Night had fallen heavy over Azure Blossom Peak.
The wind moved like water, threading through the trees and whispering against the jade tiles of the sect roofs. Lanterns flickered one by one, dimming under the restless pulse of unseen energy.
Inside the recovery hall, Li Xian sat cross-legged in silence. His breathing was even, but the air around him was not. Sparks of pale lightning crawled over his skin, vanishing before they could form arcs. He tried to center his mind—yet every time he reached stillness, another pulse rose from within, deep and low, like the echo of a second heartbeat.
You called me, a voice murmured inside his thoughts.
He opened his eyes sharply. Nothing. Only the faint hum of the barrier seals carved into the floor.
He pressed his palm against his chest. The pulse answered him—soft, deliberate. A sensation both foreign and familiar. It felt like standing before a mirror that reflected someone else's face.
The voice came again, quieter now, almost gentle. You used my power to seal the sky. The debt remains.
Li Xian's breath hitched. He remembered Tianxu's silver eyes, the way they had looked through him rather than at him.
"What are you?" he whispered.
A faint chuckle rippled through his consciousness. You already know. You just haven't remembered.
The lantern beside him burst, scattering light across the walls.
The door slid open.
Su Yao stood there, a silhouette against the moonlight, robes flowing around her like mist. Her presence steadied the room—the chaos in the air dimmed, the whisper retreated.
She crossed to him, eyes sharp with worry. "Your qi is unstable again."
"It's not my qi," he said. "It's him."
She knelt beside him. "Tianxu."
Li Xian nodded once. "He's inside me. I can hear him—feel him. Every time I breathe, he echoes it."
Su Yao reached out and placed her hand over his heart. The contact was light, but the effect immediate—his chaotic aura softened, threads of gold weaving through the storm. Their cores still resonated, bound from the tribulation.
Her voice was low. "Then we'll drown him out together."
He looked at her. In the quiet between heartbeats, he could hear more than just her words—the steadiness of her breath, the warmth of her energy as it merged with his. For a moment, the void inside him trembled, uncertain.
But then the whisper returned, colder. She anchors you, doesn't she?
Li Xian stiffened. Don't listen.
She thinks you're hers, the voice continued, smooth as silk. But the power between you is mine. It was forged from my blood. She holds it now only because I allow it.
Li Xian's hands clenched. The room flickered with lightning again.
Su Yao's eyes widened. "Li Xian—focus!"
He tried, but the world was splitting—half light, half shadow. He saw flashes of something else: black skies, a throne of ash, a figure crowned in silver flame. The same silver hair. The same eyes. Tianxu's voice filled him entirely now.
You think you're free because you fight me. But you are me.
A sharp pain lanced through his chest. The mark Su Yao had drawn there during the rift burned gold, resisting the intrusion.
She grasped his face, forcing his gaze to hers. "Stay with me. Look at me!"
Her aura surged, pouring into him—not gentle this time, but fierce and commanding. Her golden qi wrapped around the lightning within him, forcing the void back into silence. Slowly, painfully, the world righted itself.
Li Xian collapsed forward, breathing hard. Su Yao caught him, holding him close until the tremors eased.
For a long while, neither spoke. Only the sound of wind outside filled the silence.
Finally, he murmured, "He's trying to wake something inside me. Something ancient."
Su Yao's voice was steady but low. "Then we find out what it is—before he does."
He nodded faintly. The mark on his chest still glowed, pulsing in rhythm with both their hearts.
Outside, the moon hung low, wrapped in a thin veil of shadow. Far away, on a mountain shrouded in storm, a mirror of black glass trembled—Tianxu's reflection stirring within.
Soon, the whisper said to no one. You'll remember everything you were meant to be.