Night turned colder. Outside, snow began to fall silently—fine, crystalline dust swirling like whispers from the heavens.
Liu Yue stood before the open scroll. Her fingers grazed its surface. It was warm. Almost alive.
Lin Xuan handed her a small jade vial. "This will begin the Qi Saturation. It will flood your blood with energy… and start the reaction. From here, the pain begins."
She accepted it without trembling. "I'm ready."
He raised a brow. "No one is ever ready."
A faint smile touched her lips. "I'll become ready… or die trying."
As she uncorked the vial, crimson light spilled from within. Lin Xuan stepped back, folding his arms as her aura began to rise, violently.
Her veins turned red under her skin, like molten lines carving across porcelain. Her breath quickened, but she stayed standing. For now.
Lin Xuan's thoughts drifted briefly.
> She has her mother's blood… and now, perhaps her destiny.
He said nothing of Emperor Ren. Nothing of the Taixu Domain. Those truths were not yet for her to carry.
But in that moment, as Liu Yue screamed silently—her body caught between mortal pain and immortal promise—he knew:
> This world will remember her name.
And when she collapsed, still breathing, still conscious—her veins flickering like crystal beneath her skin—he simply nodded.
The path had begun.
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