The Demon Realm screamed.
Not in sound, but in pull.
Souls rose from the scorched ground like mist dragged upward by invisible hands, pale fragments twisting toward the black spires at the heart of the realm.
Mo Lanyin stood at the center of the ritual.
The Demon Queen wore no crown tonight. Her hair was bound high, her sleeves rolled back, black runes carved fresh into her skin. Blood slid down her wrists and vanished into the formation beneath her feet.
Around her, twelve demon elders knelt.
Each one pressed their forehead to the ground.
Each one offered a soul.
"Begin the second cycle," Mo Lanyin commanded.
A horn sounded low and deep.
The crystal altar pulsed violently.
Inside it, something moved.
A demon elder gasped. "Your Majesty, the soul fragments are resisting!"
"They always do," Mo Lanyin replied calmly. "Bind them tighter."
Chains of dark light snapped into existence, latching onto the rising souls. Screams echoed, not loud, but endless.
Mo Lanyin's jaw tightened.
Come back, she thought. You promised.
Far above the Demon Realm, a star flickered.
Starweaver Yun staggered, clutching her chest.
"That's not right," Starweaver Yun whispered. "That soul….."
Chronos Li turned sharply. "Speak."
Starweaver Yun swallowed. "The Demon King's soul is… split. Part of it isn't answering the ritual."
Lei Xue scoffed. "Impossible."
Wu Yan said nothing.
But the silence around him deepened.
In the Human Realm, the forest breathed softly.
Mist curled around ancient trees as a young woman stepped carefully through fallen leaves, one hand clutching a small cloth bundle.
Her name was Su Yin.
She was ordinary.
No cultivation. No lineage. No destiny, at least, none she knew.
Something warm pressed against her chest.
Su Yin frowned and reached beneath her collar.
The jade rested there.
Dark red veins swirled beneath its surface, like frozen blood suspended in glass.
"I still don't know why you won't come off," Su Yin muttered, tugging gently at the cord.
The jade did not move.
A soft snort sounded nearby.
Su Yin jumped.
A white deer stepped out from the mist, eyes glowing faintly gold, antlers etched with ancient markings.
"Stop pulling," the deer said.
Su Yin froze. "You….you talked."
The deer rolled its eyes. "You humans always focus on the wrong thing."
Su Yin stared. "You're a demon?"
"No," the deer replied. "I'm a messenger. Sometimes a curse."
It sniffed the jade. Its expression changed.
"So it found you," the deer murmured.
"Found me?" Su Yin asked nervously. "It was my mother's. She said it was just pretty."
The deer laughed once. Sharp. Uneasy.
"That jade changes fate," the deer said. "In Heaven's hands, it's forbidden. In demons' hands, it's war."
Su Yin's fingers tightened around the cord. "I don't want any of that."
"Too late," the deer replied. "Heaven already feels it. Demons will soon."
Su Yin's heart pounded. "What do I do?"
The deer looked at her for a long moment.
"Run," it said. "And don't bleed on it."
Too late.
A thorn sliced Su Yin's palm.
Blood dripped.
One drop slid down, And touched the jade.
The world inhaled.
In Heaven, Chronos Li stiffened violently.
"That sensation..,,!"
Starweaver Yun screamed. "The Heaven-Defying Jade, activated partially!"
Lei Xue's lightning flared out of control.
Wu Yan turned his head sharply.
In the Demon Realm, the crystal altar shattered.
Mo Lanyin staggered back as the ritual collapsed, souls screaming as they scattered violently across the sky.
"No…..!" Mo Lanyin roared.
A demon elder cried out, "Your Majesty, the soul resonance vanished!"
Mo Lanyin's eyes burned.
"Find it," she said coldly. "Search every realm."
Back in Heaven's training grounds, Shen Yueyin dropped to her knees as pain tore through her chest.
Lin Qiao rushed forward. "Yueyin!"
Shen Yueyin clutched her heart, breath coming sharp and shallow.
"It's him," Shen Yueyin whispered.
Lei Xue frowned. "What is?"
Shen Yueyin lifted her head slowly.
"The thread," she said. "It pulled."
Far below Heaven's prison, Yin Beichen opened his eyes.
The chains rattled violently.
Chronos Li appeared instantly. "Impossible."
Yin Beichen smiled.
Somewhere, someone had bled for fate.
And Heaven had just lost control of the board.