Strongest Incubus System

Damon remained still for several seconds after the sensation disappeared.

It was nothing like the map he had found in Arven. There was no sequence of images, coordinates, or some path drawn inside the memory. The call coming from Heshan was much simpler.

A direction.

A distance impossible to measure.

And the certainty that something on the other side knew he had finally understood what he needed to do.

Ester was the first to break the silence.

"No."

Damon blinked and looked at her. "I did not say anything."

"Your face did."

Aria raised her eyes from the records. "I agree."

"You have started interpreting my face now?"

"It is quite predictable," Elizabeth replied.

Damon took a deep breath and looked back at the sword fragment. "The Tomb opened a route."

"You finished a procedure less than five minutes ago," Ester said. "Your mark reached your neck today, you used the Heavenly Ice Body until you nearly lost circulation in your arm, and you spent eight seconds connected to a territorial root that crosses half the continent."

"It was seven."

"I am going to stick a needle through your tongue."

Damon decided not to insist.

Jian Yue was still holding his sister’s hand. Jian Li looked exhausted, but her face was different. The constant tension between her brows had disappeared, and her fingers no longer trembled when she tried to move them.

She looked at Damon.

"Did you feel Heshan?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Damon thought about the best way to explain it. "Like a door was very far away, but someone opened a window beside it."

"That is a terrible explanation," Aria said.

"That is what I felt."

Mei swung her legs. "He said it is close."

Damon turned toward her. "Who?"

"The irritated man."

"The guardian."

"Yes."

"He considers Heshan close?"

Mei tilted her head, listening. "Not physically."

"Then how?"

She remained silent for a few seconds. "Close because you are finally looking in the right place."

Damon did not like the answer.

Usually, phrases like that meant some ancient concept that would take weeks to understand and end with him entering another ruin.

Mu Qing released a quiet laugh.

"You still believe Heshan is only a valley."

Everyone looked at her.

Damon approached. "Then explain."

"No."

He pulled over a chair and sat in front of her.

Mu Qing raised an eyebrow. "Do you intend to stare at me until I speak?"

"I have time."

Ester made a disapproving sound.

Damon corrected himself. "Some time."

The former disciple looked at the sword fragment, then at Jian Li. The root had completely disappeared from the woman’s body, but several white scars would remain as proof of what had happened.

"Xue Lian did not choose Heshan because of the cold," Mu Qing finally said. "She chose it because the valley lies over a convergence."

Jian Yue frowned. "A convergence of roots?"

"No. Of paths."

Damon remained silent.

Mu Qing continued. "There are regions where physical space and spiritual structures overlap. Most are unstable and disappear after a few decades. Heshan remained for centuries because Xue Lian planted a root beneath the valley to anchor the convergence."

Aria began writing again. "So the root did not only maintain the climate."

"It maintained the position."

Damon understood.

"When Jian Li removed the root, Heshan did not only begin to freeze. It began to move out of place."

Yun Shuo quickly raised his head. "That is impossible."

"You were born inside the valley and never noticed that certain roads changed length?"

He became still.

Mu Qing smiled without humor. "Or that some mountains seemed closer during winter? That travelers entered from the east and swore they arrived from the north?"

Yun Shuo did not answer.

Damon looked at Jian Yue. "Did you know?"

"We knew Heshan’s maps were unreliable. We thought it was spiritual interference."

"It was," Mu Qing replied. "Just not the kind you imagined."

Elizabeth crossed her arms. "And the Tomb?"

Mu Qing hesitated.

Damon noticed.

"You know where it is."

"If I knew, I would have entered."

"That is not what I asked. I asked whether you know where it is."

She stared at Damon for several seconds. "The Tomb does not have a fixed position."

Silence spread through the infirmary.

Aria stopped writing.

Damon slowly exhaled. "Of course it does not."

Ester looked at him. "Why are you saying that like it was expected?"

"Because the normal answers ended a long time ago."

Mu Qing continued. "The fortress follows the lines of cold beneath the world. Heshan was one of the points where it could be reached while Xue Lian still walked freely. After she entered and the guardian closed the passage, the point stopped responding."

"Until today," Damon said.

"Until you returned the root."

The fourth door.

It was not a door inside the Tomb.

It was a condition required to make the path itself exist.

Damon rested his elbows on his knees. "How long will the convergence remain open?"

Mu Qing did not answer immediately.

That was enough to irritate Ester.

