The Su Manor at night was a fortress of silence.
Layers of formation light wove through the air like invisible veils, each humming faintly in a rhythm older than most sects. Moonlight spilled across jade tiles and silvered pavilions, while guards patrolled in disciplined rotations, their armor whispering against silk robes.
To an ordinary intruder, the estate was impenetrable.
But Karma was no ordinary intruder.
He crouched atop the western wall, cloak drawn close, studying the manor's rhythm through narrowed eyes. Every formation breathed—flaring, dimming, pulsing with the heartbeat of the central array buried beneath the compound.
Detection field cycles every thirty-eight seconds. Step between pulses and even the gods won't notice.
He smirked. "Got it."
When the next pulse dimmed, he moved.
"Silent Flowing Steps."
His body blurred, slipping through light like a shadow in water. He crossed open courtyards, scaled pavilions, and landed soundlessly on carved roofs. The scent of spiritual incense grew stronger with each breath.
At the heart of the manor stood the Hall of Reflected Souls—a round structure crowned by a silver dome. Blue fire burned inside, its glow washing over the night like a heartbeat.
That's your target. Central resonance chamber. Two elder cultivators, four attendants, and one patient—her.
Karma's chest tightened. "Su Liana…"
He slipped through a high window as the ritual began.
The chamber was vast and circular, its walls engraved with mirrors of polished spirit glass. Each mirror reflected not light, but qi—rivers of color drifting through the air. At the center lay a formation circle inscribed with runes that pulsed in time with the elders' chanting.
Su Liana floated above the formation, suspended in a lotus-shaped barrier. Her body glowed faintly, but her aura was fractured—splintered like glass.
Every few seconds, her breathing faltered as cracks rippled through the barrier.
Patriarch Lin stood at her side, his expression carved from stone. He was not kin, but the High Elder of the Azure Edge Sect's Medicinal Peak, a master whose reputation was built on cultivating genius. His recent efforts in Veinspire had been nothing but failure: the precious fire treasure he came to find was still missing, and a disastrous clash between two powerful monsters had not only wrecked his plans but had directly resulted in one of sects most gifted disciple's severe condition. His anxiety was palpable; if Su Liana fell, all his efforts he put on her, past and future, would collapse.
"Prepare the second infusion! The Silvernight essence must reach the core!" Patriarch Lin commanded.
Assistants poured glowing liquid from crystalline jars—the lotuses Karma had delivered days before—into channels that converged beneath her.
The liquid flowed upward as mist, sinking into her spirit.
For a moment, her body arched, light flaring bright enough to blind. Then she screamed.
The mirrors shuddered violently.
Energy instability climbing! Host, her spiritual sea's collapsing—they're pushing too much power!
Karma's knuckles tightened around the railing. "They're flooding her."
If they don't stop, her consciousness will shatter!
The Resonance Explodes
The formation flared again, but this time, Karma felt an intense, agonizing pull—not from the room, but from himself.
Deep within his chest, the crystalline lotus trembled violently, vibrating with a frequency that perfectly matched the chaotic energy in the chamber below. The black petal shone, releasing threads of shadowed light that wove through his meridians, while the green core responded in kind, resonating with a rhythm that was violently tearing itself apart.
Wait—your internal frequencies are syncing with the ritual's chaos! Stop the core resonance, Host! They will notice!
"I can't!" he hissed, gripping the railing until his fingers ached. "It's not me—it's reacting to her!"
Below, Su Liana's barrier twisted, fighting the influx of qi. A streak of black-green energy erupted from her chest, dancing through the mirrors. Patriarch Lin and the elders gasped as instruments cracked under the pressure.
"Seal the chamber!" Patriarch Lin roared, his voice laced with the terror of watching his life's work fail. "Her soul is rejecting the binding!"
The mirrored walls fractured; light spiraled in chaos. The Silvernight liquid turned from blue to emerald, rippling with unknown energy. Her body jerked—and for an instant, her eyes opened.
They were unfocused, distant… until they met his.
