---
Liansheng could still hear the scream.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't even real.
But it lingered.
The cliff beneath him was cracked—like the one they'd buried Yinan on. He hadn't meant to return here. But some places dragged your soul back even when your feet resisted.
He thought he was alone—
Until the air went sharp, and he turned.
---
Suyin was already watching him.
Hair like ink, eyes like wildfire.
Their smile, soft and cruel.
"You miss him."
"He's dead."
"You keep saying that," Suyin replied, stepping closer.
"But it's a funny thing, General. Some dead things come back... better."
---
Inside the shrine, Yinan woke up coughing smoke.
Not real smoke—emotional residue. Whatever Suyin had stuffed into that scroll was burning through his veins like a forgotten oath.
Qiuyue knelt beside him, her grip tight on his wrist.
"What did you do?!"
"I… unlocked something."
The moment he spoke, he heard her.
Not her words. Not her thoughts.
But the echo of her regret.
---
"I shouldn't have let you walk into that valley alone."
"If I'd died instead…"
"No one cries when I fall."
---
He blinked fast.
"Qiuyue… You—"
"Don't," she said softly. "Not yet."
Behind them, the shrine's candle flickered blue.
---
Status.
Lotus Qi: 275 / 300
Echo Sutra – Stage I: Active
▸ You can now hear the grief others carry for you. Use sparingly.
Unlocked Emotion: Guilt (Qiuyue)
▸ Potential Technique Branch Available.
▸ Warning: Empathy may fragment your spirit core.
---
"You shouldn't have come back," Qiuyue whispered.
"I didn't," Yinan said.
"Something else did. I just woke up inside it."
---
Back on the cliff, Suyin was now beside Liansheng.
Close. Too close.
"You were supposed to protect him."
"You don't know what happened."
"Don't I?" Suyin's voice dropped.
"Don't I know how you left him on that battlefield with a sealed meridian and an open chest?"
"Don't I know how he called your name until his voice broke?"
Liansheng's hands trembled.
"He forgave you, you know."
"But me?" Suyin said, smiling.
"I don't forgive. I recruit."
---
[New Character Role Unlocked]
Suyin – Echo Broker
▸ Extracts grief. Translates it into power. Uses it like poetry and poison.
---
And far below them all, deep beneath the shrine,
a pulse of black lotus bloomed in the hidden roots.
Yinan was changing.
The world just hadn't noticed yet.
---