"If you say ’I do not know,’ I will believe you. If you are hiding it, I will find out when I examine what remains of your circulation."

The former disciple looked at her. "Days."

"How many?"

"Perhaps seven. Perhaps ten. It depends on how much of the root managed to reintegrate with the core."

Damon stood.

Ester pointed at him. "Sit."

"We have a window."

"We have a window of several days. You have a body that needs a few hours without trying to die."

"I am not trying."

"That is the problem. It happens naturally."

Jian Li laughed.

It was a weak laugh, but everyone looked at her.

She seemed surprised by herself.

"Sorry."

Damon pointed. "She thought it was funny."

"That does not help your defense," Ester replied.

Elizabeth approached the table and began reorganizing the priorities with her usual speed. "If we have between seven and ten days, no one leaves today. Tomorrow we begin preparations. Celina keeps Mirath closed until we identify the two missing suspects. The prisoners remain separated."

"I need to go," Yun Shuo said.

Elizabeth looked at him.

"Heshan is my home."

"You also tried to kidnap Jian Li."

"To return the root."

"And nearly killed Damon."

Yun Shuo looked at him. "That was a consequence."

"That did not improve your situation," Damon replied.

Jian Yue leaned against the bed. "We need him to recognize the valley’s paths."

"We also need to decide whether we trust him," Elizabeth said.

"I do not trust him," Damon replied.

Yun Shuo frowned.

"But I am taking him."

Ester closed her eyes.

Elizabeth remained silent for several seconds. "Reason?"

"He knows Heshan, activated the triangle, and felt the core. If he tries any shit during the trip, Jian Yue can beat him."

Jian Yue nodded immediately.

"I can."

Yun Shuo looked at both of them. "That is the plan?"

"Part of it."

"What is the other part?"

Damon pointed toward Mu Qing. "She is coming too."

The reaction was worse.

Jian Yue stood so quickly the chair fell over.

"No."

Mu Qing looked equally surprised.

Damon crossed his arms. "She knew Xue Lian, understands how the convergence works, knows the altar, and is probably the only living person who was in Heshan before the Door closed."

"She killed people from my family."

"I know."

"She used Jian Li for four years."

"I know."

"And you want to take her to the valley?"

"I want to take her to the valley in chains."

Mu Qing laughed. "And you expect me to cooperate?"

"No."

Damon approached her.

"I expect you to watch everything you built over four hundred years being undone without your permission."

Her smile disappeared.

"If Heshan really can survive without sacrifices, you will be there when it happens."

Mu Qing held his gaze.

Damon continued. "And if you try to sabotage anything, I send you back to Mirath inside a box."

Aria raised her hand. "A normal box?"

"Depends."

"I am asking because we have started having far too many strange boxes."

Elizabeth rubbed her forehead.

Ester walked over to Jian Li and checked her pulse again. "She is not going."

Jian Li opened her eyes. "I am going."

"No."

"It is my root."

"Was."

"Heshan suffered for four years because of something that happened to me."

"You were used."

"Even so."

Damon looked at Ester before the argument could escalate. "She does not need to go to the convergence."

Jian Li turned her face. "Damon."

"You nearly died today. If the goal is to prove nobody needs to be sacrificed, beginning by taking you back to the place that tried to consume your body would be contradictory."

She fell silent.

"Jian Yue can take records. Yun Shuo knows the valley. You stay here until you can walk without Ester threatening to kill someone."

"She threatens everyone."

"Exactly."

Ester did not deny it.

Mei raised her hand.

No one noticed immediately.

She kept her arm raised until Aria pointed.

"Mei wants to speak."

Damon looked at the girl. "What is it?"

"I have to go."

Jian Yue immediately replied, "No."

Mei pointed toward the fragment.

"He said I have to."

"You are ten."

"Eleven."

"Still no."

"You brought me to Mirath."

"Because we needed to find Damon."

"And now he needs to find the door."

Jian Yue had no answer.

Damon looked toward the guardian’s fragment. "Is she necessary?"

Mei closed her eyes.

The metal vibrated.

"He said you can get there without me."

Jian Yue exhaled.

Mei continued.

"But maybe you will not come back."

The relief disappeared.

Damon ran a hand over his face. "I love when he adds the second part afterward."

Aria wrote something down. "I would hide the second part too."

"You are learning bad things."

"From you."

Elizabeth approached Mei. "What would she do?"

"Listen to the path."

Mu Qing watched the girl with a different kind of interest. "White Ear."

