the world in chaos. People were killing each other in the streets, their faces twisted with fear and rage. Blood stained the ground as riots erupted in every corner. Families turned against one another, the bonds of humanity shattered. Buildings crumbled under the weight of the violence, their ruins burning against the night sky.

Li Chen’s eyes widened in horror as the scene shifted again. Massive floods tore through cities, swallowing entire neighborhoods in their ferocious tides. Screams echoed through the air as people tried to outrun the water, only to be dragged down into its depths. Volcanoes erupted, spewing molten lava across the land, destroying everything in their path. And then, the worst of all—the beasts.

Grotesque, monstrous creatures roamed the ruins of the world, their massive forms covered in dark, slimy scales, their eyes burning with malevolence. They tore through what remained of the world’s cities, their claws slashing through buildings, their mouths filled with the cries of their victims. They were unlike anything Li Chen had ever seen—creatures not of this world, but of some twisted nightmare realm.

The vision played out before him, vivid and terrifying, as though it was happening right in front of him. He tried to move toward it, to stop the violence, to do *something*, but the screen-like image moved further and further away with each step he took.

His heart ached, the screams cutting through his heart like a sharp knife. He wanted to do something but it was like something was not allowing him to.

"No!" he shouted, his voice desperate. "Stop! I need to help them!"

He pushed forward, running now, his heart pounding as he tried to reach the chaos unfolding before him. But every time he got close, it slipped further out of reach. He could feel the ground shifting beneath him, pulling him back, dragging him away from the vision.

Li Chen’s breathing became ragged as he tried to push against the invisible force keeping him at bay. "Let me through!" he shouted again. "I need to help them!"

But the darkness around him only deepened, and the scene grew more chaotic. More death. More destruction. More hopelessness.

And still, the vision slipped further away.

He felt helpless—more helpless than he had ever felt in his life. All his strength, all his training, all his power meant nothing in this place. He was trapped, forced to watch as the world fell apart, unable to intervene. The light that had shown him the devastation flickered, but it remained distant, out of his grasp.

The screams of the dying echoed in his ears, the sight of the monsters tearing through what remained of humanity burned into his mind. He couldn’t save them. He couldn’t do anything.

And as the blinding light continued to fade, Li Chen’s voice broke in the silence. "Please... let me help them."

But the darkness didn’t answer.

It simply swallowed him whole. The silent felt like a mockery to him, like he was being shown what the future held and he will not be able to do anything about it.

He needed to find a way to help those people. He couldn’t just let them die right before his eyes.