The sky over the Peach Blossom Sect shimmered gold.
But the blossoms did not bloom.
The trees, usually bursting in riotous pink, had fallen silent — every petal sealed shut. The koi pond had stilled. The wind had stopped.
Because Lian Qiao was no longer within its boundaries.
And the land itself… was holding its breath.
In Transit — Mo Yujin
The wind tore past him as he moved.
Not flying. Not teleporting.
Just moving — a blur of war-born energy, every pulse of his divine power pointed to one thing:
Her.
She's not fading,she's not dying,she's splitting.
He didn't understand it. Not completely.
But he knew the signs.
He had seen it once before — when Lian Hua had first sealed the Fifth Flame.
Back then, she had smiled at him through bloodied lips and whispered:
"If I love you again… stop me."
He had thought it was metaphor.
He had been wrong.
Mirror Moon Lake — Now
Qiao sat on the stone steps, hugging her knees to her chest.
Her eyes glowed faintly — flickers of red and gold sparking behind her irises like embers refusing to die.
The Flamebinder lay beside her, untouched.
It had gone silent.
And that terrified her more than anything.
"I can feel it," she whispered aloud. "It's not just a memory. It's alive."
She looked at her hands.
One glowed with warm flame.
The other… with something darker. Hungrier. A fire that didn't warm, but claimed.
A fire that loved only what it could possess.
Then—
The wind shifted.
Not violently. Not suddenly.
But with purpose.
She looked up.
And there he was.
Mo Yujin.
Still as stone.Face unreadable.But his eyes—his eyes were a storm.
He stepped toward her slowly, each movement weighted.
"You were supposed to tell me."
She didn't move.
"You were supposed to let me help you."
Her voice was hoarse. "I didn't want to make you choose."
He stopped a few steps away. "Choose between what?"
She looked up at him then — and for a breath, he saw it:
Her.And not her.Lian Qiao. And something deeper.
"Between saving me," she said, "and killing me again."
The silence between them cracked like thin glass.
And the wind — that traitorous witness — carried her words across the sky.
He dropped to his knees before her, not out of weakness, but to meet her eyes.
And quietly, fiercely, he said:
"Then listen to me now.If you lose control, I will not seal you.If you burn, I will not run.If you fall—"
His hand rose to her cheek.
His forehead touched hers.
"I will fall with you."
She broke then.
Not into tears.Into flame.
A burst of gold and crimson exploded from her chest — but he held her still, the storm within him anchoring the fire outside her.
And she clutched him as the two flames—one pure, one devouring—began to twist inside her.
And far, far below them, in a forgotten well beneath the Mirror Moon Lake,the seal cracked.
Not fully.But enough for something to smile in the dark.