Her lips parted soundlessly.
"K…Karma?"
The resonance exploded.
A vortex of qi swallowed the room. The elders' defensive arrays shattered as threads of light lashed outward like whips. Karma leapt down instinctively, throwing up a shield of lightning and flame.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the lotus inside him flared into uncontrolled brilliance.
Green and black light shot from his core, wrapping around Su Liana's fading aura like a desperate cocoon.
Idiot! You're linking your spiritual core to hers! One wrong pulse and the chaotic energy burns you both out!
He ignored the warning, focusing everything on stability—guiding the torrent instead of resisting it. The intense, purifying energy of the crystalline lotus surged into the air, forcefully blending with the fractured mirror formation.
The elders' chants broke, lost in the noise, but Karma's voice filled the void—a ragged, forced command.
"Devour—Balance!"
Dark and light qi collided, then fused into a steady rhythm dictated by his core. The mirrors realigned, their surfaces smoothing, reflecting not chaos but stillness.
Su Liana's body relaxed. The cracks in her aura began to mend.
For a moment, everything was silent except for their shared heartbeat echoing through the chamber.
Then the energy receded completely.
Karma staggered back, gasping, his shield dissolving. The lotus within him dimmed to a steady glow, one petal—half black, half green—pulsing faintly.
Patriarch Lin and the elders rushed to Su Liana's side. She floated gently to the ground, her breathing even, her aura faint but stable.
"What happened?" Patriarch Lin whispered, awe mixed with fear. "The resonance… it changed."
"Someone interfered," Elder Bai said, scanning the high shadows.
Karma had already vanished into the darkness above, body trembling from exertion.
You're insane. You just merged spiritual signatures with the Azure Edge Sect's heir in front of six witnesses.
"But she's alive."
Alive, yes. And now you're connected. I can feel the tether. If she wakes, she'll feel you too.
Karma pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the faint echo of her qi brushing his like a whisper. "Then I'll just have to stay ahead of whoever starts asking questions."
Definition of trouble: you.
He smiled faintly, pulling his hood lower as the bells of midnight rang through Veinspire. "You knew that when you chose me."
I didn't choose you.
"Then maybe fate did."
🧐 Aftermath: The Sect's Search
The silence in the Hall of Reflected Souls was profound, broken only by the steady, shallow breaths of Su Liana. Patriarch Lin, his relief battling sheer dread, moved with an urgency that betrayed his professional composure.
"Elder Bai, secure the patient. The formation must be maintained at a residual state, stabilize the qi flow immediately," he commanded, his voice a low, rough rumble.
Elder Bai, who had been scrambling to check the cracked spirit instruments, nodded and began channeling his own calming qi into the primary formation array.
Patriarch Lin turned his sharp gaze to the other attendants. "You saw the resonance. The Silvernight essence was rejected, but then… a counter-resonance stabilized her soul." He walked to the center of the chamber, examining the jade floor where the foreign light had flared. The ground was scorched faintly in a pattern that did not belong to any known Azure Edge technique.
"The spiritual signature was completely unknown," one of the younger attendants whispered, trembling slightly. "It was—chaos, but perfectly balanced. Half dark, half light."
"Impossible," Patriarch Lin snapped. He ran a hand through his sparse gray hair, the weight of the sect's future heavy on his mind. "Only an ancient artifact or a peerless master could weave qi like that, and there is no one in Veinspire with such ability, let alone the audacity to enter the inner sanctum."
He looked up at the high window where Karma had entered and left. The scent of ozone and faint metallic energy—the tell-tale sign of high-level lightning manipulation—lingered in the cool air.
"It matters not who did this, but why and how they knew. Only five people within the Sect knew the precise time of the Soul Mirror Ceremony," Patriarch Lin said, his face hardening into a mask of cold fury. "We have been compromised. This was an infiltration."
Authors Note: Sorry guys I was sick for the past few days and got delayed in writing chapters. I hope you are enjoying the story. Thank you very much for your support.