I had planned to sleep that night. Really.
But between the whispers echoing in my head and the System's ominous "protect him" glitch, I might as well have tried meditating in the middle of a thunderstorm.
And I did. I sat cross-legged in the middle of my room, trying to steady my mind and connect to my inner qi but nothing was working. I was as restless as a rabbit to escape a trap.
So when midnight came, I found myself creeping through the sect's library barefoot, tired, brain dead, and clutching a single dim spirit lantern like a guilty raccoon.
The library of Azure Peak was enormous. Endless rows of scrolls lined the carved shelves, stacked so high they disappeared into the shadows above. Each one pulsed faintly with preserved energy, whispering in languages only the brave—or the profoundly bored—would try to understand.
"Alright," I muttered under my breath, squinting at the nearest shelf. "I am only looking for one suspicious artifact theft, one possible demonic possession, and one emotionally constipated hero to protect. Where do I even start?"
[Search Objective: Identify potential catalyst for "Betrayal Event."]
"Define 'potential catalyst."
[Unknown. Parameters corrupted.]
I sighed. "Of course. Classic dumb system."
Still, I couldn't shake the System's last clear message before the glitch: Protect him. He doesn't know what he carries.
What does he carry?
That line gnawed at me the entire day. Yan had been acting off recently. He has been too quiet, too… contained. Like he was holding something in, something that wasn't supposed to be there.
If the missing artifact had anything to do with it, maybe all the answers I need are in the library's restricted section.
Easier said than done. Only if I could get in.
The restricted wing of the library wasn't just off-limits. It was practically a vault. Spiritual barriers shimmered across the door, and wards hummed like angry bees if you so much as breathed wrong near them.
Luckily, I had something better than permission: stupidity and persistence.
I crouched beside the ward lines, tracing the glowing sigils. "Alright, remember what Senior Brother Jian said—'Think like a cultivator, act like a thief.'"
[Reminder: Host has a 14% success rate with complex seals.]
"Can you just shut up if you can't say anything encouraging." I snapped.
[Noting rising agitation in host.]
I pressed my palm to the sigil, channeling a small burst of my spiritual energy. The barrier flared, flickered and went out like a candle snuffed by the wind.
I blinked. "…Did that just work?"
[Luck-based bypass detected.]
"Never mind, I don't want to know."
I slipped inside before the library could change its mind.
The restricted wing smelled different. The air was older, heavier, almost metallic. Scrolls and tablets were sealed in jade cases, glowing faintly with ancient power.
And there, buried beneath a pile of untouched manuscripts, I found something.
A single scroll that shimmered faintly gold, its edges were humming with a pulse that felt alive. And when I reached for it, the energy flared, then softened, like it recognized me.
"Okay," I whispered, carefully unrolling it. Wishing desperately that I find something. "What secrets are you hiding?"
The parchment was covered in strange runes and flowing symbols that rearranged themselves when I tried to read them. But one symbol stayed constant, pulsing faintly at the bottom: a snow lotus carved in silver ink.
Yan's insignia.
My stomach dropped.
[Energy resonance detected. Warning: Artifact linked to the protagonist.]
"Oh, come on," I breathed. "Why is everything in this sect tied to him? Must it be him?"
[System Override Initiated—Priority Message Incoming.]
The voice that followed, filled my head wasn't the System's usual flat tone. It was something… different and much softer. It sounded almost human.
[He doesn't know what he carries.]
[He was chosen, bound to the Mirror's soul. If the seal breaks, he will fall.]
I froze. "Wait. Chosen by what? What seal?"
It didn't respond. The voice faded, leaving a static ringing in my skull.
I stared at the scroll, heart pounding. The Mirror's soul? Bound to Yan? That meant the missing Jade Spirit Mirror wasn't stolen, it was hidden, procted. But it found yan and it chose him.
I'm very sure the sect would not be happy with this piece of information and it they discovered that… they would execute him before dawn.
I quickly re-rolled the scroll and stuffed it under my robe. "Okay, okay, I just need to—"
"Need to what?"
