In the Cult's deepest chamber, torchlight flickered with a cold blue hue. The flames did not burn—they remembered.
Liu Shen sat cross-legged before the ancient scroll, his fingers resting gently atop the aged parchment. Ink pulsed like blood beneath his touch, refusing to settle.
> "Soul-Thread Restoration."
The forbidden technique whispered to him.
> "Exchange what you know… for what was taken."
His current memories—the ones forged after his reincarnation—would be the cost. His time in the sect, his bonds with Lei Qing and Yu Meixing, even his understanding of the modern cultivation world could unravel.
But there was no hesitation in his heart.
> "I must know what she was… what she did. Whether I loved her… or if she was the knife that pierced me."
He inhaled slowly, drawing demonic qi inward.
Black tendrils curled around his body like coiling snakes. His soul domain opened—a space of endless crimson, cracked from the wounds of betrayal and rage. In its center floated a pale flame—his soul core.
The scroll glowed.
Lines of forbidden scripture surged upward, breaking into spectral chains and slamming into his soul.
> "AH—!"
Pain like no other tore through him—not of the flesh or mind, but of identity. His current self—Liu Shen the disciple of the Sect of Shadows—began to unravel. Names faded. Faces blurred. Even the scent of Yu Meixing's hair began to vanish from his consciousness.
But in return, the past roared in.
---
A Palace Bathed in Moonlight
He stood once more beneath the Moon-Reverence Palace—the seat of his old dominion as the Demon Sovereign.
The halls gleamed with obsidian. Crimson banners depicting dragons and wolves flapped in the celestial winds. At the far end stood the Nine Shadows, cloaked and kneeling.
All but one.
She stood.
> "You defy Heaven," she said, voice calm and soft.
> "So do we all," he replied, his tone unreadable.
She stepped forward. Her hood fell.
Yu Meixing.
Her features the same, yet her eyes were colder, sharper—like polished steel.
> "I was sent by Heaven," she said.
Liu Shen in the memory did not flinch.
> "And yet you chose to stay."
She nodded.
> "They told me to kill you after the Celestial Writ was delivered."
> "Why didn't you?"
> "Because I fell in love with the monster I was supposed to slay."
---
The memory shifted—time sped forward.
Blood. Betrayal. Her dagger in his back.
> "I begged them to spare you!" she screamed through tears as he fell.
> "I told them… you could be changed!"
And then—light. The heavens descended. A thousand divine spears rained down.
> "NO—!"
---
Return to the Present
Liu Shen snapped back to his body, gasping. Sweat soaked his robes, and blood dripped from his eyes, ears, and fingertips.
But he remembered.
Everything.
> "She was the Ninth Shadow… and she betrayed me."
"But she loved me."
"She betrayed Heaven too."
He stood, trembling.
> "Yu Meixing was not the dagger… she was the shield I failed to protect."
---
Elsewhere: Meixing's Dreams Fracture
That same night, Yu Meixing awoke with a scream.
In her dream, she had seen the same memory—only from her side.
The dagger. The tears. His broken gaze as Heaven's fury fell upon him.
She fell to her knees, clutching her chest.
> "Why… do I remember this?"
A pulse of energy echoed in her mind. Not hers.
Liu Shen's demonic mark—the soul tether he unknowingly placed on all Nine Shadows long ago—was stirring.
> "Is he… remembering?"
---
The Meeting
By midnight, Meixing stood before Liu Shen's quarters.
He had not emerged since morning.
She raised her hand to knock.
The door opened on its own.
Inside, Liu Shen stood in silence, his eyes distant—yet burning with something she hadn't seen before.
Not rage. Not suspicion.
But recognition.
> "You remember," she whispered.
He nodded slowly.
> "Everything."
She swallowed hard.
> "Then… what am I to you now?"
He stepped forward, slowly closing the distance between them.
> "The traitor who tried to save me…"
> "And the only person whose betrayal I still mourn."
A silence passed. Heavy. Personal.
He turned away.
> "We leave for the Broken Sky Plateau in three days. Gather what you need."
> "You still trust me?" she asked, voice small.
He didn't answer.
But he didn't shut the door behind her either.
---
Atop the Sect's Tower
Later, Liu Shen stood with Lei Qing, who had returned from an errand to the northern marshes.
> "You look different," Lei Qing said, frowning.
> "Because I am," Liu Shen replied.
Lei Qing hesitated, then asked, "Should I be worried about her?"
Liu Shen's answer was as cold as it was true.
> "Be worried for Heaven."
> "Because I just remembered how to destroy them."