Elder Han did not summon anyone.
He simply stopped writing.
The brush hovered above the ledger, ink trembling at the tip, refusing to fall. This had happened before—rarely—but never twice for the same name.
Shen Yuan.
Three characters marked beneath it now.
Endures.
Changes.
Distorts.
Elder Han closed the book.
He stood and walked to the window carved into the mountain wall. From here, Azure Spine Hall looked eternal—terraces layered like the spine of some vast stone beast, disciples moving along its back unaware of the thing they lived upon.
"Distortion without expansion," he murmured. "Unstable… yet quiet."
That was the problem.
A junior elder appeared at the doorway, bowing. "Outer Hall reports increased irregularities. Minor. But consistent."
"List them," Elder Han said.
"Spirit-beasts avoiding certain routes. Ruin fragments failing to activate. One mystery realm refused entry entirely—collapsed inward."
Elder Han's eyes narrowed. "Location?"
The junior elder hesitated. "…near the western archive access."
Of course.
Elder Han dismissed him and returned to the ledger. He flipped several pages back—past promotions, past demotions, past deaths.
To a section written in a different hand.
Names without ranks. Without outcomes.
Variables.
He added one more mark beside Shen Yuan's name.
Not a character.
A symbol.
A hollow square, bisected diagonally.
Far below, in the Ruin Archives, the old man felt it instantly.
He stiffened, then laughed softly.
"So you noticed too," he muttered. "Took you long enough."
He reached beneath the floor and drew out a sealed slate, its surface etched with a single sentence in a language no longer spoken:
"When categorization fails, observe until it doesn't."
The slate pulsed once—then went dark.
Elsewhere—far, far beyond Azure Spine Hall—the world thinned.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
In a place where stars were reference points rather than lights, something unfolded a structure made of probability and intent.
No eyes.
No emotion.
Only evaluation.
Deviation Confirmed
Type: Non-hostile / Non-compliant
Origin: Native
Classification: Unresolved
Recommended Action: Containment via Environmental Pressure
A ripple passed through layered realities.
Not an attack.
A narrowing.
Paths that once branched now converged. Coincidences aligned too neatly. Encounters became unavoidable.
Back in the academy, Shen Yuan paused mid-step.
He felt it—not as danger, but as weight.
Like the world had leaned closer.
A Tier Two disciple rounded a corner too quickly and collided with him.
"Watch where—" the man snapped, then stopped.
His expression flickered—confusion, irritation, hesitation.
He stepped back instead of forward.
"…Sorry," he muttered, and walked away faster than necessary.
Shen Yuan stood still for a moment.
Then continued on.
He did not know that containment had begun.
He only knew that things were becoming… inevitable.
Above him, the mountain held its breath.
Beyond it, monsters stirred.
And far past even that—something alien adjusted its pressure once more, satisfied not with control…
…but with seeing what broke first.