MTLNOVEL Chapter 27: A Shadowed Night, 21 Years Ago
A Shadowed Night, 21 Years Ago
Inside the dimly lit hallway of the Xuemo Sect's east wing, two cloaked figures moved like slithering smoke between pillars of carved jade and incense-filled air.
One of them was Lin Chaoyuan.
And tonight .... his time had come.
Lin Chaoyuan (grinning devilishly, gazing in the direction of Wan Yi):
"I've waited nineteen long years for this moment. Nineteen years ago, those four old fools sealed away the Black Heaven… and its forbidden spells.
But I broke one of them ..... beat him until he spat out the secret.
The door… can be opened again."
His companion, cloaked and nervous, leaned forward.
Companion (whispers):
"What secret, my lord…? What's the key?"
Lin Chaoyuan turned, his grin wide as madness, and said only one thing:
"Come with me."
They descended into the sect's ancient library .... a forbidden place of forgotten knowledge and silenced screams. Dust floated in the air like the ashes of time itself. Lin Chaoyuan stepped to a sealed cabinet and tossed a blood-red scroll onto the table.
Unfurling it, he whispered with venomous delight:
Lin Chaoyuan:
"This is it ... the lost ritual. To unseal Black Heaven, one must sacrifice a soul…
A soul with no karma.
One that is pure."
His companion frowned.
Companion:
"But such souls don't exist… not in this world."
Lin Chaoyuan (smiling wickedly):
"They do.
A newborn child.
And I won't even need to search. That sacred ritual they perform on infants? I'll alter the chants before anyone even notices. The moment the baby is born… the ritual will do my bidding."
The man still hesitated.
Companion:
"But won't they notice something is wrong? The chants… the spell?"
Lin Chaoyuan:
"That's the beauty of it. Every ritual is conducted in a shifted tone .... to prevent the same blessing being cast upon multiple children.
No one recognizes the sound.
I'll mask the curse… inside the very blessing they chant."
He stepped back from the table, his shadow stretching unnaturally long under the flickering lantern.
Lin Chaoyuan (eyes burning):
"If Wan Yi had agreed to marry me… none of this would have happened.
But now, she .... and that child she dares to call a symbol of love .... will become a curse.
The whole sect will burn for her rejection."
He laughed.
Not a laugh of joy. Not of victory.
A madman's laugh .. the sound of a heart already burning in its own darkness.
---
At that very moment…
Inside the main palace, Wan Yi clutched her abdomen in sudden pain.
Servants rushed to her side, guiding her back to her chambers as the early signs of labor gripped her like a storm.
Outside, Queen Guzuie stood silently under the moonlight, feeling a deep tug in her own body . her time had come too.
But just before she could return to her own palace…
A maid rushed breathlessly to her side, whispering something into her ear something she had overheard near the ancient library. Guzuie's face turned pale with realization, her eyes wide.
But pain struck her too .... swift, violent.
She collapsed, unable to speak, and was carried in agony toward the same chamber as Wan Yi.
---
Moments later…
Two cries echoed through the sacred halls.
Two children.
Born under the same stars.
Destined to be light and shadow.
But Queen Guzuie… never opened her eyes again.
She had fallen unconscious the moment her son took his first breath.
And no one knew yet…
That one of these births had opened a door
Not to life…
But to Black Heaven.