The scar on Mei Ruyan's wrist began bleeding during their midnight duel.
Not red.
Gold.
Jian Long barely dodged her descending sword, the blade singing past his ear to cleave a training dummy in half. Moonlight caught the unnatural luminescence seeping from that thin white line circling her wrist—the mark he now knew wasn't from any ordinary injury.
"Stop." He backflipped over a stone bench, boots skidding on dew-slick cobblestones. "Your seal is—"
Her next strike came low and vicious, forcing him into a graceless roll. The system blared warnings:
[Combat Alert]
• Opponent Qi Signature: 47% mismatch (Foreign energy detected)
• Scar Analysis: Celestial-grade suppression artifact (Deteriorating)
• Recommended Action: Disengage immediately
Fat chance.
Mei moved like liquid shadow, her violet robes flaring with each pivot. But something was... off. Her usual razor precision had gained a hair's-breadth hesitation before killing strokes—just enough for Jian Long to spot the pattern.
She's fighting it.
When their blades next crossed, he risked a whisper: "The girl in the rain. She's waking up, isn't she?"
Mei's sword arm trembled. For one terrifying second, her eyes flashed completely white.
The transformation began at the collarbone.
Mei's skin rippled like disturbed water as something beneath strained against its confines. Her scar had become a burning brand, the golden light now spiderwebbing up her arm in fractal patterns.
"System! Full analysis!"
[Celestial Seal Breakdown]
• Host: Mei Ruyan (Current dominant personality)
• Suppressed Entity: "Su Ling" (Age 12 trauma-locked state)
• Contaminant: Third presence (89% celestial origin)
The courtyard tiles cracked beneath Mei's feet as she clutched her head. When she spoke, three voices overlapped:
Mei's usual icy toneA child's whimperSomething ancient and buzzing
"You shouldn't have touched what was buried."
Jian Long's orchid eye activated on instinct, revealing the nightmare truth—Mei's shadow had grown wings. Not metaphorical. Actual, chitinous insectile appendages stretching five meters across the training grounds.
[Memory Fragment Recovered]
Flashback to the clinic's vision:
Elder Lian's needle plunging into young Su Ling's wrist as a voice crooned: "You'll be our perfect butterfly."
Mei's body convulsed. The scar split open with a sound like tearing parchment, releasing a swarm of glowing golden moths. Each carried a whispering fragment:
"Help me—"
"Don't look—"
"She's lying—"
Jian Long did the only thing his shameless instincts demanded—he grabbed Mei's bleeding wrist and pulled.
The world inverted.
They fell through layers of memory like stones through ice:
Present Day: Mei's adult form struggling against the golden threadsFive Years Prior: A teenage Su Ling sewing her own lips shut in a moonlit cellThe Origin: A celestial wasp depositing its larvae into a screaming child's meridians
The system short-circuited from overload:
[WARNING WARNING WARNING]
Host Physique Overmatch:
Yin-Yang Reversal Core insufficient for celestial interference
Suggested Survival Strategy:
Abandon vessel (Not recommended)Request divine intervention (Unavailable)Wake up wake up WAKE UP—
Jian Long awoke choking on golden moths.
Mei crouched over him, her scar now a healed silver line. But her eyes...
One remained her usual dark brown.
The other glowed with fragmented celestial light.
"We remember you now," the unified voices whispered. "The boy who touches broken things."
The training yard was destroyed. Dawn's first light revealed the truth—every stone, every tree, every blade of grass bore identical carvings:
Swordbirth Marks.