Soulbound Destiny

Chapter 6: The Bronze Disc of Secrets

The ruined temple was as silent as a tomb, the air thick with dread.

Five coffins stood before them—four containing corpses that should have either lain safe in Yunyang City or rotted deep underground. Yet here they were, assembled in this cursed hall.

Haolan’s face drained of blood. His voice cracked as he turned to Gene.

“Gene! What in the heavens have we brought into the prince’s manor?!”

“I… I don’t know!” Gene stammered. His scalp prickled, his back drenched in cold sweat.

Lin Feng, though pale, forced calm into his tone.

“Arguing changes nothing. This place is wrong. We’re trapped. What matters is finding a way out.”

But Xiaowei’s sharp gaze fixed on the unopened coffin to the north. Her voice was clear despite her trembling.

“That coffin wasn’t here before. Whoever placed it here may not wish us harm. Perhaps this is a warning… that a traitor has already entered the manor.”

As if in response, the massive coffin shuddered again, faintly but undeniably, as though something within was stirring.

Gene’s fear gave way to a reckless surge of defiance. He snatched a burning brand from the fire and leveled it at the coffin.

“Whoever you are—come out! Or I’ll burn this place to the ground!”

The silence that followed was suffocating. Only the crackle of flames filled the air.

Then—

“Heh… heh…”

A low, mirthless chuckle drifted through the hall. It came not from the coffin, but from just behind Gene. He whirled, heart leaping into his throat—yet no one was there.

“Who’s there?!” His voice quivered despite his efforts to sound fierce.

“I moved them,” the voice said, deep and unfathomable, sliding now from the western shadows, now from the southern beams. “Only to deliver something… for you. It lies in that coffin. Take it.”

Gene’s grip tightened on the brand. “Who are you? Why give this to me?”

No answer.

“What is inside?” he demanded, but the voice had vanished like smoke.

The fire roared higher. The thatch roof caught, flames licking upward. Sparks fell like burning snow. The trembling coffin fell still, as if its task was done.

Gene’s heart thundered. Instinct told him the unseen speaker had no wish to kill him—else he would already be dead. With a deep breath, he hurled himself into the blaze, shoved the heavy lid aside—

And froze.

No corpse awaited him. Instead, nestled within was a small disc of ancient bronze, no larger than a man’s palm. It gleamed in the firelight with a dull, otherworldly glow.

Gene snatched it up and staggered out into the courtyard, coughing as the temple began to collapse in flames.

Under the fire’s glare he studied the object. The disc was strange, divided into three concentric rings, each carved with symbols he could barely comprehend—variations of yin and yang, the five elements, and distorted trigrams of the Eight Hexagrams. Both sides bore identical engravings. It was heavy for its size, and when shaken, something within clicked faintly, as if it hid a secret mechanism. Its surface was smooth as waterworn stone, the symbols worn down by time—an artifact of great antiquity.

“Tell me—what is this?” Gene shouted into the empty night.

No reply. Only the roar of the burning temple behind him.

Heat drove him back. He stowed the bronze disc in his pack, took hold of his trembling donkey, and fled down the road. This time, no invisible force turned him back. The path opened straight and clear.

Of Haolan and the others, there was no trace—they must have escaped earlier and ridden hard for Yunyang to raise the alarm. Gene lingered on the road, hesitating. His wounds still ached, and even if he returned at once, he could do little. Lord Dongyue’s cultivation was deep; those two mysterious sisters would not find it easy to harm him.

So he stayed, passing a miserable night in the grass, swatting at biting insects until dawn painted the sky.

At last, near midmorning, Haolan, Lin Feng, and Xiaowei galloped back, horses lathered with foam. None of them bore the heavy look of tragedy—clearly Yunyang still stood unharmed.

“Uncle, what news?” Gene rushed to meet them.

“They left,” Haolan said grimly. “Not long after we returned, they vanished without a word.” He frowned suddenly at the smoke still curling from the eastern ruins. “Wait… why is the temple burning?”

“Accident,” Gene muttered, dodging the question. He pressed quickly, “Did they show any signs of strangeness before leaving?”

“Not that I noticed,” Haolan admitted. “They didn’t act like assassins to me.”

Lin Feng’s eyes narrowed, sharp as drawn steel.

“On the road, we reasoned it through. Those women may not have been after Yunyang at all. Their true target could be the three Realmen of the Soul-Quelling Alliance. They might be agents of Heaven’s Bane—the dreaded Bloodbound.”

Gene shook his head slowly.

“No. If their prey was the three masters, why risk infiltrating the manor at all? They stayed too briefly to achieve anything. No…” He looked up, gaze grave. “I fear what they sought was not the masters themselves, but the choosing. The very selection of disciples.”

He let the weight of his words fall.

“Their eyes were on you three.”

At this, Haolan, Lin Feng, and Xiaowei turned pale as parchment.