Night returned to the sectheavy, dense,as if the mountain itself held its breath.
Even the wind seemed cautious,slipping through branches as though avoiding something.
Lian Hong lay awake.
His body was still,but his mind—
trembled.
Not from fear.
From recognition.
The echo beneath the mountain had felt… aware.
Not fully awake.Not observing him with curiosity.But sensing something familiar.
Something it knew.
He turned on his side.
His shadow followed the movement a fraction late.
Su Qingyue glanced from her seat by the door.
"You're not sleeping."
"No."
"Is it because of what happened earlier?"
Lian Hong exhaled.
"…It felt like someone said, 'I remember.'"
Zhou Shan, wrapped in three blankets, sat bolt upright.
"BRO IF AN ANCIENT THING REMEMBERS YOU WE NEED TO RUN—MOVE COUNTRIES—MOVE DIMENSIONS—MOVE—"
Su Qingyue stuffed a pillow onto his face until he went silent.
Lian Hong stared at the ceiling.
"Yan Ming knows something he didn't say."
He didn't expect an answer.
But a voice came anyway—
from the doorway.
"Yes."
Yan Ming stood in the shadows,arms crossed,expression unusually tight.
He stepped into the room quietly.
Zhou Shan immediately fainted again.
Su Qingyue straightened.
"You came back."
Yan Ming nodded slightly.
"I cannot ignore what happened on the terrace."
Lian Hong sat up.
"Then tell me.What is under the mountain?"
Yan Ming hesitated.
Only for a moment.But that hesitation meant something.
He finally spoke:
"There is no record of its origin."
"No classification."
"No surviving description."
Su Qingyue frowned.
"So even the Court doesn't know?"
"They know one thing."
Yan Ming looked at Lian Hong.
"Whatever it is—it reacts only to shadow."
The room went still.
"Not to qi."
"Not to spiritual force."
"Not to divine or demonic aura."
"Only shadow."
Su Qingyue inhaled sharply.
"That means—"
"Yes."
Yan Ming's voice lowered.
"It sensed you."
Lian Hong felt a cold weight settle in his chest.
"…Why me?"
Yan Ming sat down across from him.
"For most of history,shadow was not cultivation."
"It was calamity."
"It appeared only when something broke."
"When the world misaligned."
"When boundaries collapsed."
He looked at Lian Hong seriously.
"Your existence as an Unboundedis already a breach in natural order."
Lian Hong was silent.
Yan Ming continued:
"And your resonance with the masked onemarks you as something even more anomalous."
He exhaled.
"That echo beneath the mountainflew toward you like metal to a magnet."
Su Qingyue's face turned pale.
"So he's a trigger."
Yan Ming nodded.
"Yes."
Lian Hong swallowed.
"…What does it want?"
Yan Ming didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
No one did.
But the mountain did.
The tremor came without warning.
Lian Hong jerked—
because this time it wasn't physical.
It was internal.
A pulse.
Not loud.
Not painful.
Just…
real.
Something brushed the inside of his skull.
A whisperso quiet it almost wasn't sound.
—come—
His breath stopped.
He wasn't imagining it.
Yan Ming stood immediately.
"You heard something."
Lian Hong nodded slowly.
"…It said 'come.'"
Su Qingyue looked horrified.
"That's a trap."
Yan Ming didn't disagree.
"It is."
Lian Hong whispered:
"It's calling me."
"Yes."
Su Qingyue grabbed his sleeve.
"You can't answer that call."
Yan Ming's gaze sharpened.
"Not now."
The shadows in the room flickered.
Lian Hong's heart pounded harder.
Something was changing.
Because the whisper wasn't fading.
It was growing clearer.
—you carry his echo—
Lian Hong's eyes widened.
"'His'…?"
Yan Ming froze.
"What did it say?"
Su Qingyue leaned in.
"Who is 'his'?"
Lian Hong whispered:
"The masked one."
The mountain stirred again.
A deep vibration.
Not hostile.
Not desperate.
Recognizing.
Calling.
—the shadow he left in youbelongs to me—
Yan Ming moved instantly, grabbing Lian Hong's wrist.
"Break the link."
"I can't—"
"Break it!"
"I said I can't!"
His shadow suddenly expanded on its own—not rising,not attacking,
just responding.
Like a dog hearing something familiar.
Yan Ming cursed under his breath.
"It's forming a bridge—!"
Su Qingyue tightened her grip on Lian Hong.
"Don't answer it—don't focus on it—don't let it pull you—"
Lian Hong clenched his teeth.
"It's not pulling."
"What, then?"
Lian Hong shivered.
"It's waiting."
The room darkened.
Not physically.
But perceptually.
A thin veil slid over Lian Hong's senses.
Yan Ming grabbed him harder.
"Stay here.Stay in your body."
Lian Hong tried.
He really tried.
But something was unfolding in his mind—like a door cracking open.
A shape.
A color.
A fragment of someone else's memory.
A voice, older than wind, whispered:
—I knew your shadowbefore you were born—
Lian Hong's heart lurched.
"No—that's impossible—"
Yan Ming's voice cut sharply:
"Lian Hong! Disconnect!"
"I can't—it's showing me something—"
The whisper deepened.
Not malicious.Not kind.
Just ancient.
—you are not the firsthe touched—
Lian Hong felt the air disappear from his lungs.
He saw it—
A figure in black.A masked silhouette.A hand reaching into darkness.
Another person—a shadow-touched soul—from centuries ago.
The memory blurred.
Faded.
Returned.
—you carry the second echo—
Lian Hong whispered:
"Second…?Then the first was—"
The whisper answered:
—buried here—
Yan Ming jerked Lian Hong back violently,snapping the trance.
The whisper cut off.
The shadows retreated.
Lian Hong gasped for air.
Su Qingyue held his shoulder.
"Are you back? Look at me!"
Yan Ming's expression was darker than a storm.
"What did it say?"
Lian Hong trembled.
"…That I'm not the first one the masked one touched."
Yan Ming froze.
Su Qingyue's voice shook.
"You mean—there was someone else?"
Lian Hong nodded.
"And it said…the first echo…"
He swallowed hard.
"…is buried under this mountain."
Yan Ming stood slowly.
Too slowly.
Like someone calculatingten disasters at once.
He whispered to himself:
"…No records.No survivor logs.No trace.No witness."
He exhaled sharply.
"The Court hid this."
Su Qingyue's eyes widened.
"You mean—they knew someone else encountered the masked one?"
Yan Ming answered without looking at them.
"They erased it."
Lian Hong looked at the floor.
His shadow trembled at his feet.
"…Why?"
Yan Ming turned toward him.
And for the first timesince Lian Hong knew him,
Yan Ming looked afraid.
Not of the shadow.
Not of the masked killer.
But of history.
"Because whatever happened to the first onemust never happen again."
The wind outside howled across the mountain.
And the whisper faded into the earth.