Chapter 31 - Heart of the Hidden Chamber 2

The guardian raised its blade, and the chamber itself trembled with the weight of the strike it was gathering. Lightning coiled around the obsidian weapon, arcs leaping violently, splitting stone tiles and scorching the walls. The glyph beneath its feet blazed like a miniature sun, pulsing in time with the guardian's breathless roar.Lin Xueyao's eyes widened, her sword trembling against the sheer pressure. "This is no ordinary test—it's a killing strike! If it lands, the chamber will collapse!"Mei Ling's hands shook as she reinforced the barrier between them and the shaking walls. "Senior Brother, stop smiling like that! You're bleeding and you're still—""Still what?" Jiang Hao interrupted smoothly, wiping the blood from his lips with a thumb. His silver-streaked hair shimmered as the glow of Seal Two surged beneath his skin, lighting him like a fallen star. He smiled, faintly teasing, faintly reckless. "Handsome? Always."The guardian's blade fell.It was like the heavens had split open—an avalanche of lightning, molten stone, and raw law crashing toward them. The air itself screamed.Jiang Hao moved.He released more of Seal Two—not fully, but enough to flood the chamber with overwhelming brilliance. His veins glowed brighter, his eyes turned starlit and distant, his very posture a portrait of immortal arrogance. The energy bent reality around him, warping the incoming strike.For a heartbeat, he looked untouchable. Beautiful, terrible, divine.And then the backlash hit.Agony ripped through him like a thousand blades carving his insides. His bones screamed, his chest tightened, and blood sprayed from his lips. It was as though his body had become both sword and sheath, struggling to contain what it was never meant to.Yet even as pain flared, his grin deepened. He caught the guardian's massive strike in both hands, Seal Two's radiance flaring like a dying sun, and shoved back.The obsidian blade cracked.The guardian staggered, crimson eyes flickering. For the first time, it faltered."Impossible…" its echoing voice rasped. "To withstand… to endure…"Jiang Hao coughed, tasting iron. His vision blurred at the edges, but his voice remained steady, calm, almost playful. "Endure? That's my specialty. I used to work overtime, remember?"Mei Ling shouted in fury, half sobbing, as she rushed forward with glowing hands to reinforce his body. "You'll die if you keep this up!"Lin Xueyao's blade flashed, joining his strike, carving into the guardian's side with a burst of silver light. The mysterious girl's lips curved faintly, her eyes burning as she whispered, "Seal… so that's what you hide."Jiang Hao pushed once more. His body trembled, pain tearing through his core, but he forced the energy outward, overwhelming the guardian's strike in a shattering wave of brilliance.The obsidian warrior cracked down the middle, fissures glowing with collapsing light. It roared once, then dissolved into dust and sparks, collapsing into the glyph that birthed it.Silence fell.Jiang Hao staggered, blood dripping from his lips, one hand pressed against his chest. His silver-streaked hair dimmed, glow fading. He looked drained—yet even through the pain, he stood tall, his grin refusing to fade."Well," he rasped, "that was… invigorating. Anyone else thirsty for wine?"Mei Ling punched his shoulder hard enough to sting, tears in her eyes. "Idiot!"Lin Xueyao shook her head, sheathing her sword. "…Reckless idiot."The mysterious girl only smiled faintly, her gaze lingering on him with a mix of fascination and something sharper. "You're more dangerous than the seal you carry."Jiang Hao wiped the blood from his lips again, standing straighter despite the pain burning through his ribs. "Dangerous? Maybe. Handsome? Absolutely. Now… let's see what secrets our new friend was guarding."At the center of the chamber, the broken glyph still pulsed faintly, like a heart refusing to die, waiting to be touched.The air was heavy with the residue of battle, thick with the scent of charred stone and blood. The silence after the guardian's collapse was almost deafening, broken only by the drip of molten fragments cooling against the cracked floor.Jiang Hao staggered toward the glyph, each step betraying the toll the backlash had taken. His robes clung damp to his back, sweat dripping from his jawline, his body trembling despite his stubborn grin."Senior Brother, stop moving!" Mei Ling rushed to his side, her delicate hands glowing with soft emerald light as she pressed against his chest. "Your meridians are on fire, your heart pulse is unstable, and you—""I'm still alive." Jiang Hao cut her off, though his voice was hoarse. His lips curled into a smirk. "Don't ruin the mood, Ling'er. I just won a fight against a thousand-year-old relic, after all. If that doesn't make me cool and heroic, what's the point of suffering like this?"Mei Ling scowled, blinking through the mist in her eyes. "Heroic? You look like a drunk beggar who just fell into the river!"Lin Xueyao stepped closer, her expression stern but her gaze softer than usual. "She's right. You should not have released so much of your seal. If that backlash had gone deeper…" She trailed off, but the unspoken words lingered: You could have died.Jiang Hao chuckled faintly, though pain laced every sound. "Then it's good I didn't, isn't it?"The mysterious girl's eyes lingered on him longer than the others, her lips curving into a faint smile that was equal parts amusement and curiosity. "You're playing with fire, Jiang Hao. Or perhaps… you are the fire."Before anyone could answer, the glyph at the center of the chamber pulsed. The cracks where the guardian dissolved glowed faintly, and a strange hum filled the room, like the whisper of ancient voices.The group froze.The glyph expanded, spiraling outward into a lotus-shaped array of light, and in the center, something began to rise—a pedestal of stone, atop which rested a jade vessel sealed with golden chains. The vessel pulsed with a strange rhythm, like a second heartbeat echoing Jiang Hao's own."What is that…?" Mei Ling whispered, clutching at his sleeve.Lin Xueyao narrowed her eyes. "Not treasure. Not exactly. Something bound here… intentionally. And whoever bound it was far beyond us."Jiang Hao studied the vessel, the faint smirk on his lips hiding the storm raging inside him. The moment his eyes met the chained jade, Seal Two within him flared in violent response, pain surging like wildfire through his chest. He clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened, jaw tightening.The mysterious girl tilted her head, watching him closely. "It calls to you, doesn't it?"Jiang Hao forced a grin, though sweat beaded on his brow. "Everything calls to me. Wine, trouble, beautiful women. Why should this be any different?"But his companions weren't fooled. Mei Ling's eyes brimmed with tears as she pressed more healing qi into his chest, desperate to stabilize him. Lin Xueyao raised her hand to her sword, her expression unreadable. And the mysterious girl stepped closer to the vessel, eyes sharp with recognition."This seal of yours…" she murmured. "It isn't just to restrain power, is it? It's a prison. And this vessel—it's linked. If you open it, you might free more than you can handle."The hum grew louder. The chains rattled faintly, glowing with runes that pulsed in tandem with Jiang Hao's heartbeat.The temptation gnawed at him, whispering promises of strength, of liberation, of answers. His hands itched to break those chains, even as his body screamed from the backlash of Seal Two.But deep down, he knew: if he forced another release here, if he tried to claim whatever was within that vessel, the price would not just be pain. It could be death. Or worse.Still, he chuckled softly, wincing as another wave of pain seized his chest. "Well. Seems the world keeps putting good wine on the table and telling me not to drink. How long do you think I can resist?"Mei Ling tugged at his sleeve desperately, her voice breaking. "Don't touch it, Senior Brother. Please…"The mysterious girl's smile deepened, though her eyes gleamed with a dangerous light. "If you do… your journey will change forever."The pedestal continued to glow, waiting—testing—to see if Jiang Hao would succumb to the temptation of the sealed jade vessel.