"Behind the door?" he repeated softly, his voice suddenly drawn out. "That's something you have to see for yourself."
With that, he lifted a hand, as though flicking an invisible switch in the air.
At once, the walls around the room began to glow. Runes rose from beneath the carpet, out of the murals, and through the gaps in the furniture. They formed an array that slowly closed around the three of them, sealing them inside.
Lin Yun cried out and took two steps back. She turned to leave, only to find that the door behind her had silently shut and vanished into the wall without a trace.
"Don't struggle," Bai Mo said evenly. "This Stillness-Sealing Array responds only to her bloodline. As long as she doesn't resist, it won't hurt anyone."
Jiu Jia Yi hesitated no longer. He lunged forward, leaped into the air, and drove the Short Blade straight at Bai Mo's throat!
"You're a long way from taking someone right under my nose!"
Bai Mo seemed to have expected it. A slight lean backward was enough to evade the fatal strike. But as he moved, Jiu Jia Yi changed tactics, slamming his left elbow toward Bai Mo's ribs with savage force!
A muffled thud rang out.
Bai Mo stumbled back a step. His expression shifted, and his assured gaze finally wavered. He glanced down at his bloodstained shirt and actually smiled. "You... really are a troublesome variable."
"I'm not a variable." Jiu Jia Yi's eyes were cold as ice. "I'm a blade."
In the next instant, he surged forward like the wind. A sharp gust followed the flash of his weapon as its edge left an afterimage in the air, hurtling straight for Bai Mo's throat!
But just before it could cut his skin, the air warped. A silver-white curtain sprang up, forcibly separating them.
"Enough."
The voice had not come from Bai Mo. It came from... Lin Yun.
She stood between them, a faint blue light in her eyes, as if she had sunk into a dream and awakened from it. Her voice was calm but utterly firm.
"Stop fighting... I understand now." Her gaze drifted to the yellowed parchment beside her and its seven slits, as though they were answering her memories.
"This door... I really can open it."
Jiu Jia Yi's expression changed sharply. "Lin Yun, don't let him control you! You don't know what this could bring—"
"I don't," she cut in, unexpectedly calm. "But I have to know what my brother went through, and what exactly he... wanted to stop me from seeing."
Bai Mo said nothing more. He simply stood there watching Lin Yun, as though gazing at a dawn long overdue.
"The door is behind the wall at the back of the Red Cloud Suite." He slowly extended a hand and pointed to the light-blocking curtain at the far end of the room.
Lin Yun walked toward the curtain, her fingers trembling slightly. With every step, she felt the air vibrate, as though something ancient were awakening and peering through a crack into her soul.
She stopped before the curtain, took a deep breath, and looked back at Jiu Jia Yi.
"If I don't come back..." she said softly, "please take everything away for me."
Jiu Jia Yi clenched his jaw, but in the end, he did not stop her. He only nodded slowly, his gaze hard as iron.
"I will."
Lin Yun closed her eyes and gently drew the curtain aside.
In the darkness, an ancient, uncanny stone door quietly appeared. Unknown runes covered its surface, as though whispering without a sound.
Slowly, she reached toward the door.
Beyond it, was there an unfathomable abyss, or... the end of the truth?
Before you continue