The air inside the Celestial Pagoda was different now heavier, thicker, as if the structure itself was holding its breath. Xiao Lian pressed her hand against the cold stone wall to steady herself, the lingering ache of her last battle thrumming beneath her skin. Beside her, Ji Ren limped forward, his body battered, but his hand still resting stubbornly on the hilt of his sword.
"This place feels wrong," he muttered, his voice low and rasping.
Xiao Lian nodded, the faintest sheen of sweat slicking her brow. The corridor they walked through was unlike the rest of the pagoda. The walls were covered in ancient carvings, jagged symbols that twisted and curled, pulsating faintly with dark energy.
"Anomaly detected," SIS whispered in her mind. "Warning: Unstable magic source nearby."
They should have turned back. She knew that. But something about this place pulled at her like an invisible thread, tugging her forward step by step.
And then they saw it.
A massive door loomed at the end of the corridor ancient and weathered, covered in layers of talismans and sealing scripts that glowed faintly with fading light. The symbols had been meticulously placed, but they were cracking, dimming with every passing second.
"This is a sealed chamber," Ji Ren said, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "The sect must have locked something inside."
Xiao Lian stepped closer, fingers brushing against the door's surface. The stone was unnaturally cold, biting into her skin like frost. And then she heard it.
A voice.
Faint. Distant. But unmistakable.
It called her name.
Not Xiao Lian.
Her real name.
Her name from a life she wasn't supposed to remember.
Her heart slammed against her ribs. She stumbled back, her breath sharp and ragged.
"What's wrong?" Ji Ren caught her by the arm, steadying her, his brows furrowed in concern.
She couldn't speak. The voice was still echoing in her head, a ghostly whisper threading through her consciousness like silk. She didn't recognize it and yet, it felt terrifyingly familiar.
"We have to open it," she said, her voice hoarse.
Ji Ren blinked, incredulous. "What? Absolutely not. Whatever's behind that door was sealed for a reason."
Xiao Lian ignored him, already moving. She traced her fingers along the broken seals, her mind racing.
"Caution: Breaching the chamber may trigger defensive protocols," SIS warned.
But she couldn't stop. The voice calling her name felt like a hook in her chest, dragging her toward the door with relentless force.
With a final crack, the last of the seals shattered. The door groaned, stone grinding against stone as it slowly slid open, revealing a cavernous chamber beyond.
The room was vast, the walls lined with decayed murals depicting ancient battles, gods clashing against demons, mortals kneeling before celestial beings. And at the center of the room, resting on a pedestal, was a relic.
It was a small, ornate dagger, its blade black as night and pulsing faintly with crimson light. The moment Xiao Lian saw it, her vision blurred.
The room around her faded.
She was somewhere else.
Another time. Another life.
She saw glimpses flashes of a battlefield drowned in blood, her hands gripping that same dagger, her reflection distorted in the obsidian blade.
And then a voice…a voice that wasn't her own but somehow was.
"You cannot run from what you were."
Xiao Lian gasped, staggering back, her pulse hammering wildly. The vision faded, the chamber snapping back into focus but the heaviness of those words lingered like a shadow.
Ji Ren caught her arm again, steadying her. "What happened?" he demanded, searching her face. "What did you see?"
She shook her head, chest heaving. "I... I don't know."
But she did know.
That relic was tied to her. To whatever she had been before she woke up in this life.
Before she could take a step closer, the ground rumbled. The carvings along the chamber walls flared to life, burning crimson as the air filled with a low, guttural growl.
The guardians had awakened.
The first beast emerged from the shadows, its body stitched together from corrupted flesh and jagged bone. Its eyes glowed like embers, and black ichor dripped from its fangs.
Ji Ren drew his sword, staggering slightly but still standing tall. "You just had to open the door," he muttered, casting her a sharp look.
"Less complaining. More surviving," Xiao Lian shot back, her voice steadier than she felt.
The beast lunged.
Ji Ren intercepted it, his sword flashing in a wide arc. The creature screeched as the blade carved through its flesh, but it barely staggered instead, it snapped its jaws at him, nearly catching his arm.
Another beast crawled from the shadows. Then another. They were outnumbered.
Xiao Lian calculated her options in seconds. The creatures were faster and stronger, but their movements were erratic uncontrolled. Which meant they could be manipulated.
"Lure them toward the pillars," she shouted, already moving.
Ji Ren didn't question her. He led the largest beast in a wide circle, narrowly dodging its claws as it slammed into one of the stone columns. The impact sent cracks rippling up the pillar, chunks of rubble raining down on the creature's back.
Xiao Lian darted past another beast, her body moving on instinct. The Blood Vow burned inside her, heightening her senses. She dodged, weaved, and calculated with ruthless precision.
By the time Ji Ren killed the first beast, she'd already positioned the others into a tight formation all perfectly aligned with the remaining pillars.
"Now!" she shouted.
Ji Ren didn't hesitate. He slashed at the weakest pillar, driving his sword into the crack Xiao Lian had created. The entire structure groaned, then collapsed, bringing down chunks of the ceiling.
The beasts were crushed beneath the rubble.
Dust filled the chamber, and for a moment, everything was still.
Xiao Lian coughed, waving her hand to clear the air. She turned to Ji Ren, who was barely staying upright, his body swaying with exhaustion.
She caught him before he could fall.
"You're reckless," she muttered, trying to steady him.
"Says the girl who opened a cursed chamber," he shot back, breathless. But there was no venom in his words. Just exhaustion and trust.
They limped toward the relic together.
Xiao Lian stood before the pedestal, her hand trembling as she reached for the dagger.
The moment her fingers brushed the hilt, her vision blurred again.
A name echoed in her mind, her name. The name she had forgotten and had been allowing the female side of his reincarnation to take over.
Her knees buckled.
Ji Ren caught her, panic flashing across his face. "What's happening?"
Xiao Lian clutched the dagger to her chest, her heart pounding as fragments of her past life flooded her mind like shattered glass.
She looked at Ji Ren, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I think... I think I know who I was."
The chamber around them pulsed with energy, the magic swelling like a tide. And somewhere deep within the pagoda, something ancient stirred.