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Yan stood at the entrance to the restricted wing, pale light catching the edges of his silver robes. His expression was calm, too calm like the stillness right before a sword strike.
"Ah," I said weakly, "fancy seeing you here."
His eyes narrowed. "You're not supposed to be in this section."
"Well, technically neither are you, so we're both rebels. Should we call this a bonding moment?"
"Lu Shen."
When he said my name like that, with that low, and clipped bedroom voice, it made something crawl down my spine.
He stepped closer. "What are you doing here?"
I held up the lantern like a shield. "I'm just doing some research. You know, expanding my spiritual horizons. Maybe plagiarizing a little bit of enlightenment."
His gaze flicked to my robe. "What did you take?"
"Nothing illegal!" I blurted out.
He paused. Then spoke quietly: "Show me."
I thought of running. But between his cultivation level and my chronic bad luck, that was basically a suicide move.
So I sighed and pulled the scroll from my robe. "Fine. But before you get all righteous, I found it glowing on its own. It… reacted to you."
He frowned, taking the scroll. The moment his fingers touched it, the air shimmered, light flaring between us.
Runes crawled across the parchment, rearranging faster than my eyes could follow. The silver lotus at the bottom pulsed violently, then dimmed.
Yan's jaw tightened. "This… shouldn't exist."
"What do you mean?"
"This seal is a containment script. It's supposed to keep old, forbidden magic. The kind of magic that binds souls."
My mouth went dry. "So the Mirror…"
"—isn't an object," he finished. "It's alive."
The words hung between us like thunder.
He unrolled more of the parchment. Hidden beneath the lotus mark were faint lines that looked almost like veins stretching from the symbol outward, glowing faintly beneath his touch.
I realized, with a chill, that they weren't connecting to the scroll. They were connecting to him.
His hand trembled. "Why does it respond to me?"
Because it belongs to you, I wanted to say. You're the vessel can't you see that?
Yan, if they find out, you're dead. I screamed internally.
Instead, I forced a laugh. "Maybe it's a fan? Artifacts get lonely too, you know."
He didn't smile. He looked at me instead, his gaze lingering. "You knew something."
I froze. "What?"
"Your expression when you saw it. You knew this wasn't just another scroll."
"I didn't."
"Don't lie."
His tone wasn't angry. It was worse. Quiet, disappointed. And somehow, that hurt more.
I swallowed hard. "I just wanted to help."
"By sneaking into the library and stealing from the elders?"
"Yes?"
He exhaled slowly, rubbing his forehead. "You're impossible."
"Thank you," I said weakly. "It's my defining trait."
He shook his head and rolled the scroll back up. "I'll deal with this. You shouldn't involve yourself any further."
"Too late for that," I muttered.
But before I could argue, a faint hum filled the air. The lantern flickered.
The scroll pulsed once. Bright, and violent before fading to silence.
Yan stiffened and I saw it. Just for a heartbeat: faint runes were crawling up his wrist, glowing the same silver as the lotus.
And when his sword at his hip caught the moonlight streaming through the window, I saw it too. Thin, jagged lines of dark red etched along the blade.
Demonic runes.
My breath caught.
He didn't seem to notice. He only turned, voice calm but distant. "Go back to your quarters, Lu Shen. Forget you saw this."
I wanted to protest, to say something clever, something reassuring but all the words died in my throat.
Because for the first time since I'd met him, Yan Yezhen looked less like the unshakable hero of the story and more like a man on the edge of losing himself.
When he left, the silence that followed was deafening.
[System Alert: New Variable Detected—Corruption Spread Level: 5%.]
[Objective Updated: Prevent Protagonist's Fall.]
I sank to the floor, staring at the door he just walked through.
"Great," I whispered. "Now my crush is turning into a demon. Perfect. Absolutely perfect."
But even as I said it, I felt that same strange pull in my chest. The one that started back in the forest, when he'd shielded me without hesitation.
Protect him, the System had said. And I would. Even if it killed me.
Especially if it killed me.
Because whatever darkness was waking inside him, I wasn't going to let it take him alone.