EVIL RISING AGAIN!-Chapter 9: Web of Control

Chapter 9: Web of Control

Tian Mo sat in silence at the edge of the rooftop, watching the city lights shimmer beneath him like countless souls trapped in glass prisons. The night air was cool, but it did little to calm the molten hunger within his chest.

Anna had been useful.

More than useful.

Not only had she served as a conduit for his corrupted Qi, but her emotional attachment to him now bordered on obsession. She messaged him constantly, sent photos without prompt, and even asked to transfer schools just to be closer.

Tian Mo encouraged it all.

Obsession was a leash disguised as love.

He reviewed the messages on his phone, most of them harmless. But one, hidden behind encrypted lines and a digital dead-drop, caught his attention.

"The Circle knows. They're sending a Whisper. Be ready."

The Hidden Circle. A secret faction buried within the world's elite—ancient bloodlines, mystics, and occultists who had survived the collapse of the spiritual age. They operated in shadows, manipulating governments, acquiring artifacts, and silencing anomalies.

Like him.

Tian Mo smirked. "Let them send whoever they like. I'll peel the skin from their minds."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a black ring etched with faint runes—the Soul Lock Ring. It had awakened during his last cultivation session. With it, he could trap souls, drain essence, or bind someone to his will.

Anna would be the first.

---

The next day, Anna waited for him outside school. Her smile was radiant, but her eyes carried the weight of something deeper—something desperate.

"I missed you," she said.

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He kissed her softly. "Come with me."

They skipped class. He took her to a secluded park where the trees whispered ancient secrets only Tian Mo could understand. They sat by the lake, her head on his shoulder, his hand tracing idle patterns on her thigh.

"Do you trust me, Anna?" he asked.

She nodded. "With everything."

"Would you give me everything, if I asked?"

"Yes. Anything."

His hand glowed faintly with corrupted Qi as he pressed the Soul Lock Ring against her navel.

She gasped, back arching, eyes rolling back.

A thread of her soul wove itself into the ring.

She collapsed in his arms, smiling.

"Now you'll never leave me," he whispered.

---

Back at his sanctum, Tian Mo stood in the center of a new rune circle. Anna slept on his bed, her breathing slow and even.

He placed the Soul Lock Ring on the altar and began a chant in the tongue of the Void.

Flames ignited. Symbols shimmered.

His Qi surged.

And in that moment, far across the continent, a Whisper of the Hidden Circle opened its eyes—

—dark, ancient, and hungry.

"Found you."

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