The words echoed through the cavern.
“Lin Xue.”
“Come home.”
The voice was neither male nor female.
It sounded ancient.
Cold.
Yet strangely familiar.
Lin Xue stared at the Heavenly Mirror.
The crimson eye within its surface slowly opened wider.
For one terrifying moment, he felt as though something was looking directly into his soul.
His Soul Lotus burned beneath his sleeve.
Pain shot through his wrist.
He stumbled backward.
Mo Yuan immediately caught him.
“Lin Xue.”
“I’m fine.”
“You aren’t.”
Mo Yuan’s hand remained firmly around his arm.
His gaze moved toward the mirror.
“Whatever is inside that thing…”
“…it knows you.”
Minister Zhao laughed softly from across the cavern.
“Of course it does.”
Lin Xue looked at him.
“Who is it?”
The minister’s expression became strangely respectful.
“The Lord of the Heavenly Abyss.”
Mo Yuan’s eyes narrowed.
“The Heavenly Abyss is a legend.”
“So was your rebirth.”
Minister Zhao smiled.
“And yet here you stand.”
Lin Xue’s heart tightened.
He hated how calmly the man spoke.
As though everything happening had been planned long before Lin Xue was even born.
“Why me?”
Minister Zhao tilted his head.
“That is the wrong question.”
“Then what is the right one?”
“Why did Heaven choose you?”
Lin Xue fell silent.
Minister Zhao continued.
“Your soul is different from ordinary cultivators.”
“The Soul Lotus was placed within your soul thousands of years ago.”
“Your bloodline carried it through countless generations.”
“And now…”
His eyes gleamed.
“…it has finally awakened.”
Lin Xue glanced at his wrist.
The crimson mark pulsed faintly.
“So you attacked Qingyun Sect to awaken it?”
“No.”
Minister Zhao shook his head.
“We attacked Qingyun Sect because the Heavenly Mirror was the only thing capable of locating you.”
Lin Xue’s expression changed.
“You couldn’t find me.”
“Not after your rebirth.”
The minister’s smile disappeared.
“Someone hid your soul from us.”
Mo Yuan stepped forward.
“Who?”
Minister Zhao’s gaze shifted toward him.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared in his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
That answer surprised Lin Xue.
The minister continued.
“But whoever did it…” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
“…was powerful enough to deceive Heaven.”
The cavern fell silent.
Lin Xue slowly looked at Mo Yuan.
Neither spoke.
Both were thinking the same thing.
If someone had hidden Lin Xue from these people…
Who?
And why?
Suddenly, the Heavenly Mirror trembled.
Crimson cracks spread across its surface.
Minister Zhao’s expression changed.
“Impossible.”
The mirror began producing a strange sound.
Like thousands of voices whispering at once.
Lin Xue’s Soul Lotus flared.
Then—
A golden light burst from Mo Yuan’s chest.
Lin Xue stared.
“What is that?”
Mo Yuan looked equally shocked.
A tiny golden mark had appeared above his heart.
It was shaped like a wolf.
The mark pulsed once.
The Heavenly Mirror shattered.
BOOM!
A tremendous shockwave exploded through the cavern.
The masked cultivators were thrown backward.
Minister Zhao slammed into a stone pillar.
Lin Xue lost his balance.
Mo Yuan grabbed him around the waist and pulled him close.
The entire cavern shook.
Stone fragments fell from the ceiling.
“Run!”
Mo Yuan dragged Lin Xue toward the eastern passage.
Minister Zhao shouted behind them.
“Don’t let them escape!”
The masked cultivators recovered and gave chase.
Lin Xue looked back.
The shattered pieces of the Heavenly Mirror were floating in the air.
Among them…
He saw one final image.
A man standing beneath a blood-red moon.
Long white hair.
A silver crown.
And eyes that looked exactly like Lin Xue’s.
The figure smiled.
Then the image vanished.
Lin Xue’s heart pounded.
“Mo Yuan!”
“What?”
“I saw someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
The passage suddenly split into three directions.
Mo Yuan stopped.
Lin Xue looked at the walls.
“There.”
He pointed toward the center passage.
“How do you know?”
“I can feel the Soul Lotus.”
Mo Yuan trusted him without hesitation.
“Then we go there.”
They ran.
Behind them, footsteps grew louder.
Soon the voices of the pursuers faded.
Lin Xue finally slowed.
They reached an enormous underground chamber.
At its center stood a stone altar.
Upon it rested a single jade box.
Lin Xue approached cautiously.
“What is this?”
Mo Yuan inspected the surrounding formation.
“No idea.”
Lin Xue reached toward the box.
The Soul Lotus suddenly glowed.
The jade box opened by itself.
Inside lay a single letter.
The paper was ancient.
Yet perfectly preserved.
Lin Xue unfolded it.
There were only a few words.
His hands began to tremble.
Mo Yuan looked over his shoulder.
“What does it say?”
Lin Xue read aloud.
To the one who returns with the Soul Lotus—
Do not trust the Heavenly Oracle.
Do not trust the Emperor.
And above all…
Lin Xue’s breathing stopped.
The final line was written in crimson ink.
Do not trust the man who remembers with you.
Silence.
Lin Xue slowly lowered the letter.
Mo Yuan stared at the words.
Neither spoke.
Then—
A sound came from the darkness behind them.
Slow footsteps.
One.
Two.
Three.
Lin Xue turned.
Mo Yuan immediately drew his sword.
A figure emerged from the shadows.
No mask.
No armor.
No weapon.
Just a man dressed in white.
His face was hidden beneath a hood.
He stopped several steps away.
Then he smiled.
“You’re finally here.”
Lin Xue stared at him.
“Who are you?”
The stranger lowered his hood.
Lin Xue’s blood ran cold.
The man’s face…
Was identical to the figure he had seen inside the Heavenly Mirror.
Identical to his own.
The stranger smiled.
“My name…”
“…is Lin Yue.”
And Mo Yuan’s expression changed completely.
Because he knew that name.
He had heard it once before.
In the final moments of Lin Xue’s first life.
A name whispered by the dying Heavenly Envoy.
A name that should have belonged to someone who had died…
A thousand years ago.
End of Chapter 12