Chapter 12: The Ancient Altar of Souls
The journey to the Altar of Souls was long, perilous, and filled with silence that pressed like a heavy fog. Jin Yue rode a spirit beast—an obsidian-plumed Sky Roc—with Lianhua at his side and Meimei flying close behind on her own ethereal lotus disk. Yue'er, the ever-distant frost maiden, followed them at a graceful distance, silent as a shadow.
Beneath them lay the Wailing Valley, once a battlefield where soul cultivators clashed with the Shadow Sect in ancient times. The land was soaked with residual energy—bitter, heavy, and ripe with echoes.
> "This place…" Lianhua murmured. "The souls here aren't at rest."
> "They can't be," Yue'er said coldly. "The altar feeds on unrest."
They arrived at twilight. A jagged spire rose from the heart of a blackened crater—the Altar of Souls, carved from obsidian and soulsteel, pulsing faintly with runes no mortal tongue could read. All around it, statues of weeping deities encircled the structure, their eyes hollow and crying silver tears.
Jin Yue dismounted and approached the altar.
---
The closer he came, the stronger the pull became. His soulflame burned brighter, drawn to the altar as if it remembered something he did not.
Then came the Guardian.
A creature of pure soul essence burst from the base of the altar—a lion-headed serpent cloaked in spectral flame. Its roar echoed through the valley, shaking the bones of the dead.
> "Intruders," it hissed. "This place is sacred to the Ascended Dead. Your souls are forfeit!"
Yue'er stepped forward, forming spears of frozen qi in midair. Meimei whispered to her spirit bells, summoning illusions of herself to confuse the beast. Lianhua's sword gleamed with violet light, her divine techniques weaving protective formations around them.
But Jin Yue… he didn't draw his weapon.
He stepped toward the beast and opened his palm. The dual lotus flame within flared to life.
The Guardian paused, its many eyes narrowing.
> "That flame… the legacy of the Soul Emperor…"
The beast lunged.
Jin Yue met it head-on, no fear in his eyes. He let the beast strike—and then unleashed his soulflame directly into its chest.
Silver and blue surged through the spectral form. The lion-serpent writhed, then froze. Its flame turned from crimson to silver. It bowed.
> "The altar remembers you, heir of the first soul-binder. I am yours to command."
---
The altar shifted.
Runes lit up one by one. A hidden staircase revealed itself, spiraling down beneath the earth. The party descended into darkness, led only by the glow of Jin Yue's flame.
Beneath the altar lay an ancient hall, walls lined with crystal coffins. Inside each floated a fragment of a soul—sealed cultivators from an age long past. The center of the hall held an enormous mirror of obsidian.
> "The Mirror of Rebirth," Yue'er whispered. "It reflects not your face—but your destiny."
Jin Yue approached. In its surface, he saw not himself… but his past lives. Warriors, kings, outcasts, tyrants—all iterations of himself reaching for the same unreachable truth.
> "So many lives…" he murmured. "So many chances. And now I understand why I always return."
The mirror shimmered, and a glyph formed on his forehead—an ancient mark of the Soul Emperor. Power flooded through him—not brute force, but knowledge. Cultivation techniques lost to time. Forbidden arts of reincarnation. The laws of soul fusion and dual cultivation.
He turned to the others.
> "This altar isn't just a tool," he said. "It's a graveyard of my failures—and the forge of my true self."
---
As they left the altar, the land seemed quieter. The souls no longer wailed.
But far away, in a floating citadel cloaked in clouds, a figure cloaked in crimson watched through a scrying mirror. His voice was like smoke and ash.
> "So… the Soul Emperor's heir awakens."
The Demon King smiled.
> "Then the game truly begins."