The Conclave of Eternal Night was quiet. Everywhere was looking like a really old church, but made of black rock.
The carvings on the pillars glowed kind of spooky in the low light. Right in the middle, Liang Feng was kneeling.
You could still see the bruises and cuts from his last fight. The Mother was up on this Throne made of what looked like bones, watching him. She seemed both excited and like she was planning something mean.
Get up, kid, she said, her voice echoing all over the place. Finish them off.
She waved her hand, and Liang Feng got a big jolt of energy. All his injuries just vanished. He felt strong like he could run a marathon. He stood up straight, his muscles felt like steel, and he had this gold glow around him.
All better now, she said. Now go do what I told you to do.
Then they dragged in the prisoners from Di Yu. Xia Lian and Qing Yue were in the bunch. They looked at him, and you could see they were scared but still hoping he'd help.
Liang Feng's stomach dropped, but he didn't show it. I'm ready, he said.
He put his hands up, and the air got heavy. Colors started swirling around—red, blue, green—like different kinds of magic. The ground started shaking as all that power came together into one big ball of energy.
Kill them already!, the Mother said, her eyes shining like she was crazy.
Liang Feng paused, then threw the ball. It hit the prisoners, and there was this huge flash. When the light died down, all that was left were ashes.
The whole place went silent.
The Mother laughed, but it wasn't a nice laugh. Good job. That's how you deal with weaklings.
But Liang Feng just stood there, trying not to give anything away.
***
Earlier on, somewhere else, kind of like a dream world, Liang Feng was standing in a fog. Mei Xuan was tied up with chains that looked like they were made of souls. She kept fading in and out, like a ghost.
Liang Feng, she begged, what's going on?
You stabbed me in the back, he said, sounding cold.
I didn't have a choice! The Mother—
Quiet.
He held out his hand, and two glowing balls appeared—Xia Lian and Qing Yue's souls. He started chanting some old words, doing the Soul Exchange magic. The souls went into Mei Xuan's body.
She screamed as the souls mixed together, changing her.
***
Mei Xuan's body went still. Then she opened her eyes, and they were two different colors. One was warm, like Xia Lian, and the other was steady, like Qing Yue.
The Mother didn't notice anything. She just smiled. See? That's the kind of power you have.
Liang Feng just nodded, hiding how bad he felt.
The Conclave was buzzing with energy. Nobody knew that he had just pulled a fast one.
That night, instead of staying put in his room—which, by the way, was decked out with these weird obsidian mirrors and crystals that floated around—he snuck off to meet with the two spirits chilling inside Mei Xuan's body. They were super careful to hide their energy; they met up at this hidden shrine way down under the Temple of Fallen Stars. Apparently, the ghosts of old wars still hung out there, whispering stuff.
I still don't get it, Xia Lian said, her voice coming out of Mei Xuan as she leaned against this fancy jade pillar. Why would you let her heal you if you were just going to turn on her?
Liang Feng glared. Because she's the only one who knows how to heal me completely. And I needed to be at full power for what I was planning.
She thinks she owns you, Qing Yue chimed in, stepping forward. Her soul was so mixed up with Xia Lian's that they almost sounded like one person. But we know the real deal. So, what's your plan?
The artifact, he whispered. The one she used to become so powerful. She called it Jinglong's Eye. It's hidden in the Nine-Chambered Vault. If I can get my hands on it, I'll go way beyond her, beyond anything in this world. And I'll never have to bow down to anyone like her again.
***
Over the next few days, the three of them kept meeting up in secret spots:
* They found a safe place in this Cavern of Sleeping Bones, under these gross, steamy lakes where old dragon bodies were still rotting. Ugh, this place smells like blood, Xia Lian said. She'd never think to look here.
* They plotted their moves in the Mirror Forest, where every step showed a million reflections. They studied soil maps of the Vault. One slip-up and the mirror spirits will rat us out, Qing Yue warned.
* And finally, they put the finishing touches on their plan at the top of the Obsidian Spire of Moonlight, a tower that only appeared once a month.
Liang Feng scratched some symbols into the stone. We need people on our side. People who've been stepped on, who are desperate. People she stole from to get to where she is.
So, the three of them started recruiting. They got cultivators who had their energy drained by the Mother's Court. They got spirit beasts who used to be loyal to the old rulers of the Black City. They even got ghosts from Di Yu who were just hanging around, all broken and silent.
The rebellion was spreading, but quietly. People made promises in blood and ink. They wrote names on spell scrolls that burned up after they were read.
***
The Vault was hidden under the Temple of Rebirth—a secret place locked up with nine layers of magic runes. Guards—super powerful cultivators with glowing eyes and moonstone swords—patrolled outside.
Liang Feng put on the robes of a Shadow Priest, using a charm made from Phoenix Bone to sneak past the first line of defense. Mei Xuan (with Xia Lian and Qing Yue inside her head) guided him from the inside, chanting some old words that weakened the seals.
Each room in the Vault tested something different:
* First, the Memory room: illusions of people he'd lost tried to mess with his head. He made it through.
* Second, the Pain room: he had to walk across a lake of burning soulfire with bare feet. He survived.
* Third, the Truth room: he had to look at a mirror that showed him becoming the very kind of bad guy he hated. He smashed the mirror.
And then, in the last room, there it was. The Jinglong's Eye—a glowing, golden ball surrounded by snake-shaped runes—was floating on a pedestal of starlight.
As soon as his hand touched it, the whole Vault freaked out.
Magic alarms—loud, annoying sounds called the Sorrow Bells—went off all over the palace.
Blades of light shot out of the ceiling. The pillars started shaking. The artifact reacted to his touch and sort of melted into his hand, leaving a mark on his skin: the Mark of the Forbidden One.
He turned around. The guards were rushing in.
Mei Xuan, her voice (with two souls in it) steady in his ear, yelled, They're coming!