The stench of blood was everywhere before she even saw it.
Shen Yueyin froze, chest tightening violently, stomach twisting. Her fingers dug into the floor until her nails bled. The taste of iron coated her tongue.
She had learned, too many lifetimes, that when he moved like this, silent, calm, calculating… death followed.
Yin Beichen stood at the center of the courtyard now, his chains removed, arms loose at his sides. Guards lay sprawled across the stone floor, their blood soaking into cracks, a red stain that would never fully wash away. Some of the bodies twitched, too late. Some were already still.
Shen Yueyin's mouth went dry.
"Move back," one of the soldiers whispered harshly, but his voice cracked under fear.
She couldn't. She couldn't move. Her legs were frozen, her body stiff. Every instinct screamed to flee, but her eyes wouldn't leave him.
Yin Beichen's expression was unreadable. Pale. Sharp. Terrifyingly still. And yet… not cruel. Not in the way people expected cruelty to be.
She realized suddenly, he wasn't angry.
He was calm. Far too calm.
Shen Yueyin's pulse thudded violently in her ears. Every heartbeat screamed a warning she already knew: he had crossed a line, and nothing in this world could stop him now.
A guard tried to rise. A mistake.
Yin Beichen moved.
It was faster than thought. Fewer than a heartbeat, and the man collapsed, clutching his throat, eyes wide in sudden disbelief. His knees buckled. Blood spilled over his hands.
Shen Yueyin's stomach lurched violently. She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. She wanted to hide, but her legs refused. She was anchored by horror, by recognition, by the unbearable pull of knowing she had watched this happen before in every timeline.
"He's…" she whispered, voice trembling. "He's… already killing."
"Yes," a soft voice answered behind her. A soldier, shaking so hard that his armor rattled like a thousand tiny bells. "He… he's the devil we were warned about."
The devil. The name hit her ears like a jagged stone. And yet… looking at him, standing there in silence while the dying groaned beneath his shadow, her chest ached in a way that was neither fear nor anger. Something older, deeper. Something she refused to name.
Her fingers twitched.
Don't reach for him.
Her mind screamed it. Her body ignored it.
Yin Beichen's gaze flicked to her, just briefly. The faintest shadow of recognition passed through his eyes.
Then he turned back to the next soldier.
Another mistake. Another life gone in a heartbeat.
She swallowed hard, heart pounding so violently it felt as if her ribs might split.
This is wrong.
Every nerve in her body screamed at her to step forward, to stop him, to do something, anything, before he crossed a line she knew he could never uncross.
But Heaven had already told her what would happen if she interfered.
She swallowed the bile rising in her throat.
Her first instinct, every instinct, was to scream at him, to shake him, to throw herself in front of him.
Stop!
Her knees almost buckled under the weight of the urge. She wanted to collapse to the ground, press her palm against his chest, feel that pulse under her fingers, and beg him to stop. Beg him to remember. Beg him to be mortal, to be human, to care.
But he didn't.
He never did.
He was the seed of calamity, even now, even shackled by flesh, even still mortal in form. The thing he would become, the Devil Lord Heaven had feared, was already lurking in those calm, sharp eyes.
Shen Yueyin's breath came ragged. Her body trembled uncontrollably. And yet… she couldn't look away.
The last soldier ran.
Yin Beichen didn't chase him. He didn't need to. The fear in the man's eyes alone was enough.
Shen Yueyin's hands clenched at her knees. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to stop him. To raise her blade. To end this madness before it began.
And yet, her heart twisted in a way she hated herself for.
Because even in this, even as his hands were stained with blood that should have repelled her, a part of her understood him.
A part of her had always understood him.
Her vision blurred. She pressed her palm against her chest, trying to still the unbearable thrum of her pulse. She had to breathe. She had to.
The courtyard smelled of iron and smoke, of sweat and fear. The bodies were silent now, the groans of the dying fading to wet, ragged gurgles. Yin Beichen's movements were minimal, precise. He didn't look around. Didn't glance at the carnage. Didn't even seem to register it.
He wasn't enjoying this.
Shen Yueyin's mind spun.
Then why… why does it terrify me?
He finally looked at her, gaze piercing. Calm, unreadable. And yet, she could feel it. The pull. The force of him. Of everything he would become.
She wanted to reach for him. She wanted to hold him, to anchor him, to remind him of every life they had shared. Every moment Heaven had tried to erase.
She didn't.
Because if she touched him now, she would lose control. She would forget everything except the man in front of her, the one she had loved through countless cycles, the one she had sworn to kill for the sake of the world.
Her chest tightened unbearably.
"I…" she whispered, her voice barely audible. "I can't…"
Yin Beichen's eyes narrowed just slightly. His gaze softened—but not enough for warmth, only enough for recognition.
She almost ran to him. Almost pressed herself against him and begged him to stop. Almost.
And then, she heard the clanging of the gate behind her.
Heaven was watching. Always watching. Always waiting. Always measuring.
She forced herself to step back.
Blood ran down his hands, crimson and bright against his pale skin.
Shen Yueyin's nails dug into her palms. Her body shook violently. Every instinct screamed at her to run to him, to raise her blade, to stop this before it went too far.
But she didn't.
She couldn't.
Not yet.
Because if she acted now… she might never survive what came next.
Yin Beichen wiped the blood from his hands with a calm swipe. Then he turned toward her.
"Are you coming?" he asked.
Her chest convulsed painfully.
She wanted to.
She wanted to run to him, collapse in his arms, and never let go.
Instead, she lowered her eyes, heart breaking with every inch she resisted.
"No," she whispered. "Not yet."
He didn't reply. He didn't need to. His calm, his power, his existence, it spoke louder than words.
And Shen Yueyin knew, with a cold, terrible certainty…
The next time she touched him, the world might burn.