At first, it was a whisper.
A thread of sound pulled loose from silence.
Then came the pulse—faint, rhythmic—deep beneath Shi Mu's skin.
Like a heartbeat that didn't belong to her.
The seal was weakening.
And whatever had been waiting behind it… was stirring.
Shi Mu stood in the training courtyard just before dawn, breathing steady, her boots planted on wet stone. Charms lined the perimeter—some drawn by Fu Yunshen, others burned into the stone by her own hand.
Zhou Zhi watched nervously from the stairwell.
"You know," he called out, "this feels like the kind of moment where someone dramatically says, 'This is a bad idea,' and then five things explode."
Shi Mu didn't respond.
She was listening.
To the thing calling her from inside.
Fu Yunshen arrived quietly, stepping beside her.
"She's close," he said.
"Closer than ever," Shi Mu replied.
"Do you think she's inside you?"
Shi Mu hesitated.
Then:
"I think she's part of me."
The air shifted.
The sky, still grey with dawn, seemed to dim slightly—not darker, but heavier.
And the mark on her wrist began to glow again.
Not gold this time.
But crimson.
Alive.
Shi Mu clenched her hand into a fist.
"What happens when the seal breaks?"
Fu Yunshen looked at her.
His voice was calm.
But not gentle.
"Then it stops being a haunting."
"And becomes what?"
"A return."
A gust of wind blew through the courtyard, extinguishing two of the boundary charms.
Zhou Zhi scrambled. "Nope, nope—nope! Someone call the department!"
"No one's faster than what's coming," Fu Yunshen said.
And he was right.
Shi Mu stepped into the center of the circle.
The mark flared.
Symbols surged across the ground beneath her, glowing faintly in tandem.
Then a voice echoed—not aloud, but in her mind:
"One body. One name. One life.""You called me back.""You opened the door."
She knelt slowly.
And whispered:
"Then come through me.""But not instead of me."
[System Notification]
Oath Status: Stage Three Initiated – Shared Vessel Protocol Engaged
Seal Integrity: Compromised (72%)
Brotherhood Value +185 (Containment Attempt + Psychic Sync Initiated)
Current Total: 4,925 / 1,000,000
As the wind calmed and the light faded back to gray—
Shi Mu rose.
Breathing steady.
Eyes clear.
Something had shifted in her now.
And though it hadn't taken her yet…
She could feel the weight of someone else's steps—
beginning to walk beside her.