The world around Yun Che and Jasmine blurred—colors bleeding into one another until the tomb's stone walls dissolved completely.
In their place appeared a vast, open world bathed in shimmering light. The air felt weightless, unreal, and the horizon curved like the surface of a dream. Mountains rose in the distance, their peaks glimmering under a sky of gold.
They weren't in the tomb anymore.
===================
[Ding… Host's and Jasmine's consciousness has entered the Soul Essence. The host cannot leave until the message's true purpose is delivered.]
===================
Yun Che's eyes narrowed. "So, the pedestal didn't just show us a message… it pulled us into it."
Jasmine turned slowly, taking in the scene. "But the first one only projected her image. Why go through this much trouble now?"
"Because she doesn't want us to just see the memory," he replied, voice low. "She wants us to experience it."
Jasmine frowned, crossing her arms. "For a mere orb, that seems excessive."
Yun Che's lips curled faintly. "That's because it's not a mere orb."
The golden landscape shifted, dissolving and reforming around them. Now they stood on the edge of a vast crater—the same one from the Moon Empress's first message. Smoke and golden dust still lingered in the air, glinting like powdered starlight.
At the center of the crater lay a head-sized stone, still glowing faintly. Yun Che instantly recognized the moment. The fall of the heavenly light.
He and Jasmine stood beside the youthful Moon Empress—back when she was still an ordinary mortal girl. She looked no more than seventeen, her long dark hair fluttering against the warm updrafts of the crater.
Yun Che instinctively stepped closer, reaching out a hand toward her shoulder. His fingers passed right through. "Just as I thought… we're only observers."
Jasmine nodded absently, eyes narrowing at the stone. "Then, this is the moment she finds it."
As if on cue, the rock cracked apart with a muffled pop, splintering into fragments. From within, something gleamed—bright and gold, like a miniature sun.
The young Moon Empress hesitated, shielding her face as the brilliance poured forth. Then, with trembling hands, she brushed away the last fragments of stone and lifted it.
The object rested in her palms—a perfect golden sphere, pulsing softly with life. It was slightly larger than her hands could grasp, covered in intricate rings and etched with thousands of delicate runic lines that pulsed in rhythm like veins. Three large circular nodes stood out on its surface, rotating faintly on their axes.
Jasmine floated closer, studying it from every angle, her crimson eyes flickering with both curiosity and unease. "What in the heavens is this? I've never seen or heard of such a relic—not even in the Realm of the Gods."
But Yun Che's breath caught in his throat. His pupils trembled. His body went still.
He knew that orb.
The texture of the gold, the pattern of its rings, the faint vibration it emitted—it was unmistakable.
He'd seen one before. Back in his original world.
"…No way," he whispered.
His voice trembled—not from fear, but disbelief.
Jasmine turned sharply. "You recognize it?"
Yun Che didn't answer immediately. He could barely think. Every structure of the tomb—the material, the glowing runes, the altars that projected memories—it all made sense now.
These weren't the creations of a profound practitioner.
They were technological constructs.
Ancient ones.
Made with knowledge no mortal or cultivator in this world should possess.
"Jasmine…" he said finally, his tone grave, his voice barely a whisper. "That orb… isn't from this world."
Her eyes widened. "What do you mean 'not from this world'? You're saying it's—?"
A sudden realization struck Yun Che like a bolt of lightning. His face darkened.
"Wait… she said nine heavenly lights."
He clenched his fists, his golden eyes narrowing as he stared at the floating image of the Moon Empress and the orb in her hands.
"That means there are eight more of these things scattered across this world…"
His tone dropped, voice edged with exasperation and dread.
"Damn it all. Even one of these things caused enough chaos back in my home world—and now there's nine of them here? This is going to be a pain in the ass…"
Jasmine floated beside him, studying the orb's glow with her usual sharp, analytical gaze. Even her divine senses couldn't pierce its structure.
"So," she asked, eyes flickering with curiosity, "is it truly the same as the one you had in mind?"
Yun Che's lips tightened. "Yeah… never expected she'd encounter one of those here. I was hoping I was wrong."
Jasmine's head tilted slightly. "Then you do know what it is."
"I do," he began grimly, "this thing is—"
But before he could continue, the Moon Empress's voice echoed around them again—soft, melancholic, and ancient.
"The mysterious golden orb… the very thing that changed my life—for the better, and for the worse. It became the turning point of my existence.
"Even now, I ask myself: why me? Was I chosen by fate to find it… or cursed to bear the weight of its power?"
Her image shimmered as her voice carried across the illusionary mountains. She stepped closer to her younger self—the mortal girl she once was—who now knelt before the orb, its golden glow reflecting in her awestruck eyes.
"Its beauty mesmerized me. The despair that once consumed me vanished the moment I touched it. My fear, my pain, my hatred—all forgotten, replaced by a strange warmth that pulled me in.
"What was this thing? A divine relic, sent from the heavens to bring salvation? Or a curse meant to tempt mortals into ruin?
"I didn't know… I didn't care. I was weak, desperate. And I believed the heavens had answered my prayer for strength."
The young Moon Empress turned the orb in her hands, the intricate rings and runes on its surface glinting like starlight. Yun Che could almost feel the pulse of power emanating from it—subtle, rhythmic, alive.
