Chapter 86 – Threshold of Pain

The entrance to Mount Sangzhao's inner sanctum stood silent as stone—hidden behind a curtain of mist, guarded not by men, but by memory.

Only those whose hearts had known both agony and love could cross the threshold unscathed.

Kai Jin exhaled slowly. Around him, the air shimmered faintly with old qi, the mountain's spiritual veins humming like a slumbering beast. He wore no robe, only a linen shirt, his sword strapped to his back like a silent vow.

Prayer beads wound tight around his wrist—Yue's gift before he stepped into isolation.

"You'll come back whole," she had whispered, lips warm against his cheek.

He had smiled. But inside, he had doubted.

Now, he passed through the mist.

The world fell away.

⸻

The chamber was dark—not from lack of light, but from the absence of comfort.

The spiritual pressure here was immense. Ancient. Alive. Each breath Kai took scraped his throat. Qi settled into his bones like burning iron.

He sat, cross-legged.

He closed his eyes.

The trials began.

⸻

I failed her.

The first memory hit like a sword unsheathed.

Yue—eyes wide with pain, blood at her lips, body fading into smoke.

Reaching for him.

Dying.

Kai screamed.

But the chamber offered no escape. Pain surged through his meridians like liquid fire. The illusion shifted—

Now Bai Ru was falling—crimson foam at her mouth as poison stole her breath.

He ran to catch her—too slow.

Always too slow.

I couldn't protect her either.

Next came Lin Su—her eyes wild, mouth curled in a snarl, demon marks blooming black across her pale skin.

You'll choose them over me, her voice echoed, ragged and broken.

And when you do, I'll burn everything down.

Kai's heart cracked.

"No. Not like this," he murmured, fists clenched tight.

But pain doesn't bargain.

⸻

Outside the sanctum, rain had begun to fall.

Yue remained seated, hands folded in prayer, a faint glow of spiritual energy shielding her from the cold. She had not moved since Kai entered.

Each hour that passed, her mantra grew softer but more certain:

"Kai… Come back."

⸻

Inside, time unraveled.

Now came his father. Not in memory—but as a voice.

"A man who loves too much is a man easily broken."

Kai saw himself as a boy—kneeling in the mud, bruised and crying.

"You'll never be strong until you bury your softness. Until you stop reaching for hands that let go."

Kai's jaw trembled. His chest felt hollow.

"I'm not that boy anymore," he whispered.

The darkness laughed.

"No—you've just hidden him better."

Then—he appeared.

The Crowned Kai.

Regal. Distant. Dressed in black and gold imperial robes, a silver circlet gleaming on his brow.

"You crave love more than power," the doppelgänger said coldly. "You are silk wrapped in steel, and both will unravel."

He drew his sword. It shimmered with courtly judgment.

Kai stood, breath ragged. "I don't fight for thrones," he said. "I fight for those I cannot bear to lose."

"Then you will lose them all."

They clashed.

⸻

Far away, at the foot of the mountain, Lin Su sat cross-legged beneath a stone outcrop. Her eyes were closed—but her spiritual tether remained locked onto Kai's aura.

Suddenly, she jolted upright, clutching her chest.

"He's screaming," she muttered, voice tight.

Bai Ru appeared beside her, face pale.

"I felt it too. He's… breaking something inside."

"Then we wait," Lin Su said. "But if he doesn't come back—"

"He will," Bai Ru interrupted softly. "Because Yue believes in him."

"…And we do too."

⸻

Back inside the sanctum, Kai was on his knees.

Blood ran from his nose, his lips, even his ears. The pressure was unbearable—his meridians cracking under the fifth compression wave.

They'll leave you. They'll die for you. You'll ruin them all.

"No!" he roared, rising, eyes blazing. "They are the reason I exist. The reason I endure."

And in that moment—his spiritual core pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

A spiral of light exploded from his chest—tearing through the illusion, the chamber, even the mountain itself.

The Fourth Ring of Internal Binding solidified.

Then, impossibly—

A deeper pulse followed. Rich. Endless. Like a hidden vein of power finally opened.

The Fifth Ring awakened.

His bones felt reborn. His qi flowed like a living tide.

He had not just advanced—he had transcended.

⸻

When dawn came, the stone doors opened.

Kai Jin stepped out barefoot, steam rising from his skin, a faint ethereal glow in his irises.

Yue rose slowly, tears already slipping down her cheeks.

He fell into her arms without a word.

"I saw what they wanted me to become," he whispered. "A blade without love. A king without warmth."

"And what did you choose?" she asked, holding him like something precious.

"I killed him."

She smiled through tears. "Good."

Above them, the storm broke—light pouring down like absolution.