The night was heavy with moonlight, the sky draped in silver mist that bled into the silent courtyard of the Dao Xuanzhen Academy. Polyfalls sat cross-legged beneath the spirit tree near the alchemy pavilion, his body still and pale. His breath flowed like smoke—thin, yet steady. It had been three days since the incident with Wutong Shen and the demonic talisman.
Since that day, something in his spiritual realm had begun to stir.
The calm surface of his inner sea of consciousness now rippled endlessly. The once-quiet glow of Yin and Yang energy had grown unstable, the black-red spirals of the Soul Flames flickering with bursts of eerie azure light. It was as if two powers—life and death, purity and corruption—were wrestling within him.
Polyfalls could feel the pull, an invisible thread connecting his mind to the depths of that sea. His consciousness sank inward. The world around him faded.
Inside the Spiritual Realm
The scene shifted. He stood on an endless ocean, black as ink and mirror-smooth. Waves of demonic qi drifted lazily beneath the surface, and above him floated the shadow of a vast whale—Ming.
"Ming?" Polyfalls called softly.
The ocean trembled. From the depths came a pulse of blue light, rhythmic and alive. The light rose slowly, spreading across the horizon like dawn breaking in reverse.
Then he saw her.
Where the whale's form had once been, now a woman floated above the dark water. Her body shimmered between substance and spirit, translucent yet radiant. She wore a robe woven of moonlight and black flame. Her hair, long and silver-blue, flowed like water. Her eyes—vast, ancient—glowed faintly with the depth of the abyss.
"Ming…" Polyfalls whispered, half in disbelief.
Her lips curved slightly. "So, you still recognize me, little human."
Her voice was soft yet deep, carrying the echo of the sea and the whisper of storms.
He blinked. "You… took a human form."
"I merely borrowed one," she said. "This body is born from your own spiritual essence. It is the form you unconsciously imagined for me when you named me."
Polyfalls' eyes widened. "When I named you…?"
Ming nodded. "Names carry meaning, boy. To name a spirit is to bind essence. You shared your soul and blood with me; through that bond, I was reborn."
He looked down at his hands. The faint scars from the blood pact still glowed red.
"But your essence," she continued, "was not ready to support mine. When you called me Ming, the pact drew more than your strength—it reached into your core. You nearly died because the name awakened what was sleeping inside me."
Polyfalls frowned. "Sleeping… what do you mean?"
Ming's gaze turned distant. "That talisman your foolish friend found—the one that reeked of demonic power—it bears the mark of Chi You himself. The same will that once cursed the heavens and forged the Infernal Rebirth Scripture. It was sealed long ago by the Yellow Emperor's disciples."
Polyfalls' breath caught. "Chi You… again."
"The talisman is not a mere relic," Ming said. "It is a fragment of his soul. A seed. If that seal is broken completely, the will of Chi You will infect this entire academy. Even I, in this form, may not be able to suppress it."
Polyfalls clenched his fists. "So that's why my Soul Flames reacted to it."
"Yes," she murmured. "Because your flames are born from the same principle—the union of creation and destruction. Yin and Yang, bound through blood and defiance."
She raised her hand, and a spiral of black-red fire bloomed in her palm. It pulsed with a rhythm that echoed his heartbeat. "This flame… is you. But remember—Yin and Yang are not merely opposites. They are hunger and restraint, mercy and cruelty, Heaven and Hell. If your heart leans too far toward one side, this flame will devour you."
Polyfalls looked up at her. "Then what should I do?"
Ming descended, standing before him on the dark water. For a moment, her eyes softened. "You must learn to control the balance within you. The Soul Flame is only the beginning. It is not meant to burn the world—it is meant to temper your soul."
"But the pain…" he whispered. "Last time, it almost tore me apart."
Her fingers brushed his forehead. A wave of warmth flooded him, mingled with traces of sorrow. "Pain is the toll of creation. Even I, once a beast of the deep, was forged through agony. To hold power without understanding its weight is to walk toward ruin."
The flames around them brightened, filling the realm with scarlet light.
"Polyfalls," Ming said softly, "you asked me once why I exist. I was once bound beneath the Abyssal Sea, my body chained by Heaven's decree. Chi You's essence gave me awareness, but it also cursed me. When you named me, your will touched mine—and I awoke. You may think you control me, but our fates are now woven together."
Her form began to flicker, the light dimming.
"You are not ready to see what comes next," she said, her voice fading like waves retreating into the dark. "But listen well: the talisman is not the danger—the one who forged it is. Someone within this academy bears his mark."
"Ming!" Polyfalls shouted, reaching for her as her image dissolved into light.
The world shattered.
Polyfalls gasped and opened his eyes. His robe was drenched in sweat, the air around him trembling faintly with demonic heat. The black-red spiral flames danced across his skin before fading into faint embers.
His heart pounded wildly. Ming's voice still echoed in his head: "Someone within this academy bears his mark."
He stood slowly, his breath shaky. The night air felt heavier than before.
"Ming…" he whispered.
No response. Only the soft rustle of wind through the courtyard leaves.
He clenched his fists. "If the talisman carries Chi You's will, then I'll find out who placed it here."
But deep down, he felt something else—an unfamiliar warmth pulsing near his core. He looked inward again, sensing that part of Ming's essence had merged with his own.
For the first time, he could faintly sense her heartbeat within his spiritual realm.
She was still there. Watching. Waiting.
Later that Night
The moon had climbed high. Polyfalls returned to his quarters, his thoughts a storm.
He glanced at the talisman resting on his desk, sealed within a jade box. Its surface pulsed faintly—blue veins crawling like living threads.
He reached out but stopped midway. Ming's warning replayed in his mind.
Then a voice—low and mocking—echoed faintly from within the box.
"Child of balance… you cannot run from what you are."
Polyfalls' eyes narrowed. "We'll see about that."
The flame mark on his chest flared, casting black-red light across the room as he began to circulate his spiritual essence once more.
Somewhere deep within the ocean of his spirit, Ming's sleeping form stirred and smiled faintly.