Chapter 24: The Golden Lion's Shadow
As Lin Wei walked toward his spot at the front of the ranks, the other students—his "peers"—parted like the Red Sea. No one whispered. No one mocked. Even the bullies from the South District who had once laughed at his "1-star talent" now looked at the floor, their faces pale and their Qi retreating into their bodies. Han Ye stood ten feet away, his hands clenched so tight they were bleeding silver frost. He caught Lin Wei's eye for a split second and gave a single, microscopic shake of his head. Don't be here when the sun sets, the look said. The 1-star loser was dead; in his place stood a monster they were all terrified to breathe near.
The Great Plaza was a sea of shimmering silk and sharpened steel. Thousands of students, faculty, and Imperial citizens stood in breathless ranks, their eyes fixed on the central dais where a throne of solid sunlight—carved from high-grade sunstone—awaited the Emperor. The air was so dense with spiritual pressure that the weaker Qi Gathering students were visibly trembling, their knees bucking under the weight of the Imperial presence.
A horn blast, deep as a dragon's roar, signaled the arrival.
Inside the qilin-drawn carriage, the air was a pressurized vacuum. The Emperor did not sit on a cushion; he sat within a cage of pulsing emerald filaments. His skin was translucent, showing veins that glowed with the same sickly green light as the city walls. He was the Siphon's ultimate host, tethered to the very heart of the Capital. He watched the Prince through a scrying pool, his voice a dry, rasping echo: "Go, my son. Touch the boy. I cannot step onto the earth while the Seal is active, or the city will drain me dry to feed the Rift. Be my hands."
The Imperial Carriage didn't roll; it floated on a cloud of golden Qi. But as the Emperor remained tethered, it was a man who looked like he had been forged from the sun itself who stepped out first.
First Prince Lin Jue.
As he stepped onto the stone, a shockwave of Peak Foundation Establishment pressure rolled across the plaza. His golden armor was etched with the same runes found on the city's Siphon, and his eyes—a piercing, regal gold—immediately swept the crowd. They stopped at Lin Wei.
"System," Lin Wei thought, his dual cores tightening. "Analysis on the Prince. Is he clean, or is he part of the metallic rot?"
[Eternal Odyssey System]
Target: First Prince Lin Jue. Realm: Foundation Establishment - Peak Stage.
Warning: His armor is directly linked to the Spirit-Vein Siphon. He is a living extension of the city's power.
Corruption Trace: 0.00%. He is untainted, but he is the ultimate hunter for the Seal.
Jue walked toward the dais, his every step a thunderclap in the silence. He stopped five paces from Lin Wei. "The 'Bane of the Frost,'" Jue said. "I find a 9th-Layer boy who looks like he's one gust of wind away from collapse. Tell me, Northern trash, how does it feel to kill a Core Formation master with a fluke?"
"It felt like doing the Empire's job for them, Your Highness," Lin Wei replied.
The crowd gasped. The Prince's eyes narrowed. "You have something that belongs to the Throne, Lin Wei. My father believes it is a treasure. I believe it is a parasite." Jue leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper. "The moment you step onto that dais, I will be the one searching your soul. If I find even a spark of that violet heresy, I will burn you and your entire clan."
Lin Wei didn't flinch. He reached into the System Shop one last time. "Activate Void-Whisper. Tell the Siphon that the Jailer is home, and I'm taking back the keys."
When the Void-Whisper engaged, it wasn't a voice in his ear. It was a rhythmic thumping in his feet. The Siphon wasn't a machine; it was a captured spirit of the earth, enslaved a thousand years ago. It felt the Seal on Lin Wei's chest and recognized its ancient warden. "Help me," the city seemed to groan through the soles of Lin Wei's boots. He wasn't just talking to the city; he was offering the slave a chance to rebel.
[Void-Whisper Active: 60 Seconds Remaining.]
Suddenly, the ground beneath the Great Plaza began to groan. The golden light of the Prince's aura flickered. The emerald runes on the city walls began to dim as the Siphon turned its attention away from the ceremony and toward the boy in the black-and-violet silks.
The Golden Lion turned, his eyes wide with shock as his armor began to leak power. "What... what have you done?" Jue roared.
"I didn't do anything," Lin Wei said, stepping toward the dais as the sky above turned a bruised, stormy purple. "I just told the city who actually owns it."
The bells of the Capital began to ring backward. The Emperor's carriage door began to open, but Lin Wei was already moving, a violet blur in a sea of golden fear. The ceremony was over. The hunt for the Jailer had just become a race for the Empire's survival.