Chapter 28: Before the Storm
The temple trembled beneath their feet, as if reacting to the tension between the three souls within its sacred chamber.
Qiuhan stood still, but the shadows clung to him like smoke. His eyes, once soft and steady, burned now with wild devotion. Not hate. Not vengeance. Something worse—love twisted by time and rejection.
"You don't remember how you looked at me," he said, voice low. "Before him. Before your light was dimmed by fate."
Ying Yue's breath caught, but she did not lower her gaze. "I remember now… I remember everything. And even then, I didn't choose you."
Qiuhan's smile was bitter. "But you let me hope. You let me stand beside you while he vanished into shadow. You—"
"I was broken," she said. "We both were. But you... you turned your wounds into weapons."
"You turned yours into love," Qiuhan spat. "That is your greatest weakness."
Bai Jiu stepped between them, quiet but firm. "If you truly cared for her, you wouldn't try to possess her."
"She was mine first," Qiuhan hissed. "And I was ready to sacrifice everything for her."
"She didn't ask you to," Ying Yue said, voice steady. "And I will not repay obsession with affection."
Qiuhan's hands clenched, darkness swirling around his fingers. "I protected your temple. I fought for your name. I killed for your return. And now you stand with him—the one who left you to die?"
Bai Jiu flinched, but Ying Yue shook her head.
"He never abandoned me," she said. "He grieved for me. You… twisted grief into madness."
Qiuhan let out a laugh—shattered, sharp, almost hollow. "Then madness is all I have left."
The Mirror of Lives behind them cracked suddenly, unable to withstand the energies rising in the room. From its shattered surface, illusions danced—of lives unlived, of paths unchosen. Qiuhan turned to the mirror and watched as one reflection flickered: a world where Ying Yue reached for his hand.
"I could have had that," he whispered. "If fate had been kinder."
"No," Ying Yue replied. "If your heart had been."
The final word struck something deep. Qiuhan's control shattered. He raised his arm—and the shadows obeyed.
"I will remake this world," he roared. "And in that world, you'll be mine!"
The temple darkened as a storm of cursed energy surged outward. Bai Jiu drew his sword, its fire blazing bright, and Ying Yue's palms shimmered with divine seals.
"Then this is the world you'll lose," Bai Jiu said.
And with no more words left between them, the battle began.