Tian Lei didn't take his eyes off the darkness ahead.
"Do not look back," he said quietly.
Not as advice—more like an order.
Yuxin froze. "…That's exactly the kind of thing people say before ghosts show up."
"Correct."
She made a small noise and kept her eyes forward, veil trembling a little as the sound around them changed—deeper now, a low pulse that seemed to hum through their bones.
The walls closed in, cliffs leaning overhead like giant teeth. Moonlight thinned to thin silver strips. Every sound was loud—the crunch of their steps, the rustle of her robes, the slow drip of unseen water.
Then—
crrrrk.
A thin crack ran across the cliff above, stone shifting with a slow groan.
Tian Lei stopped. His sword was already in his hand.
"Contact," he said.
Something pulled away from the cliff.
It didn't fall or jump. It just stopped pretending to be stone.
