It wasn't stone falling.
It was bones.
Ribs, fingers, skull fragments—glowing with Xihua gold—slammed down like hail.
Lin Yao threw Rhea and Qing He to the ground, took two hits on his back—sharp, scorching. No blood. Xihua was burning… sealing.
"Bottom floor! Move!" he roared, dragging them up the tower's spinal staircase.
The steps were vertebrae. Each step creaked, like walking on a living spine.
T-12:18.
The tower was shrinking—not collapsing, sucking in. Bone walls wriggled, gaps closing like a giant mouth.
"Faster!" Rhea's veins bulged, dagger jammed in a bone joint to climb, dragging Qing He. Her left arm charred black, dangling like burned wood. But her right hand still clenched the prism—gold-purple light running wild, burning blisters, she wouldn't let go.
They reached the bottom.
No door. Only a pool of bone marrow.
Milky white, viscous, floating shards. At the center, a slow whirlpool—pulling with terrifying force.
"…Escape route?" Rhea's voice cracked. "This is a corpse pool, isn't it?!"
Lin Yao didn't answer. He stared at the pool's center—a human skeleton.
Perfect. Cross-legged. Jade-white bone, faint teal glow. Left hand on knee. Right hand floating, palm up, holding… something.
Half a length of green vine wrapped around its fingers—identical to Qing He's broken vine.
"First generation…" Lin Yao's throat tightened. "Mirror Keeper Temple… the first one?"
Qing He ripped free, lunged to the pool. Right arm whipped—the broken vine shot straight into the skeletal hand—
Ziiiing!
The vine pierced the palm.
BZZZ—!
The entire marrow pool exploded.
White mist shot up. From it, the jade skeleton slowly raised its head.
Empty eye sockets lit with teal points.
"…Descendants."
Not a voice in ears. Bones vibrating.
Lin Yao's whole skeleton resonated like a struck bell.
The skeleton's right hand turned, palm holding a compass.
Palm-sized. Neither metal nor wood. Face cracked into three pieces:
Left: Neuroth circuit patternsRight: Aethra spiritual runesCenter: a swirl of gray chaos—Mirror Abyss itself.
Seven star emblems engraved on the rim—each slashed by a blade.
"Resonance Compass…" the skeleton's voice shook the marrow.
"Seek the Twin Pact… restore Taiyi…"
It glowed at Lin Yao, then his empty left eye socket:
"…Even the incomplete may bear it."
Lin Yao stepped forward. Pool suction intensified. Legs sank into milky liquid, freezing to the bone.
"Don't!" Rhea yelled. "It's sucking your Qi!"
He didn't stop. Right hand reached for the compass—
Fingertips almost touching—
The compass leapt on its own!
Vzzz!
Slammed into his chest!
Pain—like molten iron hammered into his sternum. Lin Yao dropped to his knees, coughing blood—mixed with gold threads and circuit shards.
The compass embedded in his chest. Three shards rotated. Gray mist swirled. Dark golden sparks leapt—syncing with his right hand, the outpost stone, the prism…
It was done.
He became the anchor of the compass.
Skeleton's glow dimmed.
"Bearer… use with care… three strikes only…"
The voice vanished.
Skeleton collapsed, sinking into the marrow. Only Qing He's broken vine floated on the surface.
T-8:44.
The tower shook harder. Bones rained from above.
"Move!" Rhea dragged Lin Yao backward. "Compass secured! Retreat!"
Lin Yao didn't move. Looked at his right hand—dark gold sparks brighter than before. Left arm… starting to tingle.
Not pain. Emptiness.
Like a signal cut off.
Tried wiggling pinky—nothing.
Tried again—still dead.
"…Rhea," his voice hoarse, scared even himself. "My left hand… is it… gone?"
Rhea froze, shook it. Nothing.
Like it wasn't his.
Qing He lunged, ripped his sleeve—
Skin intact. But under it… nerves and meridians severed. Gold Qi, blue tech currents, both pulled back, disconnected.
The compass claimed its master… at the cost of a limb.
"…Shit." Rhea's eyes red. "This broken compass… taking lives?"
Lin Yao smiled. Pale. But smiled.
Right hand grabbed the broken vine floating on the pool, handed to Qing He.
Then the prism, to Rhea.
Finally, pressed right hand on the chest compass.
"Listen," he gasped, blood foaming.
"The compass can open the Mirror Abyss… briefly. We… go in."
"Go in?!" Rhea shouted. "Full of ghosts! Last time almost got us eaten!"
"Ghosts… are the failures," Lin Yao said, eyes locked on her. "The first generation… left something inside. There has to be."
Gray mist swirled from the compass on his chest, projecting a residual image:
Deep inside Mirror Abyss, a half-ruined ancient city. At its heart, a platform. On it, a giant skeleton cross-legged, cradling… a heart, gold and purple, pulsing like a drum.
[Taiyi Spirit Core · Residual Image]
T-5:11.
Bone Tower moaned its death cry.
Qing He grabbed the broken vine, stabbed her right arm—not a wound, just flesh.
Blood sprayed, mixed with teal light, hitting the marrow pool!
White liquid boiled! Whirlpool accelerated!
"Move!" she screamed, voice tearing, "…I'm… holding the gate!"
Lin Yao looked once at her—left arm charred, right arm bleeding, eyes burning bright.
He grabbed Rhea, leapt into the whirlpool—
White light swallowed them all.
Falling.
Endless gray mist.
Mirror Abyss reached.
Far off: ancient city outline appeared.
Near: gray mist roiled, countless bone claws reached out, empty eye sockets locking on them—
The ghosts had awakened.
🪞 Author's Note
Compass claimed its master—left arm lost.
Qing He stabbed herself—blood opened the gate.
Lin Yao's chest… hiding a dying star.
Next chapter: ancient city.
—KHChing
(Left hand numb, but compass… alive)