The refinement of the third set took longer than the first two, and by the time I looked up at the false sky the light had begun its shift toward the underground's imitation of evening, the pale overhead glow deepening at the edges into dark.
The clearing had grown quiet. The trial was in its final stage and most of it had already been decided.
The full cocoon had formed in front of me without incident, small and perfectly sealed, its surface holding a deep red glow that pulsed with a steady rhythm.
Something in my chest registered, a connection between the cocoon and my own essence. Which I knew was a good sign.
The spirits came forward and examined the formed cocoon, then directed their gaze toward Chen Wu's side where the group had gathered quietly around Hou Zi, who alone was still working, his hands moving over his remaining materials with focused desperation.
I did not know exactly how the variables had shifted so thoroughly in my direction. But they had.
"Are you not going to proceed?" The red spirit's voice carried an unusual impatience.
"Mm." I kept my eyes on the cocoon.
"Hah! You are worrying for nothing. It is right there. Go on. Do not make us wait any longer."
The red spirit was correct. The compression was the final step. Press the cocoon against a hard surface with the force required and it would complete. The process was simple.
But for some reason, a bad feeling settled in my chest.
Chen Wu's system had been quiet throughout the entire trial. It had not given him any inscription knowledge or had not done any of the things it reliably did when the situation was critical.
A system that worked against me by engineering constraints and disguising them as opportunities would not simply sit still during the final moments of an inheritance trial unless it had already arranged something I could not see yet.
I opened my system quickly, searching for any notification, any active warning, anything at all.
Nothing…
"Fuck."
I rose to one knee, which drew eyes from every direction. I felt the surface of the cocoon with my fingertips. It was soft, yielding and warm, the essence inside it dense and responsive.
Then I pressed both hands against it and pushed.
The resistance was immediate, the cocoon holding its shape against the force with a rigidity.
My arms shook with the effort. The muscles across my shoulders and down my back engaged fully, and yet the coccone held firm.
My whole face went red as I drove everything I had into it, my teeth locked together.
"Eehhhhhh."
The glow of the cocoon changed. The red deepened before fading altogether. Instead it began to expand!
The walls thinned as the interior inflated outward in all directions, growing from the size of a closed fist to something nearly four times larger, the surface translucent now, and through it a dark shape suspended in clear liquid was visible at the center.
I instantly released the pressure.
The spirit laughed. "You have done it."
The village head turned to Bai Xia and spoke under his breath. "You see? I told you. Now it is your turn. Your brother's plan is a good one, so follow it."
Bai Xia lowered her eyes and nodded reluctantly.
The inflated cocoon held its shape for three slow breaths and then the outer surface gave way, splitting cleanly along the equator. The liquid inside ran out across the ground in a clear sheet and was gone.
What remained sat in the space where the cocoon had been.
I picked it up.
It filled my palm completely. Its surface was smooth and slightly warm. The shape of it was a closed eye.
"This is refinement," I said quietly, and something in the saying of it felt true in a way I had not expected.
"Perfect." Both spirits spoke at exactly the same moment. They stood side by side, and as the word left them I noticed something that stopped me.
The two spirits were no longer standing apart. Their forms had drifted together, left merging with right. Blue and red bled into each other, and the separation that had once defined them was disappearing.
"What the..."
The others noticed it as well. Several people stepped back.
The merged spirit looked across the gathering with complete calm despite what was happening.
"Ah, do not be frightened. This is simply what happens now. The inheritor has been determined. So our previous division is no longer necessary… We become one for.. one."
After they said that, the merging came to an end. The red and the blue faded together, and what remained was transparent, the formless clarity of a true spirit.
I exhaled."You could have mentioned that earlier," and looked down at the soul binding seal in my palm.
I had waited long enough.
I turned toward Chen Wu's group. Their reactions moved through several stages in quick succession, the nearest ones pulling back instinctively, a few reaching for weapons they were not allowed to use.
Chen Wu's eyes were fixed on me. And I saw a glint of fear in them. Genuine and unmanaged.
I poured my essence into the seal. The closed eye on its surface opened. The iris that appeared was deep red, and the pupil at its center was absolutely dark.
A smirk crossed my face."Bind him."
I threw the seal into the air above the space between us.
The red light that burst from the open eye was blinding, filling the clearing from wall to wall, and from it a chain formed, long and luminous, its links the same deep red as the iris, extending outward through the white light in a single direction.
For a brief moment the clearing fell silent.
"BIND HIMMMM." I shouted.
But the next thing I saw, I couldn't believe. The chain came straight toward me!?
"WHA…."
It crossed the distance before I could even move. The first link struck the center of my forehead and drove inward. Then it was inside me, and the rest followed, link after link disappearing into the point of entry with a sound.
"AAAAAAAHH."
The pain was entirely different. There was no wound, yet every part of me screamed at once.
My legs stopped holding me. I hit the ground on my knees, then my arms gave out and my hands met the stone.
"No." The word came out between breaths that were not sufficient. "This is not possible."
My thoughts raced, searching for where it had gone wrong.
The seal had been mine, bound to my blood signature alone, it should not have been able to turn.
The logic of the binding said that the seal would pursue the essence signature of whoever the wielder directed it toward, and I had directed it toward Chen Wu, and Chen Wu was across the clearing looking at me with an expression that had shed its fear entirely?
Right then, I found my answer.
Behind Chen Wu, the golden screen had opened. The words across it were large and unmistakable.
_________________________________
QUEST COMPLETED
The evil is trapped.
_________________________________
A laugh broke the silence of the clearing.
I knew the voice before my eyes found the source. The merged spirit stood at the center of the clearing.
Its laughter filled the underground space completely.
"HAHAHAHA."
I forced my eyes toward it and the expression on its face was nothing like the expressions either half of it had worn separately. The blue's gentle amusement and the red's blunt directness were both gone.
The spirit reached me in two steps and closed its hand around my neck, lifting me into the air.
"When..." My voice came out in pieces,"When did you..."
The spirit tilted its head. "You ask when. Not why. Interesting." Another laugh slipped from it, the humor in it genuine rather than performed. "How about both."
Holding me at arm's length, it addressed the Bai group and the disciples.
"Did you think," it said, "that I, the Refining Demon, would become a slave to a human?....NEVER."
"But… made.. deal." My voice was barely carrying now, the pressure in my chest increasing with each breath.
"Keekh." The spirit controlled the laugh before it could fully escape. "Let me explain something to all of you. There was never a TRAIL. There is no INHERITANCE to give. I will never hand what I have built to a human. Only a true demon can hold what I have made, and I do not mean demonic humans." It looked down at me. "I mean the actual ones."
It paused, and something in its expression shifted from amusement to genuine consideration.
"However, I had grown impatient waiting. And then you arrived with your deal, it was interesting, I will give you that. But why would I choose a mortal vessel..." Its grip tightened slightly. "When someone already blessed with a CONSTITUTION is hanging right here in my hand."