Jian Yue immediately stepped in front of her.

"Do not look at her."

Mu Qing ignored him. "Xue Lian had only two in her entire life."

"She is no one’s tool," Damon replied.

Mu Qing looked at him.

The statement had not been casual.

She understood.

So did Damon.

It was exactly the kind of choice the doors were testing.

He could take Mei because it would make the journey safer.

He could use her ability to guarantee the return.

But that would also mean placing a child inside the same logic he had condemned in Seraphine and Mu Qing.

"Mei is not going," he decided.

The girl frowned. "But—"

"No."

"What if you get lost?"

"I will find myself."

"The guardian said you do not know how."

"He is irritating."

"He agreed."

Damon looked at the fragment. "Tell him to shut up."

Mei smiled.

Jian Yue visibly relaxed.

Elizabeth nodded. "Then we have Damon, Ester, Jian Yue, Yun Shuo, and Mu Qing."

Aria raised her hand.

Damon looked at her. "No."

"I did not even say anything."

"You were going to."

"I am going."

"Why?"

"Because someone needs to record what happens."

"We can write it down when we return."

"You forgot fourteen letters from Mirath."

"That is unrelated."

"It is to me."

Elizabeth seemed to agree. "Aria goes."

Damon turned toward her. "You just put a writer inside a spatial convergence."

"I put someone there who can record symbols, maps, and route changes. Besides, she is one of the few people you listen to before doing something stupid."

Ester released a short laugh.

"One of the few?"

"Very few."

Damon realized he had lost.

"Fine."

Celina entered the infirmary at that moment carrying three new documents.

"We found one of the missing suspects."

Elizabeth turned. "Where?"

"Dead."

The atmosphere changed.

"How?" Damon asked.

Celina handed over the first report.

"Frozen inside a rented room in the northern district. No signs of struggle. The door was locked from the inside."

Damon took the paper.

"And the other?"

"Still missing."

"Who killed him?"

Celina handed over the second document.

"This was drawn on the wall."

Aria moved closer.

It was a simple symbol.

A mountain.

Three white lines.

And an open circle at the top.

The symbol of the Open Door.

Jian Yue went pale. "That was not us."

"I know," Damon replied.

The memory did not react.

Neither did the root.

That meant someone had copied the symbol.

"There is more," Celina said.

She handed over the third document.

A single sentence had been written below the drawing.

Damon read it.

The first snow returns home.

Mu Qing slowly raised her face.

For the first time since being captured, she looked genuinely afraid.

"Who uses that phrase?" Damon asked.

She did not answer.

He brought the paper closer.

"Mu Qing."

The former disciple stared at the words.

"It is not a phrase."

"Then what is it?"

She swallowed.

"A warning."

Jian Yue tightened his grip on the sword hilt. "From whom?"

Mu Qing raised her eyes toward Damon.

"From the disciples who remained outside when Xue Lian closed the Tomb."

Damon became still.

"How many?"

"Back then?"

"Yes."

"Twelve."

"And now?"

Mu Qing slowly shook her head.

"If they still use that warning, I do not know."

Damon looked again at the symbol drawn on the page.

Heshan was not merely an entrance.

It was a gathering point.

The root had returned.

The convergence had awakened.

And anyone who still carried the traditions left by the ancient disciples could have felt the exact same call Damon had.

He folded the report.

"Then we do not have seven days."

Elizabeth understood.

"We have a race."

Damon looked at the transparent sword, the guardian’s fragment, and the distant direction still pulsing inside the memory.

"No."

He put on his coat.

Ester immediately opened her mouth.

Damon raised one hand.

"I am not leaving today."

She slowly closed it.

"I am saying we are not going to race."

Mu Qing frowned. "If they arrive first, they can close the convergence."

"Then we open it again."

"You do not understand what may exist there."

Damon looked at her.

"That is exactly why I am not arriving exhausted, injured, and desperate just because someone wants to force me to hurry."

The guardian’s fragment vibrated.

Mei tilted her head.

Damon pointed toward her before she could speak.

"If he agreed, I do not want to know."

Mei smiled.

"He agreed."

Damon released a sigh.

The fourth door was open.

Heshan waited.

Others were heading there too.

But for the first time since receiving Xue Lian’s inheritance, Damon did not feel as though he were following a path built by someone else.

He would choose when to leave.

He would choose whom to take.

And when he reached Heshan Valley, he would discover who was waiting before the true entrance to the Tomb of the First Snow.

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