Leng Zhentao’s suppression technique had one purpose.
Stop a vessel from feeding.
That made it useful.
It also made it painful.
Leng Yao stood barefoot in the underground training room while Zhentao pressed two fingers against his back.
“Again.”
Black energy entered the meridian beside Leng Yao’s spine.
His inverted core reacted immediately.
It tried to pull.
Zhentao struck three points in succession.
The circulation collapsed.
Pain shot through Leng Yao’s chest.
He coughed blood onto the floor.
Feng Baoshu watched from the doorway.
“This training method appears inefficient.”
Zhentao lowered his hand.
“He has to feel where the lock forms.”
“He has felt it twelve times.”
“Fourteen.”
Feng looked at Leng Yao.
“That makes it worse.”
Leng Yao wiped his mouth.
“Again.”
Zhentao frowned.
“You are already damaging the meridian.”
“I noticed.”
“You have three hours before the meeting.”
“Then stop wasting them.”
Zhentao hit him again.
This time Leng Yao caught the pattern.
Not the exact flow.
The intention.
Most suppression techniques attacked cultivation directly.
This one did not.
It interrupted the moment between receiving energy and processing it.
A vessel could still absorb.
It simply could not digest.
Foreign power accumulated uselessly until the body expelled it or suffered damage.
Leng Yao stepped away.
“Enough.”
Zhentao looked at him.
“You learned it?”
“No.”
Feng sighed.
Leng Yao continued.
“I understand it.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“It will be.”
He circulated his core.
Slowly.
The Mirror Opposition pressure remained around it.
Shen Mingzhi had advanced again during the night.
Not a full breakthrough.
Enough to send another pulse through their connection.
Leng Yao had refused all of it.
The stored pressure now sat outside his core like water behind a damaged dam.
Dangerous.
Useful.
He formed the suppression pattern.
First point.
Second.
Third.
His circulation stumbled.
Then locked.
The Mirror pressure stopped pressing inward.
Zhentao’s expression changed.
“You copied it after seeing it once.”
“Fourteen times.”
“That is still not normal.”
“Neither are you.”
Feng walked closer.
“What happens if Shun tries to drain him now?”
Zhentao studied Leng Yao’s circulation.
“He will still take energy.”
“From where?”
“The outer accumulation first.”
“The Mirror pressure.”
“Yes.”
“And after?”
“If Yao maintains the lock, Shun should have difficulty reaching the core.”
“Should?”
Zhentao looked at Feng.
“It has never been tested against Shun.”
Feng’s expression flattened.
“Excellent.”
Leng Yao released the lock.
Pain returned to his chest.
His meridians protested.
Doctor Ren would complain later.
Assuming he came back.
He picked up his shirt.
Zhentao watched him.
“You still think this is a good idea.”
“No.”
That answer surprised him.
Leng Yao fastened the cuffs.
“I think it is necessary.”
“Why?”
“Shun knows Carrion Palace.”
“So do I.”
“He chose them.”
Zhentao’s jaw tightened.
“That makes him less trustworthy.”
“It also means he knows what they actually want.”
“And if he kills you?”
“Then the conversation ends early.”
Feng closed his eyes briefly.
“I remember why I used to complain.”
A black line flickered between them.
Stronger than yesterday.
Leng Yao ignored it.
He turned towards Zhentao.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“He is my son.”
“That is why.”
Zhentao stepped forward.
“You think I cannot control myself?”
“I think he asked for me.”
“He will use you against me.”
“Probably.”
“And that does not concern you?”
“It concerns me less if you are not standing beside me.”
Zhentao stared at him.
Then looked away.
He understood.
Good.
Duan Qiao entered carrying another wooden staff.
This one was thicker.
Leng Yao looked at it.
“You bought another.”
“I made it.”
“In three hours?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Duan rested it against his shoulder.
“I was bored.”
Ji Xueyan followed him.
Her silver spear was wrapped in cloth.
No Mandate markings visible.
She looked at Leng Yao.
“You are ready?”
“No.”
Duan smiled.
“Better answer.”
Leng Yao walked past them.
“Then we go.”
The arena had been closed for renovation for six months.
Leng Shun had apparently rented it for the day.
That annoyed Leng Yao more than it should have.
The building sat on the edge of an old commercial district.
Concrete exterior.
Six thousand seats.
One central combat platform.
No audience.
No cameras.
