(Near the Yao-Carriages · Nightmare Heart Formation Activated)
Youqing stepped into the range where soul-lines could be pulled.
It was an invisible boundary—
and the instant her Crimson Eyes brushed it, they trembled faintly, as if hearing the distant reply of the Soul-Ferry Formation hidden inside the Yao-carriages.
Lin Lie caught it immediately. "We're there."
Sang Qi's gaze sank. "That spot… is enough to draw a soul."
Cang Yuan tightened his grip on the hilt. "Which also means—Ye Yi can sense it."
And sure enough—
Ye Yi's stride halted, as if something had stabbed straight through him. A razor-edged premonition flashed across his eyes.
"…Here…"
He looked up at Youqing. The playful cruelty vanished from his tone, replaced by true vigilance.
"You've been luring me… into your formation."
Youqing didn't deny it.
She simply raised her hand. The Black-Yao bracelet trembled in the dim light.
"Ye Yi."
Her Crimson Eyes ignited into a deeper red.
"Take one wrong step—and your soul leaves your body."
Ye Yi laughed low, madness forced out by rage. "Then let's see—who dies first."
[Nightmare Heart Formation · First Wave]
Ye Yi flipped his palm—
and the entire Trial Valley seemed to heave upward.
BOOM—!
Rupture echoed from every direction. Black mist condensed into enormous Nightmare Petals that tore up from the ground like blades.
Lin Lie's face darkened. "He's trying to split us—!"
This was Ye Yi's favorite way to fight:
Cut the battlefield with nightmare shadows.
Sever allies with soul-barriers.
Crush the Five Yao into isolation under illusion-pressure.
Cang Yuan drew his blade. Cold light carved the fog. "Careful. He's stopping Starfeather from closing in!"
Luo Ye's fury surged. "Then we cut through! We carve our way in!"
Li Yan growled. "Protect Starfeather!"
The Five Yao surged forward—
and were slammed back by Ye Yi's single, cold command.
"Out of my way."
The black fog shook.
Twelve nightmare shadows erupted from his aura, charging like twelve soul-beasts straight at the Five Yao.
[The Five Yao Hold the Formation]
Cang Yuan met the first wave head-on. His blade slashed diagonally; Water Yao power spilled into the mist as a quenched-blue glow. His sword path wove between the shadows like a curtain of waves, slicing nightmare breath apart.
Lin Lie snapped both hands outward. Gear-runes blazed; his mechanized staff unfolded in a breath. Metal Yao arrays engaged—gold light braced the fog like scaffolding, keeping the shadow-beasts from collapsing onto Youqing.
Li Yan said nothing. He stepped forward, steady as bedrock. His shield and armor boomed as he drove a heavy Earth Yao barrier into the ground. The earth cracked, dust exploded, and the nightmare shadows recoiled half a step.
Sang Qi gripped the hairpin-hilt in one hand, formed a seal with the other. Wood Yao spirit-light scattered into emerald sparks—tiny stars falling into black mist—briefly disrupting the nightmare pulse. The beasts stuttered for one heartbeat.
Luo Ye's flames surged to their limit. Scarlet fire detonated. His twin rings spun like a blazing sun, carving down and forcing back three shadows at once.
Five forces—one line.
They tore open a path. A corridor shoved clear of Ye Yi's pressure.
And in the center of that corridor—
stood only Youqing.
The wind went still.
Her Crimson Eyes brightened.
And Ye Yi understood, at last.
He spoke softly, cold as blade-edge.
"…You were never here to trade."
"You came to take."
Youqing lifted her hand. Crimson light gathered at her fingertips, sharp as a soul-piercing edge.
"Correct."
[Soul-Lines Engaged]
Ye Yi's fury burst outward. The Nightmare Heart Formation shuddered across the valley.
But Youqing was already ahead.
She closed her eyes.
In an instant, her Crimson Eyes became Soul-Sight—a deep red vision that pierced the hidden seams of spirit and flesh.
She saw it—
the soul-thread buried in Ye Yi's body, pressed down into the deepest place he could hide it.
This body belonged to Ling Shuo.
And Ye Yi was only the parasite nested in its shell.
Youqing whispered the incantation.
"—Draw the soul. Begin."
The Black-Yao bracelet flared with black flame.
Ye Yi's pupils constricted.
"—!!"
