Chapter 5: City of Ashes, Secrets, and Silent Eyes
Location: South District – Layer-9 Underpass
The city coughed smog and shadows.
New Luyang had always been dark, but this corner of it felt older — like the earth itself wanted to forget what it buried.
Zhao Feng crouched beneath a crumbling arch, his hoodie damp from rain and tainted spirit mist.Above him, a flickering billboard sparked in defiance — a giant advertisement for Eternal Harmony Life Insurance.
"Live forever. Or die trying."
Ironic.
His eyes scanned the runes etched into the steel wall — suppression glyphs from an ancient era. Still functional.
Beside him, Bai Qian adjusted her spirit lenses, one eye glowing faintly green.She was quiet tonight. Not from fear, but calculation.
"The glyphs haven't been disturbed in years," she said. "We're the first in."
"Good," Zhao muttered.
But he wasn't calm.Not tonight.
Because since the last soul spike, he had felt her.
Flash Memory
A warm laugh echoing down temple halls.Fingers brushing his bruised knuckles."Fight smarter next time, idiot."Tang Xinyi's voice.
And then:The scream.The blood.The final explosion of qi as she burned herself to save him.
Present
"She's dead," he whispered.
Bai Qian looked at him. "Who?"
"No one. Let's move."
She didn't push. But her jaw tightened.
She's not stupid. She knows something's wrong.
Zhao dropped down the maintenance shaft first, landing on a slick platform just above a flooded tunnel. Water dripped from rusted pipes, and a strange sulfur-sweet scent curled in the air.
Bai Qian followed, blades drawn.
Flash Cut: Meanwhile on the Rooftop
Tang Xinyi knelt in the shadow of a half-collapsed billboard, her breath fogging the air.
Across the gap — two floors below — Zhao Feng moved like a ghost through the ruin.
"He's alive," she murmured.
She should've known from the soul thread. But seeing him?
It was different. He moved with tension — not the reckless fire of their youth, but something coiled and cold.
So much pain inside him.
And beside him… another woman.
Xinyi's eyes narrowed.
Bai Qian.Medical Sect dropout. Two-faced. Knife hidden behind a smile.
Her fingers twitched. Not out of jealousy.
Out of instinct.
SYSTEM NOTICE
Soul Thread Stability: 54%Resonance is intensifying due to proximity. Emotional triggers may occur.Phoenix Mark remains suppressed. Do not engage until path is clear.
She pulled her hood tighter and whispered, "Scan the perimeter."
Warning: S-Class Observer present within 500m radius. Passive stealth mode engaged.
She froze.
Someone else was watching Zhao too.
"No," she growled. "I just got back. You don't get to take him again."
Her eyes glinted gold — for just a moment — before she vanished.
Underground – Deeper Inside the Tunnel
Bai Qian wiped condensation from a rusted spirit gate.
"What exactly are we looking for?" she asked. "You never said."
Zhao Feng hesitated.
Then: "A soul weapon."
She blinked. "A what?"
"One that responded to me in the last ruin. I didn't tell you because I thought it was a glitch. But now… it's pulling again."
He placed a hand on the ancient gate — and it pulsed with deep violet light.
SYSTEM ALERTResonance confirmed: Host linked to Spirit-Class Artifact [Ash Lotus Blade]Partial memory fragments unlocked.Caution: Opening this gate may awaken dormant soul entities.
Bai Qian backed up, blades at the ready.
"What the hell is an Ash Lotus?"
Zhao smiled grimly. "The reason the old sects went extinct."
Memory Echo Unlocked – The Ash Lotus Blade
Zhao saw it.
A burning lotus drifting through clouds of ash.Screams.A battlefield of corpses.A girl with phoenix flames pouring from her hands. Tang Xinyi — her voice shaking with fury.
"You will not take him from me!"
Then—A blade impaling her chest.
He jerked back, gasping.
Bai Qian caught him before he collapsed.
"What did you see?"
He didn't answer.
But the pain in his eyes told her everything.
Upper Sky Spire – Red Chamber Surveillance Room
The figure in crimson robes studied two spirit mirrors.
Zhao Feng — glowing faintly in violet.Tang Xinyi — hidden, but flickering between shadows like smoke with a heartbeat.
"They're converging faster than expected," the figure said.
A masked voice answered from the dark.
"We kill the girl first. Before she awakens the full flame."
"No," the robed figure replied. "We kill the boy. The girl's rage will bring the real weapon online."
Underpass Core – Access Room
The gate opened with a hiss and a scream.
Zhao stepped into a circular chamber lined with glowing spirit veins.
At the center: a suspended blade, wrapped in ash-white lotus petals.Its aura made the air tremble.
"This is it," he whispered.
Bai Qian touched her chest. "I feel sick just being near it."
SYSTEM WARNINGArtifact Activation ImminentPrepare for soul sync or abort mission.
Then—A sound.
Footsteps behind them.
Too quiet to be mortal. Too cold to be human.
Bai Qian turned first.
Zhao reached for the blade.
Rooftop Cliffhanger – Tang Xinyi
She watched the entire thing from across the rooftops, one knee pressed to the ledge.
The ash blade.
The observer.
The trap.
Her lips parted.
"He's walking straight into it."
She shouldn't move yet. The system advised waiting. But this—
This was Zhao Feng.
The boy who bled for her.
The one who still bore her soul mark.
"Screw fate," she hissed. "I'm ending this myself."
She stood, summoned a fragment of phoenix flame, and leapt.