No staff.
Only one man waited inside.
Leng Shun stood in the centre of the arena.
Black trousers.
White shirt.
No Carrion Palace mask.
No visible weapon.
He looked twenty-seven.
He also looked like family.
Same eyes as Zhentao.
Same narrow face.
A little of Leng Jian around the mouth.
Leng Yao disliked him immediately.
Not because of resemblance.
Because Leng Shun was smiling.
“You brought three people.”
Leng Yao walked onto the platform.
“Four.”
Feng entered behind him.
Shun looked towards the old butler.
His smile changed.
“Uncle Feng.”
Feng stopped.
“I am not your uncle.”
“You used to call me Shun’er.”
“I have made many mistakes.”
Duan coughed to hide a laugh.
Shun looked at Ji.
“Regional Chosen.”
“Suspended.”
“I heard.”
Then Duan.
“Null Temple.”
Duan tapped the staff against his shoulder.
“You know me?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Leng Yao stepped between them.
“You asked to meet.”
“Yes.”
“I am here.”
Shun looked around.
“Your father would have brought forty men.”
“My father is dead.”
The smile disappeared for a moment.
Good.
At least that mattered.
Shun looked back at him.
“Did my father tell you about me?”
“Enough.”
“He lies.”
“So do you.”
“Probably.”
That answer earned a faint laugh.
Then Shun’s expression became serious.
“Carrion Palace is going to kill Yan Shuo.”
“Where?”
“Qiyun.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“Why?”
“He knows how to interrupt the Gate ritual.”
Concrete.
Useful.
Leng Yao continued.
“Luo Zhenhai?”
“Still at Qiyun.”
“Mei Zhen?”
Shun’s eyes shifted.
Interesting.
“You know about her.”
“Yes.”
“She is alive.”
“Where?”
“Also Qiyun.”
“Prisoner?”
“No.”
That was worse.
“Carrion Palace?”
“Yes.”
“By choice?”
Shun nodded.
Leng Yao filed it away.
“Why did you call me?”
“To make an offer.”
“No speeches.”
Shun’s smile returned.
“Fine.”
He held out one hand.
“Come to Qiyun with me.”
“Why?”
“Kill Luo.”
“Why?”
“He wants to complete the Gate.”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
Leng Yao looked at him.
“You are the Saint Child.”
“Yes.”
“You remained with the Palace voluntarily.”
“Yes.”
“You use their resources.”
“Yes.”
“And you want their master dead.”
“Yes.”
“Reason.”
Shun lowered his hand.
“Because the Gate does not create a stronger vessel.”
He looked directly at Leng Yao.
“It replaces one.”
The arena became quiet.
Ji shifted her grip on the wrapped spear.
Leng Yao asked, “With what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then how do you know replacement occurs?”
“I watched the last attempt.”
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
“Who?”
“Vessel Twenty-Nine.”
“What happened?”
“His body survived.”
Shun’s face hardened.
“He didn’t.”
Leng Yao thought of the dead transmigrator trying to take his body.
One of the conditions.
Carrion Palace had been trying to make a body capable of accepting something from outside.
“What entered him?”
“Nothing I could identify.”
“Appearance?”
“No visible entity.”
“Behaviour?”
“He knew things.”
“What things?”
“Languages he had never learned.
Techniques from extinct sects.
Places that do not exist on any map.”
Ji looked at Leng Yao.
The similarity was obvious.
The transmigrator.
But the intruder in Leng Yao had come with memories of a novel.
Had that really been random?
Leng Yao pushed the thought aside.
Not yet.
“What happened to Twenty-Nine?”
Shun answered immediately.
“Luo killed him after three days.”
“Why?”
“He stopped obeying.”
That was enough.
“What does Luo expect from me?”
“A stable opening.”
“Why me?”
“Because your core processes foreign structures without collapsing.”
“Yours doesn’t?”
“No.”
Shun’s answer came without shame.
“I steal cultivation.
You transform it.”
Different branches of the same experiment.
“What does the Gate connect to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yan Shuo does?”
“Partly.”
“Your father?”
“Less than he pretends.”
Duan glanced at Leng Yao.
“I like this one less.”
“Good,” Shun said.
“I dislike you too.”
Duan smiled.
That almost became a problem.
Leng Yao spoke first.
“You could have told me this by phone.”
“Yes.”
“So why the arena?”