But then, distant voices echoed across the valley. Shouts. The crunch of boots on rock.
Jasmine turned her head toward the sound. "Others are coming."
The younger Moon Empress froze. Her expression hardened for a moment before she clutched the orb tightly to her chest and darted away from the crater, vanishing into the trees.
Moments later, the source of the voices arrived—a group of cultivators descending into the crater. Their robes were uniform, marked with a simple sigil across their chests.
Their auras were weak by Yun Che's and Jasmine's standards—mere Elementary Profound Realm cultivators, perhaps fifth or sixth level at best. But to a mortal village girl, they would have been gods.
One of them crouched, brushing his fingers over the cracked earth. "The golden light… are we certain it came from here?"
Another man, slightly older, surveyed the crater's scorched edge. "I'm sure of it. The heavens split open. I saw the light descend from the sky and strike this place."
He pointed toward the forest in the direction the girl had fled. "It was bright enough to set half the valley aglow. Whatever landed here—it's not ordinary."
Jasmine's gaze lingered on them coldly. "So this is how it began. The greed of cultivators… sniffing out power like dogs."
Yun Che folded his arms, watching silently. "That's how it always starts. In every world."
The cultivators continued scouring the crater, muttering among themselves.
"Strange… there's no sign of anything."
"Could someone have taken it already?"
"Impossible! Who would dare approach such a heavenly object?"
But one of them—slightly taller, sharper-eyed than the rest—narrowed his gaze toward the distant woods.
"Leader, the rock here looks like it's been shattered—and there's a broken branch. Someone's been here."
The man's voice carried across the crater, sharp and eager.
The one called Leader narrowed his eyes, scanning the area with suspicion. "They wouldn't have gotten far. Spread out and search. That golden light wasn't natural—it's a heavenly treasure, and we'll be damned if we let someone else take it."
"But, Leader," one of the younger disciples spoke hesitantly, "what if the person who took it is stronger than us?"
The older man snorted. "Hmph. This is the most isolated forest in the continent. The nearest sect is ours, and the mortals here barely have the strength to lift a sword. Whoever took it is still here. Move out and find them."
At his command, the cultivators dispersed, their silhouettes darting between trees like hunting shadows.
The illusion shifted again. The glowing image of the Moon Empress's soul essence took off in a streak of pale light, and Yun Che and Jasmine instinctively followed, soaring behind her through the forest canopy.
The world around them blurred until they arrived at a small mountain cave not far from the impact site. The air inside shimmered faintly—alive with residual energy from the orb.
Even though they were inside a vision, every texture felt tangible—the rough stone beneath their feet, the chill in the air, the faint hum of power.
The younger version of the Moon Empress sat deep within the cave, her breaths uneven and quick. Her clothes were torn, and her face glistened with sweat. In her trembling hands, she still clutched the golden orb.
After several minutes of catching her breath, she set the orb down on a flat slab of stone before her.
She leaned forward, eyes wide, studying its strange engravings. But no matter how long she stared—how much she tilted or touched it—the orb remained still, unresponsive.
Then—
Pulse.
The delicate engravings along its surface began to glow, veins of golden light flowing outward like liquid sun.
Pulse.
Each wave of light grew brighter, pulsing rhythmically, casting intricate shadows along the cave walls until the entire chamber was bathed in gold.
Jasmine frowned, hovering beside Yun Che. "Just what in the heavens is this thing?"
Her words came out as a whisper—but her gaze flicked to him. His eyes hadn't moved from the orb once. They were sharp, almost haunted.
Then, the Moon Empress's ethereal voice filled the chamber once again.
"At that time… I panicked. I didn't know what was happening—or what I had done to cause such light. All I knew was that those cultivators would soon find me.
"And that was when I made my first mistake."
The younger Moon Empress—terrified the light would draw her pursuers—grabbed the orb with both hands, trying to smother its glow.
The moment her fingers brushed its surface—
SWISH!
A surge of golden energy exploded outward, brighter than daylight. The cave shook violently, and the girl screamed, shielding her eyes as she fell backward.
The orb floated into the air, spinning.
And then—symbols began to appear.
They weren't divine runes. They weren't any language Yun Che or Jasmine had ever seen in this world.
Endless streams of symbols, diagrams, and equations flooded the air—flowing like liquid data through the cave, wrapping around the girl in brilliant spirals of gold.
The young Moon Empress gasped, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. "W-What is this…?!"
The lights were too fast, too bright—each one searing across her vision like a storm of knowledge. Her mind reeled, and she clutched her head in agony.
Yun Che, however, stood perfectly still. His pupils contracted. His breath stopped.
Because he recognized those symbols.
He'd seen them before—back in his original world.
"No way…" he murmured under his breath.
His blood ran cold.
Meanwhile, Jasmine's expression turned from confusion to alarm. The knowledge radiating from the floating symbols pressed against her divine senses like an ocean trying to crush a mountain.
"These… these aren't divine inscriptions," she whispered. "They're beyond even our realm's language."
"Because they're not of this world," Yun Che replied quietly.
The storm of symbols reached its peak. The orb flared with one final burst of light before everything blinked out of existence—returning to silence, the only sound being the girl's ragged breathing.