[Inside the Yao-Carriage · Soul-Link Formation Activates]
At the same moment—
inside the Yao-carriage waiting beyond the valley—
Xie Wenyun jerked his head up. "It's here… Lady Youqing's soul-line—it connected!"
Ding Yuxuan triggered the carriage cores. Light-runes surged; the toolboard shook.
Li Furong pressed a palm to Wan Luo's chest, her face set. "Ling Shuo's soul-pressure is shaking…!"
Wan Luo's body trembled lightly inside the soul-guard coffer. A fragile soul-breath, thin as mist, was suddenly tugged by an invisible hook.
Xie Wenyun shouted, "Open the array!!"
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—!
The array-lamps all ignited.
The Soul-Ferry Formation inside the Yao-carriage roared fully awake.
[Crimson-Eyed Judgment]
Back in the valley, Youqing opened her eyes.
Her Crimson Eyes were a deep, burning red—like blood made into light.
She snapped her fingers.
The Black-Yao bracelet exploded with a brutal suction of soul-force.
Ye Yi roared, "Imperial Daughter—how dare you!!"
Youqing's voice dropped like a verdict.
"Ye Yi—soul, leave the body."
BOOM—!
Black-Yao soul-drawing ripped through the boundary between Ye Yi and Ling Shuo's flesh.
For the first time—
Ye Yi's soul-thread was forced outward.
A hook made of invisible force stabbed into him.
Ye Yi froze as if struck by lightning.
Then—
black-and-red soul mist began to seep from his chest, his shoulders, even the crown of his head.
Not demonic qi.
His soul.
Being torn out of Ling Shuo's body.
A sound crawled out of Ye Yi's throat.
Not rage.
Pain—so sharp it bent his voice into something distorted.
Black fog yanked up behind him, shaping into a half-transparent soul-shadow, the outline of a man.
Luo Ye's voice cracked with shock. "His soul… it's really coming out?!"
Sang Qi sucked in a breath. "Starfeather… this strength will backlash her!"
Cang Yuan's heart slammed against his ribs. "That's not ordinary soul-drawing. That's—soul-ripping."
Ye Yi's voice shredded through clenched teeth.
"Imperial Daughter—!! Do you even know what you're doing—!!"
Youqing didn't answer.
Her Crimson Eyes burned hotter.
She pulled—
and the bracelet's soul-chain tightened.
Ye Yi's soul-shadow was dragged out to the waist.
Ye Yi staggered and dropped to one knee. His palm slammed into the ground, fingers digging frantically into gravel.
Stone exploded into powder beneath his hand.
Veins bulged across his forehead. His teeth ground like they might crack.
"No… impossible…!! You—how can you—!!"
Youqing's voice was low, steady, merciless.
"You've worn someone else's body… for far too long."
Red light from her Crimson Eyes painted her face in calm judgment.
"It's time to go back, Ye Yi."
[Inside the Yao-Carriage · The Return Pull]
At the same time, the Soul-Ferry Formation blazed to its limit.
CRACK—!
The soul-guard coffer split.
Xie Wenyun shouted, horrified. "Ling Shuo's soul-pressure is surging—!!"
Li Furong barely had time to react. She slammed a hand onto Wan Luo's chest.
"His soul is coming out—!! Hold her body steady, or the surge will tear her apart!"
Ding Yuxuan triggered the anchoring glyphs. Metal-runes rapidly inlaid themselves into the floor, stabilizing Wan Luo's bones, meridians, and channels.
In the next heartbeat—
Wan Luo's body convulsed.
A strand of pale-gold soul-light floated up from her chest.
Li Furong's pupils shrank. "Ling Shuo's soul… is being pulled out of Wan Luo—!!"
The coffer's edges cracked wider. Wan Luo's body nearly lifted under the tug.
Xie Wenyun yelled, "Hold!! Wan Luo's soul is too weak—she can't take this for long!!"
Sweat broke across Li Furong's brow. She pressed harder at Wan Luo's heart.
"There's no stopping it…! Lady Youqing is forcing the pull—Ling Shuo's soul is leaving, and Wan Luo's soul is being dragged along—both sides are shaking!"
Blood seeped at the corner of Wan Luo's lips. Her body looked like it might split.
Li Furong clenched her teeth. "Hold… just hold a little longer…!"
Then—Wan Luo arched violently. A force slammed Li Furong backward; she fell hard.
A moment later, the pressure vanished, and Wan Luo's body eased back down, slowly settling.
