Wang Lin observed the unfolding events with an eerie calm, his heart an impassive sea, neither joy nor sorrow stirring its depths. Within the ancestral hall, two young girls were gripped by an overwhelming fear and helplessness, the younger sister clinging tightly to her elder, as if only that embrace could offer a sliver of sanctuary.

“Sister, I’m afraid, so afraid…” the child stammered, her voice trembling, her fingers white-knuckled as she clutched at her sister’s garment.

Clutching her younger sibling, Yao Bingyun’s face was drained of color, her eyes pools of stark terror. A chilling premonition gripped her, a dread of something far more terrible than mere death. Before the two girls, a wizened elder sat in lotus position. He was clad in crimson robes, his brows and hair a fiery red. Though ancient, his eyes burned with a soul-piercing light when they snapped open.

“As scions of the Yao lineage, for the eternal glory of our house, you shall become the Soul Vessels!”

With these words, the elder raised a hand, grasping at the empty air before him. A tearing sound echoed as a three-丈 rift appeared, a gust of icy wind spilling forth. Within this chilling current, an ancient oil lamp floated forth, descending with glacial slowness.

A cerulean flame flickered atop the lamp, burning without warmth, exuding only an oppressive cold. The lamp settled between the two girls and the elder. At that moment, its flame roared to life, flaring wildly, casting its wavering tendrils towards the trembling siblings.

“This artifact is a treasure of our Yao clan, its flame having burned since the days of the immortals, never extinguished. It embodies the very essence of life! Yet, five centuries past, this flame showed signs of waning. After much divination and study, I uncovered the cause. The Soul Vessel within weakened, nearing dissolution. When it vanishes, so too will the flame… Thus, for three centuries, I have labored to extract a portion of that Soul Vessel, infusing it into the bodies of our Yao’s most promising offspring, gestating within them for two centuries to bring forth you, sisters. This is your destiny, one you cannot escape. You were born to become Soul Vessels!” The elder’s voice was serene, devoid of emotion.

As his words faded, the lamp’s flame surged, erupting into a conflagration of fire, coalescing into a monstrous form. This creature, adorned with twin horns upon its head and possessed of a colossal frame, radiated a searing heat as it lunged forth! “An Ancient Fiend!” Wang Lin’s spiritual senses throbbed as he recognized the infernal beast.

The Fiend materialized within the ancestral hall, bathing the sacred chamber in an oppressive aura of demonic fire. Its jaws gaped wide as it moved to devour the two girls.

“Sister!” The younger sister’s piercing shriek echoed through the hall, her terror so palpable that even Wang Lin felt a tremor in his soul.

The elder sister stood paralyzed, her face ashen, her eyes wide with a fear beyond any she had ever known. As the Fiend lunged, she recoiled, taking a step back, her movement involuntary. Her younger sister was now exposed, placed squarely in the path of the approaching Fiend. In one horrifying gulp, the Fiend swallowed her whole, then receded into the lamp.

The tearing of fabric, the ripping of a bond – the elder sister’s garment, torn by her sister’s desperate grasp.

“Sister… sister… save me… save…” The heart-wrenching cry reverberated through the hall, ceasing abruptly as the Fiend consumed its prey.

The elder sister collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down her face. Biting her lip until blood flowed, her eyes filled with remorse. She rose unsteadily and stumbled towards the lamp.

“Sister! Sister, give me back my sister! Devour me instead! Swallow me!”

The Fiend, its task complete, vanished back within the lamp, its flame blazing with renewed vigor. Within that light, a lone figure could be seen, a young girl writhing in torment.

The elder, who had witnessed the entire scene, watched with an eerie gleam in his eyes. He waved his sleeve, casting the elder sister aside. His gaze remained fixed upon the lamp, a smile slowly spreading across his lips.

“Unexpected… it seems only one is needed to become the Soul Vessel. Very well, I shall spare your life.”

The elder sister was as if her spirit had fled, her eyes hollow as she stared at the lamp. An overwhelming tide of regret threatened to drown her.

“Sister… it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t mean to… It should have been me who was devoured… me… sister…” Yao Bingyun wept uncontrollably, her body trembling. No longer was she gripped by fear, but by an all-consuming regret.

“I shouldn’t have retreated… Mother told me to care for my sister before she left. I failed her… I shouldn’t have retreated…” Yao Bingyun stared at the lamp in despair, kneeling on the ground, her voice choked with sobs. “Esteemed Ancestor, I, Yao Bingyun, willingly offer myself to oblivion, even for an eternity, even for a thousand years, without complaint. I beg of you, release Mengyun, and take me instead. Let me become the Soul Vessel. I beseech you, I beg you, I plead with you…”

Yao Bingyun wept freely, kowtowing repeatedly. Her brow was bloodied, but she paid no heed, only continued to plead. Her voice held a profound resonance that was nearly impossible to ignore, and her actions held a strength that moved even Wang Lin. Her cries echoed through the hall, even reaching Yao Yun, who was outside. Yao Yun’s eyes turned bloodshot at this moment, and he struggled to stand up as if roaring, trying to rush into the ancestral hall, but the moment his body started to lift up, a burst of power suddenly erupted from within the hall, and Yao Yun spurted out blood, a smile of misery on his face as his body was continuously thrown out.
“The House of Yao… is doomed!”

