Strongest Incubus System

Yun Shuo’s registration card remained inside Damon’s coat for the rest of the meeting, but he did not allow Celina to send guards to arrest him. A man using documents from a city destroyed twelve years earlier could not have expected to remain unnoticed for long. That probably meant the false name, the declared origin, and even the discovery of the fraud were all part of the trail he had deliberately left behind.

"If he wanted to hide, he would have chosen a city that still exists," Damon said. "The document was made to be found."

Celina crossed her arms. "So we allow him to keep moving freely inside Mirath?"

"We keep watching him."

"He is registered in a tournament with thousands of people gathered around the arena."

"That is exactly why he cannot realize he has been identified. If he disappears now, the others who came with him will change their plan."

Jian Yue became serious. "We do not know whether there are others."

"You were followed by three people, and only one suspicious registration has appeared so far. Either the other two gave up at the border, or they learned how to present better documents."

Elizabeth agreed with Damon. The guards would receive a description of Yun Shuo, but no order to approach him. Celina would investigate his lodging, purchases, and requests since entering the city. Aria would examine the documentation without removing it from the arena archives. Jian Li would remain inside the mansion, away from the tournament, until Ester understood the circulation created by the root more clearly.

Jian Li did not accept the decision easily.

"If he came because of me, hiding only allows him to choose the moment."

"You are not hiding," Damon replied. "You are letting him believe you remain vulnerable."

"While I am trapped in an infirmary."

"You may call it a medically supervised room if that helps."

"It does not."

"Then keep calling it an infirmary."

Ester placed a hand on Jian Li’s shoulder.

"You will spend the next several hours without using Qi. I want to measure how much of your natural circulation returns when the root is no longer being stimulated."

"It never stops being stimulated."

Damon observed the white marks.

"Because something is calling to it from outside."

Jian Li looked at him. "Can you feel it?"

"Not clearly. The root inside you moves when the sword fragment approaches, but it also reacted when I read the valley’s name. That means the connection does not depend only on the metal."

Jian Yue placed the fragment back inside the cloth and closed the bundle.

"Heshan had a containment altar. Perhaps part of it is still active."

"Or someone removed another piece before you arrived," Damon said.

That possibility caused the members of the Open Door to exchange glances. Jian Li explained that the three bodies found beneath the lake had been intact, kneeling before the sphere of ice. None carried weapons, bags, or signs of combat. At the time, they believed the three had been guardians who died of old age, but the cold had preserved the bodies for too long to determine when they had truly died.

"They were feeding the sphere," Damon concluded. "Not protecting it."

Jian Yue frowned. "How do you know?"

"If they had been guarding it, they would have faced the entrance. They were kneeling before the root because they were part of the seal."

Aria wrote down the conclusion.

"So Jian Li did not find an abandoned inheritance. She interrupted some kind of ritual."

"To avoid being crushed to death," Jian Li replied.

"I am not blaming you."

"It sounded like it."

"I make it clear when I am blaming someone."

Ester ended the argument by ordering Jian Li to be taken to the infirmary. Mei followed, still sleepy, while Jian Yue and the others returned to the arena lodgings under discreet observation. The sword fragment remained stored inside a stone box within the mansion, surrounded by containment symbols and kept far from Damon.

He waited less than an hour before beginning his investigation of Yun Shuo.

Elizabeth found him in a side corridor wearing a plain coat without a crest, his hair partially covered by dark cloth. Aria walked behind him dressed as an arena assistant, carrying a folder of records.

"You intend to leave," Elizabeth said.

"I am going to the arena."

"Without guards."

"With Aria."

Aria raised the folder. "I am terrifying."

Elizabeth looked at her, then at Damon.

"Did Ester authorize this?"

"She is busy."

"That was not what I asked."

"I am not going to fight."

"That was not what I asked either."

Damon stopped in front of her.

"Yun Shuo entered Mirath expecting the registration card to be discovered. If guards begin following him, he will notice. I can identify the root’s reaction before he approaches Jian Li."

"And if Vorn’s mark reacts as well?"

"Aria calls Ester."

Aria pointed at him.

"He promised to stop if the lines move past his wrist."

Elizabeth did not appear satisfied, but she knew keeping Damon inside the mansion would only make him search for a worse exit. She handed him a small plate bearing the administration’s seal.

"This plate allows you to close sections of the arena without summoning the entire guard. If there is any reaction connected to the root, remove the civilians before confronting him."

Damon stored the seal.

"You are placing a lot of trust in me."

"I am trusting Aria."

"Fair."

The arena looked even larger up close. The circular structure used stone at the base and reinforced wood along the upper stands, with four main entrances and several corridors intended for fighters, merchants, and workers. Mirath’s banners hung over the gates, and hundreds of people were still completing preparations for the tournament’s opening.

Damon entered through the service entrance with Aria. No one paid much attention to them. Most of the workers knew Aria only as one of the Baroness’s employees, and few had seen Damon before his return. Covered hair and simple clothing were enough to avoid curiosity.

"Did Celina truly build all of this in only a few months?" he asked.

