CHAPTER 18 — The Rule of the Pavilion
Morning did not arrive with sunlight.
It arrived with pressure.
A suffocating stillness that made Zheng Wen Te feel as if the heavens themselves were watching him breathe.
He sat outside the sealed pavilion doors, back against cracked stone.
His body was bruised.
His ribs ached.
But he was alive.
That alone felt unnatural.
The doors opened without a sound.
She stepped out.
The Heart-Severing Immortal.
In daylight, she looked even less human.
Not beautiful.
Not monstrous.
Just… eternal.
Her gaze swept over him like a blade.
"You didn't run."
Zheng's voice was hoarse.
"There's nowhere to run."
For a moment, silence.
Then she raised her hand.
A single finger pointed toward the mountain beyond the pavilion.
Mist rolled like an ocean.
Within it, shadows moved.
Zheng's stomach tightened.
"What is that?"
Her voice was calm.
"The boundary."
"The Heart Pavilion exists outside sect law."
"Outside heaven's mercy."
"Outside fate."
Zheng frowned.
"…Outside fate?"
She finally looked at him directly.
"This place is where karmic debts are settled."
Her words sank into him like ice.
Zheng whispered:
"Karma…"
She took a slow step closer.
"Thirty days, Zheng Wen Te."
"During these thirty days, you will not leave."
"If you leave…"
Her eyes sharpened.
"…your soul thread will snap."
Zheng felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"Soul thread?"
She spoke as if reciting a truth older than language.
"Your existence is tied to mine."
"You escaped once."
"You will not escape again."
Zheng's fists clenched.
"I don't even remember what I did."
Her lips twitched.
"That is your punishment."
"To face consequences you cannot understand."
Zheng stared at her.
Then, quietly:
"What do you want from me?"
The immortal's gaze drifted past him, toward the sky.
Her voice lowered.
"I want you to endure."
Zheng blinked.
"…Endure?"
She turned back, eyes like winter.
"Cultivate."
"Grow strong."
"Strong enough to stand before me…"
Her aura flared, and the air cracked.
"…when the final day comes."
Zheng's heart thundered.
"And then?"
Her voice became a whisper.
"Then your true trial begins."
She stepped back.
The pavilion doors began to close again.
Zheng called out, desperate:
"What happens if I fail?"
The doors shut.
Her answer came through the wood like a curse:
"Then I will destroy what you love again."