The younger Moon Empress trembled, her hands shaking as she reached toward the now-dormant orb. "What… what just happened to me…?"
As her fingers brushed it again, the golden glow faded entirely, returning to stillness.
It looked once again like nothing more than a beautiful, inert sphere.
====================
[Ding… System has detected an upgrade feature hidden within the mysterious orb. It is recommended that the host obtain the orb to initiate system evolution.]
====================
Yun Che's brows furrowed slightly.
"An upgrade feature?" he muttered under his breath. "What kind of upgrade could the system learn from that thing?"
The thought was unnerving.If the system wanted to absorb data from the orb… that meant it recognized it.
The Moon Empress's voice resumed, her tone distant and heavy.
"Back then, my mind wasn't strong enough to withstand the orb's power. Those symbols, those alien words… I couldn't understand them. I tried to reactivate it for years, but the orb never responded again. No matter what I did.
"Even now, I wonder… was it truly a heavenly object? Or something beyond even the heavens' reach?"
Her words faded—then darkness engulfed the Soul Essence.
Yun Che and Jasmine stood in silence until faint noises echoed through the dark.
"In here! I saw light coming from the cave!"
The scene snapped back to life. The young Moon Empress froze as footsteps thundered outside. The light of torches spilled across the stone walls.
She clutched the golden orb tightly to her chest, panic filling her eyes.
There's only one way out.
Yun Che could almost feel her terror—raw, suffocating. She was trapped.
The cultivators from before—ten of them—stormed the entrance, their silhouettes blocking out the faint light behind them.
Their leader, a tall, sharp-eyed man with the smug confidence of power, stepped forward. His gaze fixed on the golden sphere in her trembling hands.
"Well, well," he sneered. "So you're the one who took the heavenly treasure. A mortal girl? How laughable. Hand it over before you hurt yourself."
A younger man behind him chuckled darkly.
"Leader, she's just a peasant. Why waste time talking? Let's take it—and have some fun while we're at it."
The leader grinned, eyes flashing with lust and greed.
"You're right. Grab her… then kill her when we're done."
Yun Che's jaw tightened. "Scum. Some things never change."
Beside him, Jasmine's aura flared faintly, though they both knew they couldn't interfere—only watch.
The girl pressed herself against the back of the cave, shaking her head.
"No… please… I'll give it to you—just let me go!"
Her voice was small, breaking, desperate. But the men only advanced.
"Don't be scared," one said mockingly. "We won't bite."
She stumbled backward, clutching the orb tighter—her knuckles white, her tears streaking through the dirt on her cheeks.
Then… it began to glow.
A low hum filled the cave. The pulsing light radiated from the orb, spreading across the stone like veins of liquid gold.
The leader froze, eyes widening.
"What the—? It's reacting!"
"Forget it!" he barked, drawing his sword. "Kill her and take the orb!"
The cultivators lunged—swords, spears, and palms of profound energy aimed to tear through her body.
And then—
"At that time," the Moon Empress's voice whispered over the scene, "I was at my limit. Death was already before me. I had no way out. And then… I heard it."
"A voice. Clear, calm… echoing in my mind."
Do you wish to be saved?
Her voice trembled now, filled with centuries of regret.
"I should have refused. I should have died that day. But I was afraid. And so… I said yes."
The moment her younger self whispered "Yes," the orb erupted.
BOOOOM!
The cave vanished in light. The air rippled with golden shockwaves that passed through stone and soul alike.
Jasmine raised her arm to shield her eyes. "What is this power—?!"
Yun Che's voice was low, grim. "This… is why the orb isn't just a relic."
Then—she saw it.
Pillars of golden light burst forth all around the cave, bathing every inch of stone in an ethereal radiance. The mysterious orb in the young girl's trembling hands pulsed violently, its surface alive with power—like a beating heart.
The air crackled.
Zzzzz—SHRAK!
Thin strands of lightning—golden and precise—snapped outward from the orb, each bolt finding its mark with terrifying accuracy. One by one, the cultivators charging toward her convulsed as the lightning pierced their skulls. Their eyes flashed gold for an instant—then went completely blank.
Their movements halted mid-stride.
"W-What are you doing?!" their leader barked, his voice trembling. "She's bewitching you! Kill her now!"
But his words vanished into the static hum of the orb.
None of his men moved. None even looked at him.
They simply turned… toward one another.
SHING!STAB!
The cave filled with the sound of steel meeting flesh.
Dozens of cultivators began butchering each other in silence, their expressions void of emotion, their movements mechanical—efficient. Blades tore through bodies, blood splattered against the glowing cave walls, and yet not one scream left their lips.
They fought like puppets—slaves bound by invisible strings.
The young Moon Empress stumbled backward, horrified, her hands still gripping the orb. The warm light that had once seemed divine now reflected in her wide, terrified eyes like the glow of damnation.
Within moments, the cave floor was soaked red, and the only sound that remained was the steady hum of the orb's pulse.
Jasmine's face was pale, her eyes wide in shock. She wasn't reacting to the gore—she'd seen wars and slaughter in divine realms before. What truly rattled her was the power she had just witnessed.
"This…" she breathed, "this isn't profound energy. It's not divine energy either. What in the world is that thing?"