"She built the training field first. The merchants turned the project into an arena after realizing how much money they could make."

"Then Elizabeth can blame several people."

"She prefers concentrating it all on Celina."

Damon observed the stands, exits, and underground corridors used to store weapons.

"There are too many tunnels."

"You asked for a bed far from underground passages. Not an entire city."

"I should have been more specific."

Su Lan and one of the older men from the Open Door were training in the arena’s center. Tournament registration required a demonstration before final confirmation, and Celina had moved their evaluation forward specifically to attract anyone interested in Heshan’s techniques.

Su Lan used both curved blades without releasing much Qi. Her movements were fast, low, and built around constant changes in direction. The older man, named Bao Ren, fought with a short spear and created small plates of ice beneath his boots to alter his speed.

Damon noticed the flaw immediately.

"They do not use the cold to attack," he said.

Aria watched the fight.

"They use it to move."

"Because none of them can produce enough to sustain external techniques."

The Open Door lineage did not possess complete roots. It had inherited fragments of body methods, minor affinities, and circulation patterns developed by Xue Lian’s disciples. That explained why they had searched ruins for generations. They were trying to complete techniques that should never have been divided.

Damon felt the reaction before locating Yun Shuo.

The mark on his arm grew cold. It did not move upward, but the lines beneath the bandage shifted like small threads searching in the same direction. At the same time, the root inside his chest remained still.

"He is here," Damon said.

Aria did not turn her head.

"Where?"

"I do not know yet."

She opened the folder as though reviewing documents.

"The lines?"

"At the wrist."

Damon observed the people around the lower stands. Workers, evaluators, fighters, and minor merchants filled the area. None seemed particularly interested in Su Lan. That also made sense. Yun Shuo would not need to look directly if he possessed some connection to the root.

The reaction intensified when a man in brown clothing left a corridor near the storage areas. He had an ordinary appearance, short hair, no visible weapon, and carried a small bag of tools over one shoulder. Damon recognized the face from Celina’s description.

Yun Shuo did not look toward the arena.

He headed underground.

"He wants us to follow," Aria said.

"Yes."

"Are we going to follow?"

"Yes."

"That seems like a bad decision."

"Probably."

Aria released a tired breath but followed Damon to the corridor entrance. Before descending, she discreetly placed a small ink mark on the wall, signaling Elizabeth’s men that they had changed sectors.

The corridor beneath the arena was new, but part of the structure had been built over older storage rooms. The walls changed from clean stone to darkened brick after the first turn. Yun Shuo walked ahead without trying to conceal his steps.

Damon kept his distance.

"He knows we are here," Aria murmured.

"Since the arena."

"Then why are we still pretending?"

"Because I want to know how far he intends to lead us."

The man entered an empty room used to store wooden stands. When Damon and Aria crossed the doorway, Yun Shuo had already placed the tool bag on the floor.

"I expected Jian Li to come," he said.

Damon remained near the exit.

"She is busy not dying."

Yun Shuo turned. He appeared to be slightly over thirty, but gray patches marked his temples. His eyes moved down to Damon’s bandaged arm.

"So they found the host."

"Everyone keeps calling me that. It is becoming repetitive."

"You do not understand what you carry."

"That phrase too."

Aria remained near the wall, holding the folder as though she might use it to strike someone. Yun Shuo did not seem to consider her a threat.

"Jian Li stole something from Heshan Valley," he said. "The root does not belong to her."

"It does not belong to you either."

"It belongs to those who maintained the seal for four hundred years."

Damon remembered the three kneeling bodies.

"Maintained it or fed it?"

Yun Shuo’s expression changed.

"So Jian Yue told you about the altar."

"He told me enough."

"He did not tell you that the root kept the valley alive."

Damon remained silent.

Yun Shuo opened the bag and removed a small triangular structure made of white stone. A symbol had been carved at its center, similar to the open circle used by the Open Door, but turned downward.

Vorn’s mark reacted immediately.

Far away, inside the mansion, Jian Li’s root answered.

Damon felt the movement through the cold.

"Put that away," he ordered.

Yun Shuo pressed the center of the object.

The temperature in the room dropped. The stones in the walls cracked, and a line of ice advanced across the floor toward Damon. It was not an attack. It was a connection trying to pass through the Heavenly Body to find the nearest compatible structure.

Jian Li screamed somewhere far away.

Damon heard it through the root.

He opened his hand and interrupted the path before the energy could cross the corridor. The artificial cold contacted his external meridians, found Vorn’s mark, and tried to use the same route that had previously been opened.

The lines climbed past his wrist.

Aria stepped back.

"Damon."

"They are still below the elbow."

Yun Shuo watched closely.

"You truly received all three parts."

Damon closed the meridian in his arm.

"And you truly brought a key to me without understanding how it works."

He released a short pulse through the Heavenly Ice Body.

The line of ice returned across the floor.

Yun Shuo tried to remove his hand from the triangle, but the object froze around his fingers. The energy seeking Jian Li became trapped between the structure and Damon, unable to reach any host.

