The Judgment Circle blazed with spectral flame, the audience hushed by the vision they had just witnessed—Liu Shen, in his past life as the Crimson Serpent Sovereign, betrayed in the heart of war.
One elder murmured, "That… that was no illusion."
Another nodded grimly. "Memory jade like that can't be forged—not with a soul imprint that strong."
But still, six elders remained silent, bound by caution or loyalty.
Liu Shen knew the tide hadn't yet turned.
> "They need more than visions," he thought.
"They need voices. They need truths with names."
---
A Forgotten Witness
Yun Rou stepped forward from the waiting circle, holding a black-gold incense stick—its surface etched in the language of ancient soul rites.
Liu Shen took it, then knelt within the ring's center.
He stabbed the incense into the ritual plate and poured in his demonic essence.
A wind stirred.
The seal shimmered.
> "Who do you summon?" came the echo of the flame.
> "She who bore the burden of silence," Liu Shen intoned, voice tight with old pain.
"I call… Elder Jian Qiaoling."
Gasps broke out across the arena.
> "Impossible!"
> "She's been dead for over a hundred years!"
But the fire rose higher, and from it came a soft glow—a spectral silhouette wrapped in silver robes.
Jian Qiaoling, once a record keeper and flame librarian of the inner court, appeared with sadness in her eyes.
> "Liu Shen…" she said, her voice hauntingly clear. "You truly returned."
> "You tried to stop it," he said.
She nodded. "I was too weak. But I wrote everything. Hid the truth inside the sealed scrolls beneath the Hollow Vault."
She turned toward the judging elders.
> "Elder Fei silenced us. Threatened our sect's soul keepers. I watched him alter the historical tablets—erase Liu Shen's name from the walls of Sovereign Flame."
The fire glowed bright red.
Confirmed.
Another elder nodded solemnly.
> "Four."
---
The Silent Flame Widow
As the apparition faded, another figure emerged from the shadows near the platform—tall, wrapped in ghostly gray flame.
The Silent Flame Widow, an assassin whose allegiance had long been questioned by the inner sect.
She bowed before the council, her face now revealed.
> "I was one of Elder Fei's shadows," she said coldly.
Gasps rose again.
> "A soul-bound servant… until he broke the bond and tried to erase me."
She tossed a scroll at their feet—black wax, sealed in sovereign-grade bindings.
> "This is his list of soul trades. Hidden beneath his alchemy labs. 72 names."
The scroll cracked open, and the flames howled.
Twelve elders gasped. Among the names: inner disciples, rogue sect lords, even a lesser sovereign from the Northern Abyss Sect.
The fire rose again.
Confirmed.
A fifth elder bowed their head.
> "I cannot deny this any longer."
---
The Beginning of Collapse
Fei Liansheng trembled, the seals around him beginning to crack—not because they weakened, but because his own flame was unraveling from within.
He looked around. No allies spoke for him. Even those who once smiled beside him had turned away.
And then Liu Shen spoke again.
> "Do not think this ends with you."
> "You are not the only rot hidden in the golden halls."
He turned to the remaining elders.
> "But you… you were the first crack."
Six confirmations.
Only one more was needed for judgment to be passed.
The air grew tense.
The flames quieted, as if waiting.