The world was pain.
It wasn't just a headache. It was a full-scale invasion. The Soul-Whisper Bell's scream was a physical force, a legion of wasps stinging the inside of my skull, each one carrying a drop of pure poison.
HE WILL BETRAY YOU! HE WILL DESTROY YOU!
The words weren't just thoughts; they were my own thoughts. They were memories I didn't have, feelings I hadn't felt. I saw flashes of Di Jun's cold, arrogant face, heard his dismissive words, felt the sting of his rejection after the alley kiss. The doubt was a parasite, burrowing into the beautiful, balanced universe we had just created, turning the dance of fire and water into a war.
The balanced energy we had forged was gone. In its place was a chaotic storm. My own Yang energy, my life force, was attacking me. It felt like my blood was boiling, my bones were cracking, my very soul was tearing itself apart.
I was on my knees on the kitchen floor, my body convulsing. I could hear Di Jun's voice, but it sounded like it was coming from underwater, distant and muffled.
"Hang on! Do not let it break you! Fight it!"
I wanted to. I tried. But how do you fight yourself? How do you fight a voice that sounds just like you?
Through the haze of agony, I felt his cold hands on my face. He was trying to help, but his touch was like gasoline on a fire. His Yin energy, which had been a safe cradle just moments ago, was now a foreign, invasive presence. My body, betrayed by its own magic, rejected it violently.
"Get away!" I screamed, shoving his hands off me. "You're making it worse!"
He recoiled as if he'd been struck. I saw the look on his face—a mixture of shock, hurt, and a terrifying, helpless fury. He was the Asura Blood Emperor. He could command armies and level cities. But he couldn't stop this. He couldn't save me.
I felt another wave of doubt, this one stronger than the last. I saw a vision of him, whole and powerful, his curse broken, standing over my lifeless body. He wasn't sad. He was… relieved. He was free.
"No," I sobbed, curling into a ball on the floor. "No, that's not true."
But it felt true. That was the horror of the bell. It took your deepest, most secret fears and made them your reality.
Di Jun was pacing the small kitchen like a caged animal. He was muttering under his breath, his hands clenched into fists. I could feel his panic through the bond, a cold, sharp fear that was so strong it was almost drowning out my own pain.
"Think, think, think," he was saying to himself. "It's a spiritual attack. A mental poison. It's using her own energy against her. I can't give her my energy. Her body will reject it. I can't take her pain; the bond will just spread it. So what… what…"
He stopped. He turned and looked at me, his eyes wide with a desperate, crazy idea.
"There is only one way," he said, more to himself than to me. "It's risky. It's… insane. But it's the only way."
He strode over to me and knelt down. "Hua Qian. Listen to me. I need you to trust me."
"Trust you?" I laughed, a broken, hysterical sound. "The voice… it says you'll betray me."
"The voice is a lie!" he yelled, his voice cracking with desperation. "I am not going to betray you! But I am about to do something that will feel like it. I need you to fight the voice. Fight it with everything you have. Can you do that?"
I looked into his eyes. They were wild, desperate, but there was no deception in them. There was only a fierce, unwavering determination.
I nodded, a single, jerky motion.
"Good," he said. "Hold on."
He placed his hands on my temples. His touch was still cold, but this time, he wasn't trying to give me his energy. He was doing something else.
He was… going in.
I felt his consciousness, a sharp, cold spear of Yin energy, pierce through the chaos in my mind. It was the most invasive, violating thing I had ever felt. It was like he was reaching into my soul and rearranging the furniture.
The voice in my head shrieked. INTRUDER! PROTECT YOURSELF!
My own energy lashed out, attacking him. I felt him grunt in pain, but he didn't pull back. He pushed deeper, his cold presence a stark contrast to the fiery chaos of my own mind.
He was looking for the source of the attack. He was hunting for the echo of the Soul-Whisper Bell.
And then, I saw it through his eyes. It was a tiny, dark thread of foreign magic, a parasite latched onto my soul. It was pulsing with a faint, celestial energy. Lianhua's energy.
Found you, Di Jun's voice echoed in my mind.
He wrapped his own Yin energy around the thread, not trying to pull it out, but to… strangle it. To cut it off from its source.
The voice in my head screamed one last time, a high-pitched, inhuman shriek of rage and frustration. And then… silence.
The pain vanished.
The storm in my mind calmed. The fire and water stopped fighting, slowly settling back into their separate, but now aware, compartments. I was left gasping on the floor, drenched in a cold sweat, my body trembling with exhaustion.
Di Jun slumped back, his face pale, his breathing ragged. That little stunt had taken a massive toll on him.
I slowly pushed myself up into a sitting position. The kitchen was a mess. We were a mess.
"Are you… are you okay?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
He just looked at me, his expression unreadable. "It was the goddess," he said, his voice flat. "Lianhua. She was the one who attacked you."
I knew it, but hearing him say it out loud made it real. She wasn't just a distant threat. She was actively trying to destroy me.
"Why?" I whispered. "Why me?"
"Because you are the key," he said, his voice heavy with a grim realization. "Not just to my cure. To everything. She is afraid of you. She is afraid of what we can become together."
He stood up and walked over to the window, looking out at the city. "We cannot stay here. We cannot go to the Mirror Maze. Not yet. You are not strong enough, and she will just attack you again. We need to find a place to hide. A place where she cannot find us."
He turned back to me, his expression grim. "There is only one such place in the Six Realms. A place that is shielded from all scrying magic. A place that even the Jade Emperor himself cannot peer into."
"Where?" I asked, dreading the answer.
"The Underworld," he said. "We have to go to my home."