Chapter 2132: The Choice That Echoes
The realm rippled with silence.
Not the silence of calm.
But the silence that comes before something ends.
Yun Che stood at the edge of the starlit platform, facing Caizhi—his breath slow, every part of him aware that this was no longer a rescue.
This was a reckoning.
> "I'm not leaving you," he said.
Caizhi's expression didn't change, but her energy trembled—just for a blink. A war within her soul.
Behind him, Jasmine's voice cut through the quiet like starlight cutting mist:
> "Yun Che—listen to her. This isn't about willpower. It's about what's inside her now."
Yun Che didn't move.
> "Then we burn it out."
He stepped forward.
Caizhi didn't retreat.
Instead, she opened her hand.
A wisp of black flame floated between her fingers, cold and ancient. Not darkness. Not evil. Just… finality.
> "This isn't something you fight," she whispered. "It's something you become. And I don't know if I'm still… me."
Then the void shifted.
Not a movement.
Not a tremor.
But a realization:
They were no longer alone.
Jasmine gasped. Her divine aura surged instinctively.
From the edge of reality, a door opened—though no door was seen.
Not in space.
Not in time.
But in understanding.
And from it stepped something older than memory.
A figure cloaked in living contradiction. Light and shadow spiraling like breath. Its body was blurred—too many limbs, not enough. Its face unreadable, but somehow familiar.
> "The First," Jasmine whispered. "The Throne of Recollection."
The being spoke, not with voice… but with reminder.
> "You are all echoes. You forget because you are made to. She… is remembering too much."
Yun Che raised Sky Poison. "Then you'll forget what it feels like to die."
It turned to him.
Not hostile.
Just curious.
> "You are the broken thread."
"The one who lives outside endings."
"We watched your birth. We remember your fall. We are here for her."
Caizhi's hair lifted, her aura warping, flaring—
> "They want to take me," she said. "They don't want me to fall. They want me to join."
Yun Che turned to her, voice steady.
> "Then give me your hand."
She stared.
> "Why?"
> "Because I'll carry the memory with you."
The throne-being moved.
Jasmine flared with light, stepping forward. "Don't."
Yun Che didn't hesitate.
He grabbed Caizhi's hand.
And in that instant, the Deep Void exploded.
But not from force—
From shared memory.
Scenes they'd never lived together. Moments they never should've known. A life they almost had. A life she was being offered… by something that didn't understand humanity at all.
When the light cleared, they were still standing.
Caizhi, breathing hard.
Yun Che, barely standing.
The Throne… watching.
And then it said:
> "This path is chosen."
> "Then let it be tested."
It stepped backward into unreality—and vanished.
Leaving behind only a whisper:
> "Next time, we send the one who unbinds names.