It’s Yours

Long Ao kicked aside a sheet of metal that had drifted over, then looked up at the scene before him. Once again, his scalp prickled.

Su Yuehe was kneeling in the center of the camp, both hands clutching the sides of her head. Behind her, glowing blue characters repeatedly formed, only to be torn apart by chaotic streams of light.

“Shatter.”

“Return.”

“Sever.”

Each time a character appeared, the entire camp shook with it.

The shadows of the canvas tents writhed and rolled, while the blue patterns splitting through the ground grew denser by the second.

Broken, breathy sounds squeezed from Su Yuehe’s throat.

“Stop.”

This was the first time Su Yuehe had ever experienced anything like this. The power inside her seemed inexhaustible, surging uncontrollably from every inch of her body.

She couldn’t control it. She couldn’t control it at all…

Her knees sank into the translucent image of frozen earth. Her fingertips clawed at the ground, but found nothing to hold on to.

This power… wasn’t hers to begin with.

“Changqing, don’t come any closer.”

An Changqing raised his sword by half an inch.

“I’m not leaving.”

The color drained from Su Yuehe’s lips.

“Go!”

The characters behind her suddenly expanded, their strokes bleeding with dense blue radiance.

“Slaughter.”

A flash of crimson light streaked past. An Changqing flicked up the tip of his sword and deflected the attack. The already unstable space grew even more turbulent.

The two characters for “slaughter” hung behind Su Yuehe, blood-red light flowing along their strokes as they continued to pursue their target.

An Changqing’s sword tip braced against empty air. The impact numbed his wrist, and his boots had already sunk into the shattered image of frozen earth.

What a pain…

Baal’s voice rumbled through Chen Guan’s mind.

“Kid, she’s about to be torn in two.”

“Press one to invite Lord Bael to take over and carry the fight.”

“Zero.”

Chen Guan ignored Baal’s wisecracks and focused on finding a way to break the situation.

If the BOSS had been anyone else—even a reanimated ancient corpse—he could have tried solving the problem with sheer force.

But the person standing before him was Su Yuehe.

In truth, Chen Guan wasn’t all that worried. He knew that the Lady Speaker was surely watching from somewhere, like a ghost.

There was no way Lady Speaker hadn’t seen that figure.

The fact that this mission had been sent their way in the middle of the night was definitely no coincidence.

Naturally, Chen Guan wasn’t going to gamble everything on that. He still needed to come up with a solution himself.

Wherever the protagonist was, unexpected developments were guaranteed.

Baal’s laughter rolled through his mind, brimming with an irritatingly gleeful delight.

“Heh heh heh. Here’s a hint, kid. Did you get a good look? The lingering will of that dried corpse is using her pain as a seedbed to sprout.”

“The original Word Spirit wielder was trapped here for a hundred years. His power was too great, so to prevent it from running wild by accident, he placed a restriction on himself. From then on, he sealed his lips and never spoke again. He died, but the restriction remained even after a century. His will, too, crossed the span of time and remained imprisoned.”

“Lu Ming stitched that remnant power into his daughter’s body, breaking the restriction. Naturally, the original wielder’s excessive power had nowhere to go. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You humans really do love courting disaster.”

Chen Guan’s gaze settled on the characters constantly flickering behind Su Yuehe. A sudden suspicion arose in his mind.

“How do you know all this in such detail?”

Baal’s tone turned wistful.

“Because I knew the original wielder. I thought his ability had reappeared in the world, but I never expected this.”

“Before he died, he bound himself here because he knew that even death wouldn’t stop him from leaving behind a terrible calamity.”

“Do you think he ever imagined that, before his death, someone would release the Word Spirit he had painstakingly restrained for exactly this reason?”

Baal’s voice faded away. At first, he had taken a certain pleasure in watching humanity suffer the consequences of its own foolishness.

That ancient corpse had once been the Hero who reached an understanding with him.

To stand shoulder to shoulder with Baal in a mortal body—that was someone Baal respected. They could not be called friends, but neither were they enemies. Lord Bael had admired him greatly.

Seeing his will desecrated left Baal displeased.

But what did that have to do with this little girl?

That was why Baal had softened and offered the hint.

Chen Guan watched the chaotic streams of light. He shook back the sleeve of his coat, and the black mark in his left palm rose visibly beneath his skin.

“Step back.”

He said this to An Changqing.

The sword in An Changqing’s hand continued to ring. Its blade was pressed against a chunk of frozen-earth debris that had come crashing toward them.

“You won’t be able to withstand this power if you go in.”

Chen Guan raised a hand and pushed aside the dimly glowing sword.

“The agreement comes first.”

He looked at the girl at the center of the storm.

“I’m responsible for after-sales service.”

He lifted his leg and stepped into the most chaotic part of the blue field. Blue light struck his body, but the moment it broke his skin, it was repaired at light speed. He stood firm at the heart of the storm.

Blood vessels bulged at the corners of An Changqing’s eyes. He wanted to follow, but the instant his foot landed firmly on a patch of ground, that ground turned transparent. He was forced to retreat half a step.

Su Yuehe knelt at the center of the shattered formation. She didn’t look at anyone. Countless glowing blue characters formed around her.

Chen Guan stopped three paces away from her.

In truth, he had no choice but to stop there. The raging wind sent sand and stones whipping through the air, while blue light sliced through the hem of Chen Guan’s coat. His body could withstand going farther, but his clothes could not.

For the sake of not wasting the audience’s bandwidth, this premium content would not be shown to them.

“Su Yuehe.”

He called her name, but the girl at the center of the storm did not look up.

Chen Guan raised his left hand, and the black mark glimmered.

He looked at the girl kneeling in the heart of the light, her body trembling without pause.

“Your talent is a lie, but your hard work isn’t.”

Chen Guan took another step forward. Blue streams of light cut through his trouser leg, revealing perfectly unharmed skin beneath.

The black mark in his raised left palm was now shining like polished ink jade.

“They’re yours.”

Wang Shuo clung to the signal pole, feeling as though he were aboard a broken ship on the verge of sinking.

“Chen, Big Brother Chen, hurry up already!”

He shouted in Chen Guan’s direction. “If you keep chatting, we’re all going to end up as specimens in these ruins!”

Chen Guan finally moved. Without another word, he aimed the left hand glowing with the black mark toward Su Yuehe.

A powerful suction force burst from his palm.

Su Yuehe felt the furious emotions in her mind find an outlet, drawn from her soul by an irresistible force.

The sensation was strange.

It was as if, when she was on the verge of drowning, someone had taken on the searing pain in her lungs and allowed her to draw another breath.

[??? Psychological counseling can do this? This is physical counseling, right?]

[Way more useful than the class representative in charge of mental health.]

[How is that tattered coat so durable?]

[You’re being weird.]

[Human nature.]

“You…”

The blue light in Su Yuehe’s eyes dimmed. She stared blankly at Chen Guan.

And in that instant of clarity, another will slipped in.

An old, weary voice echoed in the depths of her heart.

“Give it back…”

The voice held no malice. Instead, it carried a hint of compassion.

“It doesn’t belong to you, child.”

“It will only bring destruction.”

Su Yuehe’s consciousness was pulled into a pure-white space.

The phantom of the dried corpse sat cross-legged directly before her.

“I sealed it within my death, all to bring this curse to an end.”

“You never should have possessed it.”

“You cannot control it.”