The first arrow came silently.
Shen Yueyin's senses flared before she even saw it. Cold, sharp, the faint hiss of steel through the air. She dove instinctively, rolling across the wet stones of the courtyard. The arrow struck the wall where she had been standing, embedding itself with a thunk that made the entire stone floor shudder.
Her heart nearly stopped.
Yin Beichen's voice cut through the panic, low and calm:
"Behind you!"
He moved faster than I thought. Faster than instinct. Faster than she could process. One second he was beside her, the next… he was in front of her, the tip of his hand pressed flat against the arrow lodged in the wall.
The steel quivered.
The arrow shattered as if it were paper.
Shen Yueyin stared, stunned. Her hand flew to her mouth, but she could not scream. She could only watch as he turned, chains jangling softly around his wrists, eyes narrowing, not at her, not at the arrow, but somewhere beyond, somewhere she could not see.
A faint wind stirred across the courtyard, carrying a whisper she could not catch.
She knew the sound, though.
Heaven.
Always watching. Always measuring. Always deciding if she had failed.
Her hands shook violently. "They… they're attacking us," she stammered.
He didn't answer. He never did, not with words. Instead, his gaze swept the courtyard like a predator assessing prey. There was no hesitation in him, no doubt. Even in chains, even weak, even mortal, his presence was a warning the entire world could feel.
Shen Yueyin felt her pulse spike, fear and something she refused to name, tightening her chest.
The soldiers emerging from the shadows didn't get a chance to breathe.
Yin Beichen stepped forward. Just one step.
Bones shattered. Steel screamed. Men fell.
She couldn't look away. Every movement he made was precise, cruel, efficient, killing without pleasure, without hesitation. And yet, he was alive. He remained terrifyingly human.
Her legs gave out. She dropped to her knees, hands clutching her hair. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She wanted to scream at him, to pull him back, to stop him before he became what Heaven feared.
And then she saw it.
A faint shimmer in the air. The edges of reality bending, twisting.
Heaven's interference.
Not subtle. Not the usual whisper or shadow. This was raw, glaring, impossible.
Heaven was trying to force him down, to suppress him before he could awaken fully.
But Yin Beichen didn't falter.
He didn't even blink.
Shen Yueyin felt her chest ache, every instinct screaming in terror and awe. He was fighting something she couldn't touch, couldn't stop. And he was winning.
Her hands shook violently. "Beichen…" she whispered.
He turned to look at her. Just once. Eyes sharp, piercing, unreadable. The faintest flicker of something she couldn't name, something like apology? Or warning?, passed through them.
Do not interfere, they said.
But she wanted to. She wanted to throw herself at him, to cling to him, to beg him to stop fighting Heaven, to stop fighting himself.
Her nails dug into the stone floor. Blood mixed with dirt. Pain anchored her, and she hated herself for it.
The world shifted around them.
Shen Yueyin realized the soldiers weren't real anymore. They were illusions, projections of fear. Shadows cast by Heaven's will to measure, test, control.
The courtyard trembled. Stone cracked. Air buzzed with power too vast to be natural.
And yet, Yin Beichen stood there, chains jangling softly, calm as ever, untouched by the chaos, untouchable.
Her chest constricted. Her heart hammered. She had been sent to kill him. To prevent the apocalypse. To obey Heaven.
And yet, watching him, she couldn't move.
He was alive. He was terrifying. He was human. And he was hers.
The first arrow had been a warning. The second came moments later. Then a third.
Each one shattered before it could even reach him.
Heaven was testing. He had already survived what mortals and immortals alike could not.
Shen Yueyin wanted to run to him, wanted to throw herself into the storm, wanted to scream at the world to stop.
And then he moved again.
One fluid motion. One hand raised.
The next moment, the remaining soldiers lay unconscious, the air around them scorched, smell of ozone and iron burning her nose.
He turned to her. Chains rattled softly. Blood still on his wrists from before. Hair falling across his eyes. His gaze softened for a fraction of a second.
"Stay behind me," he said quietly.
Something in her broke.
Not fear. Not relief. Something deeper. Something like the ache she had carried through countless lives, countless deaths, countless times Heaven had sent her back to stop him, only to fail.
"I…" she tried to speak.
He reached out, just enough to steady her trembling hands. His touch was brief. Her body flinched violently, heart hammering as if it wanted to break free of her ribs.
The air between them was heavy. Electric. Deadly. Beautiful.
"Do not falter," he said softly. His voice was calm, terrifyingly calm, and it anchored her. "Not yet. Not ever."
Shen Yueyin swallowed hard. Her vision blurred with tears she refused to shed. She had been sent to kill him. Heaven demanded it.
And yet, for the first time, she realized that maybe, just maybe, she didn't want to.
Not now. Not ever.
Heaven had begun its interference.
He had already defied it.
And she… had already chosen him.