Chapter 76: SOUL THREAD
Purple light from the doorway spilled into the great hall, but no one moved toward it right away.
Ethan was still leaning against Laira. His two left ribs sent a sharp stab of pain through him with every breath, and the cuts on his shoulder and back were still bleeding. The remaining Primordial Armor on his left hand continued absorbing surrounding energy, but the recovery rate was painfully slow.
Laira retrieved hemostatic medicine from the supply pouch, pulled the torn section of cloak away from Ethan’s shoulder, and began treating the wound. Her movements were careful, but her expression was cold enough that no one wanted to come near.
Ethan looked at her and said quietly, "They’re just surface wounds."
Laira didn’t lift her head. She poured the medicine over the long gash on his back, and only after hearing Ethan suck in a sharp breath did she reply coldly, "You just said two ribs were cracked."
"Doesn’t affect my ability to walk."
"Then next time I’ll break two more so you’ll know what actually counts as affecting."
Ethan fell silent.
He knew Laira was just angry. If he kept arguing, the one who’d lose in the end would still be him.
Ruo Yan sat a few steps away. Her three wooden puppets gathered around her, two of them severely damaged. She used energy threads to secure the severed shoulder piece, but her gaze still drifted toward Ethan now and then.
The hand he had just held was still trembling slightly.
The sensation of the chains breaking down her body hadn’t fully faded. But what kept Ruo Yan from calming down wasn’t the fear of nearly dying. It was that Ethan had actually stepped into the circle to save her.
He hadn’t hesitated at all.
And he never asked what she could give in return.
Brakk looked at the open doorway, then turned to Aldren. "The door’s open. How much longer do we have to wait?"
Aldren didn’t answer immediately. He watched Ethan being treated by Laira, the smile on his face still perfectly gentle.
"Ethan just saved someone and was injured quite seriously. We should give him a moment."
Brakk frowned. "The labyrinth shifts every six hours. No one knows how long this door will stay open."
Korr placed his metal hand on the ground. The energy core in front of his chest emitted rings of golden light, and then he spoke in a low voice. "The hall’s structure has stabilized. The door won’t close anytime soon."
Brakk said nothing more, but his expression made it clear he didn’t want to keep waiting.
Ethan looked toward the doorway.
To ordinary eyes, it was simply a passageway bathed in purple light. But when the Eye of Truth opened for a brief moment, the rule lines appeared instantly.
[Central inheritance zone.]
[Only participants with valid soul marks are permitted to enter.]
[Partner units must possess a complete soul anchor point.]
[Temporary escort privileges are not valid.]
[Invalid subjects will be eliminated.]
Ethan closed the Eye of Truth and looked at Ruo Yan.
She was still repairing her puppet but had clearly noticed his gaze.
Ruo Yan stopped her hands and asked flatly, "What is it?"
"The door won’t let you through."
Ruo Yan’s fingers froze instantly.
Laira also looked up at Ethan. "Because she doesn’t have a bond?"
Ethan nodded. "The escort privilege from before only worked in the checkpoint zone. What’s beyond that is the central inheritance area. The rules require a Partner to have a complete soul anchor point."
Ruo Yan was silent for a few seconds, then resumed pulling a thread through the broken joint of her puppet.
"Then I’ll stay here."
Her voice was perfectly calm, as if this had nothing to do with her at all.
Laira frowned. "You don’t want to know what’s inside?"
"So what if I do?" Ruo Yan didn’t look up. "The rules don’t recognize me. I can’t force them to change just because I want them to."
Brakk heard the exchange and spoke up immediately. "Her staying behind is the most rational choice. The puppets can protect her in the hall. We don’t need to keep wasting time."
Laira looked at him, her eyes going cold instantly.
Brakk noticed her reaction but didn’t press the argument this time. He simply turned toward the doorway, clearly not intending to care whether Ruo Yan could continue or not.
Aldren slowly stepped closer. "I’m sorry. However, the rules of the ruin cannot be easily changed. Perhaps you should remain here. When we find the way out, I’ll send someone back for you."
Ruo Yan looked at him, the corner of her lips curving up slightly.
"You think I’d trust you?"
Aldren’s smile didn’t change. "Whether you trust me or not is your right. I’m simply offering a safe option."
Ruo Yan pulled her gaze back. She didn’t respond further, but the energy threads connecting her three puppets had drawn tighter than before.
