CHAPTER 149: CHOSEN ONE

One of them stepped forward. "Lord Ji, your orders?"

"Hold the east," he said without hesitation. "No one moves until I return."

The guy hesitated. "Return, my Lord?"

Ji Xiulan’s gaze drifted toward the horizon once more. The western skyline glowed faintly in the distance, just a smudge of light at the edge of the world, hidden behind mountains and broken clouds.

"I’ll handle something personally."

The soldier bowed. "Understood."

Ji Xiulan didn’t wait for a response. With a single motion, his dark coat flared behind him as he leapt onto the balcony railing. The wind caught the edges of his garments, sending them rippling like black flames.

For a heartbeat, he stood against the moonlight, a figure tall and unyielding, his hair whipping behind him, his blade faintly reflecting the night sky.

Then, he moved.

The leap was silent but powerful. His body shot upward, dissolving into streaks of darkness that scattered like smoke, reforming as he propelled himself higher, faster, until he was nothing but a streak vanishing into the western horizon.

The eastern winds trembled in his wake, carrying the faint whisper of his aura, the scent of frost and steel that marked his presence.

Far below, his soldiers watched until the last trace of him disappeared.

Then, as one, they lowered their heads in silent acknowledgment.

The shadow had departed from the east.

Miles away, above the clouds, Ji Xiulan crossed the boundary of light and darkness, traveling through what others could not even perceive, the night stream, a corridor of energy that only those attuned to void resonance could use. The stars were close here, their light stretching endlessly across the void like scattered diamonds.

The air was thin and cold.

As he moved, fragments of memory flickered again: Ling Yu’s laughter, the way she tilted her head when she challenged him during sparring, the faint spark of defiance in her eyes when she disobeyed his orders the first time. That same spark had not dimmed. It had only grown brighter.

He closed his eyes for a brief second, feeling that connection hum faintly beneath his ribs, something he had no name for, but couldn’t deny.

He had never believed in fate, nor in divine gifts.

But for her... something about it felt different.

"Ling Yu," he murmured again, almost to himself, his voice carried by the wind. "You always move where the danger is thickest."

A faint smile touched his lips.

"Don’t make me clean up after you again."

He opened his eyes, and the glow within them sharpened, pure, cutting, resolute.

The wind roared louder as he accelerated, breaking through the veil of the upper current. The stars blurred. His silhouette became one with the dark, as though the night itself was lending him its strength.

Somewhere far below, in the west, the faint light of the fortress shimmered, as if it were waiting for something.

And Ji Xiulan was coming.

***

The first rays of dawn slipped through the half-shattered window blinds, stretching lazily across the floor like ribbons of liquid gold. Dust motes danced in the pale sunlight, shimmering in slow motion as if time itself had chosen to slow down for this quiet morning.

For the first time in days, no, in weeks, Ling Yu slept without hearing the echo of screams or the gnashing of monstrous teeth in her dreams.

Her eyelashes trembled faintly as her eyes fluttered open. Warmth filled her vision first, soft orange sunlight spilling across the ceiling beams, the faint glow of her system interface pulsing faintly in the corner of her vision. A soft chime followed.

[Recovery Complete. Physical and spiritual circuits restored to 100%.]

Ling Yu let out a slow breath, her lips curving faintly into a satisfied smile.

"Well... I guess the kid’s getting better."

She stretched her arms above her head, the joints in her shoulders popping faintly with a satisfying crack. The soreness that had gnawed at her bones after the Divine Anchor’s destruction was gone, replaced by a lightness she hadn’t felt in a long time. Her energy flow, the qi-like current that linked her body and soul, ran smoothly again, pulsing rhythmically beneath her skin like the faint hum of a living machine.

On the nearby chair, Xian Yu had fallen asleep sitting upright, his head drooping forward, a half-finished healing talisman still glowing faintly in his hands. The faint traces of light swirling around him told her everything; he had worked through the night.

Ling Yu sighed softly, a helpless but fond expression tugging at her mouth. "This kid’s going to burn himself out before he even reaches S-class if he keeps this up."

Still, her chest warmed a little at the sight. He wasn’t just her healer; he was one of the few people she trusted in this new, twisted world.

Quietly, she stood and draped a blanket over his shoulders before heading for the adjoining bath.

The bathroom was filled with faint steam as hot water cascaded down from the ceiling-mounted shower. The building was one of the few fortified flats in the fortress city with a functioning energy core, so they still had the luxury of heat and running water.

Ling Yu stepped under the spray, closing her eyes as the warmth washed over her skin. The water carried away the faint traces of battle, the dried blood, grime, and the scent of smoke from last night’s destruction.

As the droplets slid down her collarbone and spine, she tilted her head back, exhaling softly.

The Divine Anchor.

That cursed, pulsing structure still haunted her thoughts even now. When she’d destroyed it, something, no, someone had called out to her through the black light. A whisper that scraped against the inside of her skull, like fingernails across glass.

"So... you are the chosen vessel after all."

She shuddered slightly. Even recalling it now sent an involuntary chill crawling down her back. She knew it wasn’t a hallucination. Whatever that thing was, it had left something behind.