The aftermath of the Pill Festival ambush left the sect shaken.
Twelve disciples were unconscious, still bound by faint soul residues.
Three elders quietly resigned.
But Elder Yan Wuheng… remained untouched.
Untouched, but watching.
> "He knows I'm coming," Liu Shen murmured.
"But he still thinks he's ahead."
He wasn't.
Because Liu Shen had already taken the next step.
And the next clue lay beneath the forge.
---
A Memory Rekindled
In his past life, Liu Shen remembered watching an elder draw strange runes at midnight below the Grand Alchemical Hall—runes that pulsed with void fire.
He had dismissed it then.
But now, that memory pulled at him with cold precision.
> "The forge was just a front," he told Rin.
"Beneath it lies the Infernal Binding Altar—a relic of the war between the Shadow Sect and the Searing Cloud Sect centuries ago."
"Do you think it's still active?" Yun Rou asked.
"I don't know," Liu Shen said. "But it was used to forge contracts."
> "The same type used to bind me to my disciples… in the past."
Jin Mu clenched his fist. "Then it's time we tear out its roots."
---
The Hidden Chamber
At midnight, cloaked in silence spells, the Council descended through a forgotten tunnel behind the forge—one buried under alchemical waste and years of protective seals.
Only Liu Shen's Demon Sovereign flame could burn through the layered inscriptions.
Step by step, they reached a stone chamber lined with black runes and chains embedded in the walls. In the center: a circular altar of dark obsidian and red jade.
> The Infernal Binding Altar.
Still intact.
Still glowing faintly.
And sitting on it… was a single object.
A black soul ring, engraved with three names.
One of them—
> Zhao Mingyuan, Liu Shen's most loyal disciple from his past life.
The one who drove the blade into his heart.
Yun Rou whispered, "This… this was used to bind you?"
Liu Shen didn't speak. He reached out and touched the ring.
The moment his fingers brushed it—
---
The Echo of Betrayal
—Pain flooded his mind.
A memory. No, a vision. But real.
> "Master, I'm sorry," Zhao Mingyuan's voice echoed.
"I never wanted this. But you were too strong—and they feared what you'd become."
A scene: Liu Shen chained to the very altar. Blood pouring from his chest. A dozen elders chanting around him.
Zhao Mingyuan, eyes red with guilt, driving the blade home.
> "Your death… was decided long before your betrayal."
The vision shattered.
Liu Shen gasped, clutching the altar.
Yun Rou steadied him. "What did you see?"
He stood slowly, eyes cold as void flame.
> "I remember now… who gave the order."
> "It wasn't just Qin Wuya. He was a pawn too."
He turned to the others.
> "There's another enemy. One that hides behind both blade and scripture."
> "The true traitor… is within the High Council of the Searing Cloud Sect."
---
The Seal Breaks
Jin Mu lit the bindings. The altar trembled.
But before it could be destroyed, a pulse of shadow flame erupted.
A message burned into the air.
> "I know you remember now, Sovereign."
> "I'll be waiting… at the Witherlight Throne."
Liu Shen stepped forward and burned the altar with his flame.
It screamed.
Then shattered into dust.