Li Furong froze. "...The soul-line snapped!"
She lunged forward, checking Wan Luo's pulse with shaking fingers.
"She made it. Her soul… stabilized."
[Ye Yi's Counter-Backlash]
In the valley, Ye Yi's soul clung by only a thin filament.
He was forced down on both knees, shoulders shaking violently.
He had never looked this ruined.
Never felt this—
fear.
Ye Yi lifted bloodshot eyes.
"Youqing… you think… this means… you win…?"
Youqing's voice turned colder. "No. This is the beginning."
She pulled again—
A sharp little pop echoed.
The sound of a soul-thread breaking.
Ye Yi's soul-shadow jolted farther out—
And then Ye Yi snapped.
BOOM—!
A ring of black fog detonated from his body.
The twelve shadows twisted, split, then multiplied wildly into thirty-six.
None of them were under his control anymore.
That wasn't shadowcraft.
That was a soul's instinctive retaliation—driven mad by pain.
Lin Lie shouted, furious. "The shadows are rampaging!!"
Cang Yuan gritted out, "It's his body's reflex. His soul is being ripped out!"
Luo Ye snarled, "Then we carve through!"
Thirty-six shadows lunged at the Five Yao.
But Youqing didn't retreat.
She stood in front. Crimson Eyes boiling red.
Ye Yi's soul-shadow hung by the last strand.
Youqing lifted her hand.
The Black-Yao bracelet flared again.
"Ye Yi—"
Her voice lowered, soft as a sentence passed in court.
"It's time to go back into your cage."
The thirty-six shadows smashed, shattered, reformed, and tore at the Five Yao again.
Cang Yuan's blade flashed in relentless arcs.
Lin Lie's gear-runes spun to maximum speed.
Luo Ye's fire erupted into violent bursts.
Sang Qi's spirit-light scattered like green sparks.
Li Yan braced behind his shield—
All five were forced back half a step, together.
Ye Yi's true body couldn't control them.
Because his soul had already been pulled from Ling Shuo's flesh—
He knelt, both hands buried in gravel, veins bulging, voice ripping his throat apart.
"Youqing—!! Stop!! STOP—!!"
Youqing's Crimson Eyes burned like molten blood.
No pity.
No rage.
No wavering.
Only one word left her lips:
"—Draw."
BOOM—!
Black-and-red soul-light erupted from the bracelet, a devouring chain that snapped back in a brutal recoil.
In that instant—
Ye Yi, for the first time and only time, screamed like something that was no longer human.
"AAAAA—!!!"
The sound blasted through the valley walls. Rock layers fractured. The earth split.
The Five Yao staggered.
Cang Yuan clapped a hand over his ear. "Damn it—soul-sound backlash!!"
Sang Qi's face drained white. "That sound can cut soul-threads…!"
Luo Ye roared, "Shut up, Ye Yi!!"
Lin Lie forced himself upright, gear-runes flaring as he barked,
"The soul-shadow resonance is out of control! If this keeps going—Starfeather, the one who gets torn apart will be you!"
Li Yan braced behind his shield. "Starfeather!! If you can't hold it, stop—!!"
But Youqing didn't move back.
Her Crimson Eyes were red enough to look like blood spilling.
Her hand lifted. The bracelet shuddered.
"Black-Yao—Seal the soul."
Snap.
A clean, unmistakable sound—
like a door slamming shut.
Ye Yi's soul-shadow was crushed into the Black-Yao bracelet.
The world went—
silent.
Nether qi felt drained hollow.
The bracelet's bead trembled once—hmm—
and Ye Yi's soul was locked completely inside.
The seal was done.
And then Youqing's hand jerked violently.
—Backlash.
She staggered two steps back.
The Five Yao shouted at once—
"Starfeather!!"
But she lifted a hand, steadying them.
"…I'm fine. The soul-draw is finished."
Except—
this was only half.
The other half was Ling Shuo.
She still had to ferry his soul back into his rightful body.
Youqing turned toward the Yao-carriages.
Hands together, Crimson Eyes faintly lit, she murmured the next incantation—
"Let the soul return to its rightful place, let the spirit return to its home.
Let what was separated reunite, let what was scattered gather again.
By the Crimson Eyes as the ferry—
Ling Shuo's soul, return to your body."
Ling Shuo's chest jolted.
And that strand of pale-gold light—
finally came home.