Shu Mingye tilted his head, his gaze fixed on her, listening carefully to every word.
"He always left when the Weeping Moon came," she continued. "Every time, he told me to stay hidden in the array and not come out. No matter what I heard. No matter what I saw. He'd disappear until the Weeping Moon passed."
Her voice softened even more. "There were times… when he came back different."
She stopped. For a moment, the room was filled only with the sound of their breathing. It was like the words didn't want to come out. But she made them.
"He still wore the same mask. Still barely spoke. But something about him… felt off. Colder. Crueler. I couldn't explain it, but I felt it." She looked down at her hands, now folded tightly in her lap. "That version of him… is also the one who almost ended me."
Shu Mingye's hand rose slowly and cupped the back of her head. He didn't say anything. Words felt useless here. But the way he touched her said everything he couldn't.
She had lived through things no child should ever face. She had survived all of them.
His fingers brushed gently through her hair. "I'm here now," he whispered, his voice low and warm. "And I won't let anyone hurt you again."
But Linyue didn't lean into his comfort yet. Instead, she lifted her head from his chest and looked up at him with calm, steady eyes. "I'm not done yet," she said softly.
Shu Mingye stilled. He could tell from her tone that she was about to drop something heavy or maybe something dangerous.
"I told you he gave me a lot of books and scrolls," she continued. "They were old. Really ancient. But they were carefully kept, like they mattered more than anything."
Shu Mingye tilted his head, listening.
"I learned many things from them," she said. Then, almost teasingly, a small smile curved her lips. "Do you know what the final stage of cultivation is?"
His brows furrowed at the sudden shift. But seeing her smile, he relaxed and matched it with one of his own. "Not peak stage?" he guessed.
Linyue shook her head. Her smile grew a little, playful and faintly mysterious. "No. According to one scroll, the final stage isn't peak. It's called Transcendence."
She said the word with quiet wonder, like it still amazed her even now. "The scroll didn't explain it clearly. It only said that transcendence is a stage that holds power strong enough to defy the heavens. And no one knows if anyone has ever reached it."
Shu Mingye's eyes darkened in thought. His smile faded, replaced by sharp focus. He wasn't teasing anymore. He was listening carefully.
Linyue continued softly, "But I think… my master, Qi Heng, reached that stage. That's why we can't sense his cultivation. He's not just above us. He's beyond us."
Shu Mingye stared at her. His frown deepened.
Now he understood. The strange feeling he got from that man. The cold pressure that felt inhuman. It wasn't his imagination. That masked man's spiritual energy didn't belong in the mortal realm. No wonder Linyue said he was beyond them. It also explained how Qi Heng had lived so long and still looked so young.
Linyue leaned against him again. Her voice dropped lower, softer. "And the longer I stayed with him, the more I understood. He's not just strong. He's an array master. He knows the land outside the wall. He knows the demons. He knows the sky, the stars, the wind. And…" she hesitated, then added, "I think he's the one who created the array of the inner wall."
Shu Mingye's heart skipped a beat. He stared at her, his voice tight. "What?"
Linyue nodded slowly, her voice quiet but certain. "He never told me. But I just… felt it," she said. "He didn't speak much, but there were things I learned through his silence. It makes sense that he created the array. No one else could have done it. He kept so many secrets… That's why I asked you to look into him."
Shu Mingye gave a small nod. His mind was still spinning from everything she had said.
Qi Heng. The transcendence stage. The array of the inner wall. And now this.
But Linyue wasn't finished. "Actually," she added, her tone thoughtful, "I think he might be connected to the imperial family. Or at least royalty. He knew about the secret passage under the palace. That passage… only the imperial bloodline would know it exists. Even Fu Jingtao didn't know. But he used that passage thirteen years ago to save me."
That caught Shu Mingye's full attention. He turned slightly, his sharp eyes locked on hers. "I see," he said, his voice low. "He could be someone very important. Someone older than the array itself."
Then he froze. A cold realization hit him like a blade. His arms stiffened slightly around her, and his voice dropped, serious and quiet. "Pie," he said carefully, "if he's an array master… was he the one who placed that array inside your body?"
Linyue blinked slowly, her face calm but her eyes heavy with thought. Then she nodded. "I thought about that too. There's no one else who could have done it. But I still don't understand why. I don't even know what it's for."
Shu Mingye's brows pulled tight as his mind raced. That man, Qi Heng… he definitely knew about the array inside her. Maybe he had put it there himself. But then why save her? Why give her the scroll? Was it kindness? A warning? Or a threat?
He hated that thought. He pulled her closer, his jaw set, his chest rising and falling with careful control.
Linyue tilted her head up slightly, her soft eyes watching him. Then she rubbed her head lightly against his chest. The small motion sent a sharp ache through his heart.
"I think the scroll was right," she said softly. "Transcendence… really does have the power to defy heaven."
He looked down at her, his hand stroking her hair. He didn't speak, waiting as her voice sank lower, almost like she was speaking to herself.
"One day, during Weeping Moon, something strange happened," Linyue said softly. "He usually left, but that time… he came back."
Her voice stayed steady, but he felt the tension in her body grow with each word. "He dragged me out," she continued. "And he forced me to stand in the middle of an array. I didn't understand anything. I just stood there, confused. Then… he activated it."
She drew in a slow breath, her eyes dropping to his robe as if the fabric was suddenly interesting. "He didn't say anything. Just stood silently. And then… he did something I didn't think was possible. He called down lightning. Not normal lightning. It was like… tribulation lightning."
Shu Mingye's jaw locked. His chest tightened painfully. Tribulation lightning. That was no training tool. It was meant for cultivators trying to break their limits. Most people didn't survive even one strike. He held his breath, afraid of what she would say next. But Linyue gave a faint smile, quiet and almost apologetic, like she was trying to make it sound smaller than it was.
"It struck me," she said softly. "I couldn't move. It felt like being torn apart, burned, stabbed from the inside out. But… I didn't die. I thought I would. But I didn't. So I tried to absorb it instead."
Her words were calm, simple. But he could hear everything unsaid in her pauses. The pain. The fear. The sheer will it must have taken to survive.
"I don't even know how many times it struck me," she went on. "I just tried to absorb as much as I could. Until I couldn't. And then something inside me… changed." She finally lifted her eyes to him. They were calm, steady, too steady for the words she spoke. "I don't know what it was," she whispered. "But I felt it. Something… different."
Her voice dropped even softer. "And when I couldn't take it anymore, when I knew I was about to fall apart, I just… closed my eyes."
Shu Mingye stared at her, his grip tightening. That image burned into him, her small figure trapped in a storm meant to destroy, her eyes closed as the sky shattered around her. And he hadn't been there.
His voice came low, rough, the words barely past his throat. "I would've burned the world to stop it."
Linyue blinked, startled by the sudden sharpness in his tone.
He didn't back down. His eyes stayed locked on hers, unflinching and full of heat. "If I had seen that… I would've destroyed the sky itself."