The aged man cast a glance upon Yao Bingyun, kneeling on the earthen floor, her desperate pleas echoing in his ears, piercing his very soul. A flicker of bewilderment, rare as a summer snow, clouded his ancient eyes.

Yet, the moment was fleeting. He banished the hesitation with a steely resolve. His right hand, reaching into the void, seized a flickering oil lamp. “This holds the thread of Yao Mengyun’s fate,” he declared, his voice a serene echo in the oppressive silence. “I will not unravel it.”

With deliberate care, he placed the lamp within a jagged fissure that pulsed with an otherworldly light. A sweep of his sleeve, and the crack began to slowly mend, vanishing into the fabric of reality.

“Sister!” Yao Bingyun cried, her voice raw with anguish as she watched the rift disappear. The sound resonated with a force that threatened to shatter even the carefully constructed Dao realm where Wang Lin’s consciousness resided. His senses reeled, teetering on the brink of collapse.

“Sister, be strong! Endure until I can reach you! I have not yet bought you the sugar figurine, nor taken you to see mother… Be strong! Await my coming! I swear upon my very soul, I will rescue you. This is my vow, my unbreakable promise!”

The echoes of her pain shattered the illusion that held Wang Lin. The ancestral hall dissolved. The oil lamp faded. The old man was gone, and the rift, a memory. All crumbled into swirling shards of nothingness, a chaotic storm of fractured realities. Only she remained…

Yao Bingyun! Kneeling amidst the ruin, her eyes, pools of remorse laced with a chilling resolve. “Whosoever can save my sister,” she cried, her voice a desperate prayer hurled into the uncaring void, “I, Yao Bingyun, shall serve them as my master for all eternity! Even if it means embracing the darkest of deeds, so long as she is saved… I willingly… gladly… embrace it! With no regret!”

The haunting vow reverberated through the shattered space, a testament to her unwavering determination, and a stark cry of utter helplessness. Wang Lin, assaulted by her grief, experienced the very essence of her being, using it to forge his own understanding of the Dao. And in that moment, the path of Yao Bingyun was laid bare before him.

Images of two young girls, clinging to each other for warmth and solace, lingered in his mind, refusing to fade.

“I will kneel…” Yao Bingyun, kneeling in the void, seemed to hear something from afar, raising her head slightly as the last vestiges of her physical form began to wane.

With the final collapse of the vision, a sigh escaped Wang Lin’s lips.

Slowly, another scene materialized before his eyes.

He stood beneath a colossal mountain of ice. Before him, Yao Bingyun, now a woman, sat in silent vigil, her gaze fixed on some distant point, her eyes brimming with sorrow.

“Sister,” she whispered, “Even if I must forsake all feeling, become a creature of ice, with a heart turned to frost, I shall never forget you. Be strong, and await me!” Tears traced a path down her cheeks, but she did not brush them away. Instead, she closed her eyes and began her training, embracing the forbidden arts of the Yao clan, the Frozen Immortal Scripture. This path demanded the severing of all emotion, a journey towards utter coldness. The ultimate goal: the Path of Ruthlessness. “To cultivate ruthlessness with a heart full of love…” Wang Lin murmured, finally understanding the core of Yao Bingyun’s Dao. “Her Dao is rooted in her sister. She seeks the Path of Ruthlessness, not the glory of Yao Rong, the clan’s ancestor…”

Wang Lin, appearing as an apparition beside Yao Bingyun, shook his head.

“Enough. I could shatter her Dao. But…” He cast a final glance at Yao Bingyun and vanished.

Upon the summit of Hengyun Mountain, Wang Lin opened his eyes. He raised his right hand and sighed. “You pursued me, and yet aided in my breakthrough. Thus, the threads of our entanglement are severed.” With a flick of his sleeve, the seals binding Yao Bingyun within her own body were shattered. Her form rose, ascending into the heavens.

In the air above, Yao Bingyun opened her eyes, a moment of confusion clouding her gaze. She paused, looking towards Wang Lin, seated in meditation atop Hengyun Mountain. A complex emotion flickered in her eyes. After a long silence, she spoke softly, “Do you believe in reincarnation…? Back in the ancestral hall, I distinctly heard someone whisper… they could…”

“Was that you?”