Yun Che's gaze remained fixed on the floating orb, his expression calm—but his tone carried the weight of memory.
"Now you see it, Jasmine. This so-called mysterious orb… isn't a heavenly treasure at all."
He took a deep breath, his eyes reflecting the golden glow of the massacre before them.
"This thing exists in my world, too. One of the most powerful relics ever made— and one of the most dangerous."
Jasmine turned sharply toward him, demanding, "Then what is it?"
Yun Che gave a low, almost bitter chuckle. "This, love… is the Apple of Eden."
"Apple… of Eden?" Jasmine repeated softly, rolling the foreign words across her tongue. Her crimson eyes narrowed, searching his face. "I've heard many names for relics and divine artifacts—but never that one. What kind of creation bears such a name?"
Yun Che exhaled, his tone turning grim.
"In my original world, it was said the Apples were crafted by an ancient civilization—far beyond mortals. They built them to enslave humanity."
He looked back at the flickering light, where the young Moon Empress stood trembling amid the corpses, her hands still clinging to the artifact that had just rewritten her fate.
"With a single thought, an Apple can dominate weaker minds… bend them to its will. They called it the power to 'bring peace,' but it was nothing more than absolute control."
Jasmine's brows furrowed. "A treasure that can… control minds? Like an illusion technique?"
"Far worse," Yun Che said flatly. "Illusions deceive the eyes. This thing rewrites faith. It infects your will, your soul—until obedience feels like choice."
Her expression darkened as she looked at the dead men on the ground. "And the range?"
"Limited," Yun Che replied, "but devastating. You see that man at the entrance?"
Jasmine followed his gaze to the leader, still standing there, sword trembling in his grip—completely untouched by the orb's power.
"He's outside its influence. Those caught inside, though?" Yun Che's tone grew cold. "They're already lost."
Jasmine looked back at the glowing artifact, now hovering behind the trembling girl like a halo of damnation. "A treasure that enslaves the mind…" she murmured.
Yun Che sighed, shaking his head. "Oh, it can do far more than that. But I won't spoil it for you."
He stepped closer to the vision, his expression hardening as if staring into a ghost from his own past.
"You're about to see for yourself why the Apple of Eden was never called a divine relic… but a curse of creation."
His gaze stayed fixed on the suspended illusion of the golden orb as if the answer might rise from its light. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and even.
" 'They,' Jasmine, were a race that shouldn't have existed in the same age as men. We called them the Isu. To the mortals of my world they were the first sentient mortals—tall, brilliant, with minds that could shape matter itself—but in truth they were only advanced beings who mistook control for creation. They came to our world in an age before memory and bent humankind to their will with devices like this one."
Jasmine tilted her head, the faint glow of her spirit form reflecting in her crimson eyes. "So they were like the Quincy or the Shinigami—another spiritual order?"
Yun Che shook his head. "No. Not divine, not spiritual. Technological. Flesh and blood like men, yet armed with knowledge that rivaled the top realms. They built machines that could command weather, reshape minds, twist reality. Even the Shinigami kept their distance from them."
He paused, remembering. "There was a time when a rogue Shinigami stole one of the Apples and carried it into Dead Spirit Realm. At first, it was inert—until he tried to modify it. Whatever he did, the Apple's influence spread like a plague. Shinigami who had ruled for eons knelt as slaves to its will. It took years to contain it, and even then we never destroyed it—we only hid it."
"So you created a guard for these relics," Jasmine said quietly.
"A special division," he confirmed. "Our only task was to find any remaining Pieces of Eden and lock them away, beyond the reach of mortals and ourselves. Temptation alone was enough to drive a Shinigami mad."
He smiled faintly, though there was no humor in it. "It's almost funny, isn't it? A mortal invention that could enslave spiritual realm. Proof that intelligence without restraint is the cruelest form of power."
Jasmine's brows knit together. "Technology… you've mentioned that word before. Something mortals use in your world?"
Yun Che nodded. "Machines powered by reason, not spirit. Creations of logic and metal. From where I came, mortals became so advanced they no longer needed divine energy to dominate their world. Sometimes, I thought it was a curse disguised as progress."
He looked back toward the image of the Moon Empress, his tone growing thoughtful. "When she said the Apple 'fell from the heavens,' it struck me. Those things were made in my world by the Isu—so how did one appear here, in a different realm entirely? Unless…"
He trailed off, mind racing.
Jasmine finished the thought for him. "Unless their people found a way to cross between realms. Perhaps they cast their creations into other worlds since they couldn't sent physical beings."
"That's what I fear," he admitted. "If they could pierce the veil between realms once, they could have done it again. Maybe this world is littered with their fragments."
Jasmine folded her arms, the faintest frown touching her lips. "So the Empress found one such fragment… and it remade her. A mortal vessel carrying the will of ancient tyrants."
Yun Che's expression hardened. "Exactly. And if there's one Apple here, there may be eight more. The same number she spoke of."
He glanced toward the glowing illusion of the young Moon Empress as her story continued. "Let's hear the rest. Maybe she saw what the Isu wanted us to see—and what they feared we would learn."