Shun’s smile vanished.
Finally.
“Because I need to test whether you are worth saving.”
Feng drew both blades.
Ji unwrapped her spear.
Duan lowered his staff.
Leng Yao did nothing.
“Explain.”
“Luo wants your core.”
“Yes.”
“If I help you kill him and your core is weaker than expected, I gain nothing.”
“What do you want?”
“His position.”
“Palace Master.”
“Yes.”
There it was.
Not jealousy.
Not destiny.
Ambition.
Much better.
“You want to use me to remove Luo.”
“Yes.”
“And afterward?”
“I lead Carrion Palace.”
“And the vessel experiments?”
“End.”
Leng Yao studied him.
“Why?”
“Wasteful.”
Not moral.
He appreciated the honesty.
Shun continued.
“We lost more than two hundred viable cultivators over thirty years chasing a ritual that has worked once.”
“Twenty-Nine.”
“Yes.”
“That is your objection?”
“One of them.”
“What else?”
Shun’s jaw tightened.
“My mother.”
Zhentao had not mentioned her.
“Dead?”
“Yes.”
“Experiment?”
“Yes.”
“How old were you?”
“Eight.”
There was the wound.
Not enough to make him good.
Enough to make him understandable.
“Who ordered it?”
“Luo.”
“Your father allowed it?”
Shun’s eyes went cold.
“He was not there.”
Interesting.
Zhentao had more explaining to do.
Leng Yao looked towards the empty seats.
“You still haven’t explained the test.”
Shun lifted one hand.
Dark red energy gathered around his fingers.
The air changed.
Leng Yao felt his cultivation react.
Not fear.
Pull.
The Mirror pressure around his core moved towards Shun.
“Three minutes,” Shun said.
“You let me drain you.”
Feng stepped forward.
“No.”
Leng Yao raised one hand.
Feng stopped.
Shun continued.
“If you remain standing, I take you to Qiyun.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I leave.”
“You don’t kill me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Luo would know.”
Direct.
Good.
Leng Yao loosened his shoulders.
“Three minutes.”
Ji looked at him.
“You are seriously considering this?”
“Yes.”
“Your core is damaged.”
“Yes.”
“Shun is peak Spirit Sea.”
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
“That does not become smarter because you answer quickly.”
“No.”
Leng Yao stepped forward.
“But I need to know what his technique does to the Mirror link.”
Shun’s eyes narrowed.
“Mirror link?”
“Not relevant to you.”
“For now.”
Leng Yao stopped two metres away.
“Start.”
Shun moved.
No countdown.
His palm struck Leng Yao’s chest.
The world emptied.
Not pain.
Absence.
Cultivation ripped towards the point of contact.
Leng Yao’s shadow energy vanished first.
The outer layer disappeared in a single breath.
Then the Mirror pressure surged forward.
Shun’s expression changed.
He pulled harder.
Golden energy flooded into him.
Shun staggered.
“What is this?”
Leng Yao locked his meridians.
Zhentao’s suppression pattern snapped into place.
First point.
Second.
Third.
His core sealed.
Shun’s technique struck the barrier.
For half a second, it held.
Then cracked.
Leng Yao’s knees nearly buckled.
Shun’s cultivation was too high.
Feng moved.
Ji caught his arm.
“He agreed.”
Feng looked at her.
“And if he dies?”
“We stop it.”
“How late?”
Ji did not answer.
Good question.
Leng Yao concentrated.
Shun continued draining.
Mirror pressure first.
Exactly as planned.
The connection to Shen Mingzhi tightened violently.
Far away, Fortune reacted.
The system appeared.
External extraction detected.
Mirror compensation destabilised.
Leng Yao dismissed it.
Shun absorbed another wave.
His pupils flashed gold.
He jerked his hand away.
Only for an instant.
Leng Yao noticed.
“Hurts?”
Shun’s expression changed.
“No.”
Lie.
Not system-confirmed.
Obvious.
Leng Yao smiled faintly.
“Again.”
Shun struck him harder.
The pull intensified.
This time the Mirror energy entered Shun without resistance.
Then Fortune answered.
A second force came through the link.
Not for Leng Yao.
For Shen.
Compensation.
The Mirror tried to preserve balance.
Shun had inserted himself between them.
The system could not classify him.
Golden light burst from his arm.
Shun grunted.
His sleeve burned away.
