EVIL RISING AGAIN!-Chapter 16: Vault of Echoes

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Chapter 16: Vault of Echoes

Moonlight drowned the upper terraces of The Circle's stronghold in pale silver. Hidden deep within the mountainous shadows of the Eastern Reaches, the stronghold resembled a fortress carved from the bones of forgotten titans—ancient, silent, and warded by runes older than any known language.

Yin Hua moved through its labyrinthine halls like a shadow in silk.

Her return had been met with silent reverence, old comrades bowing at her presence. None questioned her report—the death of the target, the destruction of the cursed site, the instability of the spiritual field. Her lie had been precise, forged by Tian Mo's will and sealed with the weight of her own past.

But beneath her flawless surface, the Thousand Veils Curse whispered.

Invisible thoughts, triggers, urges, and compulsions laced her every step. Her heartbeat followed a rhythm she no longer owned. Her mission wasn't survival—it was penetration, deception, and theft.

The Grand Retainer summoned her at dusk.

He was ancient, cloaked in white robes embroidered with black stars, his face hidden beneath layers of silk and enchantments. Only his eyes were visible—hollow, all-seeing.

"You survived the ruins," he said. "Few do."

"I did more than survive. I completed the mission," Yin Hua replied, kneeling. Her voice was steady, though her pulse raced beneath the surface.

He nodded slowly. "Your blade remains sharp. As expected."

Then came the moment she had anticipated.

"Vault 9B must be inspected. The celestial fluctuations have grown erratic again. You're to confirm containment and structural integrity. Take your bindings," he said, handing her a black ring carved from voidstone and a scroll sealed with the mark of the Ninefold Eclipse.

It was an ancient pass, one only given to trusted operatives. Yin Hua bowed deeply and rose.

Tian Mo's voice echoed in her mind: "There's a mirror shard hidden beyond the third seal. Your mark will resonate with it. It will know you... because I own you."

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The Descent

Vault 9B was hidden beneath five layers of shifting stone, time-locked with alchemical and formation runes designed to drive intruders mad. Yin Hua moved through each level with unerring grace. The scroll guided her. The voidstone ring shielded her soul.

As she stepped into the final chamber, her breath caught.

The Vault wasn't empty.

Cracked pillars jutted out from a spiraling pit, like the ribs of a giant serpent. Hovering above the abyss was a mirror fragment no larger than her palm, suspended in layers of frozen time. Around it danced motes of primal energy—chaos, starlight, and something older.

She stepped closer. Her spiritual core pulsed.

The fragment responded, a ripple of black-silver light flashing from its surface and illuminating her brand—the curse mark Tian Mo had planted within her mind.

A whisper slithered through the chamber. Her knees buckled as ancient voices echoed from the mirror, fragments of lost gods, broken memories of an age where mortality was fluid and time was not yet chained.

But she didn't collapse. She endured.

She belonged to him.

Yin Hua reached into her robes and retrieved the obsidian pill. With trembling fingers, she placed it at the base of the pedestal.

The runes on the floor shifted.

Disruption successful. The mirror fragment trembled... then detached.

Yin Hua caught it in her palm, and for a moment, the world ceased to exist.

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Tian Mo's Study — Simultaneously

Tian Mo stood shirtless, runes of dark crimson dancing across his chest as he channeled his Qi into a newly drawn formation circle.

Anna lay sprawled across the silken lounge, lazily tracing the line of a dagger across her thigh, watching him. "She's close," she murmured.

He didn't respond. His eyes were shut. His spiritual link to Yin Hua was active.

He could feel the shard drawing near. It pulsed with old power—unclaimed chaos energy, once part of a mirror that reflected the true nature of things. A weapon. A secret. A key.

And now... it was almost his.

His lips curled into a smile.

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Yin Hua stood motionless, the shard of the Primordial World Mirror resting in her palm.

It was alive.

Even in its fractured state, the mirror shard radiated sentience—a whispering, judging awareness that coiled around her thoughts like spectral vines. Her vision blurred. She saw flickers of herself not as she was, but as she could have been. As she should have been.

Free.

Untouched by domination.

Powerful... sovereign.

But the Thousand Veils Curse pulsed violently, anchoring her in place. Tian Mo's will surged through her—an invisible leash wrapped around her soul, jerking her back from rebellion.

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You are mine.

The hallucinations shattered like glass.

Yin Hua exhaled sharply, sweat trailing down her spine. She tucked the mirror shard into a dimensional pouch hidden within her robes. Time was thinning—the disruption talisman would collapse the vault's formations within minutes.

Already, the runes beneath her feet began to flicker. Warning glyphs flared along the outer pillars. The air grew tense—like a breath held too long.

She turned—and saw movement.

A figure emerged from the shadows of the antechamber. Tall. Armored in black jade. Eyes glowing with suspicion and killing intent.

"Harbinger Yin," the man said coldly. "You were not authorized to extract anything."

Shit.

He was one of the Retainer's elite watchers—Vault Sentinels, psychically bound to the sanctity of these relics.

Yin Hua didn't hesitate.

Her body exploded into motion, a blur of silver and black. Her Qi flared violently as she activated a hidden blade from her sleeve, the tip glowing with cursed poison—a gift from Tian Mo himself.

The Sentinel moved to parry, but he was too late.

The blade sank deep into his neck. His eyes widened. A silent scream escaped his lips—then the poison consumed him, turning flesh to dust in a matter of seconds.

Yin Hua didn't stay to admire her work. She ran.

Behind her, the Vault groaned—shifting, collapsing, sealing itself as the disruption talisman completed its purpose. Stone cracked. Light exploded. Alarms began to blare across the stronghold.

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The Surface

She burst out of the mountain gate just as the final seal slammed shut behind her. Runes crackled violently along the cliff walls. The sky above had darkened with spiritual warning clouds—a sign that something sacred had been violated.

A hunter might be sent after her.

But she was already gone.

A shadow clone remained behind to mask her escape, its aura mimicking her own. A decoy prepared by Tian Mo in advance—because of course he had foreseen this.

As Yin Hua vanished into the trees, the mirror shard pulsed faintly in her pouch.

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Tian Mo's Study

He opened his eyes.

"She has it," he said.

Anna sat up, eyes gleaming. "Did she kill anyone?"

"One." His smile widened. "Good."

He stepped forward, and with a flick of his fingers, activated a long-range summoning formation. Black lightning licked the edges of the circle as space began to distort.

"She'll be here before dawn."

Anna stood and approached him, pressing her body against his. "And then what?"

He glanced down at her, his voice like silk wrapped around steel.

"Then... we feed the mirror."

Anna shivered in anticipation.

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The Circle — Inner Sanctum

The Grand Retainer stared into the smoking ruins of Vault 9B, expression unreadable.

Beside him knelt three surviving Sentinels, trembling under his gaze.

"She stole it," he whispered. "That shard... she stole it."

His fingers curled into a claw. His voice dropped into a hiss.

"Harbinger Yin... you will burn for this betrayal."

The Circle stirred.

And far beyond their reach, the game had already shifted.

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