Darkness swallowed the camp whole.
Men shouted blindly. Steel scraped. Horses shrieked and tore against their reins. But all of it felt distant—muted under the crushing presence that rolled in like a tide.
Jeng Minh couldn't see the Chainbearer, but he felt him.
A cold weight pressed against his chest, squeezing the air from his lungs. Every instinct screamed to run, yet his feet rooted themselves to the earth.
A whisper cut through the dark.
"The vessel must not awaken."
The voice was layered—echoes overlapping like multiple speakers speaking through one throat. It made the hair rise along Jeng Minh's neck.
Xie Yaling moved first.
A burst of golden light tore from her hand—an imperial talisman flaring to life like a miniature sun. The circle of light pushed the darkness back just enough to reveal the horned mask only a few strides away.
"Stay back!" she commanded, her voice hardened steel.
The Chainbearer didn't pause.
Chains unfurled from his forearm, slithering through the air like serpents. They whipped toward Xie Yaling—
—but Feng vaulted forward, slashing upward with his saber.
Sparks exploded as steel met metal.
"Fall back, Zhou Chen!" Feng barked. "Now!"
But the chains moved with unnatural speed.
Too fast.
One wrapped around Feng's blade, yanking him off balance. Another lashed out at Xie Yaling—she parried with the talisman, its light flaring and sending the chain recoiling with a hiss.
"Run!" she snapped. "He's not after us—he's after you!"
Jeng Minh didn't move.
He couldn't abandon them. Not Feng, not the men who followed him, not the envoy who had already risked her life.
The Chainbearer turned toward him slowly.
"Vessel," he whispered. "Return to stillness."
Chains lifted like skeletal wings behind him.
And then—The assassin lunged.
Everything snapped into motion.
Jeng Minh raised Zhou Chen's spear—barely in time. The impact jolted up his arms, nearly tearing the weapon from his grip. He staggered back as the Chainbearer's strength thundered against him.
I can't beat him. I can barely stand against him.
The Chainbearer pressed forward—and in that moment, something inside Jeng Minh surged.
A pulse.
A thrum of cold fire in his veins.
Zhou Chen's memories were distant, blurry things…But the body remembered what the soul did not.
Jeng Minh pivoted sharply, sweeping the spear in a low arc. The blow struck the Chainbearer's leg, only for the chains to coil and absorb the impact like living armor.
He recoiled, stunned.
The man didn't even flinch.
"Resistance confirms instability," the Chainbearer murmured. "You must be extinguished before you fully align."
Xie Yaling leaped beside Jeng Minh, grabbing his arm.
"Retreat," she hissed. "This one… he's not human."
"I gathered that," Jeng Minh managed.
Feng rejoined them, bleeding from a shallow cut across his cheek, eyes blazing.
"Together," Feng growled. "We kill him together."
But the Chainbearer only tilted his head, as if amused.
"You cannot kill a chain."
He raised his hand.
The chains shot upward—then slammed into the earth around them like iron stakes, forming a tightening cage.
Soldiers tried to rush in, but the moment they touched the shifting chains, they were thrown back as if struck by invisible force.
Feng snarled. "Damn it—he's isolating us!"
Xie Yaling pressed her talisman to the ground, sending ripples of gold across the chain barrier. Cracks appeared—briefly—before sealing shut.
"He's far stronger than anything I've seen," she muttered.
"Of course he is," the Chainbearer whispered.
He stepped closer.
Chains lifted for the killing strike.
And then—
A white knife of light carved through the darkness.
One heartbeat later, a single chain hit the ground—severed cleanly.
The Chainbearer froze.
A ripple passed through the shadows.A presence Jeng Minh recognized instantly.
A familiar voice spoke from behind the Chainbearer:
"Enough."
The horned mask turned.
From the darkness emerged Bai Ye—robes moving like smoke, bone-white mask unblemished, red sigils glowing faintly in the dim light. His legion stepped from the shadows behind him in perfect silence.
Feng stiffened.Xie Yaling gripped her sword.Jeng Minh felt his pulse jump in his throat.
Bai Ye's masked gaze never left the Chainbearer.
"You break the old chain's decree by attacking my chosen," Bai Ye said softly.
The Chainbearer's voice rattled. "He has awakened too early. He is unstable. He threatens the balance."
"And whose fault is that?" Bai Ye responded smoothly.
The air crackled—two storms colliding.
The Chainbearer's chains rattled violently. "The vessel must be destroyed."
Bai Ye raised a hand.
"Try."
The temperature plunged.
The chains lashed out—Bai Ye's fingers flicked—And every chain slammed into the ground as if pinned by invisible spikes.
The Chainbearer staggered, shocked.
Bai Ye's voice dropped, low and dangerous:
"Touch him again… and I will break your chain."
For the first time, the horned mask turned away.
"Then the chain will unravel," the Chainbearer whispered. "And fate with it."
In a swirl of darkness, he vanished—chains retracting like frightened serpents.
The barrier collapsed.
Silence fell.
Wind stirred the torches back to flickering life.
Xie Yaling stepped forward, sword raised.
"Who are you?" she demanded of Bai Ye.
Bai Ye didn't look at her.
He looked at Jeng Minh.
Only Jeng Minh.
"You cannot go to the capital unprotected," Bai Ye said. "The old chain will send more."
Jeng Minh took a shaky breath. "What am I to you?"
Bai Ye tilted his head.
"My lord."
Xie Yaling froze.Feng's grip on his sword tightened.Jeng Minh felt the ground tilt beneath him.
"My lord," Bai Ye repeated softly, "your awakening has begun."
He lifted a hand.
"Come with me, Vessel. There is much you must learn… before the Emperor decides your fate for you."
But Xie Yaling moved between them instantly, blade drawn.
"He is under imperial summons. He will go to the capital."
Bai Ye's mask turned to her.
"And you," he said calmly, "carry a blade that is not yours."
Her eyes widened—but only for a fraction of a second.
Then Bai Ye turned his masked face back to Jeng Minh.
"Choose, Vessel," he murmured.
"Follow me…or follow the chain that wants you dead."
The camp held its breath.
Jeng Minh's heart pounded.
And he realized—
Whatever he chose next would decide whose game he was truly playing.