He did not release Leng Yao.
Good.
Stubborn.
The suppression lock cracked again.
Shun’s technique reached deeper.
Leng Yao felt the edge of his own cultivation being pulled.
Not borrowed Mandate.
His.
He changed the pattern.
Instead of closing the core entirely, he opened one narrow path.
Shun felt it.
His eyes sharpened.
He pulled.
Leng Yao let him.
A thread of dark energy left the core.
Shun absorbed it.
Then froze.
The inverted nature of the energy entered him.
His circulation reversed for one heartbeat.
That was enough.
Leng Yao struck.
Palm to chest.
Shun flew backwards.
He landed ten metres away and slid across the platform.
Duan laughed.
“Good.”
Shun stood slowly.
Blood ran from his nose.
He wiped it.
Looked at the blood.
Then at Leng Yao.
“You poisoned the energy.”
“No.”
“What?”
“It is mine.”
That answer bothered Shun more.
He attacked.
The test was over.
Clearly.
Leng Yao barely blocked the first punch.
The second struck his ribs.
Something cracked.
Shun grabbed his wrist.
The draining technique activated again.
Leng Yao drove his forehead into Shun’s face.
Shun answered with a knee.
Leng Yao’s feet left the floor.
He hit the ground.
Shun followed.
Too fast.
Peak Spirit Sea fast.
A foot came down.
Leng Yao rolled.
Concrete exploded beside his head.
He swept Shun’s ankle.
Barely moved him.
Leng Yao crossed both arms.
Impact sent him across the platform.
Pain filled his chest.
No system shield.
No convenient recovery.
Just difference in cultivation.
Shun was stronger.
Much stronger.
Leng Yao stood.
Shun did not smile anymore.
“Why are you suppressing your breakthrough?”
Leng Yao wiped blood from his mouth.
“Because it is not mine.”
Shun frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Shun moved again.
Leng Yao stopped trying to match force.
He watched.
Right shoulder dipped before the drain.
Left foot planted too heavily after using Spirit Sea movement.
A scar along Shun’s lower ribs tightened whenever he turned.
Old injury.
Leng Yao gave ground.
Three strikes.
Four.
Shun’s fist grazed his jaw.
Fifth.
Leng Yao deliberately exposed his left side.
Shun took it.
Palm towards the chest.
Drain.
Leng Yao rotated.
Shun’s hand landed lower.
Near the damaged meridian Doctor Ren had wrapped.
Pain exploded.
Leng Yao used it.
His elbow hit Shun’s old rib injury.
Once.
Twice.
The third strike carried shadow.
Shun recoiled.
Leng Yao followed.
Knee.
Palm.
Shoulder.
No pause.
No clever words.
Shun finally caught his throat.
Lifted him.
The drain activated at full force.
Leng Yao’s core shuddered.
The suppression lock broke.
Mirror pressure poured out.
Then something unexpected happened.
The grey residue from Vessel Thirty-Four moved with it.
Leng Yao felt it leave.
His eyes widened.
Shun felt it too.
He tried to release him.
Too late.
Grey residue entered Shun’s arm.
Decay spread beneath the skin.
He threw Leng Yao away.
Leng Yao hit the platform hard.
Shun staggered back.
“What did you put in me?”
“Nothing.”
“You—”
“I said nothing.”
Leng Yao pushed himself upright.
“The residue was already there.”
Shun stared at his arm.
Grey lines reached his elbow.
He immediately struck three meridian points.
Different suppression technique.
The spread slowed.
Leng Yao watched carefully.
Useful.
Shun glared at him.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
There was no point denying it.
Shun laughed.
Once.
Then again.
He sat down on the broken platform.
Ji lowered her spear slightly.
Feng did not.
Duan looked disappointed that the fight had stopped.
Shun examined his arm.
“The residue is Rot Scripture.”
“Yes.”
“Vessel source?”
“Thirty-Four.”
Shun looked up sharply.
“You found Helixion.”
“Yes.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Something in Shun relaxed.
Small.
But real.
“You did not consume him.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“He is a person.”
Shun stared at him.
That answer mattered.
Perhaps more than the fight.
He stood.
The grey lines on his arm had stopped spreading.
“You passed.”
Leng Yao looked at him.
“You lost track of time.”
Shun checked the arena clock.
Five minutes had passed.
He frowned.
“That was not the point.”
