The black-obsidian bracelet on Youqing's wrist trembled violently.
The brighter the pillar of light became, the less Ye Yi's howl sounded like rage—
and the more it resembled fear.
Fear unlike anything he had ever felt.
"…No… impossible…"
His voice splintered inside the beads, breaking into a shaking whisper.
"You… how can you ferry souls…?"
"Crimson Eyes… the secret of the Crimson Eyes—even You Nian didn't know it—how do you know?!"
Youqing didn't answer.
Light surged behind her like a tide, pushing the darkness back.
She only lowered her gaze to the bracelet, to the deranged remnant caged within, and spoke with a calm so cold it was almost merciless.
"Ye Yi. You razed cities and wiped out villages—for what?"
Two breaths of silence.
As though the light had crushed even his breathing.
Then he let out a low laugh.
There was no triumph in it—only absolute despair.
"…Because I wanted the Yao Realm to fall into chaos."
"I wanted the Five Yao… their entire bloodlines wiped out."
Everyone inhaled sharply.
Blue light detonated along Cang Yuan's blade.
Li Yan stepped forward half a pace, shield lifting.
Luo Ye's flames surged, ready to explode.
Sang Qi's grip tightened on his hairpin-whip.
Ye Yi laughed like a madman.
"You think the Rift Yao butchers did the slaughter?"
"No. I sent them."
"…Destroy the Five Yao, and the world turns—it fractures."
"Once it fractures… I can seize back what should've been mine…"
Youqing's eyes shifted—only slightly. Her voice stayed level.
"Then the matter of Metal Yao—Lin Lie's grandfather, Lin Zheng… that was you as well?"
Ye Yi's voice caught.
Then he spat the name out like a curse.
"…Lin Zheng."
"He had talent. Backbone."
"A Metal Yao like me—yet he could build those mechanism weapons. How could I not covet it?"
Killing intent rose in a single wave.
Ye Yi hissed, as if making sure Lin Lie heard every word.
"When I had my men bind him, he still dared to curse me—"
"But he didn't yield. He would rather die than hand over his craft."
"When he killed himself… I laughed."
Lin Lie's hand closed around his weapon so hard blood seeped between his fingers.
Cang Yuan reached out and pressed a hand against his arm, voice low. "Wait, Lin Lie. Let him finish."
Ye Yi laughed again.
"The Fire Yao side was even easier."
"General Luo Ting—Fire Yao descendant, holding military power."
"If he died, the Fire Yao would splinter."
"All I had to do was whisper into the Emperor's ear: 'He harbors treason.' And Si Chengjing would strike."
Luo Ye's flames erupted to the brink of detonation. "You—how dare you—"
"Hahahaha! He was executed. His clan exiled—"
"And to this day, you Fire Yao still don't know who the real killer was!"
Luo Ye's eyes went red, like he would tear through the beads with his bare hands.
Yet Ye Yi's laughter shook harder and harder—
as if laughing drained him,
as if laughing made him more afraid.
Because the light was closing in.
Because Youqing was growing brighter.
He finally broke.
"Why—why are you—?!"
"You can't know the Crimson Eyes' secret!"
"You can't possibly draw souls—!!!"
"And you absolutely can't—ferry souls—!!!"
Youqing lifted her hand.
Light pressed down, smothering his scream.
Her voice rang like a bell in a silent night—cold, flat, final.
"Ye Yi. You destroyed the Five Yao because you wanted chaos—to seize a throne."
"You killed Lin Zheng for his craft."
"You framed Luo Ting for military power."
Inside the bracelet he trembled, as if about to shatter.
"…No… no… you can't ferry me…"
The beads shook under the pressure of her radiance.
Ye Yi convulsed inside like something burning alive, his voice twisting with terror—yet the closer the light drew, the more he snapped, laughing like a man whose final boundary had been exposed.
Youqing stared at the bracelet, tone sharpened to a blade.
"Destroying the Five Yao, killing Lin Zheng, trapping Luo Ting—those explain your methods."
"But there's one more matter—the royal family."
"Why did you ruin the Virtuous Consort? Why did you target Si Mo Heng?"
Ye Yi's voice stopped.
"…Because of Si Chengjing's bloodline."
It wasn't an answer.
It was a door into an abyss.
Youqing's gaze darkened. "Si Chengjing?"
Ye Yi suddenly roared—
"Because Si Chengjing's father—"
"—was the man I hated most, most of all!!"
His scream tore through the chamber.
"He stole the only woman I ever loved—Yan Ling!!"
"She should have been my wife. Mine!"
Luo Ye muttered, disgusted, "So it's that kind of love-turned-grudge again."
Sang Qi's voice was colder. "Only filthy men use 'love' as an excuse."
Ye Yi didn't hear them. He kept unraveling, snarling and shouting.
"She married into the royal house…"
"She bore Si Chengxun!"
"After she died, I swore—every drop of that man's bloodline should die!!"
Si Mo Heng's breathing faltered—just once. His knuckles stiffened.
Ye Yi laughed, ragged and mad.
"But Si Chengxun… Si Chengxun is Yan Ling's child."
"I couldn't kill her blood."
"So I spared him."
Then his hatred sank deeper.
"Si Chengjing—was not born of Yan Ling."
"He was born of another consort."
"So he should die."
"Everything he has—everything he is—should be destroyed!"
Youqing pressed, step by step. "So you incited Si Chengjing into killing the Virtuous Consort?"
