Escape from the Nine Gates Prison

The phantom of the dried corpse raised its hand. Countless chains of ghostly blue characters surged in from every direction, seeking to bind her—and that power—once more.

His Word Spirit had never been an ordinary supernatural ability. It was a product of its era.

After Baal shackled his own strength, his very existence caused humanity to become the dominant side.

To restore the balance of yin and yang, his power had spiraled out of control. Any brief word could take effect, bringing about catastrophe.

Even he—the man Baal had hailed as a Hero—had been unable to control it. How could an ordinary girl possibly master it?

Su Yuehe stared at the chains.

Yes. He was right.

She was only an ordinary person.

A mortal who had been forcibly infused with overwhelming power.

She should give up.

Yet at that moment, Chen Guan’s words echoed in her mind.

“They’re yours.”

The pain, the struggles, all those days and nights when she had gritted her teeth and persevered through weakness—

They were hers.

They belonged to Su Yuehe.

Within the pure-white space, the phantom of the dried corpse sat cross-legged.

“Give it back.”

The old voice rang out, patiently persuading her.

“From the moment this power was born, it has represented the trend of the age.”

“I couldn’t control its endless growth. My era has already come to an end, so I could only seal it away along with my death.”

“It should never have seen the light of day again, much less been grafted onto an innocent life.”

Countless chains of ghostly blue characters emerged from the void and drew closer to Su Yuehe.

“Give it up, child.”

“Then you can escape this pain and return to the life you were meant to have.”

Su Yuehe’s body stopped trembling.

She looked at the approaching chains and at the ancestor before her, who had withered into a skeleton in order to put an end to the curse.

He was right.

As long as she gave it up, everything would be over.

The pain of being torn apart, the years wrapped in lies—all of it could finally come to an end.

She could become an ordinary person again.

But…

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

Chen Guan’s voice pierced through the pure-white space of consciousness, echoing clearly in her mind.

“They’re yours.”

Su Yuehe raised her head. Her gaze passed through the chains and landed on the phantom of the dried corpse.

She remembered the countless days and nights in the training room, when she had pushed herself past her limits in order to control this power.

She remembered the resolve with which she had used it to protect her teammates while facing all manner of demons and monsters.

The sweat, the struggles, the pain, the perseverance—

All of it belonged to her.

“You’re right,” Su Yuehe said, her voice soft. Yet it dispelled the confusion surrounding her.

“The source of this power does not belong to me.”

She reached out and touched the nearest chain of characters.

At her fingertips, the chain transformed into gentle motes of light and merged into her body.

“But the will that has fought with it until today belongs to me.”

“Everything I have endured to master it belongs to me.”

“And all the pain I have suffered because of this power belongs to me.”

Her eyes were clearer and more resolute than ever.

“You sealed it away with your death, but I will give it new life in my hands.”

“It isn’t a mistake, and it isn’t a curse. Power itself has no good or evil. I have used it to protect many people. I won’t let go now, and I never will.”

The phantom of the dried corpse wavered for an instant. Just then, it seemed that something had flown from him into the girl’s body.

Su Yuehe stood and bowed deeply to the phantom.

“From this day forward, it bears the surname Su.”

Outside.

The ruins’ collapse came to an abrupt halt.

“What? What’s going on?”

Wang Shuo stared at the center in disbelief.

“It stopped shaking?”

Everyone turned toward the voice.

Su Yuehe had risen from her knees.

The violent ghostly-blue characters behind her had vanished.

A gigantic, stable golden character hovered quietly behind her.

[Stabilize]

The instant this character appeared, every distorted light and shadow, every section of ground that had been twisting and rolling, and every piece of rubble about to be hurled into the temporal vortex froze in place.

The chaotic laws of time were forcibly smoothed out by an even stronger will.

“She… controlled it?”

Huo Qixing stared at the compass in his hand, which had completely stopped responding, and spoke in a daze.

An Changqing had just started forward when Long Ao grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“Don’t go over there. Look.”

Long Ao’s gaze passed over Su Yuehe and focused on the farther distance behind her.

An emaciated, skin-and-bones image of a dried corpse was rising from the ground.

It was no longer part of a memory projection. It had appeared before everyone as an independent entity.

It was him.

The taboo Lu Ming had excavated from the dust of history—the source of everything.

An immense spiritual pressure descended once again, heavier than any that had come before.

Wang Shuo groaned. It felt as though an invisible hand had seized his brain. His knees buckled, and he was about to fall to the ground.

But in the next instant, the pressure vanished without a trace.

It was Su Yuehe.

She stood there calmly. The golden character [Stabilize] behind her flickered faintly, dissipating the oppressive force as though it were nothing.

The dried corpse’s hollow eye sockets fixed on Su Yuehe.

At the same time, it saw Chen Guan as well. To Chen Guan’s surprise, he could see a look of relief on the face of the dried corpse.

Then it raised its arm and pointed a withered finger at the diary.

The diary began turning its pages without any wind. Once it reached the pages that had been torn out, line after line of new writing appeared on the blank paper.

The handwriting was elegant, but it was not Lu Ming’s.

“My name is Yan. I was born with the power to command all things, yet was burdened by all things.”

“To prevent disaster from befalling the human world, I shackled myself here and cut myself off from the world.”

“After my death, this power will return to heaven and earth. There will be no more ‘Word Spirits.’”

“Yet today, I have encountered one who came after me.”

“Bearing the power of a god in a mortal body, and with a mortal’s will, she has reforged the name of the Word Spirit.”

“Good.”

As the final word appeared, the image of the dried corpse began to turn transparent. It dissolved into specks of golden light and scattered into the air.

[Holy crap, the old man came back from the dead to give her a cheat skill.]

[Can’t even roast this. He’s the real deal.]

[Not a cheat skill—Lao Su just took it and ran with it.]

[Lao Su finally isn’t a prisoner anymore. She’s standing tall!]

Chen Guan withdrew his left hand and slipped it back into his pocket, as though he hadn’t done anything at all.

The stabbing pain in his arm was still there, but it was no longer a serious concern.

Baal did not let out another cackling laugh. Instead, he sighed and said inside Chen Guan’s mind, “How did that old bastard die so thoroughly? I thought he was going to rise from the dead.”

The collapsing ruins stabilized completely.

The tents and instruments that had been frozen in place became utterly real, no longer illusory shadows.

This place had become a true amber, eternal and independent of time.

The golden character behind Su Yuehe faded away. She turned around. Her face was still pale, but the pain had vanished from her eyes.

Her gaze swept over An Changqing and Long Ao before finally settling on Chen Guan.

She opened her mouth, seeming to want to say something.

An Changqing hurried to her side and supported her swaying body.

“Yuehe, are you all right?”

Su Yuehe shook her head, but her eyes never left Chen Guan.

“Thank you.”

Her voice rang out clearly.

“If it weren’t for you, I might have given up already.”

Chen Guan looked at her and simply replied,

“I promised you, didn’t I?”