Ever since Xu yang disappeared through the cracked floor, the atmosphere inside the abandoned house had changed completely. It no longer felt like a haunted structure.Lin chen moved quickly through the shifting hallways with visible panic still lingering across his expression despite trying desperately to remain calm. "Xiao ye!" His voice echoed sharply through the corridor before vanishing somewhere deeper inside the house without response."Xiao ye! answer me!" Silence answered again only the faint sound of distant laughter drifted somewhere far away behind the walls.
Zhao ming glanced around the unstable corridors carefully. "A person doesn't just disappear into the floor." he muttered quietly. "Not unless this entire place stopped following normal reality a long time ago." "That's obvious already." Yan luo replied coldly while staring at another doorway that had not existed moments earlier. Irritation and tension were both becoming more visible across his face now. "The problem is why the house reacted specifically to Xu yang."
Chen Yu walked slightly ahead of them, gaze calm but sharp while studying the shifting corridors around them carefully. "Because this place recognizes him."Lun chen turned sharply toward Chen Yu. "Recognizes him?" His voice sounded tighter now beneath growing fear. "Why does everything here connect back to him?" Chen yu remained silent for several seconds before speaking again. "I don't know yet." "That's not reassuring at all." Zhao ming muttered beneath his breath.
The corridor suddenly shifted again with a low creaking sound. One of the doors behind them disappeared completely while another appeared farther ahead where only solid wall had existed moments earlier. Lin chen stared at it with visible exhaustion now creeping into his expression. "This is already insane enough." he said quietly while dragging a hand through his hair in frustration."What if something happens to him in here?" No one answered.
The deeper they moved into the house, the more unstable reality became around them. Hallways looped unnaturally no matter how carefully they tracked their direction. Doors reopened behind them after being closed moments earlier sometimes footsteps echoed behind the group despite nobody being there whenever they turned around.At one point Lin chen heard his own voice whisper faintly behind him: "Help me." He turned instantly toward the sound only to find an empty hallway stretching into darkness. One chamber appeared burned black one moment then untouched the next whenever nobody looked directly at it. Another room briefly contained rows of glowing festival lanterns before becoming empty again seconds later.
The entire house felt like fractured memories struggling to remain connected. Then suddenly Lin chen stopped walking his eyes widened immediately toward one half-open doorway farther down the corridor. "XiaoYe?" The others turned sharply toward him.They saw xu yang inside the room beyond the doorway. He was motionless beneath weak lantern light. Relief hit Lin chen so hard his knees nearly weakened from it. "Xu Yang!" He stepped toward the room immediately without hesitation. "Where the hell did you go?!"
The figure inside the room slowly turned toward him. Lin chen froze instantly because the face staring back at him had no features. Nothing except pale skin splitting apart beneath writhing threads moving slowly underneath like living veins. The thing tilted its head unnaturally toward him then the door slammed shut violently hard enough to shake the corridor walls. Lin chen stumbled backward instinctively while Yan luo grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the door. "Don't touch it!" Yan luo said sharply, his voice colder now than before. "That thing is trying to lure us."
Lin chen stared silently at the closed door while his breathing became visibly uneven. His hands were trembling faintly now despite trying to hide it. Zhao ming looked toward the sealed doorway uneasily. "This house is getting more aggressive." Chen Yu's gaze remained fixed on the thread marks spreading slowly beneath the walls nearby. "No!" he answered quietly. "It's reacting." "To what?" Lin chen asked immediately.
Chen yu looked toward him directly. "Xu yang remembering." Silence followed instantly afterward. Lin chen lowered his gaze slowly while fear settled heavier because the more this place reacted to Xu Yang… the less it felt like coincidence. And one thought kept repeating inside his mind no matter how hard he tried pushing it away. What if Xu Yang really was trapped somewhere alone inside this place?
Back to Xu yang his expression shifted after hearing older Xu yang answer. He asked him, "Remember what?" His voice sounded sharper now beneath growing panic. "What is this place?" No answer came. Other xu yang simply looked toward the collapsing sky overhead where Heaven seals still glowed coldly through spreading black cracks. His gaze lowered slightly afterward toward the shattered shrine beneath them. Toward the exact place that flower boy had disappeared. Something dark flickered briefly across his expression then vanished again.
