Ancient Land of Forgotten Shadows · Ruins of the Fire Hall.
The night was still dark, the flames had gone out, but the air still had a scorching aftermath.
Su Yue stood in the center of the broken stone ring, breathing slightly faster. Her eyes were no longer filled with the confusion she had when the Life Fire first awakened, but with a clear and almost cold focus. The power of the eighth meaning "Burning Memory Ring" had not yet fully stabilized, but she knew that she had little time to adjust.
"How do you feel?" Ethan approached, with a hint of fear in his eyes.
Su Yue slowly raised her hand and stared at the floating fire pattern on her palm.
"This ring is not a simple power enhancement, but an unlocking of memory." Her voice was calm, but with a strange ethereal feeling, "I... saw the scene before the death of the previous oath master. He did not die at the hands of the enemy, but took the initiative to sink into the 'oath lock' and seal himself."
"Why?" Ethan frowned, "To protect what?"
Su Yue was silent for a moment, and said softly: "To prevent the Ninth Righteousness from awakening."
"He said that the Ninth Righteousness does not belong to the oath master, nor to humans. It is a forbidden ring born outside the 'oath seal system' and a gift from the 'old oath abyss'."
"It shouldn't exist."
Ethan's heart shuddered, and the word that was repeatedly erased and deleted in the secret text of the main oath hall, but always looming, emerged in his mind:
"Deep oath"
The main oath hall · The secret room of the third council. A faint blue light rose from the ground, and the huge oath seal relief slowly rotated.
Three figures stood in the middle of the secret room, all wearing silver-purple patterned robes, their faces hidden behind the floating light screen. They are the three core members of the Third Council, codenamed "Caifeng", "Zhugu", and "Wunian".
"The Ring of Burning Memory has awakened." Caifeng's voice was calm, "The hunter failed, and the position was destroyed."
"The plan failed." Zhugu sneered, "I said long ago that letting her grow will only increase the variables. Now she is just one step away from touching the last forbidden ring."
"It's time to implement the 'Oath Lock Plan'." Wunian said in a low voice.
Zhugu said in a deep voice: "Do you want to use the 'Thirteenth Domain'?"
Cai Feng nodded: "This is the only domain that can seal the prelude of the Ninth Righteousness."
"But we can't send hunters to die again. There is not only the echo of the 'Life Fire' in her body, but also... the traces of the 'Old Seal of the Lord's Oath Hall'. The sign of blood recognizing the master means that she is likely to be the residual soul bearer of the 'First Lord of the Oath'."
Wu Nian stood up slowly: "Lead her to the 'Oath Lock Tower' and let her walk into the soul-locking road herself."
"If she can reach the end, let the 'Old Oath' make her own choice."
"If she can't pass, that will be the end of her destiny."
The moonlight penetrated the clouds and sprinkled the broken oath formation.
Su Yue sat cross-legged, surrounded by burn marks and energy remnants. Her body was undergoing a violent transformation. The complete absorption process of the Eighth Righteousness was full of pain and tearing. Every heartbeat seemed to ignite her nerves.
"Su Yue."
A long-lost voice sounded. It was Lasse, a peer who had stood out in the test of the oath master's selection of disciples.
He was wearing a torn cloak, and his eyebrows were more dusty, but he still had the indescribable gentleness of the past.
"Are you really going to keep going? Even if the price is... you are no longer yourself?"
Su Yue slowly opened her eyes, her eyes cold and firm.
"From the first time I saw my illusion in the life fire, I knew it was not a matter of choice."
"It is inevitable."
"And I am not alone."
She looked into the distance, and the ancient mountain range connected to the "Soul Locking Tower" had revealed its outline in the clouds.
Ethan came over and spread a yellowed oath scroll on the ground.
"This is the earliest 'Oath Lock Route Map' circulated in the Lord's Oath Hall, corresponding to the awakening order of the nine rings."
"And the ninth ring must be completed by the seal holder in the 'Oath Lock Tower'."
"It is said that the fragments of the old god's oath spirit are sealed there. If you can't suppress it, you will be assimilated and become its container."
Su Yue stood up and looked into the distance.
"Then I will swallow it with my will."
The Oath Lock Tower stands in the "Silent Wheel Valley", the center of the oath world.
It is not a building, but a rising blood-red space, like an inverted hanging bell, composed of layers of rings. Each layer corresponds to a will illusion of a broken oath soul.
According to legend, only the former oath master and the "Deep Oath Saint" successfully entered the center of the tower.
No one else survived.
Su Yue took Ethan and Lasse and stepped into the circular vortex step by step.
Invisible pressure suddenly descended.
The first ring: "Empty Memory"
They seemed to have returned to the loneliest memory of their childhood, facing their own cowardice, escape, and failure.
The second ring: "Fierce Scar"
The burning pain of the fire was so real that it was suffocating, and each wound came from the "betrayal" in the past.
The third ring, the fourth ring... As she advanced layer by layer, Su Yue's soul consciousness became clearer and clearer.
The echo of the "old oath" revived in her body, as if responding to her every step forward.
When she finally stood at the end of the eighth ring, the moment the ring pattern was completely closed
The "Ninth Ring · Deep Oath Gate" appeared.
Su Yue stopped, and in front of her was a mirror made entirely of her own memories.
In the mirror, she saw a figure slowly walking out.
It was herself, but not entirely.
It was a god wearing the red seal of the oath master and with ruthless eyes.
She whispered to Su Yue:
"You are not inheriting the life fire, you are devouring me."
"I am the remnant of your former will."
"To cross this door, you must kill me."
Su Yue clenched the oath seal spear.
"Then kill me."
When she finally crossed the ninth ring and passed through the deep oath gate, the entire oath lock tower erupted with a storm of energy intertwined with red gold and ink black.
A huge oath soul star suddenly lit up in the sky, illuminating the entire oath world.
In the main oath hall, the three councilors were startled at the same time.
"She...did it?"
"The ninth righteousness...was suppressed by her?"
"No! She didn't suppress it, but swallowed it into herself and merged with it."
Under the oath soul star, Su Yue slowly opened her eyes.
Her oath seal was no longer red, but a deep black ring emerged in the red gold.
She completed the impossible fusion and became the only candidate for the oath master in history who carried the complete "Nine Righteousness".
But she also knew that she was no longer just Su Yue.
She was a being that would frighten the old gods, anger the Oath Hall, and make the Life Fire itself tremble.
The remnant of the "Lord of the Deep Oath" had awakened.