Ye Yi laughed until his voice cracked. "Yes! Hahahaha!!"
"The Virtuous Consort gave birth to Si Chengjing's bloodline!"
"Si Mo Heng's existence was meant to make Si Chengjing suffer!"
"So I gave her a charge—'collusion with the enemy, treason.'"
"All he needed was suspicion—and she would die."
Luo Ye's brows sank into darkness. "…You're insane. You even harmed an innocent woman?"
Ye Yi snarled, frothing.
"Innocent?!"
"She carried Si Mo Heng!!"
"They all should die!"
Killing intent flooded the hall.
Youqing's voice dropped—cold enough to pin the Soul Well itself beneath her light.
"Then the Empress?"
"Crown Prince Si Mo Yan, Princess Si Yi Rou—also Si Chengjing's blood."
"Why didn't you touch them?"
Ye Yi's laughter died mid-breath.
The remnant soul inside the bracelet felt strangled.
Then, hoarse as if chewing broken teeth, he forced out—
"…Because I'm not stupid."
The air tightened.
Ye Yi sucked in a harsh breath, words drenched in both frenzy and fear.
"Crown Prince Si Mo Yan?"
"Touch him, and the whole realm erupts!"
"The Mu clan, the in-laws, every faction—upright banners overnight!"
His voice trembled with reluctant dread.
"That fire… I couldn't carry it."
Youqing stared at him without interrupting.
Ye Yi continued, spitting venom—
"Princess Si Yi Rou? If she died, that woman Mu Yao would burn the palace to ash!"
"I want the world in chaos—not myself exposed immediately!"
Youqing's tone was steady, razor-clean.
"So you couldn't move the Empress and her children—"
Ye Yi shriek-laughed. "—Right!!"
"She has the Mu clan, the royal in-laws, a mountain I can't shake!"
"If I touched them, Si Chengjing would suspect me first!"
"And every scheme I built—gone!"
Then he screamed out the hatred he'd held for years.
"The Virtuous Consort had no power. No backing."
"And Si Mo Heng back then was just a crying infant."
"Touching them—"
"—wouldn't cause a storm, wouldn't trigger an investigation!"
"But it was enough to fracture the royal house from within!"
"That was the chaos I needed!!!"
His laugh scraped itself raw.
"The Crown Prince? The Princess? Those are burning stones I can't pick up!"
"The Virtuous Consort and Si Mo Heng—those were the easiest targets."
The last line tore out like madness:
"Those two—were the easiest to strike!"
That sentence—
Easiest to strike.
—fell like a blood-soaked stone into the deep well of the hall.
Instantly, the corridor's air stopped.
The Five Yao reacted—
Luo Ye's flames detonated so violently it seemed they might burn through stone. His muscles shook. "Easiest? Say that again—try it."
Sang Qi's fingers clenched on his hairpin-whip, eyes pure kill. "So in your eyes, anyone without backing doesn't even deserve to live?"
Cang Yuan's smile vanished completely. His blade-tip trembled—not fear, but rage compressed to its limit. "Even the Underworld would find you too filthy."
Lin Lie sank like a stone to the ocean floor, knuckles whitened. "You used other people's homes… as pieces on your board."
Li Yan didn't speak. But the shield handle dented under his grip.
The three generals—
Garo's eyes darkened into a blood-pool glare. "I want to shatter your soul right now."
Tu Tan's veins stood out; he looked one heartbeat from crushing the bracelet.
Lianyu's usual eerie grin was gone. Bone staff leveled at the beads, voice ice-flat. "You abandoned your body, ruined your soul. Ye Yi—you're no longer human. Not even what you once were."
And that phrase—
Easiest to strike—
stabbed directly into Si Mo Heng's chest.
He had never believed his life held value.
He had long stopped caring how his fate had been trampled.
But—
his mother.
The woman who ran while holding him, who wrapped him in her own clothes.
The woman who kept shielding him even in exile—
in Ye Yi's mouth, she became a "target" chosen because it "wouldn't cause a storm."
That wasn't humiliation.
That was—
murder, explained as strategy.
Si Mo Heng's fingers closed slowly around his dark-patterned halberd, joints whitening in the light.
Something tore open deep in his chest.
Not rage.
A pain he hadn't touched for years—so old it felt unfamiliar.
So sharp it stole his breath.
He lowered his head. His expression was unreadable.
But the entire Abyssal Deep went still—
as if waiting to see what a man driven to the cliff's edge would do.
Si Mo Heng finally raised his gaze.
His eyes were black as a well packed with killing intent.
He looked at the bracelet, and every word sounded like a blade dragged across his throat.
"…You ruined my mother. Just because she was… 'easy to strike'?"
The stone hall's temperature plunged.
Ye Yi trembled—instinctive, the way prey trembles before a predator.
Si Mo Heng's fingers shook—not fear, but rage forced into a cage.
His voice dropped into crushed ice.
"Ye Yi."
"Your lifetime of sins—even the Underworld can't contain."
Everyone understood then—
if Youqing weren't ferrying souls—
Si Mo Heng would have torn Ye Yi's spirit into ash on the spot.
Si Mo Heng: "My mother's life was not your chess piece. Your soul—I'll take it."
Ye Yi: (mad laughter) "Kill me! You still won't bring back the dead!"
Youqing: "Ye Yi. Enough. Your era ends here."