Page 185

"Could I really go no farther than this?"

His Dao Heart began examining itself, each call louder than the last, hoping his conscious self would awaken and save itself in the brief time left. But his conscious self did nothing.

The Dao Heart's voice grew fainter and fainter. It felt it could not hold on much longer.

Just as the black water swallowed him whole, a faint golden glow drifted through the darkness. For darkness to devour light, it had to swallow every last trace. But for light to drive away darkness, it needed only to burn.

The glow grew brighter and brighter. Drawn to the light, the Dao Heart could not help parting the black water and moving toward it. He went faster, each step firmer than the last. By the time he reached the glow, the black water had somehow receded completely.

The Dao Heart crouched and looked at the glow pinned beneath a massive stone.

It was pale gold, giving off a soft, gentle light that made him want to touch it.

Like a mischievous child, he could not resist poking it. In an instant, a fragment of memory flashed past like light skimming across water. When was that memory from?

There were women shouting in shrill, jumbled voices, children crying without pause, and countless footsteps. It looked like a magnificent palace, yet a layer of blood-red seemed to stain it, shrouding it for no reason in an ill omen.

Wen Xu froze, then woke with a start.

He reached out instinctively and caught a black-and-red arc of light—the very thing that had put him at a disadvantage. Without thinking, Wen Xu gathered spiritual energy in his hand. Flames sprang up without a breath of wind. The arc wavered and seemed to dim, but it was not