The light around them dimmed, leaving only the girl—small, fragile, and drenched in the blood of the men she had just slaughtered. The cave was silent now. Silent except for the faint hum of the Apple in her trembling hands. Its golden surface flickered weakly, like an exhausted heart still beating after the storm.
She was panting, her body shaking violently. The veins in her arms glowed faintly gold, tracing lines of pain along her skin.Then, the light of the orb dimmed completely.
She fell to her knees.
Yun Che's eyes narrowed. He had seen this before—many times. That faint golden afterglow, the collapse after the storm.
"The Apple consumes its wielder's life force," he said softly. "It doesn't give power freely. It feeds on it. Every time she used it, it drained her essence, her youth, her soul."
Jasmine turned sharply toward him. "You didn't tell me that part."
"Would it have changed what you just saw?" Yun Che replied without looking at her. His tone was dry, but there was a heaviness in it. "Even the Isu couldn't use their own creations for long without cost. Power like that always demands a price."
Down in the illusion, the surviving leader of the sect staggered back against the cave wall, his face pale, his eyes bulging. The corpses of his men surrounded him—friends, brothers, all fallen by invisible hands.
"You… you witch!" he screamed. "What did you do to my men!?"
But the girl didn't answer. She was staring at her own blood-stained hands, wide-eyed, shaking, whispering to herself.
"I didn't… I didn't mean to… I just wanted them to stop…"
Her voice broke.
The echo of the older Moon Empress's voice filled the cave again, sorrowful and steady.
"That was the first time I learned the truth of desire. I begged for power to protect myself… and it answered. But the power it gave me demanded something in return: innocence. That day, I lost it."
The young girl staggered to her feet, the Apple still glowing faintly in her hand. Her long black hair stuck to her cheeks, matted with blood. She began walking—one trembling step after another—across the field of corpses.
The surviving leader backed away, dragging himself against the wall, the tip of his sword scraping the stone floor.
"Stay back! I'll serve you! I'll do anything! Please—just don't kill me!"
Her bangs shadowed her face. But even in that darkness, her eyes glowed faintly gold. The Apple pulsed once more, resonating with her fractured will.
"Serve me…?" she whispered. Her voice was trembling, yet strange—half her own, half something else entirely. "No. I don't want slaves. I just want… peace."
The Apple flared in her palm. The hum deepened, vibrating through the ground.
Yun Che and Jasmine both tensed. They knew what was coming.
"No…" Yun Che muttered. "She's feeding it again."
The young Moon Empress lifted the orb toward the pleading man. His body stiffened, rising slowly into the air as golden tendrils of light crawled across his limbs. He screamed—but the sound was swallowed by the pulse.
BOOM!
The explosion was instantaneous. A cloud of blood and vaporized bone splattered against the cave wall, painting it red.
When the mist cleared, only the girl remained—kneeling in the center of a ring of corpses, the Apple of Eden floating just above her open palm. Its light dimmed, then died completely.
Yun Che's eyes hardened, though his tone was strangely distant, almost regretful.
"That's what the Apple does. It grants the wish behind your fear. You beg to be saved—it saves you. You beg for peace—it kills everything that threatens it. And in doing so… it decides for you what that means."
Jasmine stared at the girl, now collapsed, the orb beside her. "She wanted mercy… and it gave her slaughter."
"Exactly," Yun Che said. "That's why the Isu called them 'Apples.' You think you're tasting salvation—but it's poison wrapped in gold."
The illusion shimmered as the older Moon Empress's echo appeared once again beside her unconscious younger self.
"It was the day I regretted most," her voice trembled. "The day I held absolute power in my hands—and believed I could control it. But there was no control. Only choice, and the price for it. I returned to my village that night, covered in blood, thinking I could protect them… and that was when my second mistake began."
The scene blurred and snapped forward as if the soul-imprint were speeding up a reel. One heartbeat she was curled on the cave floor; the next she was walking back into the village, the Apple still warm and pulsing in her palm. Blood spattered her robes and streaked her hair. Villagers froze where they stood—then murmured, then whispered, then recoiled. Where only hours ago she had been the village mischief-maker, she now cut a different figure: luminous, terrible, and unbearably strange.
The cultivators who'd made the village their den looked up from their looting and leering with sudden, greedy interest. The orb in her hands was not a secret for long. Men who had already spent a month treating the villagers as property sharpened knives at the thought of plunder. A shout, a charge—there was no parley. They wanted the thing. They wanted the treasure.
She raised the Apple like a lamp. Light poured from it, cold and gold and hard as a blade. The effect was immediate and brutal. The men who had come for violence did not scream as they collapsed; they did not rage. Instead the orb bent them into a single, obscene motion: knives turned inward, hands moving with mechanical precision. The market square became a frantic, silent choreography of self-destruction. Blood blossomed on the cobbles. The sound—if sound it could be called—was the wet abrasion of bodies against stone, the rustle of cloth, a few absurd, muffled sobs. Everyone who watched saw the same thing reflected in their faces: horror, awe, and a greedy calculation.
When at last the light subsided, the village lay stained. Dozens were dead or dying. The survivors—women clutching children, the old men who could only stare—sidled away from her as if she were a plague. Where she had hoped for gratitude or relief she found eyes full of fear. She had saved them from the cultivators, but the price paid to do so made her a new kind of monster.