Xu yang stared at him desperately now. "Why do you look like me?" Other Xu yang looked back toward him fully. "Because this was your memory too." Xu yang froze completely. The rose mark beneath his sleeve suddenly burned violently hard enough to force a sharp breath from his throat. Fragments flashed across his mind instantly.Children laughing, someone crying beside him,threads wrapping around pale hands then another memory surfaced for half a second child Xu Yang screaming desperately while trying to reach someone disappearing into darkness beneath the shrine.
Xu Yang staggered violently as the images tore through his thoughts. "What…?" His voice came out strained now beneath rising panic. "My memory?" He stared at the older version of himself in disbelief while his breathing became more uneven with every passing second. "No… no, that doesn't make sense." His hand pressed hard against the burning mark beneath his sleeve as though trying to physically stop the memories forcing themselves upward. "Why can I see this?" he demanded shakily. "Why am I remembering things that never happened to me?"
Xu yang staggered backward hard enough that his shoulder struck broken wood behind him. "No…" His breathing became visibly unstable now. "No, that's impossible…" The older Xu Yang stepped slowly toward him for the first time. "You forgot." Xu yang shook his head. "I don't even know what this is!" "Exactly." Older Xu yang's voice remained calm somehow despite the collapsing world around them."That was the Correction…" The older Xu yang looked toward him silently for several seconds before speaking again, quieter this time. "Heaven erased the Fourth Day."
Xu Yang's eyes widened faintly. "Then why do I remember it now?" After heard that question something painful flickered briefly across the older xu yang's face. "Because the threads are breaking the seal." The shrine suddenly split apart behind them with a deafening cracking sound. Black Threads burst violently upward into the sky while the remaining lanterns exploded into fire around the collapsing memory. Xu yang flinched instinctively but the older xu yang never moved. He simply watched him quietly through the destruction then softly like regret he said "Once you remember everything… nothing will stay buried anymore." The world shattered after wards.
Back to house Chen yu's gaze moved silently across another narrow hallway lined with old wooden beams while weak lantern light flickered unevenly overhead. His expression slowly sharpened.Shrine imagery kept appearing everywhere now,small carvings hidden beneath cracked walls. Burned prayer ribbons hanging from ceilings that should not have existed. Festival lanterns flickering briefly inside empty rooms before vanishing again the moment anyone looked directly at them. Even the sounds had changed children's laughter echoed faintly through the house now at irregular intervals sometimes close sometimes impossibly far away.
Once Lin chen stopped suddenly because he swore he heard several children running through the corridor directly ahead of them only for the hallway to remain completely empty when they arrived there seconds later. Zhao ming looked increasingly unsettled as his eyes moved toward another wall covered in faded symbols. "These markings again." he muttered quietly while brushing dust away carefully with his sleeve.
Chen yu stopped walking altogether.The others noticed. He stood completely still in the middle of the corridor while studying the walls around them carefully the same way someone examined a complicated formation. Then he spoke quietly. "It's becoming less random." Zhao ming frowned slightly. "What?" Chen yu slowly looked around the corridor again. "The house." Silence followed. Chen yu's calm expression remained, "At first it was distorting reality inconsistently." he continued quietly. "But now the patterns are repeating." His gaze shifted toward the shrine carvings hidden beneath the walls. "Lanterns, children, heaven seals. And same symbols appearing again and again."
Lin chen's unease deepened. "What are you saying?" Chen yu remained silent for one brief moment before answering. "It's not haunting us anymore." Small pause. Then quietly: "It's reconstructing something."Zhao ming slowly lowered his arms from where they had been folded loosely across his chest. "Reconstructing what?" Chen yu's gaze moved toward the deeper corridors ahead where darkness stretched endlessly beyond weak lantern light. "Erased memories." That answer unsettled everyone instantly.
Lin chen felt cold unease settle violently into his chest while Yan luo's expression darkened further. "You mean the Fourth Day?" Yan luo said quietly. Chen Yu did not deny it.Lin Chen's gaze shifted slowly between them both, confusion and frustration becoming more visible across his face now. "What exactly is the Fourth Day?" he finally asked. "Everyone keeps saying that name like I'm supposed to understand it." No one answered.