“Then stop calling it a three-minute test.”
Duan laughed again.
Feng looked at Leng Yao.
“You are bleeding through your shirt.”
“Yes.”
“Two ribs?”
“Probably.”
“Doctor Ren will be pleased.”
“She rarely is.”
Shun walked closer.
Feng immediately moved between them.
Shun stopped.
Looked at him.
“You really don’t remember me.”
“No.”
“Good.”
That answer surprised everyone.
Feng’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because the last thing you said to me before I left the Leng estate was that I was becoming my father.”
Feng looked at Zhentao’s son.
“And was that an insult?”
“Yes.”
“Then perhaps I was correct.”
Shun’s face hardened.
He did not answer.
Leng Yao stepped around Feng.
“Qiyun.”
Shun looked at him.
“Tonight.”
“How many people?”
“Carrion Palace maintains around sixty cultivators at the monastery.”
“Spirit Sea?”
“Four.”
“Including Luo?”
“Yes.”
“Others?”
“Two elders.
Mei Zhen.”
“Mei Zhen is Spirit Sea.”
“Middle.”
“Luo?”
Shun’s expression changed.
“Above.”
Duan stopped smiling.
Ji asked, “What realm?”
“Core Palace.”
Silence.
That was not a small difference.
Mortal Ascension.
Spirit Sea.
Core Palace.
Luo Zhenhai stood an entire major realm above Leng Yao.
Leng Yao asked, “Can you beat him?”
“No.”
“Zhentao?”
“No.”
“Duan?”
Duan answered himself.
“Maybe once.”
Everyone looked at him.
He shrugged.
“I am old.”
“What realm are you?”
“Unimportant.”
Leng Yao stared.
Duan sighed.
“Core Palace.”
Ji’s expression changed.
“You said maybe.”
“My cultivation is damaged.”
“How badly?”
“Enough that a serious fight may be my last.”
That removed the easy solution.
Good.
There should not be one.
Leng Yao looked at Shun.
“You have a plan.”
“Yes.”
“Give it.”
“Yan Shuo is being held beneath the western hall.”
“Mei Zhen controls the medical wing.”
“Luo stays near the Gate chamber.”
“Tonight, Carrion Palace begins preparation.”
“For me?”
“For the next opening.”
“With whom?”
Shun looked directly at Leng Yao.
“Shen Mingzhi.”
Everything stopped.
Leng Yao’s expression changed.
“Explain.”
“Carrion Palace identified him yesterday.”
“How?”
“Fortune surge.”
The bridge.
The Mirror link.
Shen’s breakthroughs.
“He is not a vessel.”
“No.”
“But Fortune is external authority.”
“Yes.”
Shun continued.
“Luo does not need Shen to survive the ritual.”
Ji’s face went cold.
“He wants to use him as fuel.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Midnight.”
Leng Yao checked the time.
12:43 p.m.
Less than twelve hours.
“How do they have him?”
“They don’t.”
“Then how—”
Shun’s phone vibrated.
He checked it.
His expression changed.
Then he turned the screen around.
A photograph.
Shen Mingzhi unconscious inside a vehicle.
Blood along his temple.
A white Carrion Palace mask visible beside him.
Timestamp:
12:41.
Two minutes ago.
Shun looked at Leng Yao.
“They do now.”
The Mirror Opposition link suddenly went silent.
Not weakened.
Gone.
Leng Yao felt the absence immediately.
The system appeared.
Protected Fortune anchor disconnected.
Cause unknown.
Then:
Mirror Opposition suspended.
For the first time since Qin bound them together, Shen Mingzhi was completely outside Heaven’s reach.
Leng Yao stared at the photograph.
Carrion Palace had done something the Central Court had failed to do.
They had taken a Chosen off the board.
And they had not done it for Leng Yao.
He looked at Shun.
“Where is the vehicle?”
Shun checked the message.
“Heading west.”
Leng Yao turned towards the exit.
Feng followed.
Ji was already moving.
Duan lifted his new staff.
Shun called after them.
“You said you wouldn’t let Heaven define your relationship with Shen.”
Leng Yao stopped.
Looked back.
“It isn’t.”
“Then why save him?”
Leng Yao answered without hesitation.
“Because Luo does not get to decide who becomes fuel.”
Then he kept walking.
No system corrected him.
No antagonist percentage appeared.
For once, the choice belonged entirely to him.