The ruins of Jade Wind Hall lay silent.
The black flame had vanished.
So had the seal.
But in Liu Shen's soul… a storm brewed.
Twin fires—serpent crimson and abyssal black—coiled within his Demon Core, burning in perfect, unnatural harmony.
Liu Shen opened his eyes.
For a moment, the world fractured.
He saw it—not the present, but a memory not his own.
Or perhaps... buried so deep even his past life had forgotten.
---
A Crownless Throne
Stone walls slick with blood.
A vast hall filled with kneeling sovereigns.
At the center, a throne of broken starlight.
And on that throne… himself.
But not as Liu Shen.
As Sovereign Liu Ye, king of the Twelve Demon Realms.
He stood victorious—until the door opened.
And six figures entered.
Each cloaked in divine flame.
Each wearing the sigil of the Heavenly Pact.
But it was the seventh that made Liu Shen's soul scream.
> "You…"
A man with calm eyes. A slight smile.
A hand raised in greeting.
The one who drove the blade through Liu Ye's spine.
> "My brother," he had said back then.
"This is mercy."
---
Back in the Present
Liu Shen staggered.
Yu Meixing caught him by the shoulder, alarmed.
> "What did you see?"
He said nothing for a moment.
Then:
> "I know who betrayed me."
His hand clenched.
> "He was the first I trusted. The one I raised. The one I trained to rule after me…"
> "Jian Xu."
Yu Meixing froze.
> "The current Grand Priest of the Heaven's Will Temple…?"
He nodded slowly.
> "He was once my disciple. My shadow… My blade."
His voice lowered.
> "And he was the knife that killed me."
---
The Pact's Curse
Within Liu Shen's soul, the Abyssal Mark pulsed.
Qin Wuhen's voice echoed faintly, a lingering gift.
> "The knife in your back will always have a name you once cherished."
> "And Heaven will always raise it with a smile."
Liu Shen exhaled slowly.
Then turned to Yu Meixing.
> "We're done cleansing the inner rot."
> "Now we move outward."
She frowned.
> "To where?"
> "To the Border Sect Alliance. That's where Jian Xu's agents first embedded the Heaven's Pact within the outer courts."
> "It's time to burn their roots."
---
Meanwhile: In the Celestial Temple
Far above the mortal realms, Jian Xu sat in quiet meditation before a waterfall of starlight.
His eyes opened slowly.
> "So… my former master remembers."
He turned to an acolyte behind him.
> "Send word to the Inheritor's Circle. Initiate Protocol: Eclipse."
> "And prepare the Envoys of Silence."
He gazed down toward the world below.
> "Liu Shen, if you walk the path of kings again... I will finish what I started."