Zhao Ming lowered his gaze slightly while Yan luo remained staring toward the deeper corridors ahead. Eventually Yan luo spoke quietly. "Something only heaven fully knows." Lin chen frowned. "That tells me absolutely nothing." His voice sharpened slightly now beneath growing exhaustion. "Ever since entering this place all I've heard are half answers and warnings." He dragged a hand through his hair harshly before continuing. "What was erased? Why is Heaven involved? Why does this house know Xu Yang?"
Chen Yu's expression remained calm but distant. "Because the Fourth Day was never meant to be remembered," he answered quietly. Lin chen stared at him. "That still doesn't explain what it is." Yan luo looked toward him directly then somewhere deeper inside the house a child suddenly laughed softly. The sound echoed unnaturally through the corridor warm and playful yet horrifying inside the distorted silence surrounding them now. Lin chen turned toward the sound but no one was there. Then another child's voice whispered faintly nearby almost too soft to hear clearly. "Don't forget us." Zhao ming visibly stiffened. "You all heard that too right?" No one answered.
Lin Chen's eyes moved slowly through the empty corridor around them. The voice had sounded real not like the distorted whispers from before then softly another voice echoed farther away. Laughing quietly beneath the sound of festival bells. "You promised." Chen yu's expression changed faintly.
Meanwhile after world shattered sound vanished first then light. Then reality itself broke apart beneath Xu yang's feet. He fell instantly.Fragments of the collapsing memory spun violently around him like broken pieces of glass drifting through endless space. Xu yang could not breathe properly. The sensation felt less like falling and more like being dragged downward through something alive.
"What is this now?!" Xu yang shouted hoarsely into the void while trying unsuccessfully to steady himself mid-fall. Panic and frustration mixed visibly across his expression now. "Can I get one moment without reality collapsing around me?!"Xu Yang twisted sharply while another violent pull dragged him deeper downward through the darkness. "Where am I even going now?!" "And why does every answer just create ten more problems?!" Then he was so shocked to say anything more.
Memories flashed around him uncontrollably. Child Qing li laughing loudly beneath festival lanterns while shoving child Xu yang during an argument. Wang xio standing nearby with visible irritation while calmly trying to stop both of them from breaking shrine decorations again.Children running through grass beneath golden evening skies.
Then the memories changed violently. He saw Burning heaven seals filled the sky overhead.Threads spread endlessly through the village like corruption devouring reality itself. The shrine cracked apart while faceless villagers disappeared screaming into darkness. Xu yang twisted violently mid-fall while fragments continued tearing past him from every direction. His chest hurt now. Every memory felt painfully familiar despite knowing he should not recognize any of it. "Why…" Xu yang whispered hoarsely into the darkness while reaching instinctively toward the floating fragments around him. "Why does this feel like I lost something?"
Another memory slammed into him instantly. Child Xu yang kneeling desperately beside the shattered shrine while reaching outward with trembling hands. The memory kept cutting apart unnaturally like reality itself refused to let him remember fully. Then suddenly child Xu yang screamed. "You promised!" The sound echoed violently through the darkness hard enough to make Xu yang freeze completely mid-fall. The voice sounded broken.
Xu Yang's breathing became uneven instantly while cold fear spread through his chest. "Promised what?" he whispered desperately.No answer came only more fragments spinning endlessly around him. Child Qing li crying silently beneath burning lanterns. In other he saw wang xio standing motionless beneath heaven seals with blood running down one side of his face.Then again child Xu Yang's voice echoed through the darkness softer this time yet somehow even more painful. "You promised you wouldn't forget us…"Xu Yang's eyes widened violently.
Xu yang reached instinctively toward the fading fragments around him while panic and confusion tore violently through his thoughts. "Wait!" His voice cracked harshly into the darkness. "Who are you people?!" The memories continued breaking apart beyond his reach. Then suddenly the darkness split violently beneath him. Xu Yang woke with a sharp breath tearing from his throat while his entire body jerked upright instinctively.
Far away from the abandoned house, the Demon Clan territory trembled violently without warning. Threads continued to spread across the night sky like cracks tearing through reality. Spiritual barriers surrounding the mountain territory flickered unstable for several terrifying seconds before several outer walls split apart with sharp cracking sounds. Demonic spiritual flames along the pathways extinguished one after another while servants and guards looked upward in visible alarm. "What's happening?!" someone shouted somewhere outside the palace halls. "The barriers are collapsing!"