A desperate cry rose from the remaining captor, a last man who'd thought himself clever enough to survive. He begged for his life, collapsing at her feet with supplication and fear. For a heartbeat she lifted the Apple, and the temptation to end him—and every future threat—with a single, clean annihilation burned in her chest. Then hands caught her from behind: her mother, her father, whole bodies collapsing into hers, shielding, pleading. They pulled the orb from her hands.
The moment their hands touched it the glow winked out. She reeled, collapsing—but not before she saw the faces of her neighbors: not faces of thanks, but of recoil and greed. She had come back to save them and returned to a village that saw her as the danger, not the deliverer. Shame and revulsion flooded her like cold water. She remembered, in sick, bright flashes, each brutal thing the Apple had made her do.
"I killed them," the older Moon Empress' echo said, voice thick with regret in the soul-message. "I should have died that day. I should have let them take it. Instead, I brought its power home. That night I learned the first lesson: power will answer what you ask of it—but it will never give without taking, and it will never leave your heart as it found it."
The projection stilled. The light faded. Yun Che and Jasmine were left alone in the quiet hall again, the afterimage of blood and terror lingering like smoke. The message had closed a wound and opened another. The Moon Empress's voice trailed into the dark: regret, pride, and the long, difficult slippage from frightened girl into legend—and something more perilous.
For a few long breaths neither of them spoke. The weight of what they had just seen—the birth of the Moon Empress's power, the slaughter, the grief—hung in the air like dust.
================
Finally Jasmine exhaled. "It's true… the Apple wasn't some divine gift. It was made for war. To twist, to break, to rule."
Yun Che nodded slowly. "Built that way from the beginning."He drew a finger along the hilt of Yoru as he spoke, voice low and even. "The Isu never trusted anyone, not even themselves. Their creations were weapons first and miracles second. Every Apple was made with a failsafe—if it ever fell into an enemy's hands, it would corrupt them instead. A perfect trap disguised as power."
Jasmine's eyes narrowed. "So the Empress… she was never chosen. She was infected."
"Hnn." He looked toward the empty air where the illusion of the golden sphere had hung. "Only a mind strong enough could resist the compulsion. The rest were puppets the moment they touched it. Even she—her heart was too young, too desperate. Her parents saved her that night, but the damage was done. The Apple had already branded her soul."
The faint echo of the Moon Empress's words drifted back to them, regret made sound. Jasmine's crimson eyes softened despite herself. "To think a single artifact could twist an entire generation… what if a cultivator of our age were to find one?"
Yun Che gave a short, humorless laugh. "Then the world would burn. You've seen what happens when people here fight for a scrap of divine metal. Imagine them fighting for the power to command minds."
He fell quiet for a moment, thinking of the Empire, of the sects, of the endless hunger that passed for ambition in this world. Then, grimly: "We can't let that happen. If these Apples truly scattered when they fell three thousand years ago, some will have been found already—and hidden, or worshiped."
Jasmine nodded. "All the more reason to hunt them down before anyone learns what they are. Seal them. Destroy them if we can."
"I'd prefer sealed," he said. "Destroying Isu tech is… complicated. Last time someone tried, half a continent in my world turned on each other."
Her eyes widened. "Then we seal them. Even if only two or three reached the realm of the gods, it's already too many."
He gave a small, tired smile. "We'll deal with it when we find them. For now, we start with this one. The Moon Empress's Apple."
The light around them dimmed further, the echo of the memory dissolving into darkness. Only the faint hum of the pedestal remained.
"Three thousand years is a long time," Jasmine murmured. "Let's just hope the world hasn't torn itself apart trying to claim the others."
Yun Che placed a hand on Yoru's hilt and turned toward the issue in hand. "Hope for the best," he said quietly, "but prepare for the worst."
==================
The light dimmed until only the Moon Empress's echo remained, standing amid the faint shimmer of what once was her village — now nothing but smoke and fading screams frozen in memory. Her voice, though calm, carried a sorrow that seeped into the bones.
"But my suffering had just begun," she said softly, her form flickering like a candle's dying flame. "The more I held the orb, the more it fed on me… and the more it drew the greed of those around me."
Yun Che and Jasmine stood silently, watching the scene unravel. The Empress's story was no longer about curiosity or accident — it was descent. The curse of enlightenment.
The projection showed a small cottage lit by firelight. The young woman sat clutching the Apple to her chest, its golden pulse reflecting in her trembling eyes. Outside, angry voices grew louder — voices she once called friends.
"Give us the treasure!""It belongs to all of us! You'll bring ruin on everyone!""Witch! She killed the cultivators—she'll kill us next!"
The girl backed away from the window, shaking her head, clutching the orb tighter. No. They'll take it. They'll kill Mother. Father. Me.
"Leave me alone!" she shouted into the dark. "You don't understand what this thing is!"
But they didn't listen.
When the cultivators returned — stronger this time, led by an elder with the aura of the Spirit Profound Realm — the villagers betrayed her. They pointed to her home, whispering eagerly. "There! The treasure's there!"Yun Che felt his jaw tighten. "Even back then…" he muttered, "greed never changes."
The Moon Empress's voice trembled as she continued her story.
