Bai Zhi's fingers were still curled around Chen Wuya's palm. Her eyes were open, golden light filling her pupils, and her voice was as soft as wind passing through cracks in stone. "I'm not here to break the seal. I'm here to ask you—why didn't you save her back then?"
The old man formed by the sea dragon stood at the end of the stone platform. His body stiffened, but he said nothing.
The blue light in the cave began to dim, and the patterns on the stone walls went dark one after another. The intact chain froze at the very instant it was about to break, its trembling ceasing as if time itself had been frozen. Only the stone door behind Bai Zhi continued to give off a faint heat, like its last breath was hanging on by a thread.
Chen Wuya lowered his gaze to her. Her hand had gone slack, and her whole body was falling backward. He caught her in his arms and let her lean against his chest. Her breathing was shallow, but steadier than before.
He looked up at the old man. "She asked you a question. If you won't answer, then I will."
"Twenty years ago, on the night the Demonic Cult slaughtered that village, someone should have stepped in—but didn't. She's standing here now not to make you remember the past, but to force you to do something."
The old man's gaze flickered. "The lives of humans are not mine to concern myself with."
"Then does being sealed in here count as humans concerning themselves with you?" Chen Wuya sneered. "You say you don't trust humans, yet you waited twenty years for someone bearing the same markings to appear. You were waiting for a chance at redemption, so stop pretending you're above