The moment the scroll case clicked open, a pulse of pale gold burst from within a soft, barely perceptible, but powerful enough to slice through the cavern's shadows. Liuxue barely had time to register it before the tunnel behind them erupted in blinding light.
A voice thundered through the stone:
"Shen Liuxue. Cease your defiance."
The Messenger's power crashed through the fissure like a divine storm.
Yining stumbled as the earth shook under their feet. "Liuxue—they're breaking through!"
"I know!"
She pulled him forward, deeper into the cavern, where the walls narrowed again into another slit of darkness. The ground trembled with every step. Dust and splintered rocks showered from above.
Behind them, the Messenger's footsteps were calm, measured, almost leisurely,as if certain the hunt had already ended.
"You cannot hide," the voice echoed, cold and patient.
"Your soul is marked."
Liuxue's seal burned.
Her heart hammered.
But the fragment of the Cycle Breaker's authority pulsed beneath her skin, weaving a thin veil of shadow around her presence. It wasn't enough to mask her completely—not from Heaven—but it distorted her aura, blurred her trail.
Bought her moments.
Moments they desperately needed.
"Liuxue—your hand!" Yining gasped.
The scroll case vibrated violently in her grasp, then snapped open fully. A tightly furled scroll hovered above it, suspended in a lattice of shimmering threads.
"What is that?" Yining asked, breathless.
"I don't know."
But she felt it.
The scroll radiated a heavy, ancient pressure.
Not divine.
Not mortal.
Something between.
The Messenger's light surged again, flooding the tunnel behind them.
"Surrender the artifact, and your death will be painless."
Yining shot Liuxue a horrified glance. "They want the scroll."
"And they're not getting it."
She grabbed the hovering scroll and shoved it inside her inner robe. The moment it touched her skin, a jolt raced up her spine—cold and sharp, like a blade pressed against bone. She gasped, staggering.
"Liuxue!" Yining reached for her.
"I'm fine," she managed. "It's just… heavy."
Not physically.
Spiritually.
It felt like carrying a locked memory.
One that wanted to open itself,
but not here.
Not now.
The next blast from the Messenger shattered the stone wall behind them. The shockwave hurled Yining forward; Liuxue grabbed him before he hit the ground.
"Move!" she snapped.
They pressed deeper into the narrowing fissure. The space tightened, barely wide enough for one person. The temperature dropped sharply, frost beginning to form on the walls.
Yining shivered. "This is getting colder. Much colder."
Liuxue's breath fogged in the air. "There's a boundary ahead."
"A barrier?"
"No." Her pulse quickened. "A threshold."
She didn't know how she knew only that her seal and the authority fragment resonated fiercely, as if drawn to the unseen power ahead.
The Messenger's voice echoed closer, growing sharper.
More irritated.
"Defying Heaven only deepens your sin."
Liuxue didn't look back.
"If Heaven is so certain I'm sinful," she murmured, "they should ask themselves why I survived to return."
Yining shot her a startled glance. "Liuxue…"
"That wasn't me talking," she said quietly. "Not exactly."
Something deep inside her had stirred.
Not a memory though but
a certainty.
As if her soul remembered its defiance even when her mind did not.
The fissure opened suddenly into a narrow cliffside path suspended above a void of swirling mists. The cavern fell away into unending darkness below, shades of violet and silver drifting like slow-moving storms.
Yining stopped short. "Heavens…"
No natural cavern looked like this.
This was something else.
A hidden realm.
A fractured remnant.
"Stay close," Liuxue whispered.
But Yining was already staring at the void in awe. "Liuxue, this is spatial distortion. This cavern isn't connected to the physical layout of the shrine anymore. It's—"
A violent tremor cut him off.
Light flooded the fissure behind them as the Messenger stepped through, their presence forcing the stone to bend around their form like reality itself was bowing.
Yining paled. "They found us anyway."
Liuxue felt the authority fragment pulse frantically warning her.
Not enough.
Not enough.
Not enough.
The Messenger lifted one hand.
"Shen Liuxue. Your second chance ends here."
A sphere of condensed celestial radiance formed in their palm.
Light that erased.
Light that obeyed Heaven alone.
Yining grabbed Liuxue's sleeve, terrified. "Liuxue—jump!"
"No."
She stepped in front of him.
Her seal flared to life, the authority fragment fusing with her thin spiritual veil. Shadows rippled around her, pulling tightly like a second skin.
"I won't run."
The Messenger released the sphere of light.
Liuxue reacted without thinking.
Her hand rose.
The scroll's dormant energy surged inside her chest,rushing outward in a burst of cold, unfamiliar power. A translucent barrier snapped into place between her and the incoming blast.
Light collided with shadow.
The clash shook the entire cavern.
The air cracked.
The cliff shook.
The void roared.
Yining shielded his face, staggering back. "Liuxue—you.... your eyes!!"
She didn't hear him.
Power burned through her veins, threatening to tear her apart. The shield wavered, flickering wildly, but it held.
For now.
The Messenger lowered their hand slightly.
A pause.
A calculation.
Then, softly:
"Impossible."
Liuxue gasped for breath. "Get away from him."
She didn't know who she meant.
Yining?
Herself?
Something within the scroll?
Her body trembled with strain.
The Messenger took a slow step forward.
"You carry the Cycle Breaker's power. That was never meant to return."
Liuxue's knees buckled. The barrier cracked, spiderweb lines spreading across its surface.
"Liuxue! The shield's breaking!" Yining cried.
She pushed harder, pouring everything she had into the fragile shield. Her vision blurred; her chest burned.
The Messenger raised their hand again.
"Surrender the artifact."
"No."
"Then you will die."
The messenger released another blast.
The shield shattered.
The world exploded in light.
Yining screamed her name.
Liuxue felt herself falling backwards
off the cliff.
The last thing she saw was the Messenger reaching for the scroll hidden in her robes.
The last thing she felt was Yining's hand grabbing hers tightly ,
fingers slipping from away from hers,
grip faltering ,
And then the void swallowed them both.