"I…"
Lin Tian's voice was barely audible, yet the light in his eyes grew sharper and more focused.
Both Mu Changsheng and Zi Dian fixed their gazes on him—one cold as snow, the other blazing like thunder—each ready to tear him apart in the very next breath.
Suddenly, Lin Tian drew in a deep breath, stepping back half a pace, both hands gripping his short sword tightly. He didn't immediately choose a side, instead masking his intent so that neither could read him.
Zi Dian's tail tip gave the faintest tremor as it murmured, "Kid, you'd better not do anything stupid."
Mu Changsheng narrowed his eyes slightly, a faint smile curling his lips. "As expected of a blood heir of the Keybearers… cautious to the core."
But before the words faded, a surge of icy cold burst from Lin Tian's chest!
It was the aura of Han Yuan—like a thousand-year frozen abyss, sealing the heavens and earth. Lin Tian's pupils were instantly tinged with a pale silver, as if at that moment, his soul had been gently pushed aside by an ancient will.
"Boy, since you can't decide, I'll make the choice for you—" Han Yuan's voice slithered coldly through his mind. "Kill them both!"
Lin Tian's body shot forward, short sword flashing with silver frost as it slashed straight toward Mu Changsheng. The strike was so fast that even Lin Tian himself barely had time to register it—his body moving like a puppet under Han Yuan's control.
Mu Changsheng was ready. His figure blurred, leaving only an afterimage behind, and in the next heartbeat, he appeared at Lin Tian's flank. In his hand, an ice-carved spear had appeared without warning, its killing cold biting to the bone.
"Han Yuan… still the same as ever, hiding inside someone else's body to do your filthy work," Mu Changsheng said, his voice like frozen steel. The spear swept across in a wide arc, sending Lin Tian stumbling backward.
Zi Dian seized the opening, exploding into motion. Its massive tail cleaved through the air, wreathed in lightning, and crashed against Mu Changsheng's spear strike. Thunder and ice collided midair, erupting into a blinding flash as waves surged high, slamming against both riverbanks with deafening force.
Lin Tian was knocked back toward the cavern wall, his arms numb, while Han Yuan's voice urged him ever more frantically:"Strike! Don't let them stop! This chaos is the chance I need to break free!"
His chest felt as though it were being scorched by fire and frozen by ice at the same time. The spiritual power in his meridians spiraled out of control—partly his own, partly Han Yuan's. He clenched his teeth, forcing the volatile energy down.
"I am not your puppet!" Lin Tian roared in his heart, hands snapping into a sealing gesture to lock down his spiritual power.
Han Yuan seemed to pause for a moment, then gave a low, sinister laugh. "Not bad… but can you stop me a second time?"
In the battle circle, Mu Changsheng and Zi Dian clashed with unrestrained ferocity. Thunder split the ice fog, the spear tore through the lightning—water and force interweaving, shattering the stone walls with explosive cracks.
"Zi Dian! Do you truly mean to protect it?" Mu Changsheng's voice carried a rare thread of anger as his spear transformed into a coiling ice dragon, lunging forward.
Zi Dian roared, shaping its lightning into a blade that split the ice dragon in two. "Mu Changsheng! If not for your secret dealings with outsiders back then, would the Northern Abyss have fallen? Would Han Yuan have been driven into such desperation?"
"Lies!" Mu Changsheng's voice was sharp as his spear rained down blow after blow, each strike sealing the space around Zi Dian, forcing it to retreat step by step.
Lin Tian watched the two powers colliding with destructive force and made up his mind—if this continued, the entire underground river cavern would collapse, and neither he nor Han Yuan would leave alive.
"Enough!" Lin Tian bellowed, releasing a shockwave of spiritual power that shoved both Mu Changsheng and Zi Dian backward.
They halted at the same time, both turning their gazes on him.
"If you want to fight, keep fighting," Lin Tian said coldly, "but the Spirit Pearl—I'm giving it to neither of you. If you want it, you'll have to step over my dead body first."
Mu Changsheng was silent for a long moment, an odd gleam flickering in his eyes. "You've got spine."
Zi Dian chuckled low, with a strange, unreadable tone. "Kid, now that's more like it."
But in the very next instant, Han Yuan's cold voice coiled through Lin Tian's mind again—"Good. Very good… You've kept your Spirit Pearl. But now, I'll show you—what it will cost to keep it."
Lin Tian's heart sank.
He could feel it—the struggle for the Dark River had only just begun.