Xie Yining strode ahead of her, lantern in hand, leading her deep into the narrow mountain passage. The caverns beneath Qingyang Valley were colder than the night outside and smelled faintly of damp earth and ancient minerals. The walls curved in unnatural ways, as if carved by hands that had long since turned to dust.
Liuxue's steps were silent behind him.
Though she followed, she kept a careful distance just far enough to strike if he attempted anything foolish, close enough to monitor his breathing, his posture, his intent.
For all his scholar softness, Yining seemed unaccustomed to being in the company of someone like her. Twice he nearly tripped on loose stone. Twice she pretended not to notice.
At last, he broke the silence.
"You walk… quietly. Too quietly."
She said nothing.
He cleared his throat. "Not many can do that. Not without years of training."
Still she didn't say a word. Words were not required. Breathing was optional. Killing was instinct.
After a few minutes, the tight tunnel opened into a cavern high enough to stack ten men on top of each other. Pale-blue crystals jutted from the wall, glowing faintly as if moonlight had been trapped within. This cold hue repainted the cavern in a manner that made Yining's face look even sharper, almost ethereal.
"This place used to be the meditation chamber for hermit monks," Yining said as he set the lantern down. "Their spirits still linger in the stone. Celestial constructs won't sense us for a while."
Liuxue scanned the room before stepping inside. "You're certain?"
"Certain enough to bet my life on it," he replied with a nervous smile.
She didn't smile back. "Good. Because you may very well be betting it."
Yining swallowed. "Right."
Liuxue moved to one of the glowing walls and sat, crossing her legs with controlled grace. Her ribs ached from the fight, but pain was an old friend. It sharpened her thoughts.
Yining hesitated, then sat opposite her, clutching his scroll case as though it were a shield.
He spoke first. "You asked earlier what the manuscripts said about your mark. The truth is… they said very little. Most of the records were destroyed by the Celestial Court. The ones that survived were fragments.
Liuxue tilted her head. "And what do the fragments say?"
Yining exhaled hard, and his breath misted. "They speak of a woman once called Heaven's anomaly: a divine prodigy in possession of the Reversal Seal—an ability deemed impossible. The power to twist causality, to refute preordained fate." He paused. "To defy Heaven."
Her eyes darkened. "And this woman… what became of her?"
Yining's fingers tightened on his scroll case. "Condemned. Hunted. Erased."
So they had written her out of history. How poetic.
Liuxue's voice was a whisper of cold steel. "And now they think I am her?"
"Not think," Yining said quietly, "they know."
Her jaw tightened.
So Heaven indeed remembered.
And so did the world-if only in fragments.
Liuxue leaned back against the crystal wall, letting the chill seep into her bones. "Tell me more."
Yining seemed almost relieved to have something he understood the knowledge of the seal, but not danger that is attached to those who hold onto it.
"A long time ago," he said, "there were three Heavenly Codes that governed the balance of the mortal world: Destiny, Causality, and Retribution. Each code belonged to a Celestial Keeper… except one.
Liuxue closed her eyes. "The Reversal Code."
He nodded. "Yes. A power that did not just observe fate but altered it. The manuscripts say its bearer could turn calamity into fortune or transform blessings into ruin. They claim she was capable of… rewriting divine patterns."
The words sank into her like smoldering embers.
Rewrite divine patterns.
Was this what she once was? Or what she could become?
Yining went on, his voice softer now. "But the Celestial Court feared that power. They declared the Reversal Code forbidden. They sealed its bearer. They erased every trace of her." He met her gaze. "But the mark survived in one way or another. And now it has found you."
Liuxue studied him closely. His fear was real. So was his awe.
"You speak of this power as if it is a myth."
He shook his head. "I speak of it as a scholar. Myths exaggerate. History hides. I read what remains and interpret the truth between the lines." He hesitated. "But even so, I never imagined I would see the mark in my lifetime."
Liuxue's fingers brushed her wrist. The crescent sigil pulsed faintly, as though acknowledging the attention.
She lowered her hand. "If Heaven erased all traces, how do you know so much?"
Yining stiffened. His eyes flickered with some sort of hesitation, guilt, and a secret he had not meant to reveal.
Liuxue's voice dropped. "Xie Yining. Speak."
He breathed in slowly. "My family… used to belong to the Celestial Archives. We were caretakers of forbidden texts. When the Court purged the records, we hid some at great cost." His gaze fell. "Many died to protect knowledge they were never meant to have."
Liuxue understood sacrifice far better than she wished to.
"So you're a descendent of traitors," she said.
He nodded. "If Heaven decides to label us that way. yes."
Silence fell between them.
Heavy. Raw. Truth-filled.
Liuxue finally shifted, looking away. "Knowledge is not a crime. Fear is."
Yining's eyes blinked in shock at the softness in her tone-softness that she had not meant to display. It was masked in an instant.
Before he could answer, the cavern shook.
Liuxue stood instantly, her senses sharpening. "They found us?"
Yining panicked and shook his head. "No, the crystals are reacting to something else, something deeper.
A low hum reverberated through the ground, like a huge heartbeat pulsing beneath the stone.
The lantern flickered.
The air thickened.
The System's voice cut sharply through her mind.
[Anomaly detected underground.]
[Dormant Celestial mechanism awakens.]
[Warn: dangerous host proximity.]
The crystals flared with sudden, blinding light.
Yining stumbled back. "This chamber… it was supposed to be dead. Inactive for centuries!"
Liuxue stepped toward him and grasped his wrist, pulling him toward the exit.
But before they could make their escape, the cavern wall behind them opened wide like a great eye splitting apart.
Inside was not earth.
Not stone.
Not darkness.
It was a massive sigil, ancient and shaking with divine power, its design ominously similar to the one burning under her own skin.
The sigil pulsed once.
Twice.
Then it spoke. A voice that was neither human nor divine resounded through the cave.
"Bearer of the Reversal Seal. I have waited." Yining's breath caught in his throat. Liuxue froze, heart pounding. The sigil flared brighter.
"Come, descendant of defiance."
The air shook. The crystals shattered. The cavern sealed behind them. And before Liuxue could react, the earth under her gave way. She fell into darkness.