## Liam''s Perspective


    The ck Tablet crumbled in my hands. Fragments scattered across the cavern floor like broken ss. Behind me, the Man with the Mustache let out a strangled yelp.


    "What have you done?" he cried, diving behind a boulder. "You''ve doomed us all!"


    I stood my ground as the ground beneath us trembled. The pieces of the tablet began to glow with an eerie ck light. Cracks formed in the stone floor, widening into fissures that snaked outward from where the tablet had stood.


    "Step back," I warned, moving away from the center of the chamber.


    The Man with the Mustache crawled out from his hiding spot, eyes fixed on the deepening pit where the tablet had been. "This wasn''t supposed to happen. Breaking one tablet is dangerous enough, but both? We need to leave. Now!"


    I ignored his panic. My instincts told me something valuable awaited beneath that tablet. The Dragon Vein''s secrets were finally revealing themselves.


    The floor copsed inward, creating a perfect circr hole about six feet across. Darkness filled the void, but not emptiness. My senses detected something below.


    "Look," I said, pointing.


    The Man with the Mustache crept forward reluctantly. "I don''t see anything except my imminent death."


    "There." I crouched at the edge of the pit. Something gleamed faintly in the darkness.


    Without hesitation, I jumped in. The pit was shallow, only about ten feet deep. My feet touched bottom with barely a sound. The Man with the Mustache peered over the edge, his mustache twitching with anxiety.


    "Are you insane?" he hissed. "What if there are traps?"


    "Then I''ll deal with them," I replied calmly. "Come see what I found."


    Grumbling, he lowered himself down using a rope from his pack. When he reached the bottom, his eyes widened.


    Four objectsy arranged in a perfect square formation. At the center was a pitch-ck mirror, its surface so dark it seemed to absorb light. Around it were two bronze ques covered in ancient script and a delicate green hairpin that glowed with a faint emerald light.


    "By all the gods," the Man with the Mustache whispered, his voice suddenly reverent. "True treasures of the Ancient Era."


    I reached for the mirror, but the Man with the Mustache caught my wrist.


    "Careful," he warned. "These items have likely been here for thousands of years. They could be dangerous."


    I gently pulled away from his grip. "I''ll take that risk."


    "At least let me choose one item," he bargained. "That was our deal—fifty-fifty split."


    I nodded. "Choose." <cite ss="phantom-imprint">Th#is c&hapter is f%r*om the c$ollect+i-o!n at *.</cite>


    His eyes darted between the four items, lingering longest on the mirror. After a moment of deliberation, he reached for the green hairpin.


    "This will do nicely," he said, too casually.


    I noticed the slight tremor in his hand, the forced nonchnce in his voice. He was hiding something.


    "Take the hairpin then," I said, watching his reaction. "I''ll take the mirror and the ques."


    A sh of something—regret? disappointment?—crossed his features before he masked it with a smile. "Excellent choice! The hairpin suits my... collection."


    I gathered the mirror and bronze ques, slipping them into my spatial ring. The mirror felt cold against my skin, emanating a subtle power that resonated with the dark energy in my dantian.


    "Is there anything else down here?" I asked.


    The Man with the Mustache pulled out a strange device from his pocket. It resembled apass but with multiple needles that spun and twisted in different directions.


    "Let me check," he said, holding the device over the empty space where the treasures had been. The needles whirred frantically before settling on a single direction—deeper into the earth. "Interesting. There may be more below us."


    He pulled more tools from his seemingly bottomless pockets—a small hammer, a chisel, and what looked like a primitive stethoscope.


    "What are you doing?" I asked as he pressed the stethoscope against the ground and listened intently.


    "Treasure hunting is a science, my friend," he replied. "These ancient sites always have multipleyers of—"


    His words cut off as the ground beneath us shuddered violently. A crack formed in the exact center of the pit, directly where the tablet''s fragments had fallen. ck mist began to seep through the crack, thickening rapidly.


    "That doesn''t look good," the Man with the Mustache said, scrambling backward.


    The crack widened, releasing a torrent of pitch-ck energy that shot upward like a geyser. It missed us by inches, sting through the cavern ceiling toward the surface.


    Simultaneously, a deafening roar echoed from above—from the main Dragon Vein pit where Soren and the Guild members were gathered.


    "Twin eruptions," the Man with the Mustache murmured, his face pale. "The bnce ispletely shattered."


    I felt it immediately—the ck energy called to me, to the darkness within my Chaotic Body. Without thinking, I stepped into the stream.


