Sealed in the Secret Realm with My Rival novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Pearl Answers

The cave was hotter than it had been, and the Pearl was louder.

Qin Heyan stood before it with his hand on Hoarfrost and could not make himself step closer.

Boom.

Boom-boom.

Each beat shook the dust from the roof, and the red veins in the walls flared brighter on every pulse.

"It knows you," Lu Baichuan said behind him.

"How?"

"Look at the cracks."

Qin looked.

Down the dull red surface of the Pearl, one split ran a little paler than the rest.

It was the one that had opened on the day they fell.

Every time Qin took a breath, the pale crack brightened.

When he let it out, the light drained away.

He took a step.

The beat doubled.

"Heyan, don't look at it too long," Lu said. "It hurts the first time."

"How do you know?"

"I felt it when it cracked. I couldn't see straight for a day."

Lu came up close behind him, bare-chested and rumpled, grass still in his hair.

He pulled the red headband off his forehead.

It was warm from his skin.

"What are you doing?"

"Close your eyes."

Qin did.

The soft strip of cloth went across his eyes and Lu knotted it behind his head, gently.

The cave went dark.

The beat of the Pearl rolled through his whole body.

"Don't see it," Lu murmured against his ear. "Feel it. Let it learn you."

"I can't. I can't breathe."

"Yes, you can. Breathe with me."

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