Free Web NovelChapter 152: Chapter 152: Burdens That Speak
Qin Yuheng stood before the illusion of his father.
The treatment chamber looked perfect. Every detail was accurate: the Moonlit Gentle Soul Lamp, the quiet breathing formation, the silver threads Mu Qinglan used during treatment, the stone table where Qin Mo placed diagrams, even the faint scorch mark left from an earlier seal reaction.
Too accurate.
The illusion-Qin Zhengyuan opened his eyes.
"Yuheng," he said weakly. "This chance may not come again."
The offer panel remained.
[Immediate Anchor Suppression]
[Cost:
Abandon team link for remainder of trial.]
Qin Yuheng looked at his father’s face.
It was convincing.
Pain.
Trust.
Hope.
Everything an enemy would use.
He remembered Qin Zhengyuan’s real words.
Do not sacrifice the living present to a projected burden.
Qin Yuheng selected refuse.
The chamber trembled.
The illusion’s expression changed.
Not angry.
Sad.
"You would leave me wounded?"
Qin Yuheng answered, "My father told me not to choose an illusion over my team."
The illusion cracked.
The Crimson Eclipse chains rose, forming a shadow of Qin Zhengyuan made of black-red light.
[Burden Shade: Father’s Wound]
[Objective]
Stabilize without surrendering team link.
The shade attacked with seal chains and blood fire.
Qin Yuheng fought carefully. This was not a battle to destroy his father’s image. It was a battle to reject the guilt attached to it.
He used Law-Thread Severing Eye to identify false guilt chains.
He used Karma-Burden Severing Chain to cut those that said:
If you climb, he suffers.
If you delay, you fail.
If you protect others, you abandon him.
But he did not cut the true thread.
The true thread said:
You love your father and will seek healing with care.
That thread remained.
When the false chains broke, the Burden Shade dissolved.
[Personal burden stabilized.]
[Team link preserved.]
On another road, Qin Yuchen faced a gate under attack.
Behind him stood Qin Yuze and Qin Xue’er. Ahead, enemies battered the gate. The trial whispered: stand forever, never leave, never climb.
Qin Yuchen nearly accepted.
Then he remembered his own words from earlier trials.
Protection that never moves becomes a prison.
He opened the gate and led the children through instead of standing before it forever.
The burden stabilized.
Qin Lian faced a shadow bridge where every step erased someone’s memory of her. At the far end was perfect safety in total disappearance. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
She turned back before reaching the end.
She chose to be seen by those who mattered.
Her burden stabilized.
Qin Mo’s formation hall collapsed endlessly. Every array failed. Every tool broke. Every person shouted for him to fix something.
At the center was a table with one perfect formation that would repair everything if he signed his name beneath the words:
I will complete every array placed before me.
Qin Mo stared at it.
Then wrote on his slate:
Absolutely not.
He repaired only the central support formation, let three unnecessary side arrays collapse, and walked out.
His burden stabilized.
The four roads reconnected.
When they emerged together, they stood before the Third Gate.
It was larger than the first two gates they had seen. One side was made of thunder, one of shadow, one of sword iron, one of formation stone. At the center was a commander’s banner wrapped in black-red eclipse chains.
A panel appeared.
[Third Gate Trial Phase Two]
[Team burdens stabilized.]
[External burden contamination detected.]
[Crimson Eclipse projection forming.]
Qin Mo looked at the chains.
"That is not from us."
Qin Yuheng nodded.
The black-red eclipse chains formed a figure wearing a sun mask.
It was not Xue Rong.
It was older.
A projection of the ritual itself.
[Crimson Eclipse Burden Projection]
[Level: 36]
[Type: Ritual burden manifestation]
[Abilities:
- Anchor guilt
- Team sacrifice temptation
- Command burden inversion
- Eclipse chain binding]
The projection spoke.
"Commander. Choose one to save all."
Qin Mo immediately said, "No."
The projection turned toward him.
"You are support. You can be sacrificed without breaking command."
Qin Mo’s face went pale.
Qin Yuheng stepped forward.
"No."
The projection smiled.
"Then the father remains bound."
Qin Yuheng’s eyes were cold.
"You are not my father’s wound. You are the chain around it."
The battle began.
Eclipse chains attacked from all sides.
Unlike previous Blood Sun threads, these carried ritual logic. Cutting them carelessly caused them to split. Qin Mo had to identify anchor points. Qin Lian cut only marked links. Qin Yuchen protected Qin Mo. Qin Yuheng used Gate Thunder Command Field to hold the team’s timing under guilt pressure.
The projection repeatedly offered exchanges.
Qin Lian’s shadow for Qin Zhengyuan’s relief.
Qin Mo’s formation talent for team safety.
Qin Yuchen’s future for sibling protection.
Qin Yuheng’s class freedom for father’s anchor suppression.
Every offer was refused.
Not impulsively.
Clearly.
The projection weakened.
At the final moment, it tried to bind the commander banner at the center of the gate.
Qin Yuheng used the Karma-Burden Severing Chain.
"False burden," he said.
The chain cut through the eclipse binding.
Qin Yuheng’s sword followed.
Thunder struck the projection’s mask.
It shattered.
[Crimson Eclipse Burden Projection defeated.]
[Third Gate opened.]
[Trial Phase Three unlocked.]
The gate opened slowly.
Beyond it stood no battlefield.
Only a mirror of the team.
But this mirror did not show reflections.
It showed possible futures.