Ethan slowly stood up.
Laira immediately caught his arm. "What are you doing?"
"I wasn’t finished."
He looked at Ruo Yan. "The rules only say you need a soul anchor point. They don’t say it has to belong to your former master."
Ruo Yan went still.
The entire hall grew even quieter.
Several Elves immediately turned to look at Ethan. Brakk also spun around, and a subtle shift passed through Aldren’s eyes.
Ruo Yan stared straight at Ethan, her voice slower than before. "What do you mean?"
"Establish a new bond."
Ruo Yan didn’t answer.
All three puppets beside her turned their heads toward Ethan simultaneously.
Laira also tightened her grip on his arm and frowned. "You want to take her as a second Partner?"
"I’m only offering a choice." Ethan looked at Ruo Yan. "The decision is hers."
Ruo Yan laughed, but there was no joy in it at all.
"The decision is mine?"
She slowly rose to her feet. The energy threads pulled her three puppets behind her, forming a neat row.
"The one before said the same thing. He said bonding was a choice for both sides. He said I wasn’t a tool, and I wasn’t an item. Then, when he realized the resources needed to help me evolve were too much, he cut the bond himself."
Ruo Yan looked at Ethan, her dark eyes turning colder.
"You want me to believe this time will be different?"
Ethan didn’t look away.
"No."
The answer caught Ruo Yan slightly off guard.
Even Laira turned to look at him.
Ethan continued. "I can’t make you believe with just a few words. The one before you already said plenty."
Ruo Yan asked, "Then why should I agree?"
"You don’t have to."
Ethan glanced toward the doorway, then back at the three damaged puppets around her.
"You can stay here. I can also stay with you until we find another way. But if you want to walk through that door, this is the only path I can see."
Brakk immediately spoke in a low voice. "You’d give up the inheritance for a Partner?"
Ethan didn’t look at him. "I don’t recall asking for your opinion."
Brakk’s expression darkened, but Korr raised a hand to stop him.
Aldren stood behind them, his gaze shifting continuously between Ethan and Ruo Yan. The green stone on his forehead glowed faintly, clearly committing every detail to memory.
Ruo Yan looked at Ethan for a long time.
"After bonding, your cultivation energy will have to be shared with me as well. You already have Laira. Adding another Partner will slow your cultivation."
"I know."
"Nurturing me requires a great deal of resources."
"I know that too."
"No, you don’t." Ruo Yan clenched her hand. "My former master had an entire clan backing him, and in the end he still decided I was too expensive. You don’t even have a place to go back to."
Ethan looked at the torn cloak on his body, then answered calmly. "Then we’re a perfect match right now. You don’t have a master, and I don’t have a home."
Ruo Yan went still.
Laira looked at him, a flash of pain crossing her orange-red eyes before irritation quickly replaced it.
She folded her arms across her chest, looked at Ruo Yan, and said, "I don’t like the idea of sharing Ethan with someone else."
Ruo Yan immediately turned to her. "I haven’t agreed."
"I know." Laira raised her chin slightly. "But if you do agree, remember one thing. I was the first one he chose."
Ruo Yan gave a thin smile. "Are you scared?"
Flames instantly flickered around Laira’s fingertips.
"I’m only warning you."
Ethan placed a hand on her shoulder. "Laira."
Laira let out a soft huff but drew the flames back. She looked at Ruo Yan for a few more seconds, then turned her face away.
"I’m not stopping this. But only because I don’t want to watch her get left behind again."
Ruo Yan didn’t respond.
But the coldness in her eyes when she looked at Laira had softened, just slightly.
Ethan stepped in front of Ruo Yan and extended his right hand.
"The bond requires your consent. I can’t force it."
Ruo Yan looked at his hand.
This was the second time in a short span that Ethan had reached out to her.
Last time, her body was being broken down, and he had walked through spatial wind to pull her out. This time, there were no chains forcing her. No countdown ticking away. She could refuse.
’Just turn away, and it’ll be over.’
But then what?
She would stay in this hall alone, with three broken puppets. Ethan, Laira, and everyone else would walk through that door. Maybe they’d come back.
Maybe they wouldn’t.
Ruo Yan had once waited for someone to come back.
In the end, she waited until she understood she had truly been abandoned.
She looked at the wounds on Ethan’s body, especially the Primordial Armor that had lost nearly a third of itself to save her.
