The moment Lin Xue shouted, "GO!", the air around Wei Chen changed.
It was like his voice stopped being a cage and became a blade.
Wei Chen sucked in one hard breath. His eyes locked on the Frost-Eater's hand on Lin Xue's wrist, and his mouth finally moved with power behind it.
"Back," Wei Chen said.
The word hit like a hammer. Golden heat burst from his chest and rolled down his arms, not wild, but shaped. The tunnel flashed bright. The Frost-Eater's shadow fingers smoked and jerked away from Lin Xue's skin like they hated being seen.
Lin Xue gasped and stumbled, and Wei Chen caught her instantly. His arm locked around her waist and pulled her tight against him, chest to chest, shielding her from the cold like he was wrapping her in a living furnace.
For one heartbeat, his grin returned—sharp, naughty, and human. "Good," he murmured by her ear. "You unlocked me."
Lin Xue's cheeks burned even in fear. "Idiot," she whispered, but her hands stayed on him like she didn't want to let go.
Wei Chen's gaze dropped to her lips, then back to her eyes. "Do you want me to stop holding you like this?" he asked, clear.
Lin Xue swallowed. Her voice shook. "Don't stop," she whispered. "Hold me. Burn it."
Wei Chen's breath hitched at the command, and he answered like a vow. "Yes."
He turned back to the coffin crack. The Frost-Eater's shoulders were fully out now, its body a tall darkness sliding forward. Its gold-black eye glowed brighter, pleased, like Lin Xue's "GO" was food.
And right then, the black sun brand on Wei Chen's chest pulsed.
Hot.
Then cold.
It opened a hair wider under Lin Xue's sealing palm, like the door inside him took advantage of the moment his mouth was free.
Lin Xue felt it and slammed her palm harder onto his chest. Frost raced out, sealing tight. "Black sun—stop!" she commanded.
The brand trembled, but it did not fully obey.
Wei Chen's jaw clenched. He lifted his fan and snapped it open with a sharp click. "Not today," he growled.
Su Mei's black-eyed body moved again, calm and silent. She reached for Wei Chen's chest like she was being pulled by strings. Her fingers slid under Lin Xue's sealing hand, trying to touch the edge of the brand.
Wei Chen spoke, voice hard. "Su Mei. Stop."
Su Mei didn't stop.
Her hand kept moving, like she couldn't hear him.
Lin Xue's stomach turned cold. "She's not in there," she whispered.
Wei Chen's eyes narrowed. "Then I'm talking to what is," he said.
He stepped in close, pressed Lin Xue behind him with his body, and pinned her there with one arm around her waist—firm, protective, a little too intimate. Lin Xue's breath caught when his heat covered her, when his hand held her like she was his anchor in the middle of a nightmare.
Wei Chen glanced back at her. "Do you want me to stop pushing you behind me?" he asked, clear.
Lin Xue's cheeks flared. "No," she whispered. "Just don't leave me."
Wei Chen's eyes softened for half a breath. "Then stay on me," he murmured.
He leaned down and kissed her—slow, deep, steady—right there in the cold tunnel while the monster watched. Lin Xue clutched his robe and kissed him back, trembling, not forced—chosen. Their heat and frost hummed together, and the bond rope inside her mind flared bright even though it was wounded.
Wei Chen pulled back just enough to ask, "Do you want me to stop?"
"Don't stop," Lin Xue whispered. "Make me real."
Wei Chen's grin flickered. "Bossy Ice Queen," he murmured, then turned back and raised his palm.
Golden Nine-Suns fire gathered in his hand like a small sun.
"Burn," Wei Chen said.
The fire shot forward in a narrow line, slamming into the Frost-Eater's shoulder. Shadow smoke exploded off it. The monster's eye blinked, annoyed now, and the tunnel shook as if the walls didn't like watching.
The copy of Lin Xue stood farther down the tunnel, smiling sweetly. "Pretty words," it purred. "But you don't know which word matters most."
Lin Xue's wrist mark stung, and her Frozen Heart Curse surged again when the outside cold pressed in. The Frost-Eater leaned closer, and its voice slid into the air like ice on skin.
"Say his name," it whispered to Lin Xue. "Say it first."
Lin Xue's throat went tight.
Wei Chen heard it too. His eyes snapped to her. "Don't," he warned, low.
Lin Xue stared at the monster's eye. "I've been saying his name," she whispered, confused.
The Frost-Eater's eye gleamed like it was smiling.
"No," it whispered. "Not the name you use."
The copy's smile widened. "Not the safe order," it purred. "Not the wrong order."
Lin Xue's blood went cold.
Because she suddenly understood the trick.
She had been anchoring him with "Chen Wei" like a lock. She had been using the name that held him steady.
But his true name… the name the world wrote first… was "Wei Chen."
Wei Chen's mouth tightened. He didn't say it. He didn't want it said. His gaze begged her without words.
Su Mei's black-eyed body stepped closer again, one hand reaching for Wei Chen's chest, the other reaching toward Lin Xue like she wanted to grab her jaw.
Lin Xue backed up, but the tunnel was tight. Wei Chen caught her wrist and pressed a warm kiss right on her mark—slow and sealing—like he was trying to remind her body who she chose.
Lin Xue shuddered. Her cheeks burned. The curse eased for one tiny moment.
Wei Chen looked up at her, eyes fierce. "Do you want me to stop?" he asked, clear.
Lin Xue swallowed. "Don't stop," she whispered. "Just… don't let me say it."
Wei Chen nodded once. "Then bite the word," he said softly. "Like I did."
The Frost-Eater's shadow hand snapped out again—this time not for Wei Chen.
For Lin Xue's mouth.
Cold wrapped around her jaw. Her lips parted against her will.
Lin Xue's heart slammed.
Wei Chen moved like lightning. He grabbed the shadow wrist and blasted it with Nine-Suns fire, smoke ripping off it in angry curls. Then he grabbed Lin Xue's face with both hands and forced her eyes onto his.
"Say my name," Wei Chen ordered. "Stay real."
Lin Xue's breath shook. "Chen… Wei," she gasped, trying to anchor him—
But the monster tightened the cold around her jaw again, forcing a different shape.
Forcing the true order.
Lin Xue's lips trembled.
The sound started anyway.
"Wei…"
Wei Chen's eyes went wide.
And the black sun brand on his chest pulsed once—hot, hungry—like the door heard the first syllable and leaned closer to opening.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.