Chapter 23 · The Leash in His Fire

The mark was still glowing under my fingers when I pressed harder.

Gu Hanchuan jerked like I'd stuck a blade in him. His breath came out ragged. The veins in his neck stood out black against his skin, pulsing with that sick fire poison I'd been dragging out of him for weeks now.

"Don't." His voice cracked. Not an order. A beg.

I didn't let go. The control mark was buried deep in his lower dantian, right where his spiritual core should've been clean. Instead it sat there like a burn scar, three months old if I was reading the degradation right. Fresh enough that whoever put it there still had the leash.

"Lin Yuan did this." I said it flat. Not a question.

Gu's hand came up and locked around my wrist. Not pulling me off. Just holding on. His palm was burning. "Wei—"

"Three months ago." I twisted my fingers and felt the mark pulse. His whole body went rigid. "Right before you became Sect Leader. Right before you needed a spirit root match so bad you dragged me out of that cell."

"Stop."

"Was it his idea?" My voice stayed level but my hand was shaking.