The wind tugged at Ruyan's hair, carrying the acrid scent of charred wood and long-dead soil. She stood at the edge of what had once been her village, now nothing more than a hollow memory of ash and ruin in the Huanling Realm. The spell circle on her palm flickered and dimmed, sending her message spiraling into the spiritual realm: I'm here. The light shimmered and vanished, swallowed by currents unseen.
For a moment, she let herself imagine the village alive again: children laughing barefoot on sun-warmed earth, the scent of baked bread drifting from small ovens, her own voice mingling with theirs in innocent harmony. The illusion shattered with a single cruel memory—screams, fire, and blood painting the earth.
She pressed her palms to her arms, as if she could physically anchor herself to reality, keep the cries from tearing her apart.
"Ryu?" a soft voice called.
She blinked. Movement at the edge of the field caught her eyes. Jinri padded toward her in his fox form, silver fur glinting in the dying light, eyes as golden as sunlight reflected in clear mountain lakes.
"Ruyan, are you okay?" he asked, brushing against her leg, voice tender, insistent.
She forced a fragile smile, letting the warmth of his presence seep into her chest.
"I… I'm fine. There were… bad memories. But also… good ones. This is where I met you, remember?" She bent to touch his head, and he nestled into her hand, a fleeting, precious comfort. She bent down to hug him—
—but the air behind her erupted in a surge of red smoke, curling like living serpents. Two figures stepped through it with unnerving calm.
Yushen emerged first, his expression too composed, too amused, as though he had anticipated every hesitation, every tremor of fear. Beside him, Zhao Yun stood like a statue of cold authority, eyes sharp and calculating, taking in everything yet revealing nothing.
Yushen's lips curved. "It seems a thief and a liar can still keep her word."
Ruyan straightened, heart hammering. "I… didn't think of escaping."
"Is that so?" His gaze was a blade tracing the curve of her spine, glinting with unspoken warning. She nodded quickly, forcing herself to suppress the thought of Jinri burning the Chainless Oath Seal.
Not now. Not yet. He'll notice if I act too soon.
Yushen brushed past her shoulder, his whisper grazing her ear, soft and dangerous: "Liar."
Ruyan stiffened.
The ruins around them—charred beams, broken fences, and blackened stones—were a testament to violence long past, yet the devastation felt immediate, personal.
"…You lived here?" His voice, softer now, carried a reverence she did not expect.
Ruyan nodded, eyes falling on a cracked wooden toy half-buried in dirt. She lifted it gently, as if the act itself might summon the past back.
"This village… was where the first attack made by an immortal corrupted by the Crimson Curse occurred. The place where the first afflicted appeared."
Yushen frowned. "How do you know it was the first?"
Her shoulders slumped. "The records at the Execution Hall said that…" She opened her mouth, but instinct—or fear—snapped it shut just in time.
Yushen's eyes, dark and calculating, glimmered faintly as he leaned casually against a tree. "Go on. Finish what you were about to say."
She drew a shaky breath. "The records at the Hall only date back thirty years… but the attack here happened forty-three years ago. We were a small village, and maybe no one cared to investigate."
He absorbed her words, expression unreadable, then produced the trinket she had stolen. Blue light shimmered along its surface before flaring crimson, cutting through the air like a warning. With unnatural precision, the trinket shot forward, and Yushen and Zhao Yun moved instantly, hunting it with unerring speed.
Ruyan met Jinri's gaze. Even under the concealment spell, his eyes flared with concern. "…Let's follow," she whispered, and together they sprinted across the field, hearts hammering, breaths ragged.
The trinket halted at a massive boulder, ancient veins of moss crawling across its surface. Yushen pressed his palm to the stone, murmuring incantations. Spiritual energy rippled outward in waves, vibrating the air like water striking rock. Slowly, inexorably, the boulder dissolved, revealing a yawning cave, dark and reeking of age and neglect.
"What… is happening?" she whispered.
Inside, the stench hit her immediately—foul, acidic, suffocating. Bones crunched beneath her boots. Skeletons slumped against walls, wrists chained, bodies twisted in impossible angles. Ruyan stumbled, nearly colliding with Yushen, who did not flinch. But his eyes… they burned with controlled fury, a storm held in check.
Jinri shrank to a tiny fox and perched on her shoulder, fur bristling. "I don't like this place," he murmured, voice small but urgent.
Ruyan stroked his head, forcing calm into her shaking limbs. "We'll be fine," she whispered, more to convince herself than him. Curiosity, dark and irresistible, tugged at her feet. She had lived on the mountain's far side for years, yet never known this place existed.
Zhao Yun moved with precision, inspecting the corpses as if cataloging them. Yushen's gaze swept the cave—walls, shadows, corners—as though seeking a single, elusive truth hidden amidst centuries of horror.
Ruyan's mind raced with questions. How did he know about this cave? What is the trinket truly for? And above all—how does this tie to the Crimson Curse?
She stepped toward a darkened cell off the main chamber, the air growing colder with every pace. Something felt… off. Then a whisper, low and intimate, slid into her ear:
"We will always be together."
Ruyan spun. "Who's there?!"
Jinri's ears twitched. "Ruyan…?"
"You didn't hear that?" she stammered.
"Hear what?"
"Perfection…" The voice crooned, silk intertwined with menace, echoing from shadows that seemed to writhe like living things.
"R-Ruyan, you're scaring me."
Her knees wobbled. Every instinct screamed: run, hide, escape. She tried to step back—but dizziness struck like a hammer. A blurred silhouette flashed before her eyes, a man—face obscured—reaching for her.
"No—" she clutched her head, mind fraying.
"Ruyan!" Jinri transformed into his humanoid form, grasping her hands. "Ruyan! What's happening?!"
Pain exploded through her chest, stomach, and skull—sharp, burning, impossible to ignore. She screamed, a sound that seemed to fracture the cavern itself as darkness swallowed her whole.