Re-birth: The Beginning after the End - Chapter 93

Chapter 93: YOUR SOUL IS DIFFERENT

“If you’re trying to provoke me into revealing something, you’re wasting your time,” Li Hua retorted, though she couldn’t quite suppress a shiver at how accurately he’d read her nature.

“Am I?” His smile widened slightly. “Then why does your pulse race when I mention killing? Why do your eyes sharpen at the prospect of violence?” He leaned even closer, his voice barely a whisper now. “Why does your spiritual essence carry echoes of deaths you haven’t dealt in this lifetime?”

Li Hua remained still, her instincts warring with the urge to maintain her facade. “You see too much,” she finally said, her voice equally soft but carrying an edge of warning.

“And you hide too well,” he countered. “But not well enough, little tempest. Not from eyes as critical as mine.” He dipped his head closer, inhaling deeply near her neck. “Your soul… it carries the scent of freshly fallen snow and wildfire. Such a fascinating contradiction.” His nose traced the line of her throat, making her breath catch. “Pure and deadly, just like you.”

Li Hua swallowed hard as the day she died in her past life flashed before her eyes—the explosions, the betrayal, her sister’s hate-filled gaze. Each memory cut through her mind like a blade.

“Most souls in our realm—are like flames dancing in a candle light. Predictable, contained, casting familiar shadows on familiar walls. But yours?” He inhaled again, his breath warm against her skin. “Yours is like watching a storm tear through a forest fire—chaos and beauty wrapped in devastating power. It ripples with contradictions: ice and flame, death and rebirth, all tangled together in ways that shouldn’t be possible.”

“Stop,” Li Hua whispered, but her voice wavered, lacking its usual steel. “You don’t know anything about me.”

His laugh was a soft, knowing hum against her skin. “I know more than you realize, little tempest. For example…” He leaned back just enough for their eyes to lock. The look in his gaze was piercing, heavy with knowledge she wasn’t sure she wanted to uncover. It made her want to look away, but she couldn’t—caught in the swirling depths, unable to break free. “I heard you ran into the Avatar of the Sovereign of Flames.”

She cut him off with a sharp, incredulous laugh. “So you came to rescue me?”

Something shifted in his expression, dark and unsettling, sending a prickle of unease through her. “You should tread carefully, my little tempest.” His free hand rose, brushing against the celestial diamonds in her ears. The usual melodic chime of the charms dulled at his touch. “The Sovereign of Flames rules over more than just fire. His true domain is rebirth itself—the cycle of death and reincarnation.” He paused before continuing, “He can sense souls that don’t belong in this world.”

A chill coiled down Li Hua’s spine despite the heat radiating from his closeness. Her mind replayed the Avatar’s gaze from earlier that day, the way his eyes had lingered on her a moment too long. She had dismissed it then, but now… “What would he do?” she murmured, her voice barely audible.

Mo Xing shook his head, a gesture that seemed more amused than concerned. “Nothing…just yet. But souls that defy the natural order…” He chuckled lightly. “Anyways, I have a technique that could help you. Are you curious?”

Li Hua’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. Her past life had taught her well—nothing valuable ever came without strings attached, and beings as powerful as Mo Xing never offered help without ulterior motives. “What’s your price?” she asked carefully, testing his grip on her wrists again.

His free hand moved to trace her jawline with deliberate slowness. “My price…” His eyes gleamed with something between hunger and curiosity. “Let’s just say you’ll owe me a favor. To be collected at a time of my choosing.”

“An unnamed debt to a being of your power?” Li Hua’s laugh held no humor. “That sounds more like trading one death for another.”

“Oh?” His smile widened slightly. “And what would you call challenging the Sovereign of Flames with a soul he can read like an open manual? At least my price comes with the chance of survival.”

Li Hua fell silent, weighing her options carefully. The risk of owing a debt to such an unknown man against the danger of having her soul exposed to the Sovereign of Flames. After what felt like an eternity trapped between his body and the wall, she made her decision.

“Fine,” she said, her voice carrying steel beneath the softness. “I’ll pay your price.”

“Good,” Mo Xing’s smile held equal parts satisfaction and predatory intent.

He held on a moment longer than necessary, power coiling beneath his touch like a storm barely contained, before finally releasing her wrists. With a swift, fluid motion, he stepped back and settled on the edge of her bed. Li Hua remained against the wall, absently rubbing her wrists as she watched him with wary eyes. Despite the distance between them now, his presence still seemed to fill the entire room.

“The technique,” Mo Xing began, his demeanor shifting into something more scholarly and serious, “is called the Thousand Veils.” His fingers traced complex patterns in the air, leaving trails of dark essence that seemed to absorb the moonlight itself. “It works by layering your soul signature with countless false echoes, like snow obscuring footprints.”

Li Hua watched intently as he demonstrated, his essence forming intricate nine-fold formation patterns that hung suspended in the air between them. Each layer shifted and flowed like silk caught in wind, but there was something fundamentally wrong about their movement—as if they existed in dimensions her eyes couldn’t quite process.

“Most soul-concealment techniques fail because they try to hide or suppress the soul’s signature,” he continued, his voice taking on a teacher’s cadence. “But the Sovereign of Flames sees through such crude attempts easily. Instead, we’ll teach your soul to dance.” His fingers moved with impossible grace, and suddenly the patterns began to spin, each layer rotating in a different direction. “Watch carefully. The key isn’t in hiding—it’s in showing so many reflections that even truth becomes lost in the mirrors.”

The heat of his hands radiated as they gently closed around hers, a comforting warmth that sent a shiver up her spine. “Now, let your essence follow mine. Feel how each layer flows, how each veil catches and scatters light differently.” His power guided hers through the complex movements, teaching her soul to ripple and fragment like light through crystal.