Chapter 2

Chapter 2

By the time I brought Han Zhaoye back to Clear Sky Peak, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

The Mountain Gate was crowded with people, and everyone looked at me as if they had seen a ghost. The Lamp Marks on my wrist and Han Zhaoye’s were glowing with a blinding intensity, impossible to hide even beneath three layers of chains.

“The Shared Life Lamp?” the Discipline Elder gasped. “Isn’t that… a technique for binding Dao Companions?”

“No,” I said coldly.

No one believed me.

Han Zhaoye was escorted onto the Spirit-Locking Platform, still maintaining his lazy, nonchalant air as if he wasn’t the one being bound. Some suggested an immediate Soul-Searching; others argued for cutting out his core to break the bond. I stood below the platform, listening to the grand speeches filling the hall, feeling nothing but irritation.

That was until the Discipline Elder lashed a whip across Han Zhaoye’s shoulder.

Han Zhaoye didn’t make a sound, but a metallic sweetness rose in my throat, and I coughed up a mouthful of blood on the spot.

The entire hall fell silent.

Han Zhaoye looked up at me, as if he had known this would happen. He even let out a soft chuckle. “I told you. It’s too late.”

My Master, Shuo Xuanjin, had been sitting high above, and only now did he speak slowly. “The Shared Life Lamp is no ordinary thing. You share life and injury; you will die together and return to the void together. If it is not undone within seven days, the lamp’s flame will burn out, and you both will die.”

I suppressed the churning blood in my chest. “How do we undo it?”

“The safest way is to execute Han Zhaoye on the Evil-Slaying Platform using the Zhengyang Formation. We will use the formation to sever the Lamp Marks.” Master looked at me, his tone as steady as it was merciful. “Guichen, you shall do it yourself. I will ensure your safety.”

Han Zhaoye raised an eyebrow slightly. “The way you righteous cultivators solve the lamp’s bond is as stupid as ever.”

Shuo Xuanjin ignored him, keeping his eyes on me. “Haven’t you always wanted to avenge Floating White City? Your enemy is right before you.”

I looked at Han Zhaoye.

He looked back at me, without a trace of fear in his eyes. Instead, it seemed as if he were waiting for me to ask him something.

But I didn’t ask.

I only said, “Before tonight, I want to interrogate him alone.”

Master remained silent for a moment before nodding in agreement.

That night, I carried a lantern into the Spirit-Locking Prison. Han Zhaoye was chained to a black iron pillar; the wound on his chest had reopened, and a pool of blood had dripped onto the floor. Yet, the moment he saw me, his eyes went first to the lamp in my hand.

“Sword Lord Jing delivering a lamp personally?” He chuckled softly. “Does your Clear Sky Peak always treat prisoners so well?”

I set the lamp down and got straight to the point. “What really happened at Floating White City?”

Han Zhaoye looked up, and after a long pause, he asked, “Do you truly remember nothing?”

My heart sank. “Remember what?”

He watched me for a long time. Suddenly, a blackened copper coin slipped from his sleeve.

I recognized that coin.

I had an identical one hanging around my neck.

“Fourteen years ago, when the fire broke out in Floating White City,” Han Zhaoye’s voice dropped low, “someone shoved us into a cellar together. They used one lamp to trade for two lives. Jing Guichen, the Demonic Sect isn’t what killed your family. If you want to live long enough to see the truth, don’t hand me over to Shuo Xuanjin.”

The wind howled outside the prison doors.

And for the first time, I felt a flicker of doubt toward the Master whose name I had called for fourteen years.