"You’ve been left behind before?"
Ethan nodded. "Many times."
"By family?"
"Family, teammates, people I once trusted."
Ruo Yan pressed on. "Then aren’t you afraid I’ll betray you too?"
"Yes."
She hadn’t expected him to admit it that quickly.
Ethan looked at the three puppets standing behind her. "But in the wind corridor, you used a puppet to block a hit for me. In the circle, you also pulled me back when the Primordial Armor was shattered. I can’t say I completely trust you, but at the very least, I’ve already put my back to you."
He paused briefly, then added, "You don’t need to fully trust me right now either. Just watch for yourself what I do after we bond."
Ruo Yan lowered her eyes.
After a long while, she slowly extended her hand.
But before their hands met, she stopped.
"What if one day you decide I’m too costly?"
Ethan didn’t promise that it would never happen.
He just looked straight at her.
"If I were the kind to abandon you over resources, I wouldn’t have stepped into that circle."
Ruo Yan pressed her lips together.
Finally, her hand settled into his.
Thin threads immediately appeared around her fingertips.
They were nothing like the threads she used to control her puppets. These were silver-white, with an occasional razor-thin black line flickering within. They didn’t radiate strong energy fluctuations, but the moment they appeared, all three puppets behind Ruo Yan bowed their heads in unison.
A single thread slowly drew out from the center of her chest.
Ruo Yan’s brow creased slightly. Her face paled a shade, but the hand holding Ethan’s didn’t let go.
"This is the Soul Thread." She looked at him, her voice quieter than usual. "My power uses threads to control puppets. To bond with an Awakened, I have to give that person a thread connected directly to my soul."
Ethan asked, "What do I need to do?"
"Don’t resist."
The silver-white thread wound around Ethan’s wrist, then slowly sank into his body.
A piercing chill shot up his arm instantly. Immediately after, lines of notification appeared before his eyes.
[Detected: Partner seeking a soul anchor point.]
[Name: Ruo Yan.]
[Race: Cannot be fully identified.]
[Bond type: Soul Thread.]
[Warning: After the bond is formed, cultivation energy will be additionally shared with the new Partner.]
[Warning: Actively severing the bond will cause backlash to both parties.]
[The bond can only be established when both parties give full consent.]
[Do you confirm?]
Ethan didn’t hesitate.
"Confirm."
The thread immediately pierced deep into his soul.
Ethan felt the Heavenly Gate within his body tremble violently. His bond with Laira still existed as a warm current of fire, and beside it, a silver-white thread slowly materialized.
It was incredibly thin.
But impossibly strong.
On the other side, Ruo Yan suddenly opened her eyes wide.
For the first time in many years, she could feel a stream of energy flowing toward her through a Partner bond.
Not much.
But it was energy that could help her continue to grow.
The level that had been frozen since the day she was abandoned finally showed signs of fluctuation.
All three wooden puppets raised their heads at once. The cracks across their bodies hadn’t disappeared, but the connecting threads had become clearer than before.
[Partner bond has been established.]
[Awakened: Ethan Ashford.]
[Second Partner: Ruo Yan.]
[Bond type: Soul Thread.]
Ruo Yan looked at the silver-white thread winding around both their wrists.
Her eyes reddened slightly, but she immediately turned her face away.
"Don’t misunderstand. I just want to enter the inheritance."
Ethan nodded. "I know."
Laira immediately pulled Ethan’s other arm toward herself and hugged it tight.
"I know too."
Ruo Yan glanced at her. "What are you doing?"
"Reminding you of your place."
"Childish."
"Who are you calling childish?"
Before the two could continue, the doorway ahead suddenly shuddered.
Purple light swept across Ruo Yan’s body.
This time, it no longer pushed her away.
Lines of symbols rapidly appeared across the stone surface.
[Complete soul anchor point detected.]
[Partner unit has been recognized.]
[Compatible profession detected.]
[Puppeteer.]
[Inheritance compatibility: Perfect.]
[A valid successor has appeared.]
Boom!
Both doors swung fully open.
Behind them, Aldren slowly let his smile fade.
His gaze lingered on Ruo Yan, then shifted to Ethan.
A person who could see the rules.
A Red Dragon with a terrifying bloodline.
And now, a Puppeteer chosen by the ruin itself.
The greed in his eyes surfaced for only an instant before vanishing.
But Ethan had already seen it.