"They stormed my home. My father tried to reason with them, but they cut him down before he could even raise a hand. My mother tried to protect me… and they—"Her image wavered; her voice cracked."I ran. I ran because I was weak. I ran because I couldn't save them. I heard my mother's last scream as the house burned behind me."
The scene turned chaotic — fire licking through the wooden homes, steel flashing in the night. A child's scream echoed through the Soul Essence world, and Jasmine instinctively turned away, her lips pressed tightly.
Yun Che's voice was low and cold. "Even the god can't look at what greed does to mortals."
Then came a shift — a glimmer of light in the darkness. The young Empress, now covered in ash and tears, hid behind a crumbling wall as the cultivators searched the forest. Her hands trembled as she gripped the Apple.
"Please…" she whispered. "Just… make me vanish. I don't want to be seen anymore."
And the Apple obeyed.
The faint hum rose again, this time softer, almost gentle. Her body shimmered — and then faded completely from sight. The cultivators ran past her hiding place without a second glance.
Jasmine's eyes widened. "It… cloaked her?"
Yun Che nodded slowly. "That's the Apple's secondary function. Manipulation of light — cloaking, illusion, even bending perception itself. The Isu used it for infiltration… and control."
"But look at her," he added quietly, watching the girl cry silently in the dark. "Even when it saved her, it was still using her."
The final image was haunting: the smoldering ruins of her village, her parents' ashes carried by the wind, the Apple's dim light flickering against her tear-streaked face.
Then, the older Moon Empress appeared again, her spirit standing behind her younger self. Her tone was calm — weary, but resolute.
"My successor," she said, gazing directly at Yun Che and Jasmine. "You have now witnessed the nature of this orb. It was never meant to be a divine gift. It was made for domination… and despair. I do not wish for its power to vanish — only for it to be understood."
She raised her hand, the Apple hovering before her. The golden light from it dimmed until it looked like nothing more than a dull sphere.
"I showed you this truth because I once believed the orb could bring salvation. I was wrong. I sealed it away — not because I feared it, but because I knew humanity wasn't ready for it. If you are watching this, it means my seal has weakened… and fate has chosen you instead."
Her image began to dissolve into blue motes of light.
"Find my third essence. Only then will you understand the true purpose of this thing. The choice will be yours — to destroy it, or to use it. But know this…"
Her gaze — ethereal yet piercing — locked onto Yun Che.
"No one holds the orb without consequence."
Then, the light snapped — and everything went black.
=================
The faint hum of the pedestal faded into silence, and the world snapped back into focus.Stone, air, shadow — the tomb returned around him like a deep exhale. Yun Che blinked once, the ghostly light of the Soul Essence still lingering behind his eyes. Jasmine floated at his shoulder, her crimson hair swaying softly in the dim, aqua glow.
It was over.The second message — the truth of the Apple of Eden — had ended.
Yun Che's breathing was steady, but his expression had hardened. The weight of what he'd seen pressed against the Mihawk persona he wore like armor. The Moon Empress's sorrowful voice still echoed in his mind.
"No one holds the Apple without consequence."
Jasmine broke the silence first. Her tone, though calm, carried a rare note of sympathy."So she chose to hide it, then. She had no choice."
Yun Che nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the now-dark pedestal. "Hnn. She learned too late that the Apple couldn't be tamed. If I were her, I'd use it to study it—understand it—before burying it where no one could ever find it."
He folded his arms, gaze narrowing. "This wasn't just a warning. That formation she built—sending us here, scattering her essence—it means there's still something she wanted someone like me to find."
Jasmine tilted her head. "You mean us, right?"
He sighed, the faintest smirk tugging his lips. "You're a floating ghost now, remember? You said so yourself."
She gave him a glare sharp enough to cut stone. "Floating ghost, my foot."
That earned a quiet chuckle from him. The sound didn't last long; his attention drifted back to the pedestal, his tone low and thoughtful."This was only the second message. She showed us what the Apple is, not how she became the Moon Empress. There's more—more essence, more answers."
Jasmine floated closer, her voice softening. "Then it's your job to find the rest."
Yun Che turned his head slightly. "Why me?"
"You're the only one here who already understands that thing," she said simply. "You've seen its real nature. I just learned it exists."
He rubbed his temples, muttering under his breath. "Lucky me…"
A quiet chuckle escaped Jasmine. "Besides, you're the only madman I know who would willingly walk toward something like that instead of running the other way."
Before he could reply, a familiar, gentle voice broke through the silence.
"Mihawk…"
The sound pulled him from his thoughts instantly. Yun Che turned around — and there she was.
Chu Yueli stood a short distance away, her long silver-brown hair flowing like silk in the tomb's ghostly light. The white robes of Frozen Cloud Asgard shimmered faintly, freshly repaired. She looked healthier now, stronger even, though her eyes still carried faint traces of the fear and pain she'd endured.
Seeing her, Yun Che's expression softened almost imperceptibly.
"Chu Yueli," he said quietly.
She met his gaze with those calm, searching eyes. "You've been staring at that pedestal for quite some time," she said, her voice steady but curious. "Is something wrong with it?"
He blinked. "How long?"
"About a long incense of time," she answered, frowning slightly. "You just… stood there, as if in a trance."
