Chapter 24 - The Blood Furnace
The tenth bell opened something beneath the sect.
Not a chamber.
A mouth.
Red qi poured upward.
The Blood Furnace had been a lock, not a weapon.
Veyr laughed.
"Finally."
The thing beneath the mountain spoke through him.
ASH ROOT LOCATED.
My system went black.
For the first time since awakening, I had no menus.
No warnings.
No predictions.
Just me.
Veyr attacked.
Without the system, he was impossibly fast.
His palm shattered three ribs.
I hit the ground.
Jace intercepted the next strike and flew across the plaza.
Mira's Void Lotus opened behind her like a silver-black flower.
The mountain trembled.
Fen appeared beside me.
"Your root is a lock fragment."
I coughed blood.
"Not mine?"
"Your mother put it inside you."
"Why?"
"Because Heaven was hunting it."
The red presence beneath us pushed harder.
Fen dragged me upright.
"The system was created to help the lock fragment survive until it found the gate."
"And now?"
"Now it found it."
The blue screen returned for one second.
[PRIMARY DIRECTIVE UPDATED]
[OPEN THE GATE.]
I stared.
May you like
Fen shouted, "Do not obey it!"