"Stop," Yun Shuo said. "If you break the seal, the root inside her will awaken completely."

"I am not going to break it."

Damon pulled only the connection.

The triangular stone vibrated. An image appeared on its surface: three people kneeling before the sphere, exactly as Jian Li had described. Then the bodies began to move. They were not willing guardians. Chains of ice pierced their backs and entered the root, draining energy from them for years.

Yun Shuo tried to close the symbol.

Damon froze his other arm.

"Were those your ancestors?"

"Criminals."

"Of course."

"They accepted the duty."

"The chains say otherwise."

Yun Shuo threw himself against a shelf, breaking the wood and freeing one hand. From inside his sleeve, he removed a white needle and tried to pierce his own chest.

Damon reached him first.

He caught the wrist, drove a knee into his stomach, and threw him to the floor. The needle fell. Yun Shuo tried to form a symbol with his free hand, but Aria struck his fingers with the folder.

The man looked at her in surprise.

"I warned you I was terrifying," Aria said.

Damon knelt on Yun Shuo’s arm and removed the triangle trapped around his hand. The structure was cold, but it did not react to Damon’s root in the same way as the sword fragment.

It did not belong to Xue Lian.

It was a copy built through sacrifice.

"Who sent you?" Damon asked.

Yun Shuo laughed with difficulty.

"You think I am the only one?"

"No."

"The tournament is already full."

Damon tightened his grip on the man’s arm.

"Full of whom?"

"Disciples, collectors, houses that lost roots, and people who spent centuries waiting for the Open Door to react."

Aria became serious.

"How many?"

"I do not know."

"Lie," Damon said.

"I know only five."

"Names."

Yun Shuo closed his eyes.

Damon placed the triangular stone against his chest.

"You said breaking the seal would awaken the root. I imagine you do not want to discover what it does when pointed at someone carrying the blood of the ancient conductors."

Fear appeared too quickly to hide.

"You do not know how to use it."

"You did not know I could send the connection back either."

Yun Shuo struggled to breathe.

"The names are marked inside the registration records. Search for people who chose bladed weapons and refused affinity examinations."

Damon looked toward Aria.

"How many?"

She opened the folder and checked quickly.

"Seventeen."

Yun Shuo smiled.

"Then you found more than we did."

Footsteps began sounding in the corridor. Elizabeth’s guards approached, accompanied by Ester, who had probably left Jian Li as soon as the reaction began.

Damon stood, keeping the triangle away from his own body. Ester entered the room, saw Yun Shuo on the floor, and immediately examined Damon’s arm.

"The lines moved past the elbow."

"Barely."

"You promised to stop."

"He activated it before I could."

"You also promised not to fight."

"Aria fought more than I did."

Aria raised the dented folder.

"True."

Ester pressed the containment points, forcing the lines to recede.

"Jian Li suffered a crisis. The root tried to complete the circulation toward her heart, but it stabilized when the connection was cut."

Damon looked toward the triangle.

"This can call the fragment."

Jian Yue appeared soon afterward, accompanied by Su Lan. When he saw Yun Shuo, he lost his calm.

"You."

Yun Shuo spat blood onto the floor.

"Your sister condemned Heshan."

"She survived the trap you left behind."

"The root kept the valley warm. When she stole it, the rivers froze, the crops died, and hundreds left."

Jian Yue became still. That part had not been included in the expedition records.

Damon understood the weight of the revelation, but he did not release Yun Shuo.

"So you came to recover the root."

"We came to return it."

"Even if that kills Jian Li."

"One life against a valley."

Damon had heard that logic before. Seraphine had used it to justify Arven, Valcair, and every person transformed into a tool.

"No," he replied.

Yun Shuo laughed.

"That is not your decision."

"You entered Elizabeth’s city, attacked a woman under my protection, and tried to use a mark through my body."

Damon handed the triangle to Ester.

"Now it is."

Outside, the sounds of preparation continued normally. Fighters trained, merchants assembled stalls, and residents bought tickets, unaware that at least seventeen entrants had refused affinity examinations and that some of them might be connected to ancient roots.

Damon looked at Jian Yue.

"Your group remains in the tournament."

"After this?"

"Especially after this. Yun Shuo came for Jian Li, but the others may have different objectives. Some want the sword. Others want the memory. Perhaps someone wants my body."

Aria stored the records.

"That sounded worse than you intended."

"Probably."

Ester finished closing the bandage and held Damon’s arm firmly.

"You are still staying out of the fights."

Damon watched Yun Shuo being shackled by the guards.

"I do not need to enter the tournament."

Jian Yue understood first.

"You are going to use the matches to force them to reveal their techniques."

"Yes. Celina keeps the seventeen entrants, reorganizes the brackets, and places each one against someone from the Open Door or Mirath’s guard."

"And when they reveal what they are?" Aria asked.

Damon looked toward the ceiling, listening to the distant impacts of weapons against the arena floor.

"We close the gates."

The Founding Tournament was supposed to celebrate Mirath’s growth.

Now it would be used to discover how many people had followed the opening of the doors to Damon.

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