Inside one of the upper chambers Qing Li's expression changed.He stared at Wang xio for second then he asked "what started?" Wang xio didn't say anything. "wang xio!" Qing li said with louder voice.Wang Xio lowered his gaze slightly as though already understanding exactly what had happened somewhere far away. "The seal is breaking," he said quietly. Qing Li turned toward him sharply. "What seal?" Wang xio did not answer right away. That silence alone made unease settle violently deeper inside Qing li's chest. "Wang Xio." His voice sharpened now beneath growing frustration. "Stop doing that."
Outside the chamber another violent tremor shook the territory hard enough to crack several stone pillars below. Threads flickered briefly through the courtyard before disappearing again. Qing li stared at the sky uneasily before looking back toward Wang Xio again. "This is connected to Xu Yang isn't it?" Wang xio expression changed.Qing Li dragged a hand harshly through his hair in frustration while his thoughts spiraled faster and faster. "Ever since he appeared everything keeps connecting back to him " he muttered angrily. "The shrine,erased memories and threads keep reactin to him." His gaze sharpened again. "Who exactly was Xu yang before all this?"
Wang xio looked toward him directly. Something flickered briefly across his face "Someone who forgot." he answered quietly.
Qing li's frustration only deepened. "Stop answering me like that." His voice sharpened visibly now"I'm serious, Wang xio." Wang xio remained silent for several long seconds afterward. Outside the chamber windows threads flickered faintly across the night sky.
Wang Xio slowly lowered his gaze for a moment Then unexpectedly a faint painful smile appeared briefly across his face."Xu Yang was the one who held everyone together." he said quietly. Qing li froze slightly at the softness in his voice. Wang xio's expression remained calm yet there was something deeply sorrowful hidden beneath it now. "Even back then… people naturally followed him." His eyes shifted faintly toward the unstable darkness outside while the smile faded slowly again. "He made impossible things feel survivable."
Qing Li stared at him quietly now,Wang Xio continued more quietly afterward almost like speaking to himself. "No matter how frightened everyone became… Xu Yang always stood in front first." A faint flicker of memory crossed his eyes briefly."That's why losing him…" Wang xio stopped abruptly before finishing the sentence another violent wave of pressure spread across the territory.
The walls inside the chamber flickered for half a second replaced suddenly by old lantern light and distant children's laughter before snapping back again.Qing li froze completely.
Meanwhile far away inside the abandoned house Xu yang regained consciousness with a violent gasp tearing from his throat. He pushed himself upright while breathing hard, panic and confusion still crashing violently through his mind after the collapsing memory.Weak red lantern light flickered unevenly overhead now casting distorted shadows across the corridor around him. The abandoned house had changed again.
Thread marks spread across the walls like bleeding veins pulsing faintly beneath cracked wood. Several doors nearby slowly creaked open by themselves revealing only darkness beyond. Somewhere deeper inside the corridors whispers echoed softly using voices he almost recognized and behind him footsteps continued following at irregular intervals despite nobody being there whenever he turned around.
Xu yang's breathing remained uneven while he stared around the distorted hallway in growing disbelief. "What was that…?" he whispered faintly to himself. His voice sounded unstable now beneath lingering shock. "That wasn't just an illusion." His fingers tightened hard against the floor beneath him while fragments of the memory continued flashing uncontrollably through his thoughts.
Xu yang pressed a trembling hand hard against his forehead. "Who were those children?" he whispered desperately. "Why do they feel familiar?" The rose mark beneath his sleeve suddenly burned violently again hard enough to force a sharp breath from his throat. Xu yang grabbed his arm instinctively while pain spread sharply beneath his skin. "Damn it…" His breathing became shakier now. "Why can't I remember anything about this from the novel?"
Xu yang slowly lowered his gaze toward his trembling hands again. "That child really was me…" he whispered faintly.Then another horrifying thought surfaced slowly inside his mind. "…No." Xu yang's expression shifted slightly beneath growing dread. "Not me." His fingers tightened harder. "The original Xu Yang."if those memories belonged to the original xu yang then what exactly happened to him on the Fourth Day?