Chapter 13: The Price of Defying Fate

Jiàn Lian stood frozen.

The truth coiled around his throat like a noose.

This was his fault.

Mei Rin’s return, the fractured fate threads, the presence lurking inside her—it all led back to him.

He had broken something.

And now, something else had taken its place.

The wind picked up again, carrying the scent of decay and burnt silk. Mei Rin’s form flickered like a candle caught between existence and oblivion.

She took a slow step forward.

"You look afraid," she whispered.

Her voice wasn’t right.

Jiàn Lian’s fists clenched. "I’m not afraid."

A slow smile curled her lips. "Liar."

The mist thickened. The sky darkened. **Something moved in the shadows behind her—**an unseen presence shifting, twisting, watching.

Jiàn Lian forced himself to stand firm. "What do you want?"

Mei Rin’s head tilted slightly. "Want?"

For the briefest second, her eyes flickered—

And he saw it.

The thing lurking beneath her skin.

Not just a presence. Not just a voice.

A hunger.

Jiàn Lian’s breath caught.

The presence inside Mei Rin wasn’t just using her as a vessel.

It was feeding.

Consuming her.

And if he didn’t stop it—

It would erase her completely.

His pulse hammered. "Let her go."

Mei Rin blinked. A twitch—just the smallest hesitation.

Then—

A laugh.

Soft. Quiet.

And utterly wrong.

"You keep saying that," she murmured. "But you don’t understand, do you?"

The mist curled around her, pulling at her like unseen hands. Her figure wavered, like she was caught between two different realities.

Jiàn Lian gritted his teeth. "Then make me understand."

For a moment, she was silent.

Then—her expression changed.

Not Mei Rin’s expression.

Something else’s.

Something older.

Something that had been waiting.

"You tore open the thread," the voice whispered, no longer even pretending to be hers. "You refused fate. You brought her back."

The ground beneath them shuddered.

Jiàn Lian’s breath caught.

"You did this," the voice continued, cold and quiet. "You called to her—and something answered."

Jiàn Lian’s stomach dropped.

Not just something.

Someone.

Jiàn Lian took a slow step forward. "Who?"

The air cracked.

The mist thickened.

And for the first time, Mei Rin’s body convulsed.

Her lips parted. Her eyes widened.

And a voice—**her voice—**broke through.

"...Jiàn Lian."

It was her.

Jiàn Lian’s chest tightened. "Mei Rin!"

Her form flickered violently—a battle between two forces.

And then—

She screamed.

A sharp, soul-wrenching sound that cut through the air like a blade.

Jiàn Lian’s blood ran cold.

And then—

The world around them split apart.

Darkness ripped through the sky.

The ground cracked beneath his feet.

And Mei Rin—

Vanished.

Jiàn Lian **lunged forward—**but the mist swallowed her whole.

And suddenly—

He was alone.

The field of dead lotuses was gone. The swirling gray sky had disappeared.

Jiàn Lian stood in absolute, crushing silence.

His breath came ragged. His hands trembled at his sides.

And then, in the emptiness—

A single thread hung before him.

Thin. Frayed. Barely holding together.

Mei Rin’s fate.

Jiàn Lian exhaled sharply.

And then, without hesitation—

He reached for it.

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