Chapter 28 · The Root-Taking Altar

The altar hall smells like burned incense and old blood. I'm on my knees in the center of the stone circle, hands locked behind my back by restraint talismans that bite into my wrists. My spirit root's gone. Completely gone. There's just this hollow space inside my chest where it used to sit, like someone scooped out my insides and left nothing but air.

The disciples are chanting. Low voices, rhythmic. I can't understand the words but I know what they're doing—preparing the extraction array. Except there's nothing left to extract. My root burned itself out saving Gu Hanchuan's life three hours ago.

Elder Feng stands at the altar's edge, hands folded in his sleeves. His face is calm. Too calm. Like I'm a failed batch of pills he's about to toss in the furnace. "Begin the scan," he says. "Confirm her root structure before we proceed."

Two disciples step forward with a glowing spirit stone. One of them presses it against my chest. I feel the cold probe of spiritual energy pushing into me, searching. It hurts. Not like a blade—more like fingers digging through a wound that won't heal.