One minute? Yun Che thought. Inside the Soul Essence, it had felt like hours.
The blue glow of the tomb pulsed faintly, like the heartbeat of something ancient and alive.Dust hung in the air. The faint hum from the pedestal had gone silent — but Yun Che's instincts told him that the tomb itself was still watching.
Chu Yueli's voice broke the quiet."You stared at that pedestal for quite some time… you didn't even respond when I called your name."
Yun Che blinked once, the echo of the Soul Essence still fading from his mind. Hours of memories compressed into what felt like mere seconds. His golden eyes sharpened slightly behind the brim of his hat.
So only a minute passed here…?
He regained his composure and replied in that cool, composed tone that belonged to Dracule Mihawk.
"I was lost in thought," he said, brushing off the dust from his coat. "This place… it's more intricate than I imagined. But the pedestal being empty doesn't make sense."
Yueli stepped beside him, her gaze tracing the smooth surface of the stone. "Could it be that someone else came before us?"
He folded his arms. "Unlikely. We're the only ones teleported inside the tomb. If someone had entered before, the formation would've reacted."
She nodded slowly, but her eyes roamed across the arena's walls, studying the towering pillars and the alien inscriptions faintly etched into the stone. "Still, the methods used here… this doesn't feel like a tomb at all. It feels like a different world. Whoever built this had knowledge beyond our age."
Yun Che offered a faint smile under his hat. "You could say that." Then, his tone shifted — calm, probing.
"Tell me, Yueli. Are you sure recognition is the only reason you entered this place? Somehow, I don't believe that's the full story."
His question snapped her from her quiet awe. She hesitated — clearly torn between pride and the guilt of secrets she didn't want to share. But the sincerity in his voice, and perhaps the memory of his blade flashing to protect her, broke through her defenses.
"I…" she began, faltering.
"You can take your time," he said, glancing away toward the pedestal. "I'll listen."
It was the perfect diversion. He couldn't risk her knowing about the Apple, not yet. Only a few could ever understand the danger it posed — beings of spirit, not flesh. Himself. Jasmine. Retsu. Nemu. Mio. The system had confirmed it: the Apple couldn't affect souls or those bound to the system. But mortals like Chu Yueli… she would be vulnerable. Too vulnerable.
If he could find and modify the Apple through the system — rewrite its nature — he could render it harmless. Make it something only he could control, or seal it forever in his inner world.
That was the plan. That had to be the plan.
Jasmine's voice whispered in his mind."So, you're still thinking of rewriting an Isu relic? You're insane."
"Maybe," he murmured, lips curling slightly. "But better insane than careless."
His eyes drifted back to the pedestal. Now that he knew what this place truly was, the pieces aligned.
"This isn't a tomb," he whispered. "It's a vault."
Jasmine's brows lifted. "A vault?"
"Hnn. Everything fits. The design, the energy network, the message triggers — this isn't built to bury someone. It's built to guard something. Maybe the Apple. Maybe something she found inside it."
Jasmine floated beside him, thoughtful. "Then why make it accessible only through a formation that requires ten peak Sky Profound Realm warriors? She could've sealed it away herself."
"Unless…" He narrowed his eyes. "Unless there's something deeper hidden here — something the Empress wanted no one to reach easily. Remember the voice she mentioned? The one that taught her to use the Apple?"
Jasmine frowned, realization dawning. "You think it wasn't just her imagination."
"I think she wasn't alone," he said flatly. "The Isu never sent the Apples anywhere without supervision. There's a chance one of them — or something left behind by them — is still here."
Before Jasmine could respond, he noticed something strange near the pillars. The bodies that should have been pinned there — the two elders who'd paid for their cruelty — were gone. Only their shattered weapons and the rust-colored stains of blood remained.
His expression darkened. "Yueli," he called.
She turned, blinking in surprise. "Yes?"
"Did you dispose of the two old men while I was… distracted?"
Her cheeks flushed faintly when he said her name so casually, but she shook her head. "No, I didn't. I was behind you the whole time. Wait—" Her eyes widened as she looked to where the bodies had been. "They were there a moment ago! How in the world—?"
Yun Che crouched beside one of the light pillars, fingertips brushing the stone. Cold. Untouched. No trace of movement. "Impossible," he muttered. "Those wounds were fatal. Even breathing would have killed them."
The silence deepened around them, the faint echo of water dripping somewhere in the shadows.
Yueli's voice trembled. "What is going on in this tomb?"
He straightened, his golden eyes glinting beneath the brim of his hat. "I don't know," he said evenly. "But whatever this place is, it's not as simple as a resting ground for a sovereign."
Jasmine's gaze flicked toward the glowing pathway of light that had formed earlier, leading into the unknown darkness beyond. "Then I suppose the answers lie ahead."
"Hnn." Yun Che gripped Yoru and slung it behind him, the blade's tip dragging sparks across the ancient stone. "Let's move."
Without another word, he stepped onto the shimmering bridge of light. Chu Yueli hesitated for only a moment before following him, her white robes fluttering in the ghostly glow.
Behind them, the pillars flickered once… twice… and then dimmed to black — as if the tomb itself had just awakened, quietly watching its next set of guests walk deeper into its secrets.