The first strike did not sound like metal.
It sounded like a bell being hit inside a coffin.
Qi Shan Wei's Heavenpiercer Ruler met the remnant's law blade, and the Memory Sea shook as if the sea itself had nerves.
Dark water-mirror cracked under their feet. Silver fog burst outward. Floating faces screamed without mouths.
The remnant did not attack with speed.
It attacked with permission.
Each swing of its law blade carried a rule. A statement. A verdict.
"Return is denied.""Thread is unsafe.""Love is instability."
Those words did not just try to cut Shan Wei's body.
They tried to cut his right to remember.
Shan Wei's eyes stayed calm. He did not waste breath on anger.
He moved one step to the side and let the law blade pass, then he stamped his foot lightly.
A prismatic ring formed under him—clean and simple.
NAME ANCHOR: SEVEN-RING STABILITY.
The sea tried to pull at his memories again.
His rings held.
Then he swung his ruler once—heavy, controlled.
He did not aim for the remnant's chest.
He aimed for the law line behind the blade.
Because Shan Wei could see it.
A thin string of Bell logic connecting the remnant's blade to the gate above the Name River.
If he cut that string, the blade would become only light.
The ruler's runes glowed.
The strike landed.
The sea flashed.
The law line trembled.
But it did not break.
The remnant's smile sharpened.
"You see the system," it said calmly. "Good. That means you will suffer properly."
It stepped forward and sliced again.
This time the law blade carried a new rule:
"MEMORY PAYMENT DUE."
The air turned thick. Shan Wei's thoughts felt heavier.
A memory tried to rise—small and warm—his first sweet fruit taste, the one he had already paid.
The Warden hissed with joy from the side.
"Ohhh," it whispered. "It wants payment again."
Shan Wei's eyes narrowed. He understood.
The remnant was forcing a second toll. If Shan Wei paid again, he would bleed pieces of himself until he became a cold empty shell.
He did not panic.
He raised two fingers and drew a tiny prismatic square in the air.
A formation.
Not for attack.
For rules.
PAYMENT REDIRECT ARRAY.
He pressed it under his Name Anchor rings.
The law blade hit the array.
The pressure shifted.
The "payment" tried to take something.
But the array redirected it to the nearest law source.
The sea shook.
A bell rune above the Name River flickered.
The remnant's eyes widened slightly.
Shan Wei had made the Bell pay its own toll.
The remnant's calm cracked for half a breath.
Then it recovered and smiled again—harder.
"Clever," it said. "But that is still theft."
Shan Wei's voice stayed calm.
"Then arrest me," he said.
He stepped forward and swung his ruler again, but now he moved like a commander leading a battle.
He did not chase the remnant.
He herded it.
He placed small prismatic marks in the sea with each step.
One.
Two.
Three.
The marks formed a triangle around the remnant.
The remnant noticed too late.
It lifted its law blade, but the triangle lit up.
FORMATION: PRISMATIC SEA CAGE.
Light rose like glass walls. The remnant was trapped inside a moving box of prismatic law.
It tried to cut the walls.
The walls bent and held.
The Warden clapped quietly like a child watching a show.
"Nice," it whispered. "That cage is rude."
Shan Wei ignored it.
He stepped close to the cage and pointed his ruler toward the remnant's chest.
"Keys," Shan Wei said.
The remnant's eyes stayed calm, but the air around it turned colder.
"You will not get them," it said. "Not without paying what you refuse to pay."
Shan Wei's eyes did not blink.
"Then I will take them by force," he said.
He lifted his left hand and wrote a new glyph in the air—sharp and bright.
GATE KEY EXTRACTION.
The glyph pressed into the cage.
The remnant's chest flickered.
Thin bell symbols appeared, like locks engraved into its core.
Shan Wei saw them clearly now.
Three keys.
One for memory.
One for threads.
One for betrayal.
The moment Shan Wei saw that third key, the Name River behind them surged like a beast waking up.
The dark fog parted.
The river of glowing names rose higher, lanterns lifting from deep water.
Some names cried.
Some names begged.
Some names were silent, too damaged to speak.
The sea shook harder.
And from the rising river, a reflection formed.
