At the same time, Serance's voice suddenly became rapid, and his fingers unconsciously clenched the teacup.

The tea vibrated in the cup, creating circles of fine ripples, reflecting the dark currents surging in his eyes.

"I touched the coffin," he whispered, his knuckles white with the strain. "The golden water suddenly began to boil—and the outline of a baby emerged from it."

Blore's breath hitched.

The temperature in the room plummeted, and the flames in the fireplace strangely solidified into still, orange-red crystals. The vines of the Puslo rose curled up, and tiny frost formed on the edges of the petals.

"I wanted to take him away." Serance's voice was hoarse, as if oppressed by some force, "But the moment I reached out my hand——"

His words stopped abruptly.

Outside the window, the night suddenly twisted, and thick black fog rolled in from all directions, like a living tide, eroding the outline of the wooden house inch by inch. Fine cracks formed on the glass windows, emitting a teeth-grinding creaking sound.

Blore stood up suddenly, the chains around his wrists humming and trembling as if in response.

He stared out the window intently—the black fog was not simply darkness, but was composed of countless tiny runes, each of which was wriggling and reorganizing, as if some ancient restriction had been triggered.

Serance's hand pressed heavily on his shoulder.

"They won't let me take him," he whispered, a kind of suppressed madness in his voice. "But I don't care."

The air in the room began to distort, and the metallic sound of chains dragging could be heard from under the wooden floor.

It suddenly dawned on Blore—it was not an illusion.

The real chains were coming out from the cracks in the floor, crawling like awakened snakes, and winding towards Serans' ankles.

"Father--!" Blore reached out to grab him, but the next second, black fog broke through the window.

The world was split in two in an instant.

Half of the space was where Serans was - he was bound by chains, and the black mist wrapped around his limbs like a living thing, but his eyes were still stubbornly looking somewhere in the void, as if there was still a baby there who was in urgent need of salvation.

The other half was the reality Blore existed in. His chains vibrated violently, emitting a sharp shriek, like some kind of resonance, or like... a warning.

"I failed to take him away after all." Serance's voice came from the depths of the black fog, with a kind of fatalistic fatigue, "But I brought back this—"

A drop of suspended golden liquid suddenly appeared in his palm, shining like solidified starlight.

Blore's pupils constricted.

He recognized that thing.

It was… part of himself.

The golden bead in Blore's palm radiated a strange halo, like a plucked star or a half-closed eye of God.

When he subconsciously retracted his fingers, the bead suddenly turned into liquid, and the moment it seeped into his skin, it brought a needle-like burning pain.

Countless fragments of memory pierced into his mind like sharp blades.

But at the same time, Serance struggled to break free and sat back next to Blore as if nothing had happened.

But Blore felt that he was not well at this time.

He saw giant trees made of chains dancing wildly in the storm, black thorns growing wildly from the ground, and strange orchids blooming amid the sound of metal clashing.

And in the deepest part of this twisted forest, a vague figure is slowly taking shape from nothingness - black hair falls like a waterfall, blending into the chains wrapped around its body.

"I see..." Blore heard his own hoarse voice, "Si Weijun is mine..."

"Companion."

Serance replied tiredly, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the thorn scar on his collarbone.

"Like a shadow follows a light, he is born out of your presence."

The flames in the fireplace suddenly turned a dark blue, lengthening and entangled the shadows of the two people on the wall.

Blore saw countless chains extending from his own shadow, and another slender shadow was peeling off and taking shape from the chains - it was the figure in the black robe that reached the ground in his memory.

Serance's voice came from far away: "The Chained Forest needs rangers to maintain order, and rangers need companions to bear the cost..."

Memories continued to flood back.

Blore saw his original self standing in the middle of the forest, the golden liquid spreading beneath his feet gradually solidifying into a transparent coffin.

The moment he lay down in it, the overflowing power gathered into a human shape beside the coffin - black hair wrapped around the body of the new companion, and the shore orchid bloomed at his feet.

"So what you found back then..." Blore held his temple, the chain vibrating resonantly around his wrist.

"It's you, performing your duties as a forest ranger."

Serans smiled bitterly and opened his palm, and tiny golden lines appeared on the palm.

"And Si Weijun deliberately let me take you away from you, who was sealed in the form of a baby, in order to help you escape the cycle of reincarnation."

Suddenly, there was a loud crash from the roof. The broken horn of the Pixiu pierced through the wooden board, and blood like the starry sky dripped onto the floor, corroding tiny black holes.

Serance stood up suddenly, his old cloak fluttering without wind: "They found..."

The chains around Blore's wrists suddenly stretched straight, and black mist seeped out from the gaps between the chains.

In the thick mist, he clearly saw Si Weijun standing in the thorn bush in his memory, mouthing to him: "It's time to come back."

The entire wooden house began to collapse, and countless black thorns emerged from the gaps between the wooden boards.

Serance tried to grab Blore's hand, but was separated by a sudden surge of gold liquid.

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