Chen Wuya's hand came up empty when he searched inside his robes.
He lowered his head and saw that his coarse cloth collar hung open. The Heart of Extreme Cold he had kept close to his body was gone. When they had charged into the tunnel, the shadow beasts had pounced on them. He had been protecting Bai Zhi while carrying the young lord, and his elbow had struck the ice wall. It might have fallen then.
"Damn it," he said.
Mo Feng was putting the last explosive thunder bomb into his pack. Hearing him, he immediately looked up. "What?"
"I lost it." Chen Wuya gritted his teeth and gently set the young lord down, letting him lean against the ice wall. The young lord's face was bluish, his breathing nearly imperceptible. The Royal Seal on his chest was so dim it looked like a flame about to go out.
Bai Zhi walked over, one hand braced against the wall and the other pressed to her abdomen. She said nothing, only looked at the bronze door. The patterns upon it glimmered faintly, and the shape of the central groove was identical to the Heart of Extreme Cold.
"Without it, we can't open the door." Mo Feng approached to inspect the seal structure, his finger brushing the edge of the groove. "This lock recognizes an object."
Chen Wuya reached toward the crack between the doors. The instant his fingertips touched the icy metal, the system abruptly appeared:
[Detected fate-binding mechanism. Suggest activating Twinborn Resonance Mode.]
He froze for a moment. "What does that mean?"
Before his words had faded, four characters emerged upon the door—"Twinborn, live and die together." Dim blue light seeped from the engravings. The words slowly rose, revolving in the air and forming a ring-shaped totem.