✨ ----
Kezhong knelt beside Lian Feng, his expression grave, the usual cold authority replaced by focused concentration. He placed two fingers against Lian Feng's chest, and a complex array of pale-blue runes slowly spread outward like frost patterns on glass.
Lian Yue hovered anxiously nearby, hands clenched together, afraid to breathe too loudly.
"Will it hurt him?" she asked.
Kezhong didn't look up.
"It already does. I'm only preventing it from killing him faster."
Li Yun stood on the other side, his presence steady and warm, like a silent promise. He watched every movement Kezhong made, ready to intervene if anything went wrong.
A low hum filled the air.
Lian Feng's body tensed, then slowly relaxed as the chaotic energy inside him began to settle, compressed and bound by Kezhong's power.
After a long moment, Kezhong withdrew his hand.
"He'll live," he said. "For now."
Lian Yue's knees nearly gave out with relief.
"Thank you…"
Kezhong looked at her, his gaze complicated.
"Don't thank me yet. This only buys time."
Li Yun's eyes hardened.
"How much?"
"Months. Maybe less, if the corruption fights back."
Lian Yue swallowed.
"Then we'll find a real cure."
Kezhong didn't argue. But his silence spoke volumes.
They moved Lian Feng to a safer clearing, away from the shattered battlefield. The sky above was already beginning to heal, cracks in the clouds slowly stitching themselves closed.
But something had changed.
The air felt heavier. As if the heavens themselves were paying attention now.
Lian Yue sat beside her brother, holding his hand. He was asleep, his breathing steadier, but his face looked thinner, worn by pain.
Li Yun stood nearby, arms crossed, staring at the horizon.
Kezhong finally broke the silence.
"The Council will know soon."
Li Yun didn't turn.
"They always do."
Kezhong looked at Lian Yue.
"Your seal has been disturbed. Not broken—but weakened. That kind of fluctuation doesn't go unnoticed."
Lian Yue felt a chill.
"How much time do we have?"
"Days. Maybe less."
Li Yun exhaled slowly.
"Then we move first."
Kezhong's eyes narrowed.
"Move where?"
Li Yun turned to Lian Yue.
"There's an old place. Beyond the western star paths. A forgotten sanctuary. Even the Council doesn't monitor it closely anymore."
Kezhong frowned.
"That place is unstable. The laws of heaven are thin there."
"Exactly," Li Yun replied. "Harder to track. Harder to predict."
Lian Yue looked between them.
"And my brother?"
"He comes with us," Li Yun said immediately.
Kezhong hesitated.
"You're planning to hide."
"No," Li Yun said. "We're planning to buy time."
"To do what?" Kezhong asked.
Lian Yue answered quietly, "To find the truth. And a way to break this fate without destroying everything."
Kezhong studied her for a long moment.
"You're serious."
She met his gaze.
"I've never been more serious in my life."
Not far away, in the highest halls of heaven, the Celestial Council chamber was in turmoil.
A massive mirror of stars hovered in the center, showing blurred fragments of the recent battle.
"The seal fluctuated," one of the elders said sharply. "Why was this not reported immediately?"
"Lord Kezhong was dispatched," another replied. "But his signal has become… unclear."
Murmurs spread through the chamber.
"This is exactly what we feared."
"The vessel is destabilizing."
"Should we prepare the contingency?"
Silence fell.
Then a cold voice spoke.
"…Yes."
Back in the forest, Lian Yue felt a sudden chill run down her spine.
She looked up at the sky.
For just a second, she thought she felt something vast and ancient stir deep inside her—
something that did not belong to the gentle moon.
She pressed a hand to her chest.
Li Yun noticed instantly.
"What is it?"
She shook her head.
"Nothing. Just… a bad feeling."
Kezhong's gaze darkened.
"That 'feeling' is the heavens turning their eyes toward you."
They left before dawn.
Li Yun carried Lian Feng on a platform of light. Lian Yue walked beside him, quiet and thoughtful. Kezhong followed a short distance behind, his presence tense, as if walking a line he had never intended to cross.
The path Li Yun chose was old—so old that the stars around it were dim and half-forgotten.
As they traveled, Lian Yue couldn't stop thinking about what she had learned.
A vessel.
A prison.
A hidden monster.
She looked at her own hands.
They looked the same.
But she no longer felt the same.
Li Yun glanced at her.
"Hey."
She looked up.
"You're not alone in this," he said gently. "Whatever's inside you… it doesn't change who you are."
She tried to smile.
"I want to believe that."
He smiled back, warm and steady.
"Then let me believe it for both of us."
Her heart tightened in a way that was both painful and comforting.
Kezhong walked behind them, watching the two figures in front of him.
For the first time in a very long time, doubt crept into his heart.
Maybe, he thought, the heavens are wrong.
Far away, in a hidden place beyond space and stars…
Something ancient shifted in its sleep.
And for the first time in countless ages—
It smiled.