Chapter Nine — The Forbidden Pulse

  The feeling did not fade.

  Even after Shen Yu returned to Observation Residence, the pull remained — faint but persistent, like a distant heartbeat echoing through stone.

  Something beneath the sect was calling him.

  He sat on the meditation mat, trying to circulate qi, but his focus shattered repeatedly. Each time his mind calmed, the hunger stirred again, turning instinctively toward the same direction.

  Downward.

  Deep below the mountain.

  Inside his chest, the unseen presence pulsed slowly.

  Expectantly.

  ---

  Far beneath the main halls of the Black River Sect lay the Forbidden Vault.

  Few disciples knew it existed. Even fewer had seen it.

  Ancient formation pillars surrounded a sealed chamber carved directly into black bedrock. Countless talismans layered over one another, glowing faintly as they suppressed what lay within.

  Elder Han stood before the entrance alongside Elder Mei.

  “You felt it as well?” she asked quietly.

  Elder Han nodded.

  “The sealed Gu reacted during testing. Its aura fluctuated.”

  Elder Mei frowned. “It has been dormant for eighty years.”

  Neither spoke the creature’s name aloud.

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  Some Gu were too dangerous even for discussion.

  “And now,” Elder Han said slowly, “it awakens the moment that boy arrives.”

  Silence followed.

  Both elders understood what that implied.

  ---

  Above, Shen Yu suddenly opened his eyes.

  A wave of dizziness struck him.

  The courtyard blurred as foreign sensations flooded his mind — darkness, confinement, endless hunger restrained by chains.

  Not his own hunger.

  Another’s.

  He gasped.

  For a fleeting moment, he saw through unfamiliar senses: stone walls covered in glowing seals, iron chains embedded into flesh, and a massive shadow coiled upon itself.

  Then the vision vanished.

  Shen Yu collapsed forward, breathing hard.

  “…It’s alive,” he whispered.

  Whatever lay below was not merely a Gu.

  It was suffering.

  And it had noticed him.

  ---

  That night, sleep refused to come.

  Moonlight filtered through the formation barrier while the sect grew quiet. Shen Yu paced slowly across the courtyard, the pull growing stronger with every passing hour.

  Finally, he stopped resisting.

  “I just need to see,” he murmured.

  The moment the thought formed, the hunger responded eagerly.

  A faint ripple spread from his body.

  The formation barrier flickered.

  Not broken.

  Ignored.

  Shen Yu stepped forward — and passed through as though it were mist.

  He froze.

  Even he had not expected that.

  The presence inside him pulsed with satisfaction.

  Hidden from Heaven.

  Hidden from formations.

  He walked into the night.

  ---

  The sect’s lower corridors were nearly empty. Torches burned low as Shen Yu followed instinct rather than memory, descending stairways he had never seen before.

  Each step made the pull stronger.

  Occasionally, sealed cages lining the walls rattled softly as contained Gu sensed him passing. Some whimpered. Others slammed themselves against barriers in desperate submission.

  No alarms sounded.

  No formations reacted.

  It was as if the sect itself could not perceive him.

  At last, he reached a massive stone gate covered in talismans.

  The Forbidden Vault.

  The moment he approached, every seal flared brightly.

  Inside, something moved.

  A deep, resonant pulse echoed through the mountain.

  Boom.

  Shen Yu staggered as the hunger surged wildly — stronger than ever before.

  Not simple desire.

  Recognition.

  The seals trembled.

  Cracks of light spread across them.

  From behind the gate came a low, ancient sound.

  Not quite a roar.

  Not quite a cry.

  A call.

  Shen Yu pressed his hand against the cold stone.

  Instantly, visions flooded him.

  A colossal worm bound in chains of golden light. Its body stretched across the chamber like a coiled river, scales etched with ancient runes. Parts of it had withered from starvation, yet its aura remained terrifyingly vast.

  A High-Rank Gu.

  Far beyond anything he had encountered.

  The creature’s consciousness brushed his.

  Pain.

  Loneliness.

  Hunger beyond centuries.

  And beneath it all—

  Hope.

  The unseen Gu inside Shen Yu reacted violently, surging toward the gate as if answering an old companion.

  The seals shattered.

  Alarms exploded across the sect.

  Shen Yu stumbled backward, horrified.

  “I didn’t—”

  The stone gate cracked open slightly.

  From the darkness within, a single enormous eye opened.

  It stared directly at him.

  And for the first time since awakening, Shen Yu felt fear.

  Because the hunger inside him was no longer patient.

  It wanted to devour something ancient.

  Something powerful.

  Something that might devour him back.

  High above, elders shot into the sky as warning formations ignited across the mountain.

  The Forbidden Vault…

  …had been opened.