A third consort slot reflection—half-visible, like a face under water.
The reflection whispered.
Not loud.
But the words cut deeper than any blade.
"One of the Six Consorts was made to betray you."
Shan Wei's Prismatic Heart ring slammed like a war drum.
His Name Anchor rings flared, trying to protect him from shock.
The remnant smiled inside the cage.
"There," it said softly. "That is why I drowned them."
Shan Wei's face stayed calm, but his eyes turned sharper.
"A lie," he said.
The Warden laughed.
"Maybe," it whispered. "Maybe not. The sea only repeats what was paid into it."
Shan Wei looked at the reflection again. It shimmered as if it wanted to show more.
He did not let it control him.
He forced his mind back to the keys.
He pressed the extraction glyph harder.
The remnant's chest symbol-lines lit up.
The keys resisted.
The remnant's law blade rose inside the cage and stabbed into the cage wall.
The cage cracked.
A bell sound boomed.
Outside the Memory Sea, in the real world, the Silent Bell monk felt the crack and spoke coldly.
"Seal the tomb now," it ordered.
The Ice Phoenix Tomb trembled.
The sky page outside darkened.
Memory fog surged like a tsunami.
Xuan Chi's moon line cut again and again, but her hands shook.
Her scars burned bright.
Her voice broke into a whisper.
"My domain… it's waking… but I can't hold it…"
Zhen stood like a fortress beside the cocoon. His armor was cracked. His core light flickered.
His voice was blunt.
"CORE FAILURE APPROACHING."
Then he made a choice like a loyal guardian.
A new mode activated inside him with a deep click.
NAME VAULT MODE: ACTIVE.
A prismatic lock opened in Zhen's chest. A small space formed, like a vault made from light and steel.
The confirmed Mei Yulan thread glowed and slid inside, protected.
For one breath, the fog outside stopped pulling at it.
But Zhen's core cracked again.
A bright fracture line ran across his chest plates.
Drakonix, half-curled, let out a weak growl.
His eyes were half-open.
He saw Zhen cracking.
He saw Shan Wei not there.
He saw the fog trying to eat everything.
His body trembled.
And then his bloodline forced the last option.
A prismatic flame wrapped around him like a blanket.
A cocoon began.
Not huge yet.
Seed-stage.
Small, tight, desperate.
But the moment the cocoon formed, a wave of prismatic heat blasted outward and burned thin contract threads in the air.
Several masked assassins screamed as their "no karmic debt" clause marks flared and turned black.
Their contract was being burned.
That made the watchers panic.
Greed surged like blood smell.
Outside, cultivators far away felt it and whispered, shaking.
"A divine beast cocoon…"
"Prismatic flames…"
"Steal it!"
Inside the Memory Sea, Shan Wei felt the world shake through his bonds.
He knew Drakonix was cocooning.
He knew time was running out.
The remnant inside the cage smiled calmly.
"Choose," it said. "Keys… or your beast."
Shan Wei's eyes turned colder.
He did not answer with words.
He answered with action.
He changed the cage.
The prismatic walls rotated and tightened around the remnant like a crushing seal.
FORMATION: PRISMATIC COMPRESSION.
The remnant's chest locks flickered.
The keys loosened.
Shan Wei's extraction glyph pulled.
One key slid out—bright bell-silver.
The moment Shan Wei grabbed it, the Memory Sea screamed.
The Warden's smile twisted, half delighted, half afraid.
"Oh," it whispered. "You really are him."
Shan Wei held the first key. His voice stayed calm.
"One," he said.
The remnant's eyes narrowed.
"You will break everything," it said.
Shan Wei stared at it.
"Good," he replied.
Then the sea shook again—harder than before.
A massive bell shadow appeared above the Name River.
The gate.
It was noticing.
A cold voice rolled through the sea, deeper than the Warden, deeper than the remnant.
A true bell voice.
A judge voice.
"UNAUTHORIZED KEY REMOVAL.""EXECUTION RIGHT: GRANTED."
Shan Wei's Name Anchor rings flared.
His Prismatic Heart ring slammed.
He lifted his ruler, calm and ready.
Because now the Monastery was not just watching.
It was coming.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
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