    "No!" the Man with the Mustache shouted. "That''s pure Yin energy! It''ll tear you apart!"


    But it didn''t. The ck energy flowed around me, into me, filling my dantian with raw power. It felt right, like a missing piece finding its home.


    "Remarkable," the Man with the Mustache breathed, watching me absorb the energy that should have been lethal. "Your Chaotic Body... it''s epting both energies."


    I closed my eyes, focusing on controlling the influx of power. Above us, I could sense the counterpart eruption—pure Yang energy surging from the main Dragon Vein. Soren and his Guild members would be absorbing it, growing stronger by the minute.


    But they only had half the equation.


    "We should go up," I said, still drawing in the ck energy. "See what''s happening."


    The Man with the Mustache shook his head. "Bad idea. Very bad idea. They''ll be in a cultivation frenzy up there. If they see you absorbingpeting energy..."


    He had a point. Better to stay hidden, to maximize this unexpected opportunity.


    "How long will the eruptionst?" I asked.


    He studied the ck geyser, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Hard to say. Dragon Veins are unpredictable. Hours? Days? The energy has been building for centuries."


    "Then we wait," I decided. "I''ll absorb as much as I can."


    The Man with the Mustache found afortable spot against the wall, pulling out a sk from his pocket. "Might as well getfortable then."


    Hours passed. I lost track of time, focused entirely on channeling the ck energy into my dantian. My cultivation speed elerated beyond anything I''d experienced before. Breakthroughs that should have taken months happened in hours.


    asionally, the Man with the Mustache would check on me, his expression growing increasingly impressed.


    "I''ve never seen anyone absorb energy at this rate," hemented during one of my brief rest periods. "Most cultivators would have exploded by now."


    I wiped sweat from my brow. "How long has it been?"


    "Almost two days," he answered. "The flow isn''t slowing either. You''re not even close to your limit, are you?"


    I shook my head. My Chaotic Body seemed to have endless capacity for both light and dark energies. The more I absorbed, the stronger I became.


    "What about above?" I asked. "Can you sense what''s happening?"


    The Man with the Mustache nodded. "They''re still there. All of them. The Yang eruption is simrly persistent."


    "Soren must be ecstatic," I muttered. "This is exactly what he wanted."


    "Yes, but he''s not getting what you''re getting," the Man with the Mustache pointed out. "The Yang energy is powerful, but it''s being shared among dozens of cultivators. You''re getting all of this to yourself."


    That thought pleased me. Let Soren think he''d won. Let him believe I was dead or defeated. When we next met, he''d learn his mistake.


    By the third day, I noticed a change. The ck energy stream was thinning, bing less dense. My absorption elerated, drawing in the remaining power before it could dissipate.


    "It''s ending," the Man with the Mustache observed, packing away his tools. "Sooner than I expected."


    I opened my eyes, feeling thest wisps of energy enter my body. My dantian pulsed with newfound power, my meridians wider and stronger than ever before. The damage Holmes had inflicted was not only healed but improved upon.


    "How do you feel?" the Man with the Mustache asked, eyeing me cautiously.


    I stood, stretching muscles that felt dense with power. "Different. Stronger."


    "You look it," he agreed. "Your cultivation base has jumped significantly. You absorbed three days'' worth of pure Dragon Vein essence. That''s... unprecedented."


    I nced upward, sensing the Yang eruption was also subsiding. "And what about our friends above?"


    The Man with the Mustache''s expression turned grim. "They''ve gained power too, no doubt. But not like you. They''re many; you''re one. The difference is... substantial."


    "Good," I said, a cold smile forming on my lips. "Let''s rejoin them, shall we?"


    The Man with the Mustache grabbed my arm. "Wait. Consider your position carefully. You have new treasures, new power. Why rush back into danger? Strategic retreat is sometimes the better part of valor."


    I considered his words. He wasn''t wrong. The smart move would be to disappear, to continue strengthening myself before confronting Soren and the Guild again.


    But Isabelle remained in their clutches. Every moment I dyed was another moment she suffered.


    "I''m going back," I said firmly. "You can stay if you wish."


    He sighed dramatically. "You cultivators and your heroplexes. Fine. I''lle with you. Someone needs to be the voice of reason."


    As we prepared to ascend, I took onest look at the now-empty pit where the ck Tablet had stood. The twin eruptions had changed everything—not just my power, but the bnce of this entire conflict.


    Soren thought he